My program accepts input file names either as command line parameters or in a drag and drop operation or in Explorer by clicking on filenames with an extension that is associated with my program.
The command line and drag and drop work fine, but it is clicking on the filenames in Explorer that causes problems when the filepaths of the files clicked on have spaces in them, e.g.:
c:\temp\file one.txt
c:\my directory\filetwo.txt
c:\my directory\file three.txt
then, the ParamStr function gives me back:
ParamStr(1): c:\temp\file
ParamStr(2): one.txt
ParamStr(3): c:\my
ParamStr(4): directory\filetwo.txt
ParamStr(5): c:\my
ParamStr(6): directory\file
ParamStr(7): three.txt
How can I best reconstitute these back into the three filenames that I need?
It might be your shell file association that does not include the pair of "".
Like these ones for opening:
"C:\Program Files\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe" "%1"
or with DDE message:
[open("%1")]
Command-line parameters with spaces in them, such as filenames, should be quoted. This makes the param parser realize that it's supposed to keep them together. If the user's not quoting the filename, it's operator error.
If a drag-and-drop system is doing this, on the other hand, then you've got a bug in your drag-and-drop library and you need to talk to whoever created it. I'm a bit confused, though, as to why drag-and-drop operations are messing with ParamStr. That should only be set by the params passed to your program at the moment it's invoked, not once it's up and running. Maybe I'm missing something?
i use the CmdLineHelper unit, from here.
Related
Given the bin\ directory inside the Delphi project contains the files Cert.pem and Key.pem, the below Delphi post-build event only copies both files if C:\Binaries\Cert.pem does not exist:
if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem (copy bin\Cert.pem $(OUTPUTDIR))
if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Key.pem (copy bin\Key.pem $(OUTPUTDIR))
As soon as C:\Binaries\Cert.pem exists, the Key.pem file is never copied.
How can I solve this in the post-build event?
Edit: unlike my 2014 post, this is indeed possible using parentheses. See my answer below.
The problem with Delphi post-build events is that they are not batch files.
It means that statements that look like lines are being concatenated by the Delphi IDE into one big & ampersand separated statement. This ensures the commands are executed in sequence, as per Command Redirection, Pipes - Windows CMD - SS64.com:
commandA & commandB Run commandA and then run commandB
So this is the actual statement that gets executed:
if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem (copy bin\Cert.pem $(OUTPUTDIR))&if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Key.pem (copy bin\Key.pem $(OUTPUTDIR))
The problem here is that now the second if is seen as a continuation of the "then" part of the first if statement: the second if never executes when the $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem exists.
What helps is a little known feature that you can wrap each command inside parentheses. Normally this is to allow one command to span multiple lines (especially for if, and for..do loops), but it also works on one line.
Wrapping each line having an if statement inside parentheses ensures they become standalone statements not affecting the other lines, even if they are being concatenated with & ampersand separators.
In the dialog it looks like this:
(if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem (copy bin\Cert.pem $(OUTPUTDIR)))
(if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Key.pem (copy bin\Key.pem $(OUTPUTDIR)))
That way, the IDE translates it into one statement:
(if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem (copy bin\Cert.pem $(OUTPUTDIR)))&(if not exist $(OUTPUTDIR)Key.pem (copy bin\Key.pem $(OUTPUTDIR)))
Now it works as intended:
When $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem exists but $(OUTPUTDIR)Key.pem does not, only $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem is copied
When $(OUTPUTDIR)Cert.pem does exists but $(OUTPUTDIR)Key.pem does, only $(OUTPUTDIR)Key.pem is copied
when neither exist, both are copied
when both exist, neither are copied
I did not know this "trick" when writing my 2014 post Delphi prebuild/prelink/postbuild events, so I need to write an update for it.
Searching for batch file parentheses site:microsoft.com -site:social.technet.microsoft.com -site:answers.microsoft.com did not reveal it in the official documentation, but I am not surprised as it grew hysterically, instead of being designed. Or like the Old New Thing attributes h2g2:
Much like the universe, if anyone ever does fully come to understand Batch then the language will instantly be replaced by an infinitely weirder and more complex version of itself. This has obviously happened at least once before ;)
The best documentation I could find was at Parenthesis/Brackets - Windows CMD - SS64.com:
Parenthesis can be used to split commands across multiple lines. This can make code more readable. Variables will be evaluated for the code block just as if the command was a single line.
(command)
(
command
command )
Things that break inside parenthesis
The CMD shell does not use any great intelligence when evaluating parenthesis, so for example the command below will fail:
IF EXIST MyFile.txt (ECHO Some(more)Potatoes)
...
Use multiple build events instead of putting both commands in the same event.
Executing the source lines of a build event.
I can cut this short very easily: build events are not batch files.
What happens is that all lines in your build event are concatenated together using ampersand (&) signs which are used to execute multiple commands on one command line.
This means that all the fancy control structures (if statements, setlocal, for loops) are not possible inside build events.
ref: Pasted from a blog post: Delphi prebuild/prelink/postbuild events written by Jeroen W. Pluimers
Makes me wonder why you asked since it looks like you wrote the answer in 2014. :)
I like using .fsi signature files to control visibility. However, if I have both Foo.fsi and Foo.fs files in my solution, and #load "Foo.fs" in a script, it doesn't seem like the corresponding signature file gets used. If I do:
#load "Foo.fsi"
#load "Foo.fs"
... then the desired visibility control happens. Is this the recommended way to achieve this, or is there a better way to do it? In a perfect world, one would like to see the signature file automatically loaded, too.
Not a final answer, but a better way.
From reading Expert F# 4.0 one can do
#load "Foo.fsi" "Foo.fs" "Foo.fsx"
All three loads are on one line.
TL;DR
The link to the book is via WolrdCat just put in a zip code and it will show you locations near there where the book can be found.
I use the following to save screen output to a file
writefile("file.txt"),
tex(expression),
closefile()
The above sends the output of the tex() to the file automatically. which is all and well and what I want. (side-point: It also sends an annoying NIL line each time to the file, which I had to parse put later).
Now, when running the above code again, the file is appended to, which is not what I want. I want to either overwrite the file each time, or if there is a way to delete the file, so I can call delete on it before.
I looked at help and not able to find a command to delete a file, and I also see no option to tell writefile() to overwrite the file?
Is there an option or way around this? I am on windows 7, Maxima version: 5.36.1
Lisp: SBCL 1.2.7
I guess you are trying to capture the output of tex into a file. If so, here are a couple of other ways to do it:
tex (expr, destination);
where destination is either a file name (which is appended) or a stream, as created by opena or openw and closed by close. By the way, destination could be false, in which case tex returns a string.
with_stdout (destination, tex (expr));
where again destination is either a file name (which is appended or clobbered, as determined by the global flag file_output_append) or a stream.
with_stdout could be useful if you want to mix in some output not generated by tex, e.g., print("% some commentary");.
I have a spreadsheet that has a list of video filenames in one column.
I'd like for a video player to open when I click on a filename.
Is there a simple way to do this?
There's a hack that lets you call external applications using the HYPERLINK command:
=HYPERLINK("mplayer", "foo")
This opens up mplayer (or whatever you tell it to). However, if I try to pass a command-line argument to the executable using:
=HYPERLINK("mplayer ~/Desktop/foo.mpeg", "foo")
then I get the error: "OpenOffice could not find a web browser on your system". It's probably attempting to parse the first argument and tripping over a space.
Does anybody know of a way I can achieve what I want? Perhaps there's a way to do this with macros?
The list of filenames is auto-generated (hundreds) so I don't want to do anything manual.
You might try using %20 instead of the space, though I don't expect it to work.
Does your player have anything like a play-list provision? It seems that it would be more direct to compile a play list in whatever format that is, than attempt to force HYPERLINK( ) to work here.
The other possibiity is to see if there is a URL scheme registered on your system that will invoke the player, rather than a command line. Or just use the file: scheme and see if you can launch the mpeg that way. You may have to monkey with the file path to get it right. You may also have to %-escape the '~' if you have any of those.
i'm searching for a pretty print program (script, code, whatever) for Informix-4GL sources.
Do you know any ? Than you, Peter.
Have you looked at the IIUG (International Informix User Group) software archive? There are two pretty printers there (of indeterminate quality).
The other place to look would be the Aubit4GL site - an open source variant of I4GL. Again, I'm not sure that they have a pretty-printer, but it might be something they have (though a casual check doesn't show one).
I don't know if anyone is reading this post anymore, but the easiest way to get some kind of nice "pretty print" of 4gl code is to view it in the Openedge Developer Studio, then use ctrl-I to set indention. You can adjust indention in the editor settings by saying the length of "tabs". (default is 4, I use 3)
Then do a ctrl-shift-f to make all command words uppercase.
Next, you can condense the code a few lines by moving all the "DO:" statements up a line next to the "THEN" statement with this regular expression search and replace.
ctrl-f:
search "\s*\n\s*DO[:]"
replace " DO:"
make sure you click the checkbox marked regular expressions.
At this point the code is nice and tidy.
Do a ctrl-a and ctrl-c to copy it to the clipboard.
paste it in Outlook as an email without sending. Print it in color.