Application level definition files

Command descriptors

The name and action descriptors must be included in each set of command descriptors, and name must be first in each set.

action: The action descriptor defines the operation to perform when the command name is selected.
help: The help descriptor defines a command to be executed when the user asks for help on name. Since this descriptor is evaluated when the user requests help, the specification of what help is displayed can be determined through parameters that are set interactively.
interrupt: The interrupt descriptor defines whether an executable that is coded in the action descriptor in a command definition can be interrupted by the user. If not coded, it defaults to FALSE. If this descriptor evaluates to TRUE, then executables defined for this command's action descriptor will be interruptible.
If defined among the general descriptors in an initialization file, that value of interrupt affects all user-defined commands which do not redefine interrupt. Note that built-in FMLI commands (such as checkworld) cannot be interrupted.
name: The name descriptor defines a string (the name of the command) that will appear in the Command Menu and that users can enter on the command line.
oninterrupt: The oninterrupt descriptor specifies the action to be taken when an interrupt signal is received. If it is not defined anywhere in your application, it defaults to `message Operation interrupted!`nop. The oninterrupt descriptor is ignored if interrupt is not coded or if interrupt evaluates to FALSE.
If defined among the general application descriptors in the initialization file, that value of oninterrupt affects all user-defined commands which do not redefine oninterrupt.

Example of adding an application-specific command

You might add a new, application-specific command as follows:

   name="date"
   action=`date | message`nop
   help=open $MYFRAMES/Text.datehelp

That will give the user a date command that puts the current date and time on the message line.

Example of disabling an existing FMLI command

You can disable an existing FMLI command, unix-system, for instance, by specifying

   name="unix-system"
   action=nop

When an FMLI command that appears in the Command Menu by default is disabled in this way, its name no longer appears in the Command Menu.

NOTE: When you disable an FMLI command in the commands file, the command becomes unavailable not only to users, but to developers. That is, you cannot use that command in frame definition files or application level files. In particular, do not disable the exit command.

The contents of the commands file will be reflected in the Command Menu. You should avoid giving a command a name that is a partial match of another command, as pr is a partial match of both prev-frm and prevpage, because this makes it more difficult for users to navigate to (select) that command using character matching.