Thanks to all of you for the comments and code help. John's example is grabbing the target history for the output, which is actually perfect for us. i get that 'current history' doesnt really mean anything, and the target history for the output file is a far more reliable option. I simplified the example to:

$__tool_directory__/import_datasets_by_uuid.py -A $script_file -H "${output.creating_job.history.name}" -f ${output}

which is working perfectly.

I think my use cases and the example a few days ago from doug king all fall under the header of 'attempting to use the bioblend API from within a tool wrapper, executed via galaxy'. in those cases, being able to pass in some context about the current execution are required to get a reliable result. I get why it isnt support well right now, but I would argue that sort of application isnt inherently a misuse of galaxy.

-Ben

On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 12:14 PM, Dannon Baker <dannon.baker@gmail.com> wrote:

Galaxy's API goal is to be intentionally stateless, and methods that operate on a history accept that as a parameter and don't recognize the notion of 'current'. State like that is to be maintained in the client, whatever that is -- whether a webpage, cron job, etc. I think this approach is probably *more* flexible in that we don't box ourselves into relying on the notion of a 'current' history, though some few methods might currently rely on it.

It's worth noting that this argument has conspicuous parallels to the argument against allowing tools to understand the 'current' history as well.

On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 3:11 PM Dooley, Damion <Damion.Dooley@bccdc.ca> wrote:
P.s. I tried using BioBlend and(or) the Galaxy API to get a given user's current history but found there was no way to do so.

Seems like there is occasionally a tension between "plaform by design" (reduced instruction set, occasionally with security in mind, or dev resource limitations) and "platform for creativity" (everything exposed in case someone might find use for it).

d.

Hsiao lab, BC Public Health Microbiology & Reference Laboratory, BC Centre for Disease Control
655 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 4R4 Canada
________________________________________
From: Ben Bimber [bbimber@gmail.com]
...

If I'm already using non-public APIs to get the current history ID, can it be done more directly using something analogous to the above?

Thanks,
Ben
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