Running perl from skill and getting output one at a time

You could just use parseString() on the result of ipcReadProcess - e.g. parseString(ipcReadProcess(cid 5) "\n") to split the strings on the carriage return. Other than that you'll have to create some kind of handshaking protocol between the two - and make sure you flush the output in perl after writing each line. By handshaking I mean you'd have to read a line in SKILL, and then send a message back using ipcWriteProcess, and have your perl script wait until it gets the message back before writing the next string. 

It's not that clear what you really want to do here or why it needs to do this one at a time. In fact if you only want to read the file and print it out, just doing printf("%s" ipcReadProcess(cid 5)) would be sufficient. So you could do:

procedure(test()
  cid=ipcBeginProcess("perl C:/test.pl")
  ipcWaitForProcess(cid)
  while(ipcIsAliveProcess(cid)
    printf("%s" ipcReadProcess(cid 5))
  )
)

BTW - not sure why you posted this in the Custom IC SKILL forum if  you're using Allegro SKILL - there's a PCB SKILL forum which would be more appropriate. However, the code above should work in both Virtuoso and Allegro environments, I believe.

Regards,

Andrew.

Hi Andrew,

I am trying to run a perl script in skill through CIW. I am using ipcBeginProcess("perl filename.pl").Please post  the procedure to execute  the perl script in skill and see the results.

Thanks,

Anand 

Hi Anand,

Normally perl scripts have buffered output, which tends to mean that you wouldn't see any output until perl's output buffer fills up (1024 chars, I think). So I used this example "nobuf.pl" to illustrate how to change that:

$|=1;
print "now you see it...";
sleep 10;
print "now you don't...";

The  "$|" bit is the key to making the output unbuffered.

procedure(CCFprintOutput(cid data)
  printf("RECEIVED at %s: %s\n" getCurrentTime() data)
)

procedure(CCFprogramFinished(cid status)
  printf("FINISHED at %s with exit status %d\n" getCurrentTime() status)
)

ipcBeginProcess("perl nobuf.pl" "" 'CCFprintOutput 'CCFprintOutput 'CCFprogramFinished)

From which I got:

RECEIVED at Apr 26 20:12:12 2014: now you see it...
RECEIVED at Apr 26 20:12:22 2014: now you don't...
FINISHED at Apr 26 20:12:22 2014 with exit status 0

If I had run the command for "buf.pl" which is identical except for omitting the first line (the $| statement), I got  a 10 second delay and then:

RECEIVED at Apr 26 20:15:11 2014: now you see it...now you don't...
FINISHED at Apr 26 20:15:11 2014 with exit status 0

Of course, this example is showing asynchronous communication. It's also possible to just do:

ipcId=ipcBeginProcess("perl nobuf.pl")
ipcWaitForProcess(ipcId)
ipcReadProcess(ipcId 30) =>"now you see it..."
ipcReadProcess(ipcId 30) => "now you don't..."  (after a delay)
ipcIsAliveProcess(ipcId) => nil

If you want synchronous communication. The 30 is a timeout in case the child process doesn't respond.

Hope that helps!

Regards,

Andrew.

Hi Andrew,

It's  been great help. Thanks a lot.

Best Regards,

Anand 

 Hi Andrew,

I wanted write skill program(in Virtuoso CIW) and call perl code using ipc process. I want to pass argument/variables from skill domain to the perl code.Please enlighten me regarding the steps and methodolgy.By the way, how can I create an excel/spreadsheet file and write it, in skill? 

Thanks and best regards,

Anand 

Hi Anand,

Where the Perl program is invoked in the ipcBeginProcess statement (as in the earlier example in this thread), you can use the sprintf function to build the command line for the Perl program up, inserting any SKILL variable values where needed.  As an example, you might do something like this:

;; pass the SKILL variables skillStringVar, skNum1 and skNum2 as command line arguments to the Perl program
cmd = sprintf("perlProg %s %d %d" skillStringVar skNum1 skNum2)
ipcBeginProcess(cmd ...)

Hopefully this answers your question and helps you?

regards,

Lawrence.

I think you forgot the `nil' argument to the sprintf function

skillStringVar="tata"
skNum1=1
skNum2=2
cmd = sprintf(nil "perlProg %s %d %d" skillStringVar skNum1 skNum2)
cmd;=> "perlProg tata 1 2"

Regards,

Anand,

First of all, the forum guidelines ask you not to post on the end of an old thread - this is actually a thread which is asking about the opposite of what you want. It muddies the water for anyone who searches for related topics.

Secondly, does this post help? It's showing how to implement a socket in Virtuoso that you could then talk to from an external Tcl (or perl, or Python) program.

Regards,

Andrew.