User-Defined Actions

User-Defined Actions

Overview

User-Defined Actions Template File

Command Shell

User-Defined Actions Output

Overview

User-Defined Actions (UDA) take significant place in software development tools such as Development Assistant for C. This feature in the first place enables the integrated use of external Windows and DOS or terminal applications (Compiler, Linker, Version Control System...). Secondly, it enables the use of powerful third-party tools which provide your to feel "at home" integrating his favorite environment.

However, due to flexible User Action Macros, many other capabilities of UDA are also present. DA-C provides a possibility of defining User-Defined Actions through "User-Defined Actions..." on the Options menu.

Definitions of these actions appear on:

the Start menu,
the Version Control menu and
the Toolbar (optionally).

These are the places from where the User-Defined Actions can be invoked. In addition, User-Defined Actions can be associated with shortcuts.

Definitions are saved in project files, in the sections [Action.Start] and [Action.VCS], and reside independently on "Installation-user-team-level" and "Project-level".

The maximum number of User-Defined Actions is limited to 15 per menu.

Please, see "User-Defined Actions" for Toolbar and Menu details.

User-Defined Actions Template File

A User-Defined Actions template is a file with a name similar to a compiler name, but with the .tpl extension where every "/" character is replaced by a "-" character. You can edit it and use in all projects in which a particular compiler is used. Template file cannot be changed in User-Defined Actions Options, but only by editing the template in which they are implemented ("C:\Users\Public\Documents\RistanCASE\Development Assistant for C\UDA Templates" First part of this Path depends of Windows language).

Command Shell

The Command Shell functionality gives you an overview of the output of shell commands started from DA-C. A shell command can be an integral part of a User-Defined Action or a command entered separately. Apart from an output overview, the Command Shell View also ensures referencing to the file shown in the output report.

Development tools such as compilers, assemblers, linkers, make, typically do not have a GUI but are console applications which receive their parameters from the command line, and use as their output the standard one - the console. Starting such tools from a Windows environment such as DA-C is not difficult, thanks to User-Defined Actions. However, the result overview is not entirely simple and involves activities such as output redirection to the file. Command Shell ensures an overview of the executed shell command. Command Shell also allows simple command shell assigning, without starting a separate DOS console.

Basic Work Principles

A special window - the Command Shell View - has been provided for following the execution of shell commands. The commands are typically started via User-Defined Actions, but you can also start them directly in this window.

Error messages about the selected tools are recognized in an exit, and Command Shell offers you the possibility of proceeding directly to editing the file at the position indicated by the message, after which the next / previous message is activated, as with other Message Logs window tabs.

When displaying results, emphasis is given to: the entry, the standard exit recognized as an error message, and the standard error exit.

Command Shell Tab

The Command Shell consists of command output, in which the exit is displayed, and of Command drop-down combo box, in which commands (command lines) are assigned, and the Go button.

On carrying out a shell command, the command being carried out is displayed in Command Output, and behind it the result (exit) it gives. The following are specially marked: the entry command (green icon), the exit lines recognized as error messages (blue icon), and the standard error exit (red icon). You can copy, cut, and delete selected Command Output lines, but it is not possible to add or change the content. You can save the entire content of Command Output to a file (Save As) or print it (Print).

Double-clicking the Command Output line recognized as an error message opens a file in DA-C Editor at the position specified in the error message line. In the Editor margin, at the position indicated by the error message, the same icon as in Command Output is displayed.

Easy positioning in accordance with the next / previous error message (Search / Next Message, Search / Previous Message) has been ensured, under the condition that the Message Manager window is open and that the Command Shell tab is active in it.

Double-clicking the line in Command Output in which one of the previously executed commands is located, restarts the execution of this command.

Command is used for entering commands. The current working directory, after which you enter the command you want to carry out, is displayed in the left part of the Command drop-down combo box. As the history of executed commands is saved, you may also choose one of the previous commands from the list. By clicking the Go button (or pressing "Enter"), you start the execution of the command you have entered.

During command execution, Command is disabled and the Go button is replaced by the Stop button. If you start a new shell command via a UDA, a warning is displayed, alerting you that it is impossible to start a new command prior to completion of the execution of the previous one. You can abort command execution via the Stop button or the key combination "Ctrl+Break" in the active Command Shell view. If it is requested that you enter certain data during command execution, the Command Shell view becomes active and the focus shifts to Command, which becomes enabled. The Stop button is replaced by the Input button and using it, you can enter the requested data from Command. Once command execution has been completed, the focus shifts to Command and the Stop button is replaced by the Go button.

The Command Shell view is activated automatically on starting a UDA which gives an exit or through the View > Messages menu. When executing a User-Defined Action, the prerequisite for displaying the exit in the Command Shell view is that there is exit data to display and that the option settings you have made specify that the action be carried out via Command Shell, either as the default behavior of any UDA or as an explicit setting in UDA options.

User-Defined Actions Output

The User-Defined Actions Output functionality gives you an overview of the output of shell commands started from DA-C. A shell command can be an integral part of a User-Defined Action. Apart from an output overview, the User-Defined Actions Output also ensures referencing to the file shown in the output report.

User-Defined Actions Output shell supports only "cls" command.