[GRASS-dev] Creating location from file problem

[Glynn Clements]

Markus Neteler wrote:

> together with Helena I tried to create new location from a file,
> it fails if a datum should be asked:
> 
> > 1. Create new location from a file -
> > I put the file at:
> > http://skagit.meas.ncsu.edu/~helena/grasswork/grassbookdat/gdc.zip
> 
> When selecting the SHAPE file, the procedure in
> lib/init/file_option.tcl
> calls g.proj. In this case, it wants to query the user for the
> datum, but for that it has to be run in the xterm wrapper which
> isn't the case yet.
> 
> I tried
> diff -u -r1.5 file_option.tcl
> --- file_option.tcl     19 Oct 2006 12:03:48 -0000      1.5
> +++ file_option.tcl     20 Oct 2006 08:45:28 -0000
> @@ -114,8 +114,7 @@
>                         if {[file exists $filepath]== 1} {
>                                 if {[file exists $thelocation ]==0} {
>                                         destroy .fileloc;
> -                                       exec -- g.proj -c georef=$filepath location=$fileLocation >@stdout 2>@stderr;
> -                                       destroy .fileloc
> +                                       exec -- $env(GISBASE)/etc/grass-xterm-wrapper -e g.proj -c georef=$filepath location=$fileLocation;
>                                         DialogGen .wrnDlg [G_msg "WARNING: restart GRASS please"] warning \
>                                         [G_msg "WARNING: Please restart GRASS in order find the created location in the list (closing it for you now)"] \
>                                                 0 OK;
> 
> but the xterm window only flashes, then closes.
> 
> How to do it right?

1. Any GRASS program run in an xterm needs to use grass-run.sh, e.g.:

exec -- $env(GISBASE)/etc/grass-xterm-wrapper -e $env(GISBASE)/etc/grass-run.sh g.proj ...

You should probably also use "-T g.proj -n g.proj" to set the title
back (otherwise it will be "grass-run.sh", which isn't particularly
informative).

2. Those semicolons shouldn't be there; I don't know if they will have
any adverse effect, but they are unnecessary.

3. The xterm will close as soon as the command completes (whether it
succeeds or fails). You can use the -hold switch to retain the xterm
window after the command completes, but you should only do that for
debugging; having to manually close the xterm window each time would
be annoying in normal use. Alternatively, redirect stdout/stderr to a
file, to catch any error messages.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>