Program: PLAYER #begin section overview OVERVIEW ======== In GIPSY's graphical user interface, most GUI elements are connected to a user input keyword. If the user manipulates such an element, eventually the contents of the associated keyword is changed. The application will then react to the keyword's change and not directly to the changed GUI element. This approach makes it possible to bypass the GUI and control the program by manipulating the keywords directly. This can be done from the Hermes command line, but also from an other program. PLAYER is such a program. It allows the user to send a sequence of keyword-value pairs to other tasks. Such a sequence is contained in a text file which may be prepared by the user but can also be generated automatically. See sections "Event file" and "Recording events". The program can be run interactively, but also in "AUTO-mode". In AUTO-mode, it immediately starts sending keyword events to the target task and exits when it is finished. In this mode the user can also suppress PLAYER's GUI. See section "Keywords". #end section overview #begin section controls CONTROLS ======== PLAYER is provided with the following GUI elements: [FILE] a menu from which the following services can be activated: - a file browser for choosing an event file - a text editor for editing an event file [Task] an input field for specifying the target task name and optional keywords. If keywords are specified, the whole input must be enclosed in back-quotes (`). These keywords are used as initial keywords when a task is started using the start-button or -keyword. [START] a button which allows the user to start the specified task. It is however not necessary to start the task using this button; this may also be done from outside PLAYER. [Filename] an input/output field for specifying and displaying the event file name. May be used as a shortcut for the file browser. [Current line] an output text field displaying the current line from the event file. [Line #] an input/output field for specifying and displaying the event file's current line number. [REWIND] button: go to first line. [PREV] button: go to previous line. [NEXT] button: go to next line. [SEND] send the current event line to the target task; then go to next line. [Delay] input field for specifying the time interval in seconds between different events when in "RUN-mode". (see below) [RUN] a button to switch RUN-mode on an off. When in RUN-mode, PLAYER automatically will send events to the target task until RUN-mode switched off, the end of the file is reached, or a %STOP directive is encountered. #end section controls #begin section eventfile EVENT FILE FORMAT ================= An event file is a simple text file containing any number of keyword-value pairs or special directives. The default file extionsion for these files is ".eve". Keyword lines ------------- Such lines can contain one or more keyword-value pairs. The contents of every such line is sent to the target task in one operation. After this, PLAYER will wait until the target task has processed the event. If the keyword-value pair is preceded by a taskname, that task will be the target for this pair. Directive lines --------------- Currently two directives are defined. Please note that these directives are all uppercase. %STOP - when in RUN-mode, stop sending events and leave RUN-mode. This directive makes it possible to divide a script into sections. Operation can be re-started by pressing the RUN-button. %DELAY - when in RUN-mode, delay seconds. This directive can be useful or even necessary when the target task is not prepared to handle the next event for some time. Comment lines ------------- These are lines beginning with '#' or '!' and also empty lines. There is currently no possiblility for "end-of-line comments". #end section eventfile #begin section recording RECORDING EVENTS ================ In order to make generation of event files easier, GIPSY's graphical user interface is capable of recording all keyword-related events originating from GUI elements. This can be accomplished by specifying a filename in the Ggi options pop-up, which can be activated by clicking the right mouse button in any window's background. The RECORD button can be used to switch recording on and off. Note that recording is initially ON whenever a log file is specified. If time intervals between the events need also be recorded, this can be specified with the button DELAYS. Events from this pop-up and other "internal" Ggi events are not recorded. An event is considered to be internal if the keyword begins with "GGI" or "_GGI". #end section recording #begin section keywords KEYWORDS ======== Keywords relevant for starting PLAYER from the command line are listed below: AUTO= If YES, start sending events immediately. GUI= If AUTO=YES, NO will suppress PLAYER's GUI. TASK= The target task name, optionally followed by keywords. START= If YES, the specified task will be started. FILENAME= Name of the event file. DELAY= Time interval in seconds between events. #end section keywords #begin section about Purpose: PLAYER allows the user to execute a simple script containing keyword changes, or 'events' for an other task. In this way it appears as if PLAYER pushes the other task's buttons, etc. Category: USER-INTERFACE, UTILITY File: player.src Author: J.P. Terlouw Keywords: See section keywords Updates: Apr 27, 2001: JPT, Document created. May 9, 2001: JPT, Some minor changes. Jun 15, 2001: JPT, Fixed TASK= documentation error. May 22, 2003: JPT, Added hidden keywords and alternate taskname. #end section about