Texis Web Script

This document describes the Texis Web Script (Vortex) language and associated utilities. The information contained within may be updated or changed in future versions.

• Overview
  • Technical Details
  • Directives
  • Functions
    • Script Functions
    • User Functions
    • Builtin Functions
  • Statements
  • Variables
    • Variable Values
    • Variable Types
    • Variable Scope: Global vs. Local
    • Variable Precedence and Initialization
    • Variables from Multi-part File Uploads
  • Execution
  • URL Syntax
    • CGI Mapping by Directory
    • Full Syntax
    • Examples
• Vortex Statements
  • A - function definition
    • Function Scope
    • Function Parameters
    • Pass-by-Value Arguments
    • Pass-by-Reference Arguments
    • Start Functions with Parameters
  • IF, ELSE, ELSEIF - conditional execution
  • SWITCH - multi-choice branch
  • Variable assignment - assign values to variables
  • LOCAL - declare local variables
  • LOOP - iterate through variables
  • SQL - execute SQL statement
    • Parameter Substitution
    • SQL Command Construction
    • Multi-value Variables
    • Complex Field Names
    • Special SQL Variables
  • DB - set database path
  • USER, PASS - set user and password
  • WHILE - conditional loop
  • READLN - read file a line at a time
  • WRITE - write to file
  • EXEC - execute program
  • CAPTURE - capture output
  • TIMPORT - general purpose data import
  • BREAK - exit loop
  • CONTINUE - continue loop
  • RETURN - exit current function
  • VERB - raw output
• Vortex Directives
  • TIMEOUT - set timeout
  • EXPORT - retain variables across invocations
    • EXPORT Types
    • Flags
  • PUTMSG - set error message actions
  • ENTRYFUNC, EXITFUNC - set entry/exit functions
  • USES - use a module
  • SCHEDULE - schedule periodic execution of script
  • COOKIES - control cookie import
  • STACK - set stack limit
  • TRACESQL - trace SQL calls
  • SQLCACHE - control SQL handle caching
  • TRAP - trap signals
  • pragma - inline compiler directive
• Special Variables
  • $cmd
  • $cmdlnargs
  • $errnum, $errscript, $errline, $errmsg, $errfunc, $errvfunc
  • $indexcount
  • $rows.min, $rows.max
  • $loop
  • $next
  • $null
  • $pathroot
  • $ret
  • $ret.count
  • $ret.seq
  • $ret.off
  • $ret.err, $ret.owner, $ret.group, $ret.size, $ret.isrd, $ret.iswr, $ret.isex, $ret.mode, $ret.atime, $ret.mtime, $ret.ctime, $ret.depth, $ret.symlink, $ret.sympath, $ret.nlinks, $ret.devtype, $ret.dev, $ret.ino, $ret.blks, $ret.blksize
  • $sourcepath
  • $url
  • $urlfunc, $urlext
  • $urlq
  • $urlroot
  • $userpath
• Builtin Functions
  • sum - return sum of variable values
  • fmt, strfmt - formatted output
    • Escape Sequences
    • Standard Formats
    • Standard Flags
    • Printing Date/Time Values
    • Other Format Codes
    • Extended Flags
    • Metamorph Hit Mark-up
    • Automatic Typecasting
  • fmtcp - set fmt control parameters
  • mm - enable/disable automatic hit markup
  • sb - enable/disable automatic search and replace
  • apicp - modify Metamorph query control parameters
    • Query Protection
    • Query Processing
  • sqlcp - modify low-level SQL control parameters
  • pagelinks - paginate SQL results
  • read - read files
  • send - print raw data
  • spew - print files
  • flush - flush output
  • header - print HTTP header
  • rex, split - regular expression search
    • REX Expression Syntax
    • REX Expression Repetition Operators
    • REX Caveats and Commentary
    • Some Useful REX Expressions
  • sandr - regular expression search and replace
    • Replacement Strings
  • strstr, strstri - find substring in string
  • substr - extract substring from string
  • strcmp, strcmpi - compare strings
  • strncmp, strnicmp - compare strings, fixed length
  • strlen - length of string
  • strrev - reverse string
  • upper - convert to upper case
  • lower - convert to lower case
  • sort - sort variables
  • uniq, uniqcount - produce unique list of values
  • count - return number of variable values
  • strtonum - convert string to number
  • rand - generate pseudo-random number
  • randpick - return pseudo-random value of a variable
  • srand - seed the pseudo-random number generator
  • exit - exit program
  • fetch - fetch URLs
  • submit - submit HTML form
  • urlinfo - get detailed page info
  • urltext, urllinks - get formatted text, URL links
  • urlcp - modify URL control parameters
    • Resource Limits
    • Page Fetching
    • Server Authorization
    • Formatted Text
    • Links
    • Headers
    • JavaScript
    • Cookies
    • Hostname Resolution
    • Informational/Trace
    • Miscellaneous
  • urlutil - URL parsing utility
  • nslookup - domain name and IP address lookup
  • nsinfo - get info from last name lookup
  • options - print options list
  • radiobutton - print radio buttons list
  • checkbox - print checkbox list
  • cal - print a calendar with links
  • calrule - translate a calendar rule and iterate dates
  • calendar - print calendar form
  • caldate - create date list from calendar submission
  • clist - create comma-separated list
  • slist - create Metamorph set list
  • wordlist, wordcount - get words and frequencies from index
  • createdb - create database
  • adminsql - execute arbitrary SQL
  • loguser - log user accesses
  • userstats - get user statistics
  • resetstats - reset user statistics
  • abstract - generate an abstract from text
  • rmcommon - remove common prefix/suffix from text
  • pwencrypt - encrypt Unix-style password
  • encrypt - encrypt data
  • decrypt - decrypt data
  • readvars - read URL-encoded variables
  • varinfo - get miscellaneous variable information
  • getvar - get variable values
  • setvar - set a named variable
  • vxcp - set Vortex control parameters
  • vxinfo - get miscellaneous Vortex information
  • hash - produce a hash or checksum for data
  • geo2code - latitude/longitude encoding for regional search
  • code2geo - decode latitude/longitude encoding
  • pdfxml - convert Metamorph hit to PDF markup information
  • xtree - maintain sorted list of values
  • profiler - assist in searching query profiles
  • sleep - sleep for a while
  • sysinfo - get system-specific information
  • syscp - set system-specific information
  • sysutil - file and system utilities
  • stat - obtain file size and attributes
  • getpid - get process id
  • procexists - see if process exists
  • kill - terminate or send a signal to a process
  • loadavg - return system load averages
• Vortex Library Modules
  • Vortex Module Creation
  • Vortex Module Revision
  • Using Modules in Scripts
  • Vortex Library Option Summary
• Vortex Scheduling
  • Listing Scheduled Scripts
  • Unscheduling Scripts
  • Schedule Option Summary
• Creating User Functions
  • Declaration and Argument Syntax
  • I/O
  • Compiling and Linking
• Vortex Command Line Options
  • Differences Between Vortex, tsql and Metamorph API
• Vortex texis.cnf Configuration Settings
• Vortex Error Messages
  • Capturing Vortex Errors
  • Changing Logging and Printing of Vortex Messages
  • Avoiding putmsg Side Effects
  • Capturing Compile-time Error Messages
  • Fatal Vortex Error Messages
  • Common Vortex Errors