| Use Identifiers or Keywords [message #50510] |
Wed, 04 October 2006 21:42 |
Robbie
Messages: 165
Registered: February 2006
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Senior Member |
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--- Warning to all ITTVIS employees ---
--- This post contains product names which might offend some viewers.
---
Here is another little problem which I'm trying to solve using IDL.
It's a very specific problem, so I won't be offended by a sea of blank
looks.
I have a framework which is a very partial implementation of a dumped
RSI product (Watsyn). This framework has a workflow engine which
executes several programs in order.
Each program might receive input from a previous program. If any
particular program is run, then the changes must be propogated through
the system. For the record - I'm currently using IDLitMessage to send
the messages about these changes.
I connect programs (objects) together, but the syntax might go
something like this:
obj_a -> RegisterOutput, 'OUTPUT1'
obj_b -> RegisterInput, 'INPUT1'
result = obj_b -> Connect(obj_a,'INPUT1','OUTPUT1')
In plain english this just means:
Object A has an OUTPUT
Object B has an INPUT
Connect the OUTPUT of object A to the INPUT of object B
The problem I have is that it is very easy for the end user to
misspell, capitalise or add whitespace. This is a particular problem if
there are many connections. One possible way around this is to use
keywords.
obj_a -> RegisterOutput, /OUTPUT1
obj_b -> RegisterInput, /INPUT1
result = obj_b -> Connect(obj_a -> GetConnector(/INPUT1),/OUTPUT1)
This would make it possible to specify the accepted keywords at compile
time, and also limit ambiguity.
Another syntax might be:
obj_a -> RegisterOutput, OUTPUT1=obj_o
obj_b -> RegisterInput, INPUT1=obj_i
result = obj_o -> Connect(obj_i)
This syntax is not so lightweight because it involves initialising two
objects for each connection.
Any thoughts?
Robbie
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