Chapter 3: Data Management 53
iTool Developer’s Guide iTool Data Manager
iTool Data Manager
Data imported into the iTool system is stored in a separate data object hierarchy that
is available to all iTools. When a data item is placed in the data manager hierarchy,
whether interactively by a user or automatically by some operation of an iTool, the
data item is immediately visible to all iTools. The hierarchy of the data manager
reflects the hierarchy of the data containers (IDLitDataContainer and
IDLitParameterSet objects) it holds.
Unless you are creating new data items within an iTool operation, it is unlikely that
you will need to add data to (or remove data from) the data manager yourself.
Addition of data items to the data manager is handled automatically if data is
imported via any of the standard iTool data import mechanisms (choosing Open from
the File menu, or clicking an Import button in the Data Manager user interface).
Adding Data to the Data Manager
To add an IDLitData, IDLitDataContainer, or IDLitParameterSet object to the data
manager, call the IDLitContainer::AddByIdentifier method on your iTool object with
the identifier string
'/Data Manager' (note that identifier strings can include
spaces, as between the words “Data” and “Manager”):
; Create an IDLitDataObject
oData = OBJ_NEW('IDLitData', myData, IDENTIFIER = 'Cool Data')
; Get a reference to the current iTool object.
; (The GetTool method is inherited from the IDLitIMessaging
; class.)
oTool = self->GetTool()
; Add the data object to the data manager
oTool->AddByIdentifier, '/Data Manager', oData
This results in the oData data object being stored in the data manager with the
identifier
'/Data Manager/Cool Data'.
See “iTool Object Identifiers” on page 28 for additional information on identifier
strings.
Removing Data from the Data Manager
To remove data from the data manager, call the IDLitContainer::RemoveByIdentifier
method on your iTool object with the full identifier string used to add the data object:
oData = oTool->RemoveByIdentifier('/Data Manager/Cool Data')
