perlman (06/10/82)
I have submitted a set of functions for handling user set variables. These functions allow users to set options by setting variables in files (not unlike the type used to control csh, vi, and leroy). These variables can be set from files that look like: foo = bar flea = bite join = $foo$flea nofleabite The above sets foo to bar, flea to bite, join to barbite, and nofleabite to (null) (which is interpreted by one of the functions as "true." There are functions for reading variables from files (allowing nesting), for having the user set variables interactively, and a host of others. One useful feature is that you can have separate sets of variables. For example, you could have one set for default values, one for user supplied options, one to supply short descriptions of the variables in use. The submission to net.sources includes a manual entry, a makefile, an include file (varpak.h) which should be put in /usr/include, and a file with all the sources. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions. These functions make up one branch of my ongoing work on "The Interface Arsenal" a set of programming tools for user interface development. I hope posting these functions will gain me some valuable feedback. (I'm especially interested in hearing from you poor V6 lusers about portability.) gary perlman ucsd psychology ucbvax!sdcsvax!perlman