Catching whiptail checklist results in bash script

[sixfootseven]

I have googled the heck out of this, and read dozens of examples, but cant quite figure it out...

I understand how the yes/no buttons work, and can catch those no problem, but I want to give several options to the user, and catch the output in my script, and do something with it.

#! /bin/bash

whiptail --title "Test" --checklist "Choose:" 20 78 15 \
"John" "" on \
"Glen" "" off \
"Adam" "" off \


# If "John" is selected, run this function:
function john {
echo "You chose John"
}

# If "Glen" is selected, run this function:
function glen {
echo "You chose Glen"
}

# If "Adam" is selected, run this function:
function adam {
echo "You chose Glen"
}

exit

I can see the output at the command line when the above script ends, but how can I use it inside the script?

Also, using the option "--seperate-output" seems to totally suppress the output, rather than seperate it on different lines like it is meant to.

I would appreciate any help

[Toz]

Checklist sends its output to stderr, so you need to catch it somehow. Not sure if this is the best way, but here is one method:

#!/bin/bash

whiptail --title "Test" --checklist --separate-output "Choose:" 20 78 15 \
"John" "" on \
"Glen" "" off \
"Adam" "" off 2>results

while read choice
do
	case $choice in
		John) echo "You chose John"
		;;
		Glen) echo "You chose Glen"
		;;
		Adam) echo "You chose Adam"
		;;
		*)
		;;
	esac
done < results

[sixfootseven]

Thanks so much for your help. When I get a chance to test I'll come back and mark as solved.

Cheers.

[sixfootseven]

Thanks.

Your code worked great, and I really appreciate your help.

Whiptail menus are the final touch on a multiinstaller program similar to Tasksel, but greatly expanded, that I am writing primarily for Raspbian, but will work on any Debian based system, so will test it on Ubuntu too, and make it available.

I tweaked a little to suit my needs, and heres the working sample code:

#!/bin/bash

function firstroutine {
 echo "running johns function"
}

function secondroutine {
 echo "running glens function"
}


function thirdroutine {
 echo "running adams function"
}

whiptail --title "Test" --checklist --separate-output "Choose:" 20 78 15 \
"John" "" on \
"Glen" "" off \
"Adam" "" off 2>results

while read choice
do
        case $choice in
                John) firstroutine
                ;;
                Glen) secondroutine
                ;;
                Adam) thirdroutine
                ;;
                *)
                ;;
        esac
done < results

[sixfootseven]

The Thread Tools menu does not contain a 'Solved' function for me to set.

Can someone educate me, or if I simply don't have access because I'm a n00bie, can someone please set as solved.

Thanks for all the fish.

[BlinkinCat]

The Thread Tools menu does not contain a 'Solved' function for me to set.

Can someone educate me, or if I simply don't have access because I'm a n00bie, can someone please set as solved.

Thanks for all the fish.

Hi,

You as the OP have the ability of marking as solved.
Simply use the Thread Tools Menu at top of page and select "Mark as Solved"

Cheers -

[sisco311]

I tweaked a little to suit my needs, and heres the working sample code:

This method creates a temp file (results). Don't forget to delete it.

The basic method of dealing with temp files is something like:

...
tempfile=$(mktemp)
trap 'rm -f "$tempfile"' EXIT

whiptail ... 2> "$tempfile"

while read -r line
do
    ...
done < "$tempfile"
...

But, in this case there is no need for a temp file. You can pipe directly the stderr of whiptail to the while loop.

whiptail ... 2>&1 | while read -r choice ...