abrams%community-chest.mitre.org@gateway.mitre.ORG (09/05/87)
I am contemplating rewriting some troff vugraph macros which must support a large number of options on entry. I think it would be user unfriendly to require these options to be defined by position, especially since each user might choose to accept the default on a different subset. One alternative that I have thought of is keyword=value. For example, the call to start making vugraphs might be: .VU ID=SMPL ILLUSTRATOR=Abrams DATE=9/2/87 I would like to acquire some reusable troff coding to minimize the effort. Do you have a troff code fragment that will parse the KEYWORD=VALUE string? Suggestions as to alternative approaches would also be appreciated. I'll be happy to share the "answer" with all interested parties. Please respond directly to me; I'm not on this distribution list. Thanks. - Marshall D. Abrams, phone: (703) 883-6938 The MITRE Corporation, 7525 Colshire Drive Mail Stop Z670, Mc Lean, VA 22102 Alternate e-mail address: abrams@mitre.arpa
mjl@tropix.UUCP (Mike Lutz) (09/09/87)
In article <9190@brl-adm.ARPA> abrams%community-chest.mitre.org@gateway.mitre.ORG writes: > >I am contemplating rewriting some troff vugraph macros which must support a >large number of options on entry. I think it would be user unfriendly >to require these options to be defined by position, especially since >each user might choose to accept the default on a different subset. >One alternative that I have thought of is keyword=value. For example, the >call to start making vugraphs might be: > > .VU ID=SMPL ILLUSTRATOR=Abrams DATE=9/2/87 Why not use the tried-and-true preprocessor approach, a la tbl, eqn, pic, etc.? Your preprocessor can then generate positional parameters as necessary, with the .VU macro defined in the traditional troff manner. Mike Lutz