For the reference, there was no popup dialog with the message.

--settings-path issue fixed in r21210
See http://viewvc.slicer.org/viewvc.cgi/Slicer4?view=revision&revision=21210

Output will now be consistent between built tree and installed tree. Fixed in r21211
See http://viewvc.slicer.org/viewvc.cgi/Slicer4?view=revision&revision=21211

Duplicated output on the launcher help will be fixed with the coming release of the launcher. See https://github.com/commontk/AppLauncher/issues/32

Another inconsistency: on Windows, Slicer detaches itself from cmd terminal on startup. Also, there is no error log, and if Slicer crashes, there is no way to know what happened. Can this be resolved at some point?

When using the installed binaries, by default it's expected to have the main executable detach from the console. You should be able to keep attach by using the "--no-splash" argument.

Checked with Oct 5 binary (what I have installed on my VirtualBox Win7), slicer is detached from the console when I use --no-splash argument.

Good point. On windows installed tree, the version of the launcher build without IO support is used. The entry point "WinMain" is called [1] and is defacto detached from the console.

Providing a SlicerWithOutput executable would allow to obtain the output.

[1] https://github.com/commontk/AppLauncher/blob/master/Main.cpp#L123

Potentially related issue?

http://massmail.spl.harvard.edu/public-archives/slicer-devel/2012/010375.html

Hi,

I have a script that I am running from command line using
--python-script option to the launcher with the latest nightly build
of Slicer on Win7.

If I run it without --no-splash, I have Slicer crash. With
--no-splash, it completes without issues.

Perhaps it could be relevant that the script produces a lot of console
output as it imports a large DICOM series (of course, all of this
output is not captured since Slicer detaches itself from the console
as described in http://www.na-mic.org/Bug/view.php?id=2376).

AF

Consistency of launcher has been addressed with version 0.1.9

Output on windows will be addressed while working on issue 0001683

Consider also reading the following note referencing a topic were preliminary work has been done: http://www.na-mic.org/Bug/view.php?id=1683#c6686

From http://massmail.spl.harvard.edu/public-archives/slicer-devel/2013/011259.html

==> Francois Budin:

Thanks Andriy,

I don't think that it has been fixed. It seems to be targeted for
Slicer4.3.0.

Francois

On 02/06/2013 12:39 PM, Andriy Fedorov wrote:

Francois,

I reported a similar issue some time ago, but didn't have time to test
the resolution on Windows. It may be that the issue has not been
resolved, see here: http://www.na-mic.org/Bug/view.php?id=2376

AF

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 11:41 AM, Francois Budin <fbudin at unc.edu> wrote:

Hello everybody,

I am trying to debug some problems I have on windows and I was trying to
use the launcher in Slicer. However, when I do, the standard output
seems to be redirected somewhere because nothing is printed. As a matter
of fact, even when I run "Slicer --help" it doesn't print the help. Does
anybody know how to have access to the text that is normally printed on
the standard output in windows? Is there a log file somewhere?
Thank you,

Francois

---

As a side note, there is a Slicer_BUILD_WIN32_CONSOLE cmake option that can be set to ON at configure time.

On windows, by design the distributed application is built with no console output. See [1], [2], [3] and [4].

For windows, 2 flavor of the launcher are available [4]:

• CTKAppLauncher : Console IO support
• CTKAppLauncherW: NO console IO support - The W is a shortcut for WIN32. See [5]

Since the inconsistency reported in issue 2376 have been fixed and there are no console output by design, I am thinking to resolve the issue.

We should probably open a new issue described as: "On windows, propose a mechanism allowing to report textual information associated with command line switch when Slicer is build within console IO support"

In other word, when the following command are issued:
.\Slicer.exe --help
.\Slicer.exe --settings-path

For this set of option requiring console output, what should happen ?

• a dialog ?
• start a new terminal with the env setup and call: .\SlicerApp-real.exe --name-of-option. There is already the option --cmd allowing to open a new terminal.

[1] https://github.com/Slicer/DashboardScripts/blob/master/factory-south-win7-vs2008-64bits_slicer_422_release_package.cmake#L49
[2] https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/blob/master/Applications/SlicerApp/CMakeLists.txt#L27-32
[3] https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/blob/master/Applications/SlicerApp/CMakeLists.txt#L321-329
[4] https://github.com/commontk/AppLauncher/blob/master/CMakeLists.txt#L278-290
[5] http://www.cmake.org/cmake/help/v2.8.8/cmake.html#prop_tgt:WIN32_EXECUTABLE

From Francois:

I think even just a log file would be very helpful to know if and what went wrong. Otherwise, being able to just open a new terminal with the environment set up would be great too.
I tried to run "Slicer --cmd" since you mentioned that such an option already exists but I didn't get anything (apart from opening a new instance of Slicer).
Thanks,

From Andriy:

I agree with Francois. I am perfectly fine with inconsistent behavior
across platforms (meaning, no console output on Windows), as long as
there is some way to get that output log. IMO, a log file of some sort
would be more helpful than a dialog box.

Inconsistency has been already addressed. Issue 0002917 capture the fact "--cmd" option is not available from an installed Slicer.

Fix committed to 1683-launcher-with-output branch.