One cause of a strange Windows error.

[John Esak]

For those of you who use my old tip from The Guru days of building your
browses as 3 separate pieces, a configuration line, a header line, and a
data line... To give you more flexibility and control over the placement of
stuff on a long browse that fills a screen. (In fact, you *must* do this on
very long browses... Because there is a point where you can fill too much
data into the browse wizard and it constructs a third line with missing data
or extra "'s and other strange stuff. (Maybe this has been fixed... Let me
check... Nope, I can still build a "too-long" browse that breaks the browse
wizard...) 

Anyway, this is a very good work around.  Why?  If you'll notice, I declare
the variables as two with 5 letters and 1 with 6 letters. Meaning B_cfg and
b_hdr are 5 long and b_data is 6... one character longer. This way the
browse "header" line and the browse "data" line exactly "line up" over each
other. You can place the *aa and *2, etc., for the data line just where they
visually go... As if you were in the browse wizard.   Like this...

Then: Declare b_cfg, b_hdr, b_data
Then: b_cfg="(brw=7,14,1 xkey=AMDX show=pkeep mlen=8 prc=prcA fill=asc,top)"
Then: b_hdr="[Apt-ID Location        Date      Time   Sls  Pct%"
Then: b_data="*ai    *2              *ad    *4        *5   *au" 
Then: lookup alias=(filename) k=(exp) i=A -nxm b=(b_cfg & b_hdr & b_data)

There is a pair of brackets [ ] around the header line stuff, and having the
b_data variable contain an extra character pushes the *'s to their correct
position.  No matter, just a nicety... The reason I am writing is about
those brackets.  Lee found out today that if the trailing one on the right
side is misssing... You will get a very nice immediate Windows error the
moment the lookup line is
in clerk. You might waste a good bit of time wondering why an @key doesn't
work or anywhere this lookup happens. Since you are used to filePro building
these browses for you and doing it correctly... Being the typical sloppy
typer we all are... You may easily forget this rightmost bracket, and the
syntax checker will *not* warn you about it. It can't, to it, you are just
filling a variable with some characters... It doesn't know this has to have
a certain format and characters enclosing it.  It is just some declared
variable with junk in it. :-) As long as the trailing " is there, it thinks
things are fine.

I talked with Ken and asked if this was the type of error that could be
caught in the runtime since it obviously can't be caught in the cabe syntax
check.  Happily, he said yes, and of course, since I'm copying this note to
Ray at support at fptech.com... It will get attended to for the next version.
Which by the way if any of TPTB are listening will be when????? :-)  I never
talk with Ken about such things, and he wouldn't tell me anyway... Possibly
because he probably doesn't know.. and definitely because ken just doesn't
talk about these things... At least not in the 27 years I have known him.
:-)

So anyway, be careful about the parens  ( ) in the configuration line, the
brackets [ ] in the hdr line... And the quotes " " in all three lines... And
this little construction is a great way to get a whole lot of stuff on a
browse without it breaking.

Ray, to reproduce this, just remove the rightmost bracket from one of these
and see what happens. ;-)  Thanks.

John

* The (b_cfg & b_hdr & b_data) in the lookup line itself does not require
the '(' or ")'  I just always put parens around expressions that are meant
to be joined into one thing... It's only a way I clarify some "things".  :-)




John Esak
21st Century Appraisals, Inc
1801 Oberlin Rd, Middletown, PA 17057
717-985-0200 x 1141
john.esak at 21appr.com