Problem with "&variable" in run() macro statement

[José María Mateos]

Hello everyone,

I am running a plugin that I have coded (using the GenericDialog
class, so the parameters can be passed from a macro) and I am
encountering a problem in the following line:

run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=&frames");

This plugin just does the averaging of an image using the first and
last frames passed as arguments. The "frames" variable is set, I have
checked. If I run this line in its current form, I get the following
error:

ImageJ 1.48a; Java 1.6.0_38-ea [64-bit]; Windows 7 6.1; 521MB of 4096MB (12%)
java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "frames"
...

So, looks like the argument has been passed as a string and not as the
value content (the plugin, of course, expects a number). If instead I
use

run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=" + frames);

Everything works like a charm. I understod that the "&variable_name"
shortcut can be used inside the run() method and the variable_name
contents would be passed as the tool parameter. Am I missing something
here?

Best,

José.

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

On Aug 27, 2013, at 6:45 AM, José María Mateos wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> I am running a plugin that I have coded (using the GenericDialog
> class, so the parameters can be passed from a macro) and I am
> encountering a problem in the following line:
>
> run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=&frames");

I am unable to duplicate this problem using this test plugin:

   import ij.*;
   import ij.gui.*;
   import ij.plugin.*;

   public class Average_Frames implements PlugIn {
      int first=1, last=10;

      public void run(String arg) {
         GenericDialog gd = new GenericDialog("Test Dialog");
         gd.addNumericField("First frame: ", first, 0);
         gd.addNumericField("Last frame: ", last, 0);
         gd.showDialog();
         if (gd.wasCanceled())
            return;
         first = (int)gd.getNextNumber();
         last = (int)gd.getNextNumber();
         IJ.log(first+" "+last);
      }

   }

When I run this macro

   frames = 33;
   run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=&frames");

I get

   1 33

as output.

-wayne

> This plugin just does the averaging of an image using the first and
> last frames passed as arguments. The "frames" variable is set, I have
> checked. If I run this line in its current form, I get the following
> error:
>
> ImageJ 1.48a; Java 1.6.0_38-ea [64-bit]; Windows 7 6.1; 521MB of 4096MB (12%)
> java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "frames"
> ...
>
> So, looks like the argument has been passed as a string and not as the
> value content (the plugin, of course, expects a number). If instead I
> use
>
> run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=" + frames);
>
> Everything works like a charm. I understod that the "&variable_name"
> shortcut can be used inside the run() method and the variable_name
> contents would be passed as the tool parameter. Am I missing something
> here?
>
> Best,
>
> José.
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

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[José María Mateos]

2013/8/27 Rasband, Wayne (NIH/NIMH) [E] <[hidden email]>:

> I am unable to duplicate this problem using this test plugin:
>
>    import ij.*;
>    import ij.gui.*;
>    import ij.plugin.*;
>
>    public class Average_Frames implements PlugIn {
>       int first=1, last=10;
>
>       public void run(String arg) {
>          GenericDialog gd = new GenericDialog("Test Dialog");
>          gd.addNumericField("First frame: ", first, 0);
>          gd.addNumericField("Last frame: ", last, 0);

Thanks for your answer, Wayne. I think I've found where we are
diverging. My plugin (BTW, code at
https://github.com/HGGM-LIM/limtools/blob/master/src/main/java/limtools/Average_Frames.java)
does not build its GUI with gd.addNumericField but with gd.addChoice
(so I can limit the range of values the user can provide). Might it be
a bug in the variable conversion when using the addChoice method?

Best,

José.

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

[Herbie-3]

José,

when using a list for a drop down menu, the items are strings, at least
in the IJ-macro language.

HTH

Herbie

_________________________________________
On 27.08.13 17:42, José María Mateos wrote:

> 2013/8/27 Rasband, Wayne (NIH/NIMH) [E] <[hidden email]>:
>> I am unable to duplicate this problem using this test plugin:
>>
>>     import ij.*;
>>     import ij.gui.*;
>>     import ij.plugin.*;
>>
>>     public class Average_Frames implements PlugIn {
>>        int first=1, last=10;
>>
>>        public void run(String arg) {
>>           GenericDialog gd = new GenericDialog("Test Dialog");
>>           gd.addNumericField("First frame: ", first, 0);
>>           gd.addNumericField("Last frame: ", last, 0);
>
> Thanks for your answer, Wayne. I think I've found where we are
> diverging. My plugin (BTW, code at
> https://github.com/HGGM-LIM/limtools/blob/master/src/main/java/limtools/Average_Frames.java)
> does not build its GUI with gd.addNumericField but with gd.addChoice
> (so I can limit the range of values the user can provide). Might it be
> a bug in the variable conversion when using the addChoice method?
>
> Best,
>
> José.
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
>

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

On Aug 27, 2013, at 11:42 AM, José María Mateos wrote:

> 2013/8/27 Rasband, Wayne (NIH/NIMH) [E] <[hidden email]>:
>> I am unable to duplicate this problem using this test plugin:
>>
>>   import ij.*;
>>   import ij.gui.*;
>>   import ij.plugin.*;
>>
>>   public class Average_Frames implements PlugIn {
>>      int first=1, last=10;
>>
>>      public void run(String arg) {
>>         GenericDialog gd = new GenericDialog("Test Dialog");
>>         gd.addNumericField("First frame: ", first, 0);
>>         gd.addNumericField("Last frame: ", last, 0);
>
> Thanks for your answer, Wayne. I think I've found where we are
> diverging. My plugin (BTW, code at
> https://github.com/HGGM-LIM/limtools/blob/master/src/main/java/limtools/Average_Frames.java)
> does not build its GUI with gd.addNumericField but with gd.addChoice
> (so I can limit the range of values the user can provide). Might it be
> a bug in the variable conversion when using the addChoice method?

The GenericDialog.getNextChoice() method expects a string so you can work around the problem by calling the plugin using a macro something like

  frames = "5";
  run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=&frames");

Or upgrade to the ImageJ 1.48c daily build, which converts numeric variables to strings, and you can use

  frames = 5;
  run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=&frames");

-wayne

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[José María Mateos]

2013/8/28 Rasband, Wayne (NIH/NIMH) [E] <[hidden email]>:
> The GenericDialog.getNextChoice() method expects a string so you can work around the problem by calling the plugin using a macro something like
>
>   frames = "5";
>   run("Average Frames", "first=1 last=&frames");

Aaaaaaah, OK. Didn't think of that. My bad.

Thanks a lot for the quick answer to everyone.

Best,

José.

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