HTML into filePro processing tables--the EASY way!

[Fairlight]

With neither thought nor caution, Lerebours, Jose blurted:
> I see I omitted the semicolon.  The actual field reference is
> 
> &fp###; and $fpA2Z;

Okay, which is consistant with HTML.

> Some server side scripting languages use # signs as part of their
> syntax.  HTML uses # sings ...  I chose &fp as a prefix simply 

HTML uses # in any place except as part of an SSI?  Where?  I can't think
of it at the moment.  I'm unsure on the context of "sings" above, so I
can't extrapolate from it or comment on it intelligently.  At any rate, a #
should never hit a server-side script of any sort, as it should be
pre-parsed before that stage is ever hit.  Moot point.

> because it uses the & character which is used for special 
> characters and fp to denote filePro. I think this is pretty safe
> and it would be easy to search for any &fp within your HTML page
> whenever you want.

Either should be safe, as neither should ever hit a browser--our respective
solutions having pre-parsed the data before it hits that point.  It's a
case of mindset, I guess.  I can just see people getting confused with
something that looks like a special entity.  In a way, it's elegant because
it matches the rest of the SGML.  In a way, it could confuse some.  You'd
be surprised.

> > I could add this ability, no problem.  Wouldn't surprise me if it
> > fell into the program before the weekend was over.  Although, I have
> > reservations--doing it with no checking at all for the legitimacy of
> > the expression (read: field/variable) is trivial.  Checking for a real
> > field requires specifying a database name whose map we should check.
> > That's doable.  Checking for the legitimacy of a variable, not knowing
> > where the table is being called from...hmmm.  With long, declared
> > variables, we obviously can just toss in a declare extern for any we
> > find.
>
> You cannot print a long variable so I am not concerned with it been used
> in the HTML page.  Want its content?  Place it in a regular dummy field!

Pardon?  "You cannot print a long variable..."  I don't follow.  I do it
all the time, if you're talking about the contents.  It acts just like any
variable ever has in that regard.  Why would one need to place the contents
into a dummy field?  Want to clue me in on this special limitation on long
variables?  I've never heard this before.

> If the page is designed with an none existent dummy field, it will be
> replace with a blank since all fields are actually defined.  The question
> is, weather or not a value was assigned.

True.  The real question is whether or not we care about what's being
substituted; I believe we both agree it's the developer's burden to get
things straight.

> It is kind of like that!  Any development tool assumes that you know what
> you are doing.  Since the arrays cover all possible variables and all
> possible fields, the only problem you will run into is "nothing prints".

Is that also the case in a declared extern?  I thought it would die a
horrible, fiery death if you tried referencing one for which there was no
global declaration...  Or does it simply evaluate as blank if there's no
matching global in the memory table where they're stored?  Ken?

I'll toy with the idea of pre-subbing variables this way.  I have the
code from something else, so I just have to plug it in with a bit of
modification.  There's a bit of context-sensitivity involved, since I
can't just do raw splits at length--I have to make sure I end a string,
concatenate the variable after sub, then restart the string again (and make
sure I can repeat if there's more than one on a line)--but it should be
relatively easy to pull off.

Won't swear it'll happen, won't swear it won't.  It's under consideration
though, and thanks for the idea. :) If anyone who got html2prc wishes to
suggest I -do- add this, feel free to speak up (in private).  I've turned
down only one user feature request over all my software in three years,
and only then because it would have created more problems than it would
have solved.  I'm just thinking about doing this so that it's available for
myself, which is a low priority.  But if someone else really wants it, I'll
generally make it happen if it's reasonable.

mark->
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