Command and Message Windows

The primary relationship between the Eagle language and Graphic User Interface is represented by the command bar and the message bar. These windows facilitate the user with the ability to invoke Eagles command mode and to control feedback from Eagles engine.

Just above the status bar and attached to the status bar and the frame window is the command window.  Running along the entire length of the bottom of the window, the command window is where macros can be called, Eagle commands can be interactively entered or operating system functions executed.  Whilst the sophisticated operation of applications makes the command window redundant for many operations when running applications, the power of this feature cannot be underestimated in providing a quick and easy way to prototype and trial scenarios without having to resort to developing a specific complete applet for every one-off task.

The command window docked to the frame window and is resizable with this window but it cannot be undocked.  There is a command function which enables  switching on and off of the command window (display or hide the Command Line ) and obviously this should be used with caution.

The standard Windows context menu is available for Cut & Paste, Select, Edit, etc. on the command line.

The command window has an additional feature called History Dialog.  When the mouse cursor is passed over the extreme right of the command window the History Button (a button with an icon) appears.  Clicking on this brings up a history of the commands issued from the command line.  The contents are available for copy and paste by double clicking which enters the selected history command into the command line, the panel is also removed at this point. Pressing ESC removes the command history panel by default.

The History Dialog is movable, re-sizable and follows the selected theme. The command list doesn't contain duplicated instructions.  In Eagle v.14 a developer can chose how the list is ordered and displayed; using the variable HISTORY_ASCENDING, in the configuration file, its possible to have the last command placed at the top of the list with the scroll bar remaining at the top (ascending) or the last command placed at the bottom of the list and the scroll bar stays on bottom (descending).

The customization of the command window and its derived objects (History Dialog and History Button) can be achieved  modifying this group of variables :

• COMMAND_TITLE : Title displayed on the caption of the command bar.

• COMMAND_WINDOW_TITLE : When set to YES or NO defines whether or not to use the Eagle command window caption or title bar. Removing the title bar allows development of presentation  pre-view type applications. Default value is no;

• HISTORY_BUTTON_ICON : this entry sets the icon for the button on the command bar that contains the history of instructions executed.
  Options : HISTORY_BUTTON_ICON=<file> where <file> is an ico file. If unset the  default icon is used;

• HISTORY_ASCENDING : When set to YES or NO defines if the last command will be placed at the top of the history dialog list with the scroll bar remaining at the top (ascending [yes]) or the last command  will be placed at the bottom of the list and the scroll bar stays on the bottom of the list (descending)

• HISTORY_DUPLICATES : This option enables the duplication of commands within the history dialog list.  When set to YES duplication of commands executed is enabled, alternatively when set to NO when the same instruction is executed more than once, the first instance in the list will be deleted.  The default setting for this option is “no”;

• COMMAND_WINDOW_FONT_NAME : set font used in the command window. Default is Courier ;

• COMMAND_WINDOW_FONT_SIZE : sets the font size used in the command window. Default is 10;

• COMMAND_TEXT_COLOR : sets the text color (#RGB) in the command bar; the color will be specified using a #followed with three hexadecimal values (one for red, one for green and one for blue), so the range of possible values is : #000000 to #FFFFFF, (default is #FFFFFF);

• COMMAND_ BACKGROUND_COLOR : sets the background color (#RGB) in the command bar; the color will be specified using a #followed with three hexadecimal values (one for red, one for green and one for blue), so the range of possible values is : #000000 to #FFFFFF, (default is #000000);

The Eagle message window displays system status messages and any reported errors in interactive or application mode transactions. At startup the message window is docked just above the command window. As the data in the window populates the window becomes a scrolling one, so history of messages can be viewed.  The number of the visible lines can set in the INI file or defined through the DIALOG command. 

The Eagle command called DIALOG displays or hides the message area and change the number of visible dialogue lines;

where:

The message window also has a context menu for selection, redoing and storing of messages into a text file. It is envisaged that this menu will be customizable with user defined commands.  Finally, the error and warning messages displayed are done so in different colors. Again it is envisaged that a larger use of text styles will give the message window better communication characteristics.

Eagle v.14 offers four different types of message window and it is possible also to modify a lot of aspects of the window with entries in the INI file

• MESSAGE_WINDOW_TYPE : select one of the four types of the message bar:

• • NOSIZE : message bar without caption, with a left gripper, that is able to be docked/undocked but not resizable;

• • FIXED : message bar without caption, without gripper, not dockable/undockable but resizable;

• • LEFT : standard message bar with the caption placed on the left side when docked top or bottom; the close button has the same effect of the command dialog off;

• • TOP : standard message bar with a standard caption; the close button has the same effect of the command dialog off;

If the parameter is not specified, the default value is nosize;

Next table presents an outline of the differences between the four types of message window :

• MESSAGE_LINES : set the number of lines on the Message Bar at start up;

• MESSAGE_WINDOW_FIXED : to enable/disable the docking/undocking of the message bar. The default value is no;

• MESSAGE_READONLY : to permit or not user entries written on the window. By default it is read-only but it can be set to read/write mode with the environment variable setting.

• MESSAGE_TITLE : title displayed on the caption of the message bar. The text is show only if the MESSAGE_WINDOW_TITLE is to YES and the  MESSAGE_WINDOW_TYPE is to TOP or LEFT.

• MESSAGE_WINDOW_TITLE : to display or not the MESSAGE_TITLE on the caption of the message bar. Default value is no;

• MESSAGE_BACKGROUND_COLOR : sets the background color of the message bar; the color will be specified using a # followed with three hexadecimal values (one for red, one for green and one for blue), so the range of possible values is : #000000 to #FFFFF, (default is #000000);

• MESSAGE_ TEXT_COLOR : sets the text color in the message bar; the color will be specified using a # followed with three hexadecimal values (one for red, one for green and one for blue), so the range of possible values is : #000000 to #FFFFFF, (default is #FFFFFF);

• MESSAGE_WINDOW_FONT_NAME : sets the font used in the message window. Default is Courier;

• MESSAGE_WINDOW_FONT_SIZE : Sets the font size used in the message window.  The default is 10;

•  MESSAGE_CONTEXT_MENU: customize the popup menu shown in the message area. If the variable is not defined, the default menu will be presented.  Alternative popup menus are defined using the appropriate Eagle syntax, see the chapter 7.2 to find more details, in this way the menu will be handled like a standard popup.
  The custom defined context menu, described in a “*.men” file, will then be displayed when the user right clicks the mouse in the message area.