[p4] P4V - Problem using custom tools $c argument variable when no workspace selected

[Roy Paterson]

I'm having a problem using the Custom Tools $c (Current Workspace) 
argument variable.

I have a Custom Tool specification that looks like this:

Application: mytool.exe
Arguments: --p4client $c --otherOption foo

If my current workspace is, say, MyWorkspace, then this results in 
mytool.exe being invoked with 4 arguments:
1) --p4client
2) MyWorkspace
3) --otherOption
4) foo

This works fine but runs in to a problem when the user opens P4V and 
doesn't specify a workspace.  Then mytool.exe is invoked with 3 arguments:
1) --p4client
2) --otherOption
3) foo

This is problematic because now mytool.exe doesn't parse the arguments 
correctly - it was expecting 4 arguments and now only has 3.  So I tried 
changing the Custom Tool arguments specification:

Arguments: --p4client "$c" --otherOption foo

This results in mytool.exe being invoked with arguments:
1) --p4client
2) "$c\
3) --otherOption
4) foo

... in other words if you surround $c directly with quotes then the $c 
variable does not get replaced, and for some reason the second quote is 
replaced with a \.  I've tried all the combinations of quotes, escaping 
quotes, etc... that I can think of, and I've only found one thing that 
will work, but it looks really ugly.  If you have at least one space 
within the quotes between the $c and anything else, then it DOES get 
replaced.  So for example:

Arguments: --p4client "myEmptyArgumentPrefix $c myEmptyArgumentSuffix" 
--otherOption foo

If the current workspace is not specified then this results in 
mytool.exe being invoked with:
1) --p4client
2) myEmptyArgumentPrefix  myEmptyArgumentSuffix
3) --otherOption
4) foo

If the current workspace is MyWorkspace then this results in mytool.exe 
being invoked with:
1) --p4client
2) myEmptyArgumentPrefix MyWorkspace myEmptyArgumentSuffix
3) --otherOption
4) foo

Then to complete the workaround mytool.exe will parse argument #2 - if 
it starts with "myEmptyArgumentPrefix " and ends with " 
myEmptyArgumentSuffix" then I strip those off and end up with argument 
#2 = MyWorkspace.

... So this works, but it's a really ugly hack.  Can someone suggest a 
better way to do this?  Note that I cannot require that $c be the last 
argument to mytool.exe.

Thanks,
Roy Paterson
Smart Bear Software