Re: Wrapping an Interactive Unix Executable

FROM : Kevin Patfield
DATE : Thu Dec 16 17:59:49 2004

NSTask and NSPipe are exactly what you need. Each instance of NSTask
can only be run once but you just make a new one for each user input.
When the task is complete you read the data out of the pipe and release
both objects. When the user makes a new request, repeat the process.

Erik Andr? Mendoza wrote:

> I'm working on a GUI wrapper for a program called Latin WORDS, which
> was originally developed in Ada for DOS, but which has since been
> ported to OS X.  I've managed to create a working program using NSTask.
>  However, the program is designed to remain running and receive an
> indefinite amount of input.  As I understand, NSTask can only be run
> once, which makes it not ideally suited to my needs, as I wind up
> having to launch the program and quit it every time the user inputs a
> new argument, which is quite inefficient.  Does anybody know of a
> better way to accomplish my goal?  I've done a lot of searching, and I
> think the system() C function looks promising, but it may also suffer
> from the same issues as NSTask.  Thanks in advance.


Kevin Patfield, Phoenix, Arizona