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FUNNELWEB MANUAL WEB PAGE
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=========================
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Copyright (c) Ross N. Williams 1992,1999. All rights reserved.
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Permission is granted to redistribute and use this manual in
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any medium, with or without modification, provided that all
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notices (including, without limitation, the copyright
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notice, this permission notice, any record of modification,
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and all legal notices) are preserved on all copies, that all
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modifications are clearly marked, and that modified versions
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are not represented as the original version unless all the
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modifications since the manual's original release by Ross N.
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Williams (www.ross.net) consist of translations or other
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transformations that alter only the manual's form, not its
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content. THIS MANUAL IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY
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EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT
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LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND
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FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY
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<TITLE>8.1 Introduction</TITLE>
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<A HREF="index.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>Reference</B></FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="intro.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">1 Introduction</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="interface.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">2 Interface</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="scanner.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">3 Scanner</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="parser.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">4 Parser</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="analyser.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">5 Analyser</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="tangle.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">6 Tangle</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="weave.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">7 Weave</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="shell.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">8 Shell</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="commands.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">9 Commands</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="glossary.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">10 Glossary</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="references.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF">11 References</FONT></A><BR>
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<A HREF="search.html"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>SEARCH</B></FONT></A><BR>
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<P><FONT SIZE="5">8.1 Introduction</FONT><BR>
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<P>One of the goals of FunnelWeb is that it must be
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extremely portable, and a significant effort has gone into
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<P>An equally important goal was that of correctness and
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reliability. To this end, it was determined that a large
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automated suite of test programs be prepared to assist in
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regression testing. Preparing the test suite was tedious,
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but achievable. Automating it portably was more difficult.
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<P>The difficulty faced was that if FunnelWeb was
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implemented in the form of a utility that could be invoked
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from the operating system command language, the only way to
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set up regression testing was in the command language of the
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operating system of the target machine (shellscripts for
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UNIX, DCL for OpenVMS, batch files for MSDOS, and
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<I>nothing</I> on the Macintosh). The huge variation in
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these command languages led to the conclusion that either
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the automation of regression testing would have to be
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rewritten on each target machine, or a small command
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language would have to be created within FunnelWeb. In the
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end, the twin goals of portability and regression testing
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were considered so important that a small command shell was
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constructed inside FunnelWeb. This is called the
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<STRONG>FunnelWeb command shell</STRONG>, or just "the
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<P>By default, when FunnelWeb is invoked, it does not
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enter its shell. If just given the name of an input file, it
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will simple process the input file in the normal manner and
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then terminate. To instruct FunnelWeb to invoke its shell,
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the <SAMP>+K</SAMP> or <SAMP>+X</SAMP> command line option must be
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specified when FunnelWeb is invoked from the operating
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system. It is also invoked upon startup if the file
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<SAMP>fwinit.fws</SAMP> exists.
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<P>Most FunnelWeb users will never need to use the shell
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and need not even know about it. There are four main uses of
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<LI> As a tool to support automated regression testing.
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<LI> As a development tool on machines that do not have a
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built in shell (e.g. the Macintosh). The shell can be used
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to process whole groups of files automatically.
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<LI> As a convenience. A user working on a multi-tasking,
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multi-window workstation may wish to
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keep an interactive session of FunnelWeb going in one window
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rather than having to run up the utility each time it is
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<LI> As a convenient vehicle for enclosing utilities. The
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FunnelWeb shell contains useful general purpose commands
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such as the differences command <SAMP>diff</SAMP>.
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<A HREF="copyright.html">Copyright © Ross N. Williams 1992,1999. All rights reserved.</A><BR>
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