Quickly marks a large block of code that you want to prevent from running or that you want to be generated by the GENERATE command by putting the delimiters at the start and end of an output section in a template program.
Syntax
Place a two less than characters before the start of the code.
<< code / statements >>
Place a two greater than characters at the end of your code.
Parameters
code \ statements
one or more command statements, typically using macros, to send to the current output destination when the program containing them is processed with a GENERATE command
Comments
The program template delimiters, << and >>, must appear alone on a physical line in the application document. When the program is executed, parsed, or compiled, the statements between the delimiters are ignored.
When the program is run under the GENERATE command, the statements are sent as output, after macro substitution, to the current output device.
Example
… commands1 … << … commands2 … >> … commands3 …
Under normal execution, commands1 and commands3 execute normally; commands2 are ignored.
When the program is parsed or compiled, commands1 and commands3 are parsed or complied in the usual manner; commands2 are ignored.
When the GENERATE command is used, commands1 and commands3 execute normally; commands2 are sent as output, after macro substitution, to the current output device.
Marks the start and end of a macro name in an application program.
Syntax
<name>
Parameters
name
The name to be assigned to a global macro, or a digit from 0 to 9 referring to one of the local macros belonging to the current macro program.
Comments
A macro is a dynamically declared name that represents a character string. When a macro call is encountered in an application program, the macro call is replaced by the current character value of the macro.
A macro acquires values in one of two ways: implicitly, when the software encounters a call to a previously unknown global macro or unassigned local macro, or explicitly, in a LET or INPUT statement or a call to a local macro.
Example
let <EntSet> = "ENTS"
let <Name> = "EntName"
Defines the global macro to represent the string ENT. Then the statement
A character string, or a variable or form field that evaluates to a character string.
expression2
A character string, or a variable or form field that evaluates to a character string.
Comments
Used with the equals sign in logic expressions, the ? wildcard matches any number of subsequent characters when expression2 is compared to expression1. The question mark must appear outside of the pattern string.
Example
DeptNum = "D56"?
Logically true if the department number begins with the string “D56”. Notice that the question mark must appear outside the string.
RemarkField = "Smith?"
Shows the question mark being used literally in a string. (The characters appear inside the quotation marks.) The expression is logically true only if Remarkfield contains the exact characters Smith?.
Surname = fCustomer.LastName?
Shows how the wildcard can be attached directly to an atomic expression employing a variable, local variable, form field, or formal parameter, provided the object is of a character data type. (Trailing blanks in the specified object are trimmed for pattern-matching purposes.)
Send commands and macros to the target application.
Syntax
procedure DDEExecute (out tErrCode, inout tServ, in app_cmd)
Parameters
tErrCode
longint, an error code
tServ
longint, connection handle
app_cmd
char, command or macro to be executed
Comments
DDEExecute sends target application specific commands and macros to be executed by the remote application. Consult the documentation of the remote application for information on these commands.
The filename is ddeexec.pgm.
Example
For example, given that DDE_Err and hServ are of type longint and that hServ has been set by a previous call to DDEConnect, to send the ‘[NEW(1)]” command to EXCEL
Assigns a value to a specific item in a remote application.
Syntax
procedure DDEPoke (out tErrCode, inout tServ, in dde_item, in dde_val)
Parameters
tErrCode
longint, an error code
tServ
longint, connection handle
dde_item
char, item name
dde_val
char, value of the item
Comments
DDEPoke assigns a value to a specific item in a remote application. Consult the documentation of the remote application for information on what constitutes an item. The value of an item is always given as char.
The filename is ddepoke.pgm.
Example
For example, given that DDE_Err and hServ are of type longint, to set the value of row 1, column 1 in the current spreadsheet, enter the following:
DDEPoke (DDE_Err, hServ, ‘R1C1′, ’25’)
This example “pokes” the value ’25’ into row 1, column 1.
procedure DDEPeek (out tErrCode, inout tServ, in dde_item, out dde_val)
Parameters
tErrCode
longint, an error code
tServ
longint, connection handle
dde_item
char, item name
dde_val
char, value of the returned item. Must be a string at least five characters in length
Comments
DDEPeek retrieves the value of a specific item from a remote application. Consult the documentation of the remote application for information on what constitutes an item. The value of an item is always returned as char.
The filename is ddepeek.pgm.
Example
For example, given that DDE_Err and hServ are of type longint, that DDE_OutValue is of type alpha and is 10 characters long, and that hServ has been set in a previous call to DDEConnect, to retrieve the value of row 1, column 1 in the current spreadsheet, enter the following:
DDEPeek(DDE_Err, hServ, ‘R1C1’, DDE_OutValue)
This example “peeks” at the value of the cell at row 1, column 1 and places the retrieved value in DDE_OutValue.