R/ghelp.R

In seqinr: Biological Sequences Retrieval and Analysis

# ==>   ghelp&file=xx&item=xx
# <==  nl=xx&...1 or several lines...
# Reads one item of information from specified help file.
# File can be HELP or HELP_WIN, item is the name of the desired help item
# Reply :	nl is 0 if any problem, or announces the number of help lines returned.

ghelp <- function(item = c("GENERAL", "SELECT", "SPECIES", "KEYWORD"), 
                  file = c("HELP", "HELP_WIN"), socket = autosocket(),
                  catresult = TRUE){
    #
    # Default is "HELP" file and "GENERAL":
    #
    item <- item[1]
    file <- file[1]
    if(!(file %in% c("HELP", "HELP_WIN"))) stop("Wrong file agument")
    #
    # Build request:
    #
    request <- paste("ghelp&file=", file, "&item=", item, sep = "")
    writeLines(request, socket, sep = "\n")
    answerFromServer <- readLines(socket)
    #
    # Check that there is an answer from server:
    #
    if(length(answerFromServer) == 0){
        warning("Empty answer from server")
        return(NA)
    }
    #
    # cat result:
    #
    answerFromServer[1] <- unlist(strsplit(answerFromServer[1], split = "&"))[2]
    if(catresult) cat(answerFromServer, sep = "\n")
    invisible(answerFromServer)
}