function object = getList(thelist,name,allowfail)
%getList - get an object from a list based on the name of the objects.
%
% Parameter:    thelist	         	The thelist to be searched
%               name			Name to search for
%               allowfail               Flag to indicate that failure
%                                       to find any object is allowed
% Returns:      object		    	The object found
%
% Example(s):
%   tfplan = getList(ex.tflist,'Zipper'); 
%
%% ===========================================================================

%% ===========================================================================
% Copyright (C):
%       1999 by Telia Research AB, Lulea, Sweden;
%       2000-2009 by Forschungszentrum Telekommunikation Wien, Austria;
%                                                         All rights reserved.
% Project       : FTW's xDSLsimu
% Author(s)     : Tomas Nordstrom (Tomas.Nordstrom@FTW.at)
%               : Daniel Bengtsson (Daniel.J.Bengtsson@Telia.se)
%               : Bo Engstrom (bosse@upzide.com)
%
% CVS:       $Id: getList.m 752 2009-01-02 13:03:52Z tono $
%% ===========================================================================
% Change History
%      1999-02-25 (ToNo) Created
%      2001-06-14 (Bosse) Octave port
%      2002-01-17 (StTr) Slow 'for'-loop replaced by equivalent code
%      2002-07-30 (ToNo) Octave to Matlab compatibility port
%      2003-11-03 (ToNo) Lists now use cell arrays for both Octave and Matlab
%      2005-05-19 (ToNo) Changed behaviour for the failure to find anything
%% ===========================================================================

if nargin<3,
   allowfail=0;
end
    
len=length(thelist);
found_idx=zeros(1,len);
nofound=0;
for i=1:len,
    if strcmp(thelist{i}.name,name);
        nofound=nofound+1;
        found_idx(nofound)=i;
    end;
end;
if nofound>0
    found_idx=found_idx(1:nofound);
else
    found_idx = [];
end;


% Check if we found anything and take care of multiple entries
if isempty(found_idx)
        if allowfail,
            warning(sprintf('Object %s not found in the list!', name));
        else
            error(sprintf('Object %s not found in the list!', name));
        end;
    object=[];
else
    len_found_idx=length(found_idx);
    if len_found_idx>1
        warning(sprintf('There are multiple entries of object %s in the list!', name));
    end
    
    % Choose first entry if thelist has multiple entries with the same name
    % object=thelist(found_idx(1));  

    % Choose last entry if thelist has multiple entries with the same name
    % (for full compatibility to old version)
    object=thelist{found_idx(len_found_idx)};  
end