Key Features of Anteater Recipes

1. XML-Based Structure: Recipes are written in XML, using the .recipe extension, and provide a structured way to define tasks and their relationships.
2. Command-Driven: Commands are the core building blocks, representing actions like variable definition, data manipulation, file operations, and output generation.
3. Variable Support: Recipes support variables of various types (text, array, map, JSON) for storing and processing data.
4. Dynamic and Reusable: Recipes can handle dynamic inputs/outputs and are reusable across different workflows.
5. Extensible: New commands and plugins can be added to extend Anteater’s capabilities for custom use cases.

Anteater Recipe Example

<Recipe name="Example Recipe">
  <!-- Define a text variable -->
  <Var name="WelcomeMessage" type="text" init="console">
    Welcome to Anteater Recipes!
  </Var>
  <Out name="WelcomeMessage" />

  <!-- Define an array -->
  <Var name="Items" type="array">
    <item>Item 1</item>
    <item>Item 2</item>
    <item>Item 3</item>
  </Var>
  <Out name="Items" />

  <!-- Define a map -->
  <Var name="Config" type="map">
    <item key="host">localhost</item>
    <item key="port">8080</item>
  </Var>
  <Out name="Config" />

  <!-- Remove a variable -->
  <Remove name="WelcomeMessage" />
</Recipe>

What Can You Do with Anteater Recipes?

• Data Transformation: Manipulate and format data, such as splitting strings, mapping keys, or converting formats.
• Configuration Management: Define and manage configuration data for applications or systems.
• Workflow Automation: Automate tasks like data processing, file generation, or API integration using a rich set of commands.
• Dynamic Inputs/Outputs: Handle user input and generate outputs based on recipe logic.
• Integration: Connect with external systems, APIs, or plugins to extend functionality.

1. Variable and Data Management

• Var: Define or update variables, Example.

  <Var name="username" value="admin"/>
  

• Calculate: Evaluate expressions, Example.

  <Calculate name="result" expressions="2 + 2"/>
  

• Append: Add items to arrays, Example.

  <Append name="myArray" value="newItem"/>
  

• Remove: Delete variables or files, Example.

  <Remove name="tempVar"/>
  

• Inc: Increment numeric variables, Example.

  <Inc name="counter" increase="1"/>
  

• Rnd: Generate random values, Example.

  <Rnd name="uuid" type="uuid"/>
  

2. Control Flow

• If: Conditional logic, Example.

  <If name="status" equals="success">
    <Out>Success</Out>
    <Else>
      <Out>Failure</Out>
    </Else>
  </If>
  

• While: Loop while a condition is true, Example.

  <While name="counter" notEqual="10">
    <Inc name="counter" increase="1"/>
  </While>
  

• Loop: Iterate over collections or a set number of times, Example.

  <Loop numbers="5">
    <Out>Iteration</Out>
  </Loop>
  

• Break / Stop: Exit loops or stop execution, Example, Example.

  <Break/>https://sourceforge.net/p/anteater/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/anteater-cli/src/manual-test/ae/recipes/commands/Break.recipe
  <Stop/>
  

3. Input/Output and User Interaction

• Out: Output variable values or text, Example.

  <Out name="result"/>
  

• Confirm: Request user confirmation, Example.

  <Confirm message="Proceed?" name="userConfirm"/>
  

• Clipboard: Copy variable value to clipboard, Example.

  <Clipboard name="username"/>
  

4. String and Array Operations

• Replace: Replace characters or patterns, Example.

  <Replace name="textVar" regex="\\d+" replacement="number"/>
  

• Trim: Remove whitespace, Example.

  <Trim name="textVar"/>
  

• Tokenizer: Split strings, Example.

  <Tokenizer name="csvLine" delim=","/>
  

• ArrayElement: Get array element by index, Example.

  <ArrayElement name="item" array="myArray" elementId="2"/>
  

• ArraySize: Get array or string length, Example.

  <ArraySize name="arrayLength" array="myArray"/>
  

5. File and Directory Operations

• Listdir: List files in a directory, Example.

  <Listdir path="." name="fileList"/>
  

• Load: Load data from files or URLs, Example.

  <Load name="fileContent" file="data.txt"/>
  

• Remove: Delete files, Example.

  <Remove file="oldfile.txt"/>
  

6. Network and HTTP Operations

• Get: HTTP GET request, Example.

  <Get name="response" url="http://example.com/api"/>
  

• Post: HTTP POST request, Example.

  <Post name="response" url="http://example.com/api" body="{'key':'value'}"/>
  

• Request: Custom HTTP or socket request, Example.

  <Request method="get" response="respVar" host="http://example.com"/>
  

7. System and Process Control

• Command: Execute system commands, Example.

  <Command os=".*" cmd="echo Hello World"/>
  

• Wait: Pause execution, Example.

  <Wait delay="2s"/>
  

8. Advanced and Utility Commands

• Extern: Use external processors, Example.

  <Extern class="CustomProcessor">
    <!-- custom commands -->
  </Extern>
  

• Task: Run other recipes or group commands, Example.

  <Task name="OtherRecipe"/>
  

• About: Add recipe metadata, Example.

  <About>
    <description>Sample recipe description.</description>
  </About>
  

• Comment: Add comments.

  <!-- This is a comment -->
  

9. Other Utilities

• Date: Get or format dates, Example.

  <Date name="now" format="yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"/>
  

• Formater: Format variables, Example.

  <Formater name="xmlVar" type="xml"/>
  

• Parse: Parse data formats, Example.

  <Parse name="jsonVar" source="rawData" type="json"/>
  

10. Threading and Concurrency

• Runnable / Threads: Define and run code in threads, Example.

  <Runnable name="myTask">
    <Out>Running in thread</Out>
  </Runnable>
  <Threads name="myTask" numbers="2" multi="true"/>
  

11. Network Utilities

• NetworkInterfaces: List network interfaces, Example.

  <NetworkInterfaces name="interfaces"/>
  

12. Miscellaneous

• Pragma: Set execution options, Example.

  <Pragma event="console-input" action="default"/>
  

• Note: Add notes with connections, Example.

  <Note name="info" connection="db">Database connection info</Note>