tepam_procedure - Man Page

The first group of attributes affect the behavior of the declared procedure:

-named_arguments_first 0|1

This attribute defines the calling style of a procedure. TEPAM uses by default the named arguments first, unnamed arguments later style (Tcl). This default behavior can globally be changed by setting the variable tepam::named_arguments_first to 0. This global calling style can be changed individually for a procedure with the -named_arguments_first attribute.

-auto_argument_name_completion 0|1

The declared procedures will by default automatically try to match eventually abbreviated argument names to the defined arguments names. This default behavior can globally be changed by setting the variable tepam::auto_argument_name_completion to 0. This global setting of the automatic argument name completion can be changed individually for a procedure with the -auto_argument_name_completion procedure attribute.

-interactive_display_format extended|short

A procedure declared with the TEPAM procedure command can always be called with the -interactive option. By doing so, a graphical form will be generated that allows specifying all procedure argument values. There are two display modes for these interactive forms. While the extended mode is more adapted for small procedure argument sets, the short form is more adequate for huge procedure argument sets.

The choice to use short or extended forms can be globally configured via the variable tepam::interactive_display_format. This global setting can then be changed individually for a procedure with the -interactive_display_format procedure attribute.

-args list

The procedure arguments are declared via the -args attribute. An argument is defined via a list having as first element the argument name, followed by eventual argument attributes. All these argument definition lists are packaged themselves into a global list that is assigned to the -args attribute.

The argument definition syntax will be described more in detail in the following sub section.

The next attributes allow specifying custom argument checks as well as custom error messages in case these checks are failing:

-validatecommand script

Custom argument validations can be performed via specific validation commands that are defined with the -validatecommand attribute.

Validation command declaration example:

tepam::procedure {display_message} {
   -args {
      {text -type string -description "Message text"} }
   -validatecommand {IllegalWordDetector $text}
} {
}

The validation command is executed in the context of the declared procedure body. The different argument values are accessed via the argument names. Note there is also an argument attribute -validatecommand that allows declaring custom checks for specific arguments.

The attribute -validatecommand can be repeated to declare multiple custom checks.

-validatecommand_error_text string

This attribute allows overriding the default error message for a custom argument validation (defined by -validatecommand). Also this attribute can be repeated in case multiple argument checks are declared.

The following attribute allows controlling the logging settings for an individual procedure:

-command_log 0|1|"interactive"

This argument configures the logging of the procedure calls into the list variable tepam::ProcedureCallLogList. The default configuration defined by the variable tepam::command_log will be used if this argument is not defined in a procedure declaration.

Setting this argument to 0 will disable any procedure call loggings, setting it to 1 will log any procedure calls and setting it to interactive will log just the procedures that are called interactively (procedures called with the -interactive flag).

The next group of procedure attributes is just used for the purpose of documentation and help text generation:

-category string

A category can be assigned to a procedure for documentation purposes. Any string is accepted as category.

-short_description string

The short description of a procedure is used in the documentation summary of a generated procedure list as well as in the NAME section of a generated procedure manual page.

-description string

The (full) description assigned to a procedure is used to create user manual and help pages.

-return string

The -return attribute allows defining the expected return value of a procedure (used for documentation purposes).

-example string

A help text or manual page of a procedure can be enriched with eventual examples, using the -example attribute.

The following example shows the structure that is used for the argument definitions in the context of a procedure declaration:

tepam::procedure {display_message} {
   -args {
      {-mtype -default Warning -choices {Info Warning Error} -description "Message type"}
      {-font -type font -default {Arial 10 italic} -description "Message text font"}
      {-level -type integer -optional -range {1 10} -description "Message level"}
      {-fg -type color -optional -description "Message color"}
      {-log_file -type file -optional -description "Optional message log file"}
      {text -type string -multiple -description "Multiple text lines to display"}
   }
} {
}

Each of the procedure arguments is declared with a list that has as first element the argument name, followed by eventual attributes. The argument definition syntax can be formalized in the following way:

tepam::procedure <name> {
   -args {
      {<argument_name_1> <arg_attr_name_1a> <arg_attr_value_1a>  <arg_attr_name_1b> <arg_attr_value_1b> ...}
      {<argument_name_2> <arg_attr_name_2a> <arg_attr_value_2a>  <arg_attr_name_2b> <arg_attr_value_2b> ...}
      ...
   }
} <body>

The argument names and attributes have to be used in the following way:

Argument name (<argument_name_<n>>)

The provided argument name specifies whether the argument is an unnamed argument or a named argument. In addition to this, an argument name can also be blank to indicate an argument comment, or it can start with # to indicate a section comment.

"<Name>"

This is the simplest form of an argument name: An argument whose name is not starting with '-' is an unnamed argument. The parameter provided during a procedure call will be assigned to a variable with the name <Name>.

tepam::procedure {print_string} {
   -args {
      {text -type string -description "This is an unnamed argument"}
   }
} {
   puts $text
}

print_string "Hello"
 -> Hello

"-<Name>"

An argument whose name starts with '-' is a named argument (also called option). The parameter provided during a procedure call will be assigned to a variable with the name <Name> (not -<Name>).

tepam::procedure {print_string} {
   -args {
      {-text -type string -description "This is a named argument"}
   }
} {
   puts $text
}

print_string -text "Hello"
 -> Hello

"--"

This flag allows clearly specifying the end of the named arguments and the beginning of the unnamed arguments, in case the named arguments first, unnamed arguments later style (Tcl) has been selected.

If the unnamed arguments first, named arguments later style (Tk) style is selected, this flag is ignored if the unnamed arguments have already been parsed. Otherwise it will be assigned to the corresponding unnamed argument.

"-" or ""

A blank argument name (either '-' or '') starts a comment for the following arguments.

tepam::procedure {print_time} {
   -interactive_display_format short
   -args {
      {hours -type integer -description "Hour"}
      {minutes -type integer -description "Minute"}

      {- The following arguments are optional:}
      {seconds -type integer -default 0 -description "Seconds"}
      {milliseconds -type integer -default 0 -description "Milliseconds"}
   }
} {
   puts "${hour}h${minutes}:[expr $seconds+0.001*$milliseconds]"
}

Argument comments are basically used in the graphical argument definition forms that are created if a procedure is called interactively.

"#*"

An argument definition list that starts with '#' is considered as a section comment. The argument definition list will be trimmed from the '#' characters and the remaining string will be used as section comment.

Section comments can be used to structure visually the argument definition code. Section comments are also used to structure the generated help texts and the interactive argument definition forms.

tepam::procedure {complex_multiply} {
   -description "This function perform a complex multiplication"
   -args {
      {#### First complex number ####}
      {-r0 -type double -description "First number real part"}
      {-i0 -type double -description "First number imaginary part"}

      {#### Second complex number ####}
      {-r1 -type double -description "Second number real part"}
      {-i1 -type double -description "Second number imaginary part"}
   }
} {
   return [expr $r0*$r1 - $i0*$i1]
}

Argument attributes (<arg_attr_name_<mn>> <arg_attr_value_<mn>>)

The following argument attributes are supported:

-description string

The description argument attribute is used for documentation purpose. Interactive argument definition forms use this attribute to provide explanations for an argument.

-type type

The type argument attribute allows assigning the argument either to a predefined data type, or to an application specific data type. The argument values that are provided during a procedure call are automatically checked with respect to the defined argument type.

The section Argument Types provides a list of predefined data types and explains how application specific types can be specified.

The argument type none has a special meaning. An argument that has the type none is handled as a flag. A flag is always optional and its related variable contains the logical value 1 if the flag has been defined during the procedure call, or otherwise 0.

-default value

Eventual default values can be defined with the -default argument attribute. Arguments with default values are automatically optional arguments.

-optional|-mandatory

Arguments are by default mandatory, unless a default value is defined. The flag -optional transforms an argument into an optional argument.

In case an optional argument is not defined during a procedure call, the corresponding variable will not be defined. The flag -mandatory is the opposite to -optional. This flag exists only for completion reason, since an argument is anyway mandatory by default.

-multiple

Arguments that have the -multiple attribute can be defined multiple times during a procedure call. The values that are provided during a procedure call for such an argument are stored in a list variable. This is even the case if such an argument is only defined once during a procedure call.

The -multiple attribute can be attributed to unnamed arguments and to named arguments. The pair of argument name/argument value has to be repeated for each provided value in case of a named argument. In case the argument with the -multiple attribute is an unnamed argument, this one has to be the absolute last one of all unnamed arguments.

-choices list

A possible set of valid argument values can be attributed to an argument via the -choices attribute. The argument value provided during a procedure call will be checked against the provided choice values.

-choicelabels list

An eventual short description can be attributed to each choice option with the -choicelabels attribute. These descriptions will be used in the generated help texts and as radio and check box labels for the interactive calls.

The -choicelabels attribute is optional, but if it is defined, its list needs to have the identical size as the -choices argument list.

-range {double double}

Another argument constraint can be defined with the -range attribute. The valid range is defined with a list containing the minimum valid value and a maximum valid value. The -range attribute has to be used only for numerical arguments, like integers and doubles.

-validatecommand script

Custom argument value validations can be performed via specific validation commands that are defined with the -validatecommand attribute. The provided validation command can be a complete script in which the pattern %P is replaced by the argument value that has to be validated.

Validation command declaration example:

tepam::procedure {display_message} {
   -args {
      {text -type string -description "Message text" \
            -validatecommand {IllegalWordDetector %P}}
} {
}

While the purpose of this custom argument validation attribute is the validation of a specific argument, there is also a global attribute -validatecommand that allows performing validation that involves multiple arguments.

-validatecommand_error_text string

This attribute allows overriding the default error message for a custom argument validation (defined by -validatecommand).

-widget string

The widgets that allow defining the different arguments in case of an interactive procedure call are normally selected automatically in function of the argument type. The -widget attribute allows specifying explicitly a certain widget type for an argument.

-auxargs list

In case a procedure is called interactively, additional argument attributes can be provided to the interactive argument definition form via the -auxargs attribute that is itself a list of attribute name/attribute value pairs:

-auxargs {-<arg_attr_name_1a> <arg_attr_value_1a> \
          -<arg_attr_name_1b> <arg_attr_value_1b>
          ...
}

For example, if a procedure takes as argument a file name it may be beneficial to specify the required file type for the interactive argument definition form. This information can be provided via the -auxargs attribute to the argument definition form:

tepam::procedure LoadPicture {
   -args {
      {FileName -type existingfile -description "Picture file" \
                 -auxargs {-filetypes {{"GIF" {*.gif}} {"JPG" {*.jpg}} }}}
   }
} {
}

-auxargs_commands script

If the auxiliary argument attributes are not static but have to be dynamically adaptable, the -auxargs_commands allows defining them via commands that are executed during a procedure call. A list of pairs of auxiliary attribute names and commands has to be provided to the -auxargs_commands attribute. The provided commands are executed in the context of the calling procedure.

-auxargs_commands {-<arg_attr_name_1a> <arg_attr_command_1a> \
                   -<arg_attr_name_1b> <arg_attr_command_1b>
                   ...
}

To remember, a type can be assigned to each specified procedure argument:

tepam::procedure {warning} {
   -args {
      {-font -type font -default {Arial 10 italic}}
      {-severity_level -type integer -optional -range {1 10}}
      {-fg -type color -optional -description "Message color"}
      {text -type string -multiple -description "Multiple text lines to display"}
   }
} {
   ...
}

There are some special purpose types that are building the first category of predefined argument types:

• none

  A flag, also called switch, is defined as a named argument that has the type none. Flags are always optional and the default value of the assigned variable is set to 0. In contrast to the (normal) named arguments, no argument value has to be provided to a flag.

  tepam::procedure flag_test {
     -args {
        {-flag -type none -description "This is a flag"}
     }
  } {
     puts $flag
  }
  
  flag_test
  -> 0
  
  flag_test -flag
  -> 1

  Since no argument value has to be provided to a flag, also no data check is performed for this argument type.

• string

  String is a generic argument data type. Any data string can be provided to a string type argument and no data type checks are therefore performed. The string type allows defining single line strings during the interactive procedure calls.

• text

  Text is identical to string with the only difference that it allows entering multi line strings during interactive procedure calls.

• {}

  A blank argument type signifies an undefined argument type. This is the default argument type that will be used if no type has been explicitly specified. An argument that has a blank type behaves identically than an argument that has a string type, e.g. no argument data checks are performed. The only difference is that the data type string is mentioned in the generated help documentation, while this is not the case for the blank type.

Several numerical types are defined by TEPAM. The type validation procedures are using the string is <type> -strict commands to check the validity of the provided arguments, which assures that no empty strings are accepted as argument value. The type validation expression for the numerical types and the argument types to which this expression is applied are:

string is <type_to_check> -strict <argument_value>

• boolean
• integer
• double

Empty strings are accepted as argument value for all the alpha numeric argument types. The argument types that are falling into this category and validation expression used for them are:

string is <type_to_check> <argument_value>

• alnum
• alpha
• ascii
• control
• digit
• graph
• lower
• print
• punct
• space
• upper
• wordchar
• xdigit

In addition to the data types checked with the string is <type> commands, TEPAM specifies some other useful data types:

• char

  Each string that has a length of 1 character meets the character type. The type check is made with the following expression:

  expr [string length <argument_value>]==1

• color

  Any character strings that are accepted by Tk as a color are considered as valid color argument. Please note that the Tk package has to be loaded to use the type color. TEPAM is using the following command to validate the color type:

  expr ![catch {winfo rgb . <argument_value>}]

• font

  Any character strings that are accepted by Tk as a font are considered as valid font argument. Please note that the Tk package has to be loaded to use the font type. TEPAM is using the following command to validate the color type:

  expr ![catch {font measure <argument_value> ""}]

• file

  Any strings that are not containing one of the following characters are considered as valid file names: * ? " < >. It is not necessary that the file and its containing directory exist. Zero-length strings are not considered as valid file names.

  The following expression is used to validate the file names:

  expr [string length <argument_value>]>0 && ![regexp {[\"*?<>:]} <argument_value>]

• existingfile

  The argument is valid if it matches with an existing file. The following check is performed to validate the arguments of this type:

  file exists <argument_value>

• directory

  The directory argument is validated exactly in the same way as the file arguments.

• existingdirectory

  The argument is valid if it matches with an existing directory. The following check is performed to validate the arguments of this type:

  file isdirectory <argument_value>

To add support for a new application specific argument type it is just necessary to add into the namespace tepam a validation function Validation(<type>). This function requires one argument. It has to returns 1 if the provided argument matches with the relevant data type. The function has to return otherwise 0.

The validation command section of the "tepam.tcl" package provides sufficient examples of validation functions, since it implements the ones for the standard TEPAM types.

The following additional code snippet shows the validation function for a custom argument type that requires values that have a character string length of exactly 2:

proc tepam::Validate(two_char) {v} {expr {[string length $v]==2}}

Each procedure can be called with the -help flag. The procedure will then print a generated help text to stdout and will then return without performing any additional actions.

Taking the first procedure declared in PROCEDURE CALLS, the help request and the printed help text would be:

display message -help
->
NAME
      display message - Displays a simple message box
SYNOPSIS
      display message
            [-mtype <mtype>]
               Message type, default: "Warning", choices: {Info, Warning, Error}
            <text>
               Multiple text lines to display, type: string
DESCRIPTION
      This procedure allows displaying a configurable message box. The default
      message type that is created is a warning, but also errors and info can
      be generated.
      The procedure accepts multiple text lines.
EXAMPLE
      display message -mtype Warning "Save first your job"

The argument manager is checking if the last provided argument is -help and generates the requested help message if this is the case. So, also the following example will print the help message:

display message -mtype Info "It is 7:00" -help

On the other hand, the following call will result in an error:

display message -help -mtype Info "It is 7:00"
->
display message: Argument '-help' not known

If Tk has been loaded a procedure can be called with the -interactive flag to open a graphical form that allows specifying interactively all procedure arguments. The following example assures that the Tk library is loaded and shows the command line to call interactively the procedure declared in PROCEDURE CALLS:

package require Tk
display message -interactive

Also the -interactive flag has to be placed at the last argument position as this is also required for the -help flag. Arguments defined before the -interactive flag will be ignored. The following example is therefore also a valid interactive procedure call:

display message -mtype Info "It is 7:00" -interactive

Unnamed arguments are typically provided to the called procedure as simple parameters. This procedure calling form requires that the provided arguments are strictly following the order of the specified arguments. Several parameters can be assigned to the last argument if this one has the -multiple attribute. So, the following declared procedure ...

tepam::procedure {display_message} {
   -args {
      {mtype -choices {Info Warning Error}}
      {text -type string -multiple}
   }
} {
   puts "$mtype: [join $text]"
}

... can for example be called in the following ways:

display_message Info "It is PM 7:00."
-> Info: It is PM 7:00.

display_message Info "It is PM 7:00." "You should go home."
-> Info: It is PM 7:00. You should go home.

The nice thing is that unnamed arguments can also be called as named arguments, which can be handy, for example if the exact specified argument order is not known to a user:

display_message -mtype Info -text "It is PM 7:00."
-> Info: It is PM 7:00.

display_message -text "It is PM 7:00." -mtype Info
-> Info: It is PM 7:00.

display_message -mtype Info -text "It is PM 7:00." -text "You should go home."
-> Info: It is PM 7:00. You should go home.

display_message -text "It is PM 7:00." -text "You should go home." -mtype Info
-> Info: It is PM 7:00. You should go home.

Named arguments have to be provided to a procedure in form of a parameter pairs composed by the argument names and the argument values. The order how they are provided during a procedure call is irrelevant and has not to match with the argument specification order.

The following declared procedure ...

tepam::procedure {display_message} {
   -args {
      {-mtype -choices {Info Warning Error}}
      {-text -type string -multiple}
   }
} {
   puts "$mtype: [join $text]"
}

... can be called in the following ways:

display_message -mtype Info -text "It is PM 7:00."
-> Info: It is PM 7:00.

display_message -text "It is PM 7:00." -mtype Info
-> Info: It is PM 7:00.

display_message -mtype Info -text "It is PM 7:00." -text "You should go home."
-> Info: It is PM 7:00. You should go home.

display_message -text "It is PM 7:00." -text "You should go home." -mtype Info
-> Info: It is PM 7:00. You should go home.

Also named arguments that have not the -multiple attribute can be provided multiple times. Only the last provided argument will be retained in such a case:

display_message -mtype Info -text "It is PM 7:00." -mtype Warning
-> Warning: It is PM 7:00.

A procedure that has been defined while the variable tepam::named_arguments_first was set to 1, or with the procedure attribute -named_arguments_first set to 1 has to be called in the Tcl style. The following procedure declaration will be used in this section to illustrate the meaning of this calling style:

set tepam::named_arguments_first 1
tepam::procedure my_proc {
   -args {
      {-n1 -default ""}
      {-n2 -default ""}
      {u1 -default ""}
      {u2 -default ""}
   }
} {
   puts "n1:'$n1', n2:'$n2', u1:'$u1', u2:'$u2'"
}

The unnamed arguments are placed at the end of procedure call, after the named arguments:

my_proc -n1 N1 -n2 N2 U1 U2
-> n1:'N1', n2:'N2', u1:'U1', u2:'U2'

The argument parser considers the first argument that doesn't start with the '-' character as well as all following arguments as unnamed argument:

my_proc U1 U2
-> n1:'', n2:'', u1:'U1', u2:'U2'

Named arguments can be defined multiple times. If the named argument has the -multiply attribute, all argument values will be collected in a list. Otherwise, only the last provided attribute value will be retained:

my_proc -n1 N1 -n2 N2 -n1 M1 U1 U2
-> n1:'M1', n2:'N2', u1:'U1', u2:'U2'

The name of the first unnamed argument has therefore not to start with the '-' character. The unnamed argument is otherwise considered as name of another named argument. This is especially important if the first unnamed argument is given by a variable that can contain any character strings:

my_proc -n1 N1 -n2 N2 "->" "<-"
-> my_proc: Argument '->' not known

set U1 "->"
my_proc -n1 N1 -n2 N2 $U1 U2
my_proc: Argument '->' not known

The '--' flag allows separating unambiguously the unnamed arguments from the named arguments. All data after the '--' flag will be considered as unnamed argument:

my_proc -n1 N1 -n2 N2 -- "->" "<-"
-> n1:'N1', n2:'N2', u1:'->', u2:'<-'

set U1 "->"
my_proc -n1 N1 -n2 N2 -- $U1 U2
-> n1:'N1', n2:'N2', u1:'->', u2:'<-'

The Tk calling style will be chosen if a procedure is defined while the variable tepam::named_arguments_first is set to 0, or if the procedure attribute -named_arguments_first has been set to 0. The following procedure will be used in this section to illustrate this calling style:

set tepam::named_arguments_first 0
tepam::procedure my_proc {
   -args {
      {-n1 -default ""}
      {-n2 -default ""}
      {u1}
      {u2 -default "" -multiple}
   }
} {
   puts "n1:'$n1', n2:'$n2', u1:'$u1', u2:'$u2'"
}

The unnamed arguments have to be provided first in this case. The named arguments are provided afterwards:

my_proc U1 U2 -n1 N1 -n2 N2
-> n1:'N1', n1:'N1', u1:'U1', u2:'U2'

The argument parser will assign to each defined unnamed argument a value before it switches to read the named arguments. This default behavior changes a bit if there are unnamed arguments that are optional or that can take multiple values.

An argument value will only be assigned to an unnamed argument that is optional (that has either the -optional attribute or that has a default value), if the value is not beginning with the '-' character or if no named arguments are defined. The value that starts with '-' is otherwise considered as the name of a named argument.

Argument values are assigned to an argument that has the -multiple attribute as long as the parameter value doesn't starts with the '-' character.

Values that start with the '-' character can therefore not be assigned to optional unnamed arguments, which restricts the usage of the Tcl procedure calling style. The Tk style may be preferable in some cases, since it allows separating unambiguously the named arguments from the unnamed ones with the '--' flag.

Let's explore in a bit less theoretically the ways how the previously defined procedure can be called: The first example calls the procedure without any parameters, which leads to an error since u1 is a mandatory argument:

my_proc
-> my_proc: Required argument is missing: u1

The procedure call is valid if one parameter is provided for u1:

my_proc U1
-> n1:'', n2:'', u1:'U1', u2:''

If more parameters are provided that are not starting with the '-' character, they will be attributed to the unnamed arguments. U2 will receive 3 of these parameters, since it accepts multiple values:

my_proc U1 U2 U3 U4
-> n1:'', n2:'', u1:'U1', u2:'U2 U3 U4'

As soon as one parameter starts with '-' and all unnamed arguments have been assigned, the argument manager tries to interpret the parameter as name of a named argument. The procedure call will fail if a value beginning with '-' is assigned to an unnamed argument:

my_proc U1 U2 U3 U4 -U5
-> my_proc: Argument '-U5' not known

The attribution of a parameter to a named argument will fail if there are undefined unnamed (non optional) arguments. The name specification will in this case simply be considered as a parameter value that is attributed to the next unnamed argument. This was certainly not the intention in the following example:

my_proc -n1 N1
-> n1:'', n2:'', u1:'-n1', u2:'N1'

The situation is completely different if values have already been assigned to all mandatory unnamed arguments. A parameter beginning with the '-' character will in this case be considered as a name identifier for a named argument:

my_proc U1 -n1 N1
-> n1:'N1', n2:'', u1:'U1', u2:''

No unnamed arguments are allowed behind the named arguments:

my_proc U1 -n1 N1 U2
-> my_proc: Argument 'U2' is not an option

The '--' flag has no special meaning if not all mandatory arguments have got assigned a value. This flag will simply be attributed to one of the unnamed arguments:

my_proc -- -n1 N1
-> n1:'N1', n2:'', u1:'--', u2:''

But the '--' flag is simply ignored if the argument parser has started to handle the named arguments:

my_proc U1 -- -n1 N1
-> n1:'N1', n2:'', u1:'U1', u2:''

my_proc U1 -n1 N1 -- -n2 N2
-> n1:'N1', n2:'N2', u1:'U1', u2:''

It may be necessary sometimes that the procedure body is able to access the entire list of arguments provided during a procedure call. This can happen via the args variable that contains always the unprocessed argument list:

tepam::procedure {display_message} {
   -args {
      {-mtype -choices {Warning Error} -default Warning}
      {text -type string -multiple}

   }
} {
   puts "args: $args"
}
display_message -mtype Warning "It is 7:00"
-> args: -mtype Warning {It is 7:00}