SpiceSpicein Dyalog
Document V1.06
Oct 2011
Spice Utilities
Spice is a user command handler.
Under V11 & V12 it uses an input area at the bottom of the screen to issue user defined commands using SALT.
It can be initialized directly from SALT:
Oct 2011
Initializing Spice
The Spice input area can also be started automatically by using the <enableSpice> function in the SALT workspace:
)LOAD SALT
enableSpice
Oct 2011
Initializing the Spice area in V12The configuration menu:
Oct 2011
Initializing Spice in V12.1There is no need to initialize the Spice input
area in 12.1.
The Spice user command handler is always available directly through the ] with 12.1.
Simply use ] where you would use the input area, e.g.
]mycmd
Oct 2011
Spice HelpTo get a detailed list of all available
commands enter ]?+ or ‘?+’ in the input area:
?
+
+
Oct 2011
Example of a custom Spice command: ffind
Use “ffind string” to find a regular expression string in SALT folders , e.g.:
]ffind \babc>0$
Will find in SALT files where syntactic abc is greater than 0 at the end of a line.
Oct 2011
Using SALT commands in Spice
All the SALT commands but New can be issued here, e.g.:
]save myclass file1
]compare file1 -ver=4
]list mine
]settings
]load myfile
]removeversions filex -v=<9
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
- Spice commands are kept in script files,
like SALT.
- Spice files have a .dyalog extension.
- All Spice script files are kept by default in
folder
[Dyalog]\SALT\spice
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
Each script file contains a class or a
namespace with a number of
(presumably) related commands.
For example a script/class could contain
1. a command to search text
2. a command to replace text
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
A script file MUST contain at least 3 public
shared functions for the Spice handler:
1. A <List> function
2. A <Run> function
3. A <Help> function
It may contain other functions.
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
The <List> function
The <List> function is niladic.
It returns a list of as many namespaces as
there are commands in the script file.
E.g.: if there are 2 commands in the script
file it returns 2 namespaces.
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
The <List> function
Each namespace returned by <List> contains
4 variables; each one is a string:
1. Name: the name of the command
2. Group: the group the command belongs to
3. Desc: a short description
4. Parse: the parsing rules
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
The <List> function
The 4 variables:
1. Name: a single word, e.g. locate
2. Group: a single word, e.g. files
3. Desc: a sentence, e.g. Find string in files
4. Parse: a string describing the command
syntax, e.g. 2 –exclude=
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How does Spice work?
The <List> function (example with 2 cmds) ∇ r←List :Access Shared Public r←⎕NS¨2⍴⊂'' r.Name←'Locate' 'Replace' r.Group←⊂'Files' r.Parse←'1' '2' r[1].Desc←'Find a string in files' r[2].Desc←'Replace a string by another' ∇
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
The <Help> function
The <Help> function is ambivalent.
Its arguments are a string naming the cmd
to return detailed help for, e.g. Locate to
the right and the help level to the left.
It returns a string describing help for that
command.
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
The <Help> function (example with 2 cmds) ∇ r←level Help Cmd :Access Shared Public r←⊂'Shows where the string is found' r,←⊂'Replace a string by another' r←r⊃⍨'Locate' 'Replace'⍳⊂Command
→lev↓0 r,←⎕av[4],'More help here…'
∇
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
The <Run> function
The <Run> function is monadic.
It takes 2 arguments:
1. a string naming the command to deal
with, e.g. Locate
2. either a string or a namespace which is
the argument to the command
Oct 2011
How does Spice work?
The <Run> function (example with 2 cmds)
∇ r←Run(Cmd ca);ct;w
:Access Shared Public
r←0 0⍴'' ⋄ ct←⎕SE.SALT.Load'Utils\fileUtils -noname'
w←##.textUtils.splitOn⍨⎕SE.SALT.Settings'workdir'
:Select Cmd
:Case ‘Locate’ ⋄ w ct.showExpr¨⊂ca.Argument
:Case ‘Replace’ ⋄ w ct.replExpr¨⊂ca.Argument
:EndSelect
∇
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Example
See script Spice\aSample.dyalog
It contains 2 examples of Spice commands:
1. no parsing rules
2. with specific parsing rules
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Example
The syntax is described in the help:
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Example
If the syntax is wrong Spice will complain:
No arguments!
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Example
If the syntax is right Spice will do it:
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Spice command location
When APL is installed the Spice commands' location is [Dyalog]\SALT\spice but you can change it.
The SALT settings contain Spice’s commands location in cmddir:
]setting cmddir \my\own\user\cmds
Will change the Spice/user commands folder to \my\own\user\cmds
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Final
SPICE is a development tool.
It can be used to store frequently used (and even less frequently used) user
commands.
Oct 2011
Short Final
More information can be found in the Spice document.
Dyalog 2009
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