Task Selection window

This Task Selection entry box has two main functions:

1. If a task is entered without any special character (e.g., *, or ?) then a match is attempted on the taskname which was entered.
   • If a perfect match between the entered string, and a taskname for an FTOOL is found, then the code will attempt to launch this task as explained below.

   • If no perfect match is found between the input string and the known tasks, then the code will attempt to execute the command in a system shell, under the assumption that the user is attempting to execute a command which exists in the user's path which is NOT an FTOOL, e.g. "ls". Note that all output from the executed command will go to an "Output Log" (which can be viewed) and the name of the executed command will be entered into the "Executed tasks" window just as it would for a valid FTOOL. If the user wishes to view the output from a command all that is necessary is to select it from the executed tasks list displayed in the "Executed tasks" window. All output from the command will appear in the displayed "Output Log".

2. If special characters are used in the entered string, i.e., * for a wild card to match any character or number of characters, or ? to match any one character, then a global search is activated which searches all known FTOOLS as well as their one-line descriptions for matches to the input pattern. If any matches are found, than all matches are displayed in the "flaunch" window's listbox which display's "TASKS". This allows the user to then examine each tool to find the one that best suits his need. Thus if the user were to input

• What happens next depends upon which Ftool was entered. If the Ftools is truly an Ftool, i.e., one with an independent parameter file (like saextrct), then a Parameter Editing Window is displayed for the task entered. However, if the Ftools entered is actually a Perl script (like chantrans), or a Tcl script (like fv) then an Interactive Window is spawned in which the command is run. This allows the user to interact with the command which was spawned. Actually, ANY command can be executed this way.

• Then the code performs a global search upon the input string, in the example the user entered "*hist*" which means that they want to see all tools in which the pattern "hist" appears in their name, or in their one-line description which is available.

• Once this search is performed, the results are displayed in the original "flaunch" window so that the user can now (by using the mouse) examine each tool for the desired behavior.

• We see that the first three tools listed, i.e., sishist, f2dhisto, and fhisto, contain the desired pattern "hist" in their name.

• The remaining three tools listed (sisclean, fim2lst, and fcurve) have the desired pattern in their one-line description. (We can see this from the one-line description given for the selected tool, fcurve, at the bottom of the display window.

• Then the code performs a global search upon the input string, in the example the user entered "?curve" which means that they want to see all tools in which the pattern "_curve" appears in their name, or in their one-line description which is available. That is to say that any word having 6 characters in which the last 5 are "curve" would match this input.

• Once this search is performed, the results are displayed in the original "flaunch" window so that the user can now (by using the mouse to select each tool - only a single click of Button-1) examine each tool for the desired behavior. Once a tool is selected it can be "launched" either via a double click of Button-1 on the desired item, or selecting the "Go" button to "launch" the "high-lighted" tool.

• We see that there are only two matches to this pattern, lcurve and fcurve, both ftools.

• There are no other tools in which the pattern "_curve" appears in their one-line help.

INDEX