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Computing with ioLProgrammer's GuideLanguage Reference

＃ operator   ? operator   @ operator   abs tag   add tag   align field   and tag   array tag   audio tag   backgroundColor field   bold field   border field   borderBottom field   borderColor field   borderLeft field   borderRight field   borderStyle field   borderTop field   bottom field   box tag   button tag   carat field   checkBox tag   choiceBox tag   class tag   clear tag   clientFrame tag   color field   console tag   dialog tag   div tag   do field   editable field   ellipse tag   else field   eq tag   false tag   focus field   focusOrder field   font field   for tag   format field   ge tag   gt tag   height field   hotKey field   if tag   img tag   inf tag   inline field   input tag   invalid tag   int tag   italic field   join tag   layer field   le tag   left field   limit field   line tag   lt tag   margin field   marginBottom field   marginLeft field   marginRight field   marginTop field   mod tag   mul tag   ne tag   neg tag   not tag   null tag   num tag   onClear field   onClick field   onContextClick field   onExit field   onFocus field   onGet field   onInput field   onKeyDown field   onSet field   onKeyPress field   onKeyUp field   onMouseDown field   onMouseIn field   onMouseMove field   onMouseOut field   onMouseUp field   onPull field   onPush field   onResize field   onTimer field   openLink tag   or tag   pivot field   playing field   put tag   putError tag   putLn tag   requestTransfer tag   right field   rotate field   scalar tag   scroll field   scrollPos field   selectable field   spacing field   spacingBottom field   spacingLeft field   spacingRight field   spacingTop field   span tag   split tag   sub tag   table tag   tabRow tag   then field   timer tag   top field   transfer tag   transferAbility tag   transition field   true tag   underline field   vector tag   video tag   visible field   void tag   width field   with field   wrap field   xor tag


format field

Vector field

Specifies a list of supported file types, or the type of a selected file

Applies to...

Example: format={txt:text file},{*:all files} From hipe docs:
LineDescriptionExample
1 Description of ability Get image from scanner
2 Preferred file format pattern pdf:Portable document format
3 Alternative file format pattern (optional) jpg;jpeg;gif:Graphical image
... Additional lines for other file formats as necessary. txt:scan to text

Where multiple file formats are supported, the filename extension normally associated with that format is used. For example, gif means a GIF image format. To prevent ambiguity (in cases where two very different file formats might share a common filename extension), a description is added. The description is not used to identify the file, but is displayed to the user so the user can exclude inappropriate files where prompted to select a file from disk. The client application will probably use a different description for the same file format. Since descriptions are intended for user information only and are subject to be altered in transit, descriptions alone cannot be used to differentiate between different file formats with the same extension. (Therefore each extension should only be listed once in the entire metadata argument).

We use Windows-style file extensions to filter file formats as they are well-understood in practice. Why are MIME types not used? Whilst MIME types were envisaged as a way to remove ambiguity from file format types, they tend to produce less clarity than confusion in reality.

The file type (extension) should be in lowercase, and should not include the *. prefix often used in Windows where the file type follows a dot at the end of each filename. It is worth noting that the host may not organise files with filename extensions, but may use a different scheme.

Some FIFO-hosts can handle any file format. In this case, a single * is specified to indicate a single file of any type. (Note, the * character does not work for matching filename patterns, and should be used by itself only.)

Directory resources

In some cases, the resource is not a single file-style resource, but a directory resource (the client can access multiple files in the directory, which are indexed by filenames). This is useful in cases where a client works on an entire project rather than a single file. To specify that any directory is allowed, use a single forward slash / for the type. To require a directory to have a certain filename extension (e.g. to denote an application, python project, etc.) place the slash after the type, e.g. pro/ would match a directory named myproject.pro/. Note that 'directories' here are an abstract resource. It may not be a physical directory on disk, but something with a directory-like structure, like a set of database tables.

Notes

Abilities are added by FIFO 'hosts' (applications that provide access to a FIFO resource) and the framing manager is expected to maintain a list of these. The list is not given to FIFO-client applications, which never see the name of the ability they access. The framing manager mediates the connection by displaying the ability for the user to select, afterwhich the FIFO-client receives the filename of the FIFO resource.