ZIM is a natural language, Integrated, Full Stack, 4GL Object Oriented, Framework (FOOF) that used an Entity Relationship Database to store and process the Data. What this means in simple terms is that most of the hard coding is already done for you. You can now focus on the “intelligent” part of your application. ZIM has a number of tools to move data from one Object to another in just a few lines of code. ZIM’s Objects created based on a powerful Metadata Pointing Layer. In other words, when you move the data between ZIMs Objects, you are actually only moving the Metadata Pointers, not the actual data. This is another very powerful and unique future of ZIM. We call it “SET Processing”. This is a great place to start.

Adding Data to an Entity

One you have defined an Entity Object in the IDE. Try adding some data to the Entity from the ZIM Command Prompt. Here is an example. Assuming you’ve made an Entity called Customers with a single field called CompanyName.

add 1 Customers let CompanyName = "ZIM-X" -> CustomerSet

Lets take a look at what we did. “add” this is similar to “insert” in SQL. “1” for 1 record. “Customers” is the name we gave to our Entity Object. An Entity is known as a Table in other systems. “let” Let is a ZIM command that tells ZIM that you are about to assign a value to an Object such as a field, form.field, variable or Temporary Object (SET). In this case we are going to assign the value “ZIM-X” to the field “CompanyName”. Next we use a ZIM ARROW “->“. This command tells ZIM to build a SET that will contain the Metadata Pointers to the new record being added to the Customers Entity Object. If you don’t use the ZIM ARROW “->” you will have to have to use another “find statement“.

Assuming you’ve added another field called PhoneNumber. ** Caution!! Sets <CustomerSet> are Temporary Objects and are available only during your current session. This means that when you close your ZIM Application or ZIM Developer Suite, the sets will all be destroyed. The next time you start ZIM, you will be able to use your sets again. You can even give them new definitions. However, you cannot change the definition of a set in the same session. This means that you need to use a new setname in the same session if you change your find or add statements.

add 1 Customers let CompanyName = "ZIM-X" PhoneNumber = "1234567890"-> CustomerNewSet

Adding a Program Document Object

ZIM uses Document Objects to store and run your custom code. Document Objects can be programs, processes, procedures, data, etc. In this case we are going to create a simple program to find customers, open a window and form and then it will place the Data on your new from. ZIM does not rely on punctuation things like SPACES or TABS at the beginning of each line. ZIM does rely on things like “\” the backslash to wrap code to the next line. Or “%” percentage sign to comment out a line.

procedure CustomerAPP() % The procedure name must be the same name as the document.

find all customers -> CustomerSet % we create a Temporary SET Object.

window open Window_00000 at center % we open the Window in the center of the screen.

form open CustomerForm % Open the From Object within ZIM.  You will not see it yet!!

change all CustomerFrom from CustomerSet % Add the SET Object to the Form Object.

While % create a loop that will stay alive until you press the X or Press ESC

form display input % Display the Window, Form and Data Objects on the Screen

case % Cases instruct ZIM to take action based on what the user does. 

when event.eventname = "Closed" or event.eventname = "Escape" % Zim Events

break % Break the Loop when the user presses X or ESC.

endcase % End the case section.

endwhile % End the loop.

window close % Close the Window. The screen will disappear.

endprocedure % End the procedure.

disconnect attempts nn

where nn is the maximum number of times that the client will attempt to re-establish a connection before giving up and raising a message stating there is no way to connect to the server.

Valid Settings

nn = numeric entry from 0 to 100. The default value of zero indicates that there are no attempts and that the disconnection occurs immediately.

A file size limit applied to the file “errors.trc” when reporting Zim:X execution errors.

maximum error trace size nn

where nn specifies the maximum file size in Kbytes. After the limit is reached, Zim:X reports an additional error stating this overflowing threshold condition and stops reporting new errors while the program continues running normally.

Remarks

This limit is imposed to avoid situations where a program in error may run endlessly thus causing potential disk exhaustion with cascading effects over other users and over the normal ZimServer execution.

Valid Settings

A numeric value between 1 and 100000. The default value for all operating environments is 10,000 or 10 Mb.

The callback events an object can raise.

Valid Values

An integer code combining the following values:

Remarks

Only resizable windows can have menus.

Example: If the object has to raise a GotFocus event and a Click event, the WdgCallbacks would contain (2 + 64) = 66.

Zim supports the creation and manipulation of ActiveX objects and containers. An OLE or ActiveX container is used to embed the COM object into an application. Examples of a container are Visual Basic and Microsoft Word, in addition to Zim itself.

OLE Container Datatype

The OLE or ActiveX Container is a formfield where ft (“fieldtype”) is set to “E”.
An OLE Container can either be borderless or have an OLE Object border. The OLE Object border is a dashed line for embedded objects and a solid line for linked objects. A selection border surrounds OLE Containers when they have focus. They respond to mouse clicks and transmit keys as image widgets do.
OLE Containers can be assigned OLE object filenames or unique class identifiers. These names or identifiers can be placed in the default value of the created object or can be assigned at runtime. Zim checks the file or class identifier for the OLE Container for Zim’s path characters then checks if it is a valid class. If it is not, then Zim assumes it is a filename.

Painter Support for OLE Containers

The Zim Screen Painter provides an OLE Container widget on its menu and gallery. The support in Screen Painter for the OLE Container widget is almost identical to its support for image widgets. The developer does not need to specify an OLE source filename for the OLE Container widget since the OLE container can be empty. If an OLE source filename has been associated with the OLE Container but the file does not exist, the contents of the OLE container widget appear as the OLE source filename centered within hatches; otherwise the OLE object is displayed within the OLE Container.

Support for Linked Objects and Limited Support for Embedded Objects

The Screen Painter creates linked OLE Containers by setting the WdgSubClass of the formfield to 1 when it is first added. Embedded objects have WdgSubClass set to 0. Zim does not support visual editing (also known as in-place activation) of embedded objects and does not store embedded objects as blobs in its data files. The support for embedded objects is limited to enabling assignment, cut, and paste of embedded objects. Linked OLE Containers are stored in Zim’s data files as monikers: filenames with extra information. A moniker of the linked formfield is kept up to date, in case a new object was pasted into the container. OLE Container Widgets that contain embedded objects return $null when they are queried. Activation of OLE Containers occurs in the server application.

FORM SET Command

The OLE objects in the OLE Containers can be manipulated programmatically using the following command:

FORM SET (VERB verbName) | fieldname | formname | (formnum, fieldnum, subscript)|

where verbName is a string or an expression that evaluates to a string
 fieldname is the name of an OLE Container formfield on the form
formname is the name of a form
formnum is the number of the form
fieldnum is the number of a field
subscript is the subscript of a formfield
The following verbNames are supported and available as constants:

• Verbname
• Primary
• Cut
• Copy
• Paste Link
• Paste
• Paste Special

Positive numbers are specific to the object.
You can use the registry information of an OLE object to determine its primary and other supported verbs. This information can also be obtained using the Zim $GetProperty command.

Cut, Copy and Paste, Paste Link, and Paste Special Menu Items

The cut, copy, paste, Paste Link, and Paste Special menu items are grayed appropriately when the OLE Container formfield has the focus. Linked items can paste only links; embedded objects can paste both embedded objects and links. Paste Link and Paste Special are available only for OLE Container formfields.

$GetProperty (‘OleVerbList’, FileOrClassName)

The $GetProperty command returns the list of supported verbnames of a file or OLE class. Semicolons separate the verbs in the returned list.

Default Double-click Action on OLE Container Widgets.

Unguarded OLE containers invoke the OLE objects primary verb when double-clicked if DoubleClick has not been identified as a transmit event.

Default Right-click Action on OLE Container Widgets.

Unguarded OLE containers display their available OLE verbs in a right-click menu when they are right-clicked if RightClick has not been identified as a transmit event. If an action is chosen from the right-click menu, it is performed.

About Functional Expressions

The software provides a host of built-in functions that process given arguments in a variety of ways. An expression consisting of a function and its arguments (typically, value expressions) is called a functional expression.

Examples of functional expressions are

General Performance

Functions are a special class of operator, but they perform much like arithmetic operators; they take one or more given values, perform an operation using those values, and return a result. The value of the result depends on the function.

The function’s arguments are similar to the arithmetic operands. Like arithmetic operands, the arguments can consist of literals or value expressions, including other functional and arithmetic expressions as shown in the following example:

$absolute(-7)

The functional expression shown above consists of the argument -7 and the function keyword $absolute. The function $absolute returns the absolute (i.e., unsigned) value of its argument (in this case, 7).

Complex Arguments

If the argument is a complex expression, the argument is evaluated before the function is applied. For example, in the expression

$absolute(6-11)

the arithmetic expression 6-11 is evaluated first, yielding $absolute(-5). Then the final result (5) is determined.

Functional expressions can act as arguments to other functions. For example, the expression

$toupper($substring(‘abcdef’,2,3))

evaluates to

$toupper(‘bcd’)

which in turn evaluates to

‘BCD’

Data Type of Arguments and Results

Each function expects arguments of a certain data type; however, the function accepts arguments of any data type and appropriately converts any argument that does not conform to the expected type.

A character literal is any string of characters enclosed in quotation marks as shown in the following example:
‘This is a character string.’
“This is a character string, too.”
For convenience, you can enter character literals without the delimiting quotation marks; however, quotation marks are required in some situations. The rules for using quotation marks are described in Quotation Marks.
Valid and Invalid Literals
The following are examples of valid literals:
‘abc’
Is a character string.
‘ab”C’
Is a character string.
”
Is a null string.
3.14159
Is a number literal.
9
Is a number literal.
‘10.99’
Is a character string.
‘John\’s toy boat’
Is a character string.
‘ABCd_EfG’
Is a character string.
‘1234A’
Is a character string.
The following are examples of invalid literals:
1 23
Spaces are not permitted in number literals.
$10.99
Periods are not permitted in an unquoted character string, and the dollar sign is not permitted in a number literal.
‘John’s toy boat’
‘John’ is a valid character string, but the rest of the line is invalid.

Captures and updates the status of an open window.

Syntax

WINDOW STATUS [window]

Parameters

Comments

WINDOW STATUS gets the current status of an open window and updates the structure ThisWindow. This is particularly useful when the end user moves and/or resizes a window without program control.

Example

window open wContracts

form display input

…

window status

list ThisWindow

After an event has been generated by the FORM INPUT, the size and position (among other information) can be retrieved by the means of the WINDOW STATUS for later usage with the structure ThisWindow.

See Also

ThisWindow

WINDOW DEACTIVATE

WINDOW DISPLAY

WINDOW MOVE

WINDOW SCROLL

WINDOW SET

WINDOW SIZE

Callback Events

A “callback event” (or simply an “event”) is an interaction, between the end-user and the application interface, that causes a FORM INPUT or MENU INPUT command to terminate, and control to pass the next command in the executing program.
There are two types of potential events that can occur: object dependent and object independent.

The available set of object dependent event types are:

In ZimIDE, the CallBackEvents set of properties enables the selection of event types that can be made active for a particular object.
The dialog presents only those event types which the object type can support.
Note that menu items that do not have any child menu items support only the Click event, and they are always active for that event type.
When an event is made active for an object, the occurrence of that event causes either a FORM INPUT or a MENU INPUT command to terminate and execution control to pass to the next command in the executing program. In addition, the Event Vector Event is populated with information describing the event (cf. Event Vector).
The event properties Name, Type, and Tag are of particular importance for program execution control.

Where: