> -----Original Message-----
> From: Guy Harris [mailto:guy@xxxxxxxxxx]
>
> On Fri, Apr 25, 2003 at 06:36:33PM +0200, Biot Olivier wrote:
> > 3. Color filter expression builder.
>
> What sort of expression builder?
As the filter expressions are the same for both packet and color filters,
and the packet dissection pane already provides the "Prepare..." and
"Match..." filter construction functionality, I thought it would be not too
difficult to implement this. What I would propose as a solution, is to
provide a filter construction box as it is available today (bottom left),
but with a possibility to select the constructed and/or edited filter for
execution in either packet filter or color filter.
> The "Edit Color Filter" dialog box does have an "Add Expression..."
> button, which is what you get with display filters and read filters as
> well.
Indeed. But you need to input the filter expression by means of the
keyboard.
> It might be nice to have a full-blown GUI tool for
> constructing filters,
> along the lines of what Network Monitor has, showing you an expression
> tree and letting you add AND, OR, NOT, and the like - but that's not
> specific to color filters.
Some code editors (IIRC mainly Java editors) use a "class browser" and
"method browser" which allows simple selection of a given method. We could
use this principle to do the same with filterable protocol field names. This
expression builder could be used for color and packet filters within
Ethereal, and for capture filters for libpcap (based on another dictionary
of course).
> > 4. Filter expression management (including file storage and
> retrieval).
>
> Would "file storage and retrieval" be something such as "Save As..."
> and "Load..." buttons in the dialog boxes for editing your
> filter lists?
Exactly! This part is already available in the "Edit" --> "Capture
Filters..." and "Edit" --> "Display Filters..." menu items.
Regards,
Olivier
