GenericDialog - String containing backslashes is not escaped when recording macro

[Josef Borkovec]

I am developing an ImageJ plugin and I ran into this problem.

I am using GenericDialog with a text field, so the user can input a
file system path. On windows, the path contains backslashes. When I am
recording a macro for this plugin, I get this result:

run("Import results", "path=C:\results.txt")

The backslash is not escaped and when i try to run the recorded
command, the backslash is interpreted as an escape character and
obviously, the file can't be found.

Can I use GenericDialog in a way that it correctly records text fields
containing backslashes? Or I can't use GenericDialog and have to
implement macro recording functionality myself? Wouldn't it be better
if the recorded value from String field had backslashes replaced with
double backslashes?

Josef Borkovec

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[Jan Eglinger]

Dear Wayne, dear all,

I have observed the same in Fiji on Mac and Windows (although on Mac,
you rarely need to use backslashes). Apparently, escape characters are
correctly resolved when building a GenericDialog:

gd.addStringField("path", "C:\\results.txt");
   // gets displayed in the text field as "C:\results.txt"

and the same when run from a macro:

run("Example ", "path=C:\\results.txt");
   // path contains "C:\results.txt"


However, the recorder just records the plain string value instead of
escaping the characters in it, so the former GenericDialog gets recorded as:

run("Example ", "path=C:\results.txt");
   // resulting in path containing "C:esults.txt"

May I suggest to add an escaping routine to ij.plugin.frame.Recorder's
recordOption method?
https://github.com/fiji/imagej1/blob/master/ij/plugin/frame/Recorder.java#L319

Cheers,
Jan




On 05.06.2013 4:00 PM, Josef Borkovec wrote:

> I am developing an ImageJ plugin and I ran into this problem.
>
> I am using GenericDialog with a text field, so the user can input a
> file system path. On windows, the path contains backslashes. When I am
> recording a macro for this plugin, I get this result:
>
> run("Import results", "path=C:\results.txt")
>
> The backslash is not escaped and when i try to run the recorded
> command, the backslash is interpreted as an escape character and
> obviously, the file can't be found.
>
> Can I use GenericDialog in a way that it correctly records text fields
> containing backslashes? Or I can't use GenericDialog and have to
> implement macro recording functionality myself? Wouldn't it be better
> if the recorded value from String field had backslashes replaced with
> double backslashes?
>
> Josef Borkovec
>

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ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

[George Patterson-3]

Dear Josef,

Could you simply replace the backslashes input by the user with the system file separator?
Maybe something like below?

gd.addStringField("path","C:\results.txt");

pathToFile=gd.getNextString();
pathToFile=pathToFile.replace("\\", File.separator);

In this case I don't think your users will need to do anything other than copy and paste the file path into the text field.

George




On Jun 6, 2013, at 6:25 AM, Jan Eglinger wrote:

> Dear Wayne, dear all,
>
> I have observed the same in Fiji on Mac and Windows (although on Mac,
> you rarely need to use backslashes). Apparently, escape characters are
> correctly resolved when building a GenericDialog:
>
> gd.addStringField("path", "C:\\results.txt");
>   // gets displayed in the text field as "C:\results.txt"
>
> and the same when run from a macro:
>
> run("Example ", "path=C:\\results.txt");
>   // path contains "C:\results.txt"
>
>
> However, the recorder just records the plain string value instead of
> escaping the characters in it, so the former GenericDialog gets recorded as:
>
> run("Example ", "path=C:\results.txt");
>   // resulting in path containing "C:esults.txt"
>
> May I suggest to add an escaping routine to ij.plugin.frame.Recorder's
> recordOption method?
> https://github.com/fiji/imagej1/blob/master/ij/plugin/frame/Recorder.java#L319
>
> Cheers,
> Jan
>
>
>
>
> On 05.06.2013 4:00 PM, Josef Borkovec wrote:
>> I am developing an ImageJ plugin and I ran into this problem.
>>
>> I am using GenericDialog with a text field, so the user can input a
>> file system path. On windows, the path contains backslashes. When I am
>> recording a macro for this plugin, I get this result:
>>
>> run("Import results", "path=C:\results.txt")
>>
>> The backslash is not escaped and when i try to run the recorded
>> command, the backslash is interpreted as an escape character and
>> obviously, the file can't be found.
>>
>> Can I use GenericDialog in a way that it correctly records text fields
>> containing backslashes? Or I can't use GenericDialog and have to
>> implement macro recording functionality myself? Wouldn't it be better
>> if the recorded value from String field had backslashes replaced with
>> double backslashes?
>>
>> Josef Borkovec
>>
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

George H. Patterson
Building 13 3E33
13 South Drive
Biophotonics Section
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892
Office: 301-443-0241
Fax: [phone]
[hidden email]

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ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

[Rasband, Wayne (NIH/NIMH) [E]]

On Jun 5, 2013, at 10:00 AM, Josef Borkovec wrote:

> I am developing an ImageJ plugin and I ran into this problem.
>
> I am using GenericDialog with a text field, so the user can input a
> file system path. On windows, the path contains backslashes. When I am
> recording a macro for this plugin, I get this result:
>
> run("Import results", "path=C:\results.txt")
>
> The backslash is not escaped and when i try to run the recorded
> command, the backslash is interpreted as an escape character and
> obviously, the file can't be found.
>
> Can I use GenericDialog in a way that it correctly records text fields
> containing backslashes? Or I can't use GenericDialog and have to
> implement macro recording functionality myself? Wouldn't it be better
> if the recorded value from String field had backslashes replaced with
> double backslashes?

This bug is fixed in the ImageJ 1.47t daily build. This code

    String path = "C:\\path\\to\\results.txt";
    GenericDialog gd = new GenericDialog("Path Test");
    gd.addStringField("Path:", path, 30);
    gd.showDialog();
    path = gd.getNextString();

now records as

   run("Import Results", "path=C:\\path\\to\\results.txt");

-wayne

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