Re: [Gretl-devel] another question about packages
On Mon, 14 Feb 2011, Ignacio Diaz-Emparanza wrote:
Another question I see is not well resolved, IMHO, is when you want
to
prepare a package function that produces a list of series. In this case,
the dialog box of the f. package that appears to the user has a field
entitled:
"Assign return value(optional):
Selection or new variable... "
and a box field to select an already defined list or to define a new
name. (See for example the function package Brown in the server).
Recently I saw (newbie) users very confused about this field...
Returning a list is fine for command-line use, but I think the
best way of constructing a user-friendly GUI function call is via
bundles. Jack and I have been working on this and we'll get it
documented for 1.9.4. In the meantime you might like to play with
the attached: it's a re-write of your Brown package to use
bundles. Inside the tarball is all you need to build and install
the revised package ("make", "make install" should do it). You'll
need current CVS for everything to work right.
Basic idea: the user does not specify a return assignment, but
he/she can get everything the package provides via the GUI, using
menus in the window that the GUI function creates. In this case
the user should be able to save the linear and/or quadratic trend
(and also see a plot of the results).
I should mention, my version of Brown uses a function that's not
yet documented (though it has been in CVS for a while), namely
"setnote". This adds a descriptive note to an item within a
bundle.
Allin
Attachments:
- Brown.tar.gz (application/octet-stream — 2.2 KB)