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<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>I just updated from the svn. There are several changes related to ‘stand alone’ module use.<BR>
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Now, if I type a command (e.g., r.info) on the wxgrass command line (i.e., at the bottom of the GIS Manager), nothing happens. Before these changes it opened one of the modules.<BR>
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Looking at the changes to menuform, it looks like the idea is to add a new tab/page for command output.<BR>
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Besides needing to fix the problem with the wxgrass command line, we need to have a bit of discussion about how we envision command line use of GRASS.<BR>
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Here is what I’m beginning to think....<BR>
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Linux always has a terminal.<BR>
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Mac can have a terminal, but doesn’t usually.<BR>
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Windows doesn’t normally have a terminal.<BR>
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I guess, I’d thought that we were including a place to type commands and get output built into wxgrass so that we didn’t have to worry about using a terminal or not—especially because it is not a normal features of Mac and Windows platforms. That is, typing from a terminal outside of wxgrass is certainly OK, but should not be required.<BR>
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However, I think that output from grass commands run in the wxgrass GUI environment should always go to the same place, regardless of how they are launched. So that means that either the command output should go to a command output tab on each module dialog OR to the single command output window in the GIS Manager. It should not have to be directed to one place if the module is launched from one command line and another place if it is launched from another command line. <BR>
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Having the module output show up IN the module notebook seems like a good idea. But IMHO, if we go that way, then the output from a module dialog should go there ALL the time. In that case, the only reason to have the command output window in the GIS Manager is for shell commands and GRASS commands run from the command line only (i.e., not from an autogenerated dialog). In that case, we might as well get rid of the small command line and turn the GIS Manager output window into a full Python terminal. This would then be available on all platforms, obviating the need for a terminal for GRASS. It will work the same and have access to the same abilities in all platforms, regardless of whether they normally have a terminal window or not.<BR>
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What do you think?<BR>
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Michael<BR>
__________________________________________<BR>
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology<BR>
School of Human Evolution & Social Change <BR>
Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity<BR>
Arizona State University<BR>
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phone: 480-965-6213<BR>
fax: 480-965-7671<BR>
www: <a href="http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton">http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton</a> <BR>
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