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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Chapter 2. Users Guide</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.65.1" /><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="CapiSuite 0.4.5" /><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="CapiSuite 0.4.5" /><link rel="previous" href="re05.html" title="capisuitefax" /><link rel="next" href="ch02s02.html" title="A first look on the incoming and idle scripts" /></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter 2. Users Guide</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="re05.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center"> </th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch02s02.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="chapter" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="userguide"></a>Chapter 2. Users Guide</h2></div></div><div></div></div><div class="toc"><p><b>Table of Contents</b></p><dl><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="ch02.html#ug_python">Introduction to Python</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02.html#python_basics">Python Basics</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02.html#py_blocks">Blocks, Functions and Exceptions</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02.html#py_modules">Working with modules</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="ch02s02.html">A first look on the incoming and idle scripts</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s02.html#ug_scripts_incoming">The incoming script</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s02.html#ug_scripts_idle">The idle script</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="ch02s03.html">Used file formats</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s03.html#voice_fileformat">Format of voice files (inversed A-Law, 8kHz, mono)</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s03.html#fax_fileformat">Format of fax files (Structured Fax Files)</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="ch02s04.html">Tutorial: writing an incoming script</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s04.html#incoming_tut_basics">Basics and a really dumb answering machine.</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s04.html#incoming_tut_improving">Improving it to a useful (?) state</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s04.html#incoming_tut_unique_names">Using sensible file names</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s04.html#incoming_tut_fax_recognition">Automatic fax recognition and receiving</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="ch02s05.html">Example for an idle script</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="ch02s06.html">Structural overview of the default scripts</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s06.html#default_incoming">incoming.py</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s06.html#default_idle">idle.py</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s06.html#default_capisuitefax">capisuitefax</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ch02s06.html#default_helpers">cs_helpers.py</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="ch02s07.html">CapiSuite command reference</a></span></dt></dl></div><p>In the last chapter you've seen how to use the default scripts distributed with <span class="application">CapiSuite</span>.
But the main goal in developing <span class="application">CapiSuite</span> was not to provide a perfect ready-to-use
application. I intended to develop a tool where you can write your <span class="emphasis"><em>own</em></span>
applications very easyly. I'll show you how to do this in the next sections.</p><div class="sect1" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="ug_python"></a>Introduction to Python</h2></div></div><div></div></div><p>As I thought about the scripting language I wanted to integrate into <span class="application">CapiSuite</span>,
my first idea was to develop an own, simple one. But as more as I looked into it, the
more I found that a general purpose language will be much
more helpful than re-inventing every wheel that I would need. So I looked for some
easy to integrate (and to learn) language. The one I liked most was Python - and it
also had a nice documentation about embedding, so I chose it and I'm still happy about
that decision. :-)</p><p>So the first thing you'll have to do is to learn Python. Don't be afraid -
it was developed as a beginners language and Guido (Guido van Rossum, the inventor of Python)
has done very well in my opinion.</p><p>In the next few sections, I'll give you a short introduction to the features of Python
you most probably will need for <span class="application">CapiSuite</span>. As this shouldn't be a manual about Python or a tutorial
in computer programming, I assume you're already familiar with the basic concepts of todays
wide-spread procedural and object-oriented languages.</p><p>If not, I would advise you to get and read a book for learning Python - there are many
available in different languages. The Python home page on <a href="http://www.python.org" target="_top">http://www.python.org</a>
has also nice and comprehensive manuals and tutorials available for free.</p><div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="python_basics"></a>Python Basics</h3></div></div><div></div></div><p>Python supports most features you know from other common languages. Here's the
syntax of the basic operations shown in a Python session. A Python session is another
fine feature of its interpreter: just start it by typing <span><b class="command">python</b></span>
in a shell and you'll get a prompt:</p><pre class="screen">gernot@linux:~> python
Python 2.2.1 (#1, Sep 10 2002, 17:49:17)
[GCC 3.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
information.
>>></pre><p>As you can see, the Python prompt is <tt class="literal">>>></tt>.
If you enter commands that span multiple lines, Python shows a second
prompt: <tt class="literal">...</tt></p><pre class="screen">>>> if (1==2):
... print "Now THAT's interesting!"
...</pre><p>Ok, now let's go on:</p><pre class="screen">>>> # comments start with # at the begin of a line
>>> # now the usual first steps
>>> print "hello world"
hello world
>>> # variables
>>> a=5 # no separate declarations necessary
>>> b=a*2
>>> print b
10
>>> b='hello'
>>> print b,'world'
hello world
>>> # python is very powerful in handling sequences
>>> a=(1,2,3) # defines a tuple (not changeable!)
>>> print a
(1, 2, 3)
>>> a[1]=2 # this must fail
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
TypeError: object doesn't support item assignment
>>> a=[1,2,3] # defines a list (changeable)
>>> a[1]=7
>>> print a
[1, 7, 3]
>>> # control structures
>>> if (b=='hello'):
... print "b is hello"
... else:
... print "????"
...
b is hello
>>> # the for statement can iterate over sequences
>>> for i in a:
... print i
...
1
7
3
>>> # replace positions 1 to 3 (without 3) with 0
>>> a[1:3]=[0]
>>> a
[1, 0]
>>> # a[-i] is the i-the element counted from the back
>>> a[-1]=7; a[-2]=8
>>> a
[8, 7]</pre></div><div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="py_blocks"></a>Blocks, Functions and Exceptions</h3></div></div><div></div></div><p>Blocks are grouped only by identation. No <tt class="literal">begin</tt>,
<tt class="literal">end</tt>, braces (<tt class="literal">{</tt>, <tt class="literal">}</tt>)
or the like are needed. This sounds very uncomfortable at the first sight, but it's
really nice - you must always structure your code exactly how you
<span class="emphasis"><em>mean</em></span> it:</p><pre class="screen">>>> for i in [1,2,3]:
... print 2*i
...
2
4
6
>>> i=0
>>> while (i!=3):
... print i
... i+=1
...
0
1
2</pre><p>Now let's see how to define functions and how to work with
exceptions:</p><pre class="screen">>>> def double_it(a):
... return (2*a)
...
>>> print double_it(9)
18
>>> print double_it("hello")
hellohello
>>>
>>> # let's trigger a exception
>>> a=1/0
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
>>>
>>> # now let's catch it
>>> try:
... a=1/0
... except ZeroDivisionError,e:
... print "You divided by zero, message was:",e
...
You divided by zero, message was: integer division or modulo by zero</pre></div><div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="py_modules"></a>Working with modules</h3></div></div><div></div></div><p>Modules are a way to group functions together. They must be
imported before you can use them and they give you a new object
containing all functions. Let's play around with some of them:
</p><pre class="screen">>>> import time
>>> # what is in time?
>>> dir(time)
['__doc__', '__file__', '__name__', 'accept2dyear', ...]
>>> # So - what do all these functions do? Python can tell...
>>> print time.__doc__
This module provides various functions to manipulate time values.
[...]
Variables:
[...]
Functions:
time() -- return current time in seconds since the Epoch as a float
ctime() -- convert time in seconds to string
[...]
>>> # Could you please explain ctime in more detail?
>>> print time.ctime.__doc__
ctime(seconds) -> string
Convert a time in seconds since the Epoch to a string in local time.
This is equivalent to asctime(localtime(seconds)). When the time tuple
is not present, current time as returned by localtime() is used.
>>> time.time()
1044380131.186987
>>> time.ctime()
'Tue Feb 4 18:35:36 2003'
>>> import os
>>> os.getuid()
500
>>> import pwd
>>> pwd.getpwuid(500)
('hans', 'x', 500, 100, 'Hans Meier', '/home/hans', '/bin/bash')</pre><p>Ok, now I hope you got a small idea of Python. Have fun with
it. I had... :-)</p><p>If you have further questions, I would <span class="emphasis"><em>really</em></span> advise you
to continue with a good book or the documentation on
<a href="http://www.python.org" target="_top">http://www.python.org</a>. Please don't ask general Python
questions on the CapiSuite lists...</p></div></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="re05.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="index.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch02s02.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">capisuitefax </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> A first look on the incoming and idle scripts</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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contrib-release
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06e1e0ab98898582c876a8be34ecb5e9
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