CHS and REXX

[krcc18a]

CHS looks like a superb tool.

1. Can I use REXX as a Custom Script tool?

2. Which version of REXX?

3. What are the arguments? What are input and output parameters?

4. Which REXX statements would I use to read and write to the clipboard?

Thanks,
Marty

[x16wda]

FWIW I always prefer Regina REXX for scripting (although I am not a CHS user and don't know how it interacts).  It's just an executable, plus a library file or two, no installation required.

Do you have a preferred flavor of REXX?

[krcc18a]

Regina REXX suits me fine, but I still couldn't figure out:

1. What are the arguments? What are input and output parameters?

2. Which REXX statements would I use to read and write to the clipboard?

Thanks,
Marty

[mouser]

The place that you would interface a custom script is on the "Custom Script Tool" tab page of the Modify Format option:


After you configure your tool, use the Presets menu and choose Save As to save it.  You can even set a custom hotkey from the "Preset Hotkey Trigger" tab before saving.

The key to understanding how to use custom tools/scripts with CHS is to see from that dialog that CHS will first save the clipboard text to a file, and then pass that file as an argument to the script, and then expect the script to either save changes to that same file, or to a different file or output it to stdout.

So what you need to do to use REXX or any other scripting tool, is test calling your tool from a dos commandline.  Some scripting languages will let you call them directly like "myscript.py %infile%" but others may require you to call them with the full path to the interpreter like "C:\Python.exe myscript.py %infile%".

Then just test your script from the commandline until it does what you want.

There are some sample tools in the Tools\ directory of CHS to help you see how a tool should behave.

[krcc18a]

Thanks all!

I got this working.

1. I had to specify the complete path to the Regina Rexx product and the REXX exec in a .bat which I had pointed the CHS Custom Script Tool menu to.

2. I took the take the defaults of:

create %infile%

and

read from %outfile%.

which were read and written to by Regina's linein and call lineout functions.

Thanks,
Marty

[mouser]

Nice work ! 

[Rover]

@OP:  OMG, I haven't thought about REXX since early 2000's.    It was cool because it ran on OS/2, Windows, *nix and System 390. 

It was "cooler" than perl because it was less obfuscated.

That's cool as hell you got it working with CHS.   

   You're not running eCom Station are u?     That would be way too funny. 

[IainB]

@OP:  OMG, I haven't thought about REXX since early 2000's.    It was cool because it ran on OS/2, Windows, *nix and System 390. 
It was "cooler" than perl because it was less obfuscated.
That's cool as hell you got it working with CHS.   
   You're not running eCom Station are u?     That would be way too funny. 

-Rover (May 17, 2013, 10:38 PM)

REXX redux?     
REXX seems to have been mentioned on and off in the DCF for years. If you did a search on the forum for "REXX", you'd get 2 pages worth of references to it.
A great and still useful scripting language, it seems.
Now compare this with a search for something more obscure on DCF - (say) the fading star Algol - and you get 3 hits.