Help with application logic - issuing commands 1

[nickd87]

I need some help kicking my brain into gear!

I have an application that I have put a winsock control on so that I can telnet to it and issue commands. All commands are in the format <action> <object> <qualifier>, so for example 'change ip-address 127.0.0.1'.

I want to implement something where I can only partially enter the keywords and have the application automatically fill in the rest. So I could issue 'cha ip-a 127.0.0.1' and that would be equivalent to the above.

Now, some of the commands begin with the same first few letters, for example we have 'change ip-address' and 'change ip-phone-config' and so on. So, yes, the user would need to enter the minimum amount of letters that are required to eliminate ambiguity. I have tried to achieve this by checking for the Left$() of what I know is the minimum command that is not ambiguous. However, this isn't quite right because I could enter something like 'cha ip-a-boo! 127.0.0.1' and it would pick it up as 'chang ip-address 127.0.0.1'.

Can someone think of a better way to implement what I'm trying to do? I'm stumped!

Thanks

Nick

 

[jadams0173]

It depends on how many commands there are, but regular expressions may be a way. RegEx will evaluate a text to see if it matches the patter you define.

 

[ArtieChoke]

You need to test the whole abbreviated command against the same length piece of each command to see if there's a unique match. That will handle the ip-a-boo! piece matching erroneously.

"I think we're all Bozos on this bus!" - Firesign Theatre

 

[nickd87]

Thank you ArtieChoke - I've got it working the way it should now!

But now I have the problem of ambiguous commands. It just picks up the first command that matches in the Collection.

How should I check for ambiguity ?

 

[ArtieChoke]

Keep checking and keep a count of all matches. Once you come out of the loop, check the count and if it's > 1, then you have an ambiguous match and kick it back to the user.

"I think we're all Bozos on this bus!" - Firesign Theatre

 

[nickd87]

Thank you - perfect!

You know, it's amazing what someone else's brain can do to another's.

 

[ArtieChoke]

That and experience...

"I think we're all Bozos on this bus!" - Firesign Theatre

 

[nickd87]

Umm, sorry just another quick question:

How do you delete everything in a collection? Do I have to loop through them and do .Remove?

 

[ArtieChoke]

Just checked the members - there is no clear operation, so you'll have to loop.

"I think we're all Bozos on this bus!" - Firesign Theatre

 

[nickd87]

I tried doing "Set myCollection = Nothing" and it worked. Don't know if that's the right way, but it worked nonetheless; no looping required.

 

[ArtieChoke]

Yeah, that'll work. You are disposing of the collection object. Then you have to recreate it again. Takes a little time, but on a 3GHz machine, not gonna be a big deal!

"I think we're all Bozos on this bus!" - Firesign Theatre

 

[strongm]

>Takes a little time

Sure, but disposing of each collection item one by one also takes a little time. But, as you say, who's going to notice?

 

[ArtieChoke]

Based on a small test of 100,000 entries in a collection, getting rid of the object is around twice as fast as singly removing each entry. It was still around .1 second, so either way it's not gonna matter much!

"I think we're all Bozos on this bus!" - Firesign Theatre