Command Bar / Buffer

Command Bar

Perhaps one of the more important concepts to understand in Indigo is the command bar!  

Unlike conventional terminal emulation applications where you type keystrokes directly into the data window, Indigo introduces the concept of sending data via the command bar. 

Tip Indigo does support directly keystroke input in the Terminal Emulation view mode and this is absolutely needed for interaction with certain connections/hosts.

Note If using the standard view mode you must use the command bar to submit commands/data to the connected terminal session.

The command bar offers many features over direct keyboard input.  

Feature	Description
Syntax Correction	Type and modify the full command text before submitting.  This means if you make a mistake you can simple correct the mistake before sending.   Some terminal connection do not adequately handle backspaces and corrections so this can be a real life saver.
Auto-Completion	Indigo supports auto-completion of text in the command bar if enabled via the Advanced Session Properties.
Easy Copy/Paste	Some terminal emulation applications do not handle simple copy and paste of commands to send. In the command bar you can use the normal windows copy (CTRL-C) and paste (CTRL-V) shortcuts to copy and paste text into the command bar to send. You can also right-click the command bar and use the context menu to perform copy,cut, and paste operations.
Drag & Drop Text	The command bar fully supports drag and drop text. Select text from a document or another application and drag it to the command bar to stage it.
Command Staging	Since the command bar does not send the command as it is enters or as it is pasted this leaves the text in a staged state allowing you to make any additional modifications needed. Perhaps you are pasting a portion of a command that you intend to reuse multiple times but just need to modify or add some additional text. Since the command is staged and not immediately transmitted, the command bar easily facilitates this use case.  To submit your staged command either press the ENTER key or use the right arrow submit toolbar next to the command bar.
Command Buffer	The command bar automatically buffers previously transmitted commands and provides easy access to re-use a previously sent text. See the section below for more information on the command buffer.
Advanced Command Syntax	Indigo supports an advanced text byte interpreter feature that can be invoked from the command bar. Using this feature you can transmit data in multiple byte representation including HEX, DEC, ASCII, OCT, BINARY or any combination of these bytes.  Please see advanced send commands for more information.
Internal Commands	Indigo supports an advanced internal command interpreter feature that can be invoked from the command bar. Please see internal commands for more information.

To submit data/text from the command bar you can either press the ENTER key while the cursor is focused in the command bar text entry field or click the right arrow toolbar button to the left of the command bar. 

Command Termination Bytes/Characters

It is important to note that all commands entered into the command bar are automatically appended with command termination bytes/characters.
The default command termination bytes use in Indigo are CARRIAGE RETURN (0x0D)  and LINE FEED (0x0A).

You can optionally disable or change these termination bytes in the Advanced Session Properties.

Note There is one exception where command termination bytes are NOT automatically appended to the command sent via the command bar: Advanced Send Commands. When sending an advanced send command, Indigo does not append any termination bytes. If using and advanced send command it is assumed that you need/want complete control over the data bytes being transmitted; therefore, Indigo does not append these termination bytes.

Command Buffer

The command bar automatically buffers previously transmitted commands and provides easy access to re-use a previously sent text.
You can click the drop-down option in the command bar to list and select from the previously submitted command text.

You can also press the UP arrow while the command bar text entry field has focus to access the last transmitted command text.
The UP and DOWN arrow keyboard buttons allow you to navigate through the command history.

You can enable/disable and define how many command to permanently persist in history for each terminal session via the Advanced Session Properties.

You can purge the command buffer history from the Session menu or the Session context menu using the Clear Command Buffer menu item.

Command Bar Text To Alternate Targets

By default the command bar transmits the command text directly to the connected session device/host.  
However, the command bar includes a drop-down list of alternate targets to send the command text.