# ADL Workbench command line tool

**Category:** [Technical (archive)](https://discourse.openehr.org/c/technical-archive/156)
**Created:** 2013-03-13 15:49 UTC
**Views:** 40
**Replies:** 9
**URL:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/adl-workbench-command-line-tool/14306

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## Post #1 by @thomas.beale

I have been developing a command line version of the ADL workbench in the background, using all the same compiler code of course. It has not yet been released, but [here](http://www.openehr.org/downloads/ADLworkbench/command_line_tool) is some documentation.

I would be interested to know what the broader interest in such a tool would be and what people would like it to do. Examples of requirements might be:

- generate operational templates (OPTs)
- extract paths from archetypes
- validate an entire repository of archetypes and generate a report.

It does some of these already and could be made to do many more such things.

all feedback welcome.

- thomas beale

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## Post #2 by @ANASTASIOU_A1

Hello Thomas

Throughout my personal work with Archetypes & Templates i have found the level of detail of the visualisation offered by the CKM too abstract\. On the other hand, looking into the XML is like trying to read the Matrix\.

Attached is a graphviz view of some archetype that is the output of a small tool i wrote in Python to do just that \(Reads XML writes dot, graphviz then handles the layout\)\. Ideally, the constraints are expanded at the leafs but sometimes this can lead to many long nodes so i have deactivated that\.

I have found such a view very convenient when i am trying to get the bigger picture of a data structure or when i want to lookup the path of a specific leaf down an Archetype tree i know nothing about\.

If anyone else is also finding this a useful "admin" \(or developer's\) functionality to have, i would be glad to help incorporating it to the command\-line utility and also tune the level of information that is depicted on the output\.

All the best
Athanasios Anastasiou

P\.S\. I vaguely remember trying to do this as an XSL transformation as well but dropped it because it was taking too long and i also wanted to do more things with the tree than just transforming it anyway\. I will see if there is something useful on that end too because then it can even be packaged to a very simple individual script\.


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![RNDopenEHR-EHR-OBSERVATION.lab_test-full_blood_count.v1.dot.png|11353x1211](upload://mmDK4qANKsEwmoqd0HlLY4T5zEg.png)

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## Post #3 by @system

Hello Thomas,

thanks for providing another way of interacting with the openEHR tooling\.

If I may hijack this posting: I think it would be helpful if the descriptions on
http://www.openehr.org/downloads/modellingtools
could make a little bit more clearer what AWB does that AE does not
and vice versa\.

Also, such a description would be welcome too on the download page of
AWB \(AE does already include the description at the top of its
download page\)\.
Finally, the link to the download page of the command line compiler
links to that of the AWB\.

Best regards,

Roger

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## Post #4 by @Peter_Gummer1

Roger Erens wrote:

> Finally, the link to the download page of the command line compiler
> links to that of the AWB\.

Hi Roger,

That's correct\. The command line compiler is part of the ADL Workbench installation\.

Peter

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## Post #5 by @Jose_Almeida

Thank you for your work on this tool.
A powerful path extraction interface would be very useful, especially for returning leaf paths. That would be very handy.

José Hilário Almeida
[**CINTESIS** - Center for Research in Health Technologies and Information Systems](http://cintesis.med.up.pt)
Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto

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## Post #6 by @system

> Roger Erens wrote:
>
>> Finally, the link to the download page of the command line compiler
>> links to that of the AWB\.
>
> Hi Roger,
>
> That's correct\. The command line compiler is part of the ADL Workbench installation\.
>
> Peter

Oh, I see\. I thought it might better link to the page that Thomas
pointed to in his original post\. But that's not really a download
page, indeed\.

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## Post #7 by @thomas.beale

I had a feeling someone would want this\.\.\.\. ok, it's next up\.

\- thomas

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## Post #8 by @system

Didn't you ever need it?

Bert

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## Post #9 by @thomas.beale

well normally we just use the workbench\. Path extraction has been there for probably 8 years\.\.\.

\- thomas

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## Post #10 by @system

That is what I thought ;\-\)

But it is OK, that a commandline tool does the same, in fact, very handy

Bert

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**Canonical:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/adl-workbench-command-line-tool/14306
**Original content:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/adl-workbench-command-line-tool/14306