### Using the tellEddie tool

tellEddie is used to pipe built-in commands (such as SetKey, Primitives, etc.) from a Worksheet or a shell window back into Eddie for execution. It ensures shell variables are properly expanded and evaluated making the builtin shell commands well integrated with the rest of the original bash commands and makes them behave identically.

In addition to that tellEddie can be used to open a document in a running copy of Eddie and block the command line until the window corresponding to the open document gets closed. This feature is useful with some source control systems such as CVS or Perforce for writing checkin notes, etc. Usually systems like this are preconfigured with the editor of your choice (which could be Eddie in your case). During checkin the editor gets launched from the command line you invoked the checkin command from, you type up your chekin notes and close the editor which makes the checkin proceed with checking in files. If you are already running Eddie (you may be executing the checkin commands from your Worksheet), this will not work because Eddie is already running and the launch eddie command will return immediately without the checkin notes being typed up. To prevent this, you may use the blocking feature of tellEddie. Configure your source control environment to list:

    export EDITOR='$EDDIE_HOME/plugins/tellEddie -w'

or a corresponding command, depending on the syntax. The -w option used with tellEddie will cause the file opened as a result to block the command line that invoked it untill the corresponding window is closed. See also Shell tips