Suggestions: Temporary files + Object orientation
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:46 am
I've bumped into two problem recently, where I'd like to do the following:
1) Create a program "on the fly", run it, and then delete the program (because it is only a "temporary" file);
2) Refer to a list of objects on a page, but I don't know their names in advance.
For #1, can I suggest that you add a "cleanup" flag to any "save" command -- that is, Eviews would delete the file after you exit. I can understand why you would want to limit access to the file system, but it would be nice to delete the file. Alternatively, expose the system %temp% environment variable, allowing you to save to the temporary directory. (See below)
For #2, objects in Eviews should be a bit more objected-oriented, with a "standard" set of properties/methods, including:
1) Create a program "on the fly", run it, and then delete the program (because it is only a "temporary" file);
2) Refer to a list of objects on a page, but I don't know their names in advance.
For #1, can I suggest that you add a "cleanup" flag to any "save" command -- that is, Eviews would delete the file after you exit. I can understand why you would want to limit access to the file system, but it would be nice to delete the file. Alternatively, expose the system %temp% environment variable, allowing you to save to the temporary directory. (See below)
For #2, objects in Eviews should be a bit more objected-oriented, with a "standard" set of properties/methods, including:
Code: Select all
[u]Properties[/u]
.name Item name (*not* the label, but the actual variable name)
.children A collection of all the children
.children.count Number of children in the collection
.type Item type (workfile, page, text, series, frml, sspace, etc...)
.label The label (for some items, such as pages, .label = .name)
.dimension A vector of the dimensions (a series: [@obs,1], a group: [@obs,N],
a table/matrix: [r,c], sspace: [# eq, #variables], etc..
[u]Methods[/u]
.copy
.rename
.delete
.move
.save Saves to disk in: txt, xls, or other formats, including with an option (temp)
to save to temporary directory[/b]
.print
.import Imports data (including through fetch from DB) into the current object
Thus, a page.import would import series, a series.import would import the
data into the current series). Some possible cool options:
smpl=s Import data into the specified sample
tmp Import data from the temporary directory
(so any file name would not need a directory path)
