yad --list issue with data input where data is generated dynamically and phrases are involved.

[jpezz]

I am generating the input to the yad --list command by getting data from various files and pulling things out of arrays. one column has phrases i.e multiple words so they have to be enclosed in quotes to be seen as a single entry.

I artificially generated the data for the test below to simplify the problem and I can't get it to work.

The following works:
yad --list --radiolist --fontname='Sans Bold 15' --undecorated \ --column=Tick --column=Item --column=Location --column=Description \ --fore="green" --center --height=300 --width=600 \ --button="Different Item:1" --button="Quit:0" \ --justify="left" false 1 HOME 'Test 1' false 2 NOTHOME 'Test 2'

But neither of these work properly:

Tick="false"
Item="1"
LocationFound="HOME"
Desc="Test 1"
DataInput+=" $Tick"
DataInput+=" $Item"
DataInput+=" $LocationFound "
DataInput+=${Desc@Q} # to preserve quotes
DataInput+=" "
#
Item="2"
LocationFound="NOTHOME"
Desc="Test 2"
DataInput+=" $Tick"
DataInput+=" $Item"
DataInput+=" $LocationFound "
DataInput+=${Desc@Q} 
DataInput+=" " # to preserve quotes
#
echo $DataInput
#
yad --list --radiolist --fontname='Sans Bold 15' --undecorated \
          --column=Tick --column=Item --column=Location --column=Description \
          --fore="green" --center --height=300 --width=600 \
          --button="Different Item:1" --button="Quit:0" \
          --justify="left"  $DataInput 
#
yad --list --radiolist --fontname='Sans Bold 15' --undecorated \
          --column=Tick --column=Item --column=Location --column=Description \
          --fore="green" --center --height=300 --width=600 \
          --button="Different Item:1" --button="Quit:0" \
          --justify="left" <<< echo $DataInput 

Running the second script shows that the echo command echoes the data correctly for yad.

I find no examples of using --list on the net that uses multiple columns where one contains phrases nor any that show generating the data for the yad list.

[v1cont]

this is shell behavior and restrictions. use standard input directly or through the named pipe to pass data to yad (one field per line). here is the example

#! /bin/bash

# make named pipe
export npipe=$(mktemp -u --tmpdir npipe.XXXXXXXX)
mkfifo "$npipe"

# make it a file handler #3
exec 3<> $npipe

# run gui
yad --list --radiolist --fontname='Sans Bold 15' --undecorated \
          --column=Tick --column=Item --column=Location --column=Description \
          --fore="green" --center --height=300 --width=600 \
          --button="Different Item:1" --button="Quit:0" \
          --justify="left" <&3 &
PID=$!

# first row with separated output
echo "false" >> $npipe
echo "1" >> $npipe
echo "HOME" >> $npipe
echo "Test 1" >> $npipe

# second row with single putput
echo -e "true\n2\nNOTHOME\nTest2" >> $npipe

# wait when the yad will closing
wait $PID
exec 3>&-
rm -f $npipe

alternatively you can pass data with temp file and --rest command-line argument