I'm searching for good explanation about making dynamic dialog --menu box in bash. I'm trying to load a list of users from a file that have structure like this:
------ user ------
/rw412 0.2 /rx511 23.1 /sgo23 9.2
/fs352 1.4 /...
------ another_user ------
/rw412 0.3 / and so on...
of course the user name is between ------
i don't really know how to use loops inside dialog. I'm also trying to avoid creating additional files.
Please help
Here's an example of one way to use dialog. The options array can be built up in a variety of ways (see below).
#!/bin/bash
cmd=(dialog --keep-tite --menu "Select options:" 22 76 16)
options=(1 "Option 1"
2 "Option 2"
3 "Option 3"
4 "Option 4")
choices=$("${cmd[@]}" "${options[@]}" 2>&1 >/dev/tty)
for choice in $choices
do
case $choice in
1)
echo "First Option"
;;
2)
echo "Second Option"
;;
3)
echo "Third Option"
;;
4)
echo "Fourth Option"
;;
esac
done
Here's one way to build the options array:
count=0
while read -r dashes1 username dashes2
do
if [[ $dashes1 == --*-- && $dashes2 == --*-- ]]
then
options+=($((++count)) "$username")
fi
done < inputfile
temp: line 7: syntax error near unexpected token $((++c))' temp: line 7: ` options+=($((++c)) "$user")'`
following the above clues and having my own ideas as well; here is another way:
#!/bin/bash
MENU_OPTIONS=
COUNT=0
for i in `ls`
do
COUNT=$[COUNT+1]
MENU_OPTIONS="${MENU_OPTIONS} ${COUNT} $i off "
done
cmd=(dialog --separate-output --checklist "Select options:" 22 76 16)
options=(${MENU_OPTIONS})
choices=$("${cmd[@]}" "${options[@]}" 2>&1 >/dev/tty)
for choice in $choices
do
" WHATEVER from HERE"
done
Ok
Following Dennis Williamson clues and my own ideas i came to something like this
#!/bin/bash
c=0
while read -r dashes1 username dashes2
do
if [[ $dashes1 == --*-- && $dashes2 == --*-- ]]
then
options=("${options[@]}" "$((++c))" "$username")
fi
done < inputfile
cmd=(dialog --backtitle "title" --menu "Select_user:" 22 38 2) #2 becouse
i know there will be 2 options
command=`echo "${cmd[@]}" "${options[@]}" "2>file"`
$command
Now, there is an error like this:
Error: Expected 2 arguments, found only 1.
Why is that??
"" from "2>file". Awesome! Can you just tell me please how to make this command to accept two words in backtitle or menu? like --backtitle "title title"--backtitle "title title" should work fine. Don't do the last two lines like you have them above - do them like I have them in my answer. That's what allows you to capture the selection that the user makes so you can act on it. What version of Bash are you using? That may be why the += didn't work.bash --version shows that it's 2.05b :) and space inside "" does not work, sadly. The way i did that also gives me what i need. Selection is written to file and then to variable. with that variable i can do case or if. Or are there any dangers with my point of view?This is a repost of my answer from a very similar question. I arrived at this answer with the help of a cohort but couldn't find it in the wild; I think adding it here might help others.
The ${options[@]} array required the following (rather strange) structure in order to work. This was tested on bash in Ubuntu 18.04:
#Dynamic dialogs require an array that has a staggered structure
#array[1]=1
#array[2]=First_Menu_Option
#array[3]=2
#array[4]=Second_Menu_Option
Here is bash code that reads in a directory listing from an argument and creates a dynamic menu from it:
#! /bin/bash
#usage: Dynamic_Menu.bash /home/user/target_directory
declare -a array
i=1 #Index counter for adding to array
j=1 #Option menu value generator
while read line
do
array[ $i ]=$j
(( j++ ))
array[ ($i + 1) ]=$line
(( i=($i+2) ))
done < <(find $1 -type f) #consume file path provided as argument
#Define parameters for menu
TERMINAL=$(tty) #Gather current terminal session for appropriate redirection
HEIGHT=20
WIDTH=76
CHOICE_HEIGHT=16
BACKTITLE="Back_Title"
TITLE="Dynamic Dialog"
MENU="Choose a file:"
#Build the menu with variables & dynamic content
CHOICE=$(dialog --clear \
--backtitle "$BACKTITLE" \
--title "$TITLE" \
--menu "$MENU" \
$HEIGHT $WIDTH $CHOICE_HEIGHT \
"${array[@]}" \
2>&1 >$TERMINAL)
