OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Utilities
MeShell commandline frontend timetable
Martin Vieregg:
I paused following this thread for a couple of month. What is Xit?
Does anyone has found bugs?
Meanwhile, I only found two bugs:
- restoring the current directories after restarting MeShell sometimes fails
- sometimes dropping a folder into MeShell let crash the program and freezes the whole System (kill Watchcat still works). Normally and in most cases, the folder you are dropping gets current
Meanwhile, I have ported the program to Windows but I have still problems with proper translating some API calls.
Dariusz Piatkowski:
Hi Martin,
--- Quote from: Martin Vieregg on January 24, 2022, 10:07:02 pm ---I paused following this thread for a couple of month. What is Xit?
--- End quote ---
Xit is a VERY old utility that basically enhances the WPS and beyond it, such as CLI, etc. I have had it installed on my machine for many years now, but occasionally it'll run into a problem with some apps. It does have the option to be disabled for such apps, which is what I had to do with your MeShell utility.
--- Quote from: Martin Vieregg on January 24, 2022, 10:07:02 pm ---Does anyone has found bugs?
--- End quote ---
Three things:
1) Bug maybe not, but I find that programs initiated from within MeShell once closed cause the background VIO window ("top (VIO 1)") to be placed into FOREGROUND...so now they become visible, which is not what I think should happen. I would prefer that this window remains in the background and continues to server it's purpose.
2) When a new window is created by MeShell, that window becomes "glued" to the location of MeShell. This means that I cannot move the MeShell and the started VIO session independently of each other, or to clarify: I can only move the CHILD window, but I cannot move the PARENT window because as soon as I try that they always follow each other. This may be fine on a single screen, but on my dual monitor display as soon as I scroll off the screen (with my mouse) the CHILD window stops moving while the PARENT MeShell window continues to go off-screen, this messes up the arrangement between the two and creates some funny (completely off-set, overlapped, or disjointed) windows.
3) Attempts to pipe output to something like "less" simply do not work. The whole output scrolls, and yes, I can then afterwards go back up the page, but sometimes that's not the point, instead I'd like to stop at exactly a pagefull, review that info before I proceed further.
Thanks again!
Martin Vieregg:
--- Quote ---I can only move the CHILD window, but I cannot move the PARENT window because as soon as I try that they always follow each other.
--- End quote ---
There are two possibilities: It would be possible to make a checkbox on the "VIO" page of the settings notebook. "Move main window without moving VIO window" or pressing Ctrl while moving the checkbox omits moving the VIO window. What would you prefer?
--- Quote ---The whole output scrolls, and yes, I can then afterwards go back up the page, but sometimes that's not the point, instead I'd like to stop at exactly a pagefull, review that info before I proceed further.
--- End quote ---
Do you have seen the settings notebook page "Scroll"? Is it really useful to stop the output when you have unlimited acces to the text above after finishing the command?
Dariusz Piatkowski:
Hi Martin!
--- Quote from: Martin Vieregg on January 25, 2022, 03:18:26 pm ---
--- Quote ---I can only move the CHILD window, but I cannot move the PARENT window because as soon as I try that they always follow each other.
--- End quote ---
There are two possibilities: It would be possible to make a checkbox on the "VIO" page of the settings notebook. "Move main window without moving VIO window" or pressing Ctrl while moving the checkbox omits moving the VIO window. What would you prefer?
--- End quote ---
I think I'd rather have a setting that allows me to either set this behaviour to ON or OFF. So that would be the 1st suggestion you provided.
--- Quote from: Martin Vieregg on January 25, 2022, 03:18:26 pm ---...
--- Quote ---The whole output scrolls, and yes, I can then afterwards go back up the page, but sometimes that's not the point, instead I'd like to stop at exactly a pagefull, review that info before I proceed further.
--- End quote ---
Do you have seen the settings notebook page "Scroll"? Is it really useful to stop the output when you have unlimited acces to the text above after finishing the command?
--- End quote ---
Yes, so I had actually stepped through each one of these options and picked the 'static no jump:...' (the last one) because that most closely resembled the behaviour I was going after. Even then though it does not match what I see in a normal CLI session. So I wasn't sure if that was by design, or a true side-effect?
For example, when reading a man page, one doesn't really want the full man content to just scroll by, instead you do in fact read it 'page at a time' until you get to the marker in the man help file that matches what you are looking for.
I will say this though: the "page size" seems to be hardcoded to be 25 lines??? In my case the MeShell window is about 60 lines high...so even trying "page full" settings always shows just half the page.
Lastly, from a new features perspective, can you implement 'cls' (clear screen)? Sometimes it's awefully nice to just wipe the VIO window clean and start at the very top, especially for commands that sometimes provide special formatting. MeShell today does not appear to support this, nor am I aware of another way one could do this?
Martin Vieregg:
>Yes, so I had actually stepped through each one of these options and picked the 'static no jump:...' (the last one) because that most closely resembled the behaviour I was going after. Even then though it does not match what I see in a normal CLI session. So I wasn't sure if that was by design, or a true side-effect?
The idea of "static no jump" is to have a normal editor functionality while the output gets appended in the background (you can only see the moving scrollbar button). You can navigate in the output like in an editor (PgUp/Pg Dn), and pressing SPACE jumps to the prompt when the LED turns to green. I thaught noone is interested in the old behaviour with "pressing space to continue".
>I will say this though: the "page size" seems to be hardcoded to be 25 lines??? In my case the MeShell window is about 60 lines high...so even trying "page full" settings always shows just half the page.
On my computer, it seems to work. The last line is repeated as the first line on the new page.
>Lastly, from a new features perspective, can you implement 'cls' (clear screen)? Sometimes it's awefully nice to just wipe the VIO window clean and start at the very top, especially for commands that sometimes provide special formatting. MeShell today does not appear to support this, nor am I aware of another way one could do this?
I wonder why CLS does not has an effect to the VIO window. It has no effect to the editor window, of course. You can delete the editor window by clicking to the red cross topright of the MeShell window. I have to think about why it does not delete the VIO window. Perhaps I have to implement this by myself. It would be possible, I think.
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