[cmake-developers] [CMake 0012643]: Command to highlight cache entry in cmake-gui

[Mantis Bug Tracker]

The following issue has been SUBMITTED. 
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http://public.kitware.com/Bug/view.php?id=12643 
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Reported By:                Brian Helba
Assigned To:                
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Project:                    CMake
Issue ID:                   12643
Category:                   (No Category)
Reproducibility:            have not tried
Severity:                   feature
Priority:                   normal
Status:                     new
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Date Submitted:             2011-12-29 17:56 EST
Last Modified:              2011-12-29 17:56 EST
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Summary:                    Command to highlight cache entry in cmake-gui
Description: 
Command to highlight cache entry in cmake-gui

In cmake-gui (and in ccmake?), new cache entries from the most recent configure
step are highlighted in red and appear in their own category.

It would be desirable to have a CMake command that causes given cache entry(s)
to be highlighted in the same manner, possibly in a different color.

The proposed command would have no semantic effect on a CMake script, it would
only increase the visibility of the cache entries to the user. Each new
configure step would reset all previously highlighted entries to normal.

Possible syntax:
  highlight_variables(<cache_variable> [<cache_variable> ...])

Steps to Reproduce: 
Such a feature would be useful when a certain variable is the cause of an error.
Currently, when a variable needs user attention, the workflow is:
  - See that configure step failed / errors occurred
  - Carefully look through all error messages, trying to understand the error
  - Read the entire error message; hopefully the cache variable causing the
error will be printed
  - Find the cache entries in the list, scanning through all other cache entries
or typing in a search; both are slow
  - If the user's attention is distracted or other cache entries need to be
examined, perform the previous step again

With this feature:
  - See that configure step failed / errors occurred
  - Notice that cache entry(s) are highlighted and in their own group
  - Fix the cache entry directly if it's obvious, or consult the error messages
for further information


Additional Information: 
In addition to a standalone command, the 'message' command's API could be
expanded to allow the same functionality for convenience:

  message([SEND_ERROR | STATUS | FATAL_ERROR]
          "message to display" ...)
          [HIGHLIGHT_VARIABLES <cache_variable> [<cache_variable> ...]]
         )
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Issue History 
Date Modified    Username       Field                    Change               
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2011-12-29 17:56 Brian Helba    New Issue                                    
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