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Main topics: ARB: a Short Introduction User masks | Related topics: ARB Command Interpreter (ACI) Search and Replace Tool (SRT) Regular Expressions (REG)
# User mask syntax description OCCURRENCE DESCRIPTION ## OCCURRENCE
### In all user mask files.
## DESCRIPTION
### This document describes the syntax of user masks (*.mask files)
    <mask-file>         ::= <id-line>
                            [<parameter-line>]+
                            '@MASK_BEGIN'
                            [<mask-layout-line>]+
                            '@MASK_END'
    <id-line>           ::= 'ARB-Input-Mask'<cr>
    <parameter-line>    ::= '@'<parameter-name>'='<value><cr>
    <parameter-name>    ::= name of the parameter (i.e. 'ITEMTYPE')
    <value>             ::= the value of the parameter (depends on parameter)
    <mask-layout-line>  ::= <widget>[','<widget>]*
    <widget>            ::= <widget-name>'('<widget-parameters>')'
    <widget-name>       ::= name of the widget (i.e. 'EDIT')
    <widget-parameters> ::= <widget-parameter>[','<widget-parameter>]*
    <widget-parameter>  ::= <numeric-parameter> | <text-parameter>
    <numeric-parameter> ::= [0-9]+
    <text-parameter>    ::= "text"
    <cr>                ::= a newline character
### Parameter lines:
    <parameter-name>        mandatory?  allowed <value>s
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ITEMTYPE                yes         'Species', 'Organism', 'Gene' or 'Experiment'
    TITLE                   no          the title of the window
    X_SPACING               no          x-spacing between mask elements (default: 5)
    Y_SPACING               no          y-spacing --------- " --------- (default: 3)
    EDIT                    no          0|1 (1 => show edit/reload buttons)
### Known Widgets: Format of the following descriptions: <widget> "description" description of <widget-parameters> TEXT(text) "prints text to window"
    <text>         mandatory; Text appearing
NEW_SECTION() "starts a new section" TEXTFIELD(label,db-path,width) "a text input field"
    <label>        mandatory; Label appearing in front of input-field
    <db-path>      mandatory; path-name of the database entry (i.e. 'full_name' or 'ali_23s/data')
    <width>        mandatory; width of input field (1..n)
NUMFIELD(label,db-path,width[,[min],[max]]) "a numeric input field" Note: all in [ ] is optional
    <label>        mandatory; <like above>
    <db-path>      mandatory; <like above>
    <width>        mandatory; width of input field (1..n)
    <min>          optional; minimum (leave empty for no minimum)
    <max>          optional if <min>; maximum (leave empty for no maximum)
CHECKBOX(label,db-path,checked) "a checkbox"
    <label>        mandatory; <like above>
    <db-path>      mandatory; <like above>
    <checked>      mandatory; 0 or 1 (value is used if database entry is missing)
RADIO(label,db-path,default,orientation[,radio-def]+) "a radio button field" Note: [ ]+ means: must occur once, may occur repeated
    <label>        mandatory; <like above>
    <db-path>      mandatory; <like above>
    <default>      mandatory; 1 .. n (which radio button is active if database entry is missing)
    <orientation>  mandatory; H,V,X,Y (horizontal or vertical)
    <radio-def> ::= <text>,<db-value>
                    or
                    <text>,'ALLOW_EDIT',<width>,<db-value>
    <text>        mandatory; text showing up in window
    <db-value>    mandatory; text used as database content
OPENMASK(button-label,mask-name) "a button opening another mask"
    <button-label> mandatory; Label appearing on button
    <mask-name>    mandatory; User-Mask to activate
CHANGEMASK(button-label,mask-name) "same as OPENMASK but closes current mask" WWW(button-label,url-srt) "a button to open an URL in the web-browser"
    <button-label> mandatory; Label appearing on button
    <url-srt>      mandatory; ACI/SRT expression which creates an URL (script runs on current item)
ID(id) "assign an identifier to the last element"
    <id>           mandatory; a unique identifier
GLOBAL(id,default) "declare a global variable (visible in ALL masks)"
    <id>           mandatory; a unique identifier
    <default>      mandatory; default value for variable
LOCAL(id,default) "declare a local variable (only visible in CURRENT masks)"
    <id>           mandatory; a unique identifier
    <default>      mandatory; default value for variable
    SCRIPT(id,aci)     "declare a script"
    <id>           mandatory; a unique identifier
    <aci>          mandatory; the script itself (" has to be written as \")
SHOW(label,idref,width) "display/edit a variable or script"
    <label>        mandatory; Label appearing in front of input-field
    <idref>        mandatory; name of an existing identifier
    <width>        mandatory; width of display textfield
ASSIGN(dest,source,button-label) "a button to assign value of 'source' to 'dest'"
    <dest>         mandatory; ID of destination (may be a variable, a named field, etc.)
    <source>       mandatory; ID of source (variable, named field, script, etc.)
    <button-label> mandatory; text appearing on button
### Examples for Widgets:
    TEXTFIELD(   "Name   ",  "full_name" , 50  )
    TEXT("Publication:")
    TEXTFIELD(   "Author ",  "author" ,  40  )    ID(AUTHOR)
    TEXTFIELD(   "Title  ",  "title" ,  40  )
    TEXTFIELD(   "Journal",  "journal" ,  30  )
    TEXTFIELD(   "Remark ",  "remark2" ,  50  )
    CHECKBOX(   "Checked ",  "checked" ,  0  ) TEXTFIELD("by","checked_by",8)