topic Get entire contents of table script (including comments)? in Discussions

Get entire contents of table script (including comments)?

Chris_Rodrigues — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 22:07:13 GMT

I am trying to come up with a system to organize all the JSL scripts attached to my data table. I want to insert a header in the comments at the top of each of my scripts. It will look like this:

/* ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** 
 * Script Name:		my script name
 * Script Category:		<<category>>
 * Author:				author name
 * Rev Date:			date
 * Purpose:			purpose
 * * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * */

Inside of this header I will keep some metadata about each of the scripts. For example, the "script category" field which is enclosed in angle brackets. I want to be able to iterate over the scripts and manipulate them based on this metadata.

I know that I can obtain a list of all the scripts attached to my data table like this:

dt = Current Data Table();
scriptList = dt << Get Table Script Names;

And then I can get the contents of a script like this:

scriptText = Char(dt << Get Table Property(scriptList[1]));

However, the scriptText does not contain any of the comments. The header section is missing, so I can't access the metadata contained within those comments.

Is there a way to get the full text of a table script, including comments?

Re: Get entire contents of table script (including comments)?

txnelson — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 20:18:10 GMT

The only way that I know of to kluge my way around this is to place each comment into a dummy literal string

dt=current data table();
eval(parse("\[dt << new script("mysct", 
comment="/**************************************/";
names default to here(1);
dt=current data table();
comment="// Here come more comments";
;]\"));

Re: Get entire contents of table script (including comments)?

Chris_Rodrigues — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 21:57:04 GMT

Thanks. That's what I was afraid of - there's no way to programmatically access the comments except using some kind of ugly kludge on the comments side of things.

I did figure out a nicer-looking way to accomplish this. I enclose the header comment block inside of JSL Quote() which tricks the JSL interpreter into keeping my comment block instead of deleting it. So now I can read the category field and use it accordingly.

Here's my example script:

JSL Quote(
/* ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** 
 * Script Name:			my script name
 * Script Category:		<<my category>>
 * Author:				author name
 * Rev Date:			date
 * Purpose:				purpose
 * * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * */
);

//this comment will be deleted

dt = Current Data Table();
scriptText = Char(dt << Get Table Property("my script name"));
scriptCategory = Char(Regex(scriptText,"\<\<([A-Za-z0-9 \/]*)\>\>", "\1"));
Write("\!n" || scriptText || "\!n");
Write("\!n" || scriptCategory || "\!n");

And the output to the log:

JSL Quote(
/* ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** 
 * Script Name:			my script name
 * Script Category:		<<my category>>
 * Author:				author name
 * Rev Date:			date
 * Purpose:				purpose
 * * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * */
); dt = Current Data Table(); scriptText = Char(dt << Get Table Property("my script name")); scriptCategory = Char(Regex(scriptText, "\<\<([A-Za-z0-9 \/]*)\>\>", "\1")); Write("
" || scriptText || "
"); Write("
" || scriptCategory || "
")

my category