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. |
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.
Target | Description |
---|---|
Send to Active Session | This option will simple transmit the command text to the session's connected device/host. |
Send to All Open Sessions | This option will broadcast the command text to all open Indigo terminal session windows and it will be transmitted to each of the sessions connected devices/hosts. |
Send to Data Converter | This option will send the command text to the data converter widget and it will be converted based on the data format selected in the data converter. |
Add to Command Macros | This option will add the command text as a new macro command. |
Add to Command Library | This option will add the command text as a new command entry in the current command library. |
Add to Command Repeater | This option will add the command text as a new command entry in the current command repeater. |