Answers in this category:
How can my APPX process tell if a user is running the GUI client?
Is it possible to suppress the binoculars on a field that has a DLU defined?
How to build a UNIX script to run an APPX process (cron job).
How to refresh parent screen after a child process.
How do I send a file to a client PC and open the file with a client side App? (i.e. Excel)
How can I import consecutive (flat) files into APPX?
Checking return code after a Stream Write.
How can I run a constrained input process via ILF?
Is it possible to get APPX to automatically convert Gregorian date fields to Julian dates?
How to determine IO mode (READ,WRITE,HOLD) within a FLEP
How to create dynamic rollover tool-tips.
How to play sounds.
What is pdf "---ENTRY SELECTED PATH" used for?
How do you create a vertical or horizontal line on an input image?
How do I keep production applications from accidentally being changed?
Scope of cached files!
How data sharing is accomplished in APPX!
What is the difference between file content and file stream?
What does scope refer to?
What is the scope of a work field?
Can I change the date and time APPX uses for testing date/time sensitive applications?
How can I read the USER list?
How to make a negative sign appear in front of the number (instead of behind)
How to display high ASCII characters.
How to get User Security Codes using ILF.
How to QUERY/INPUT via Cache!
How to get the name of the Parent Process.
GUI themes via ILF!
Example of a random number generator using ILF!
How to retrieve an occurrence number with ILF!
How to see a trace of executed process
Use of --- DEFAULT MODE
How to determine a leap year!
How can I position a widget exactly where I want it?
Can we colorize the "auto gui" widgets by ILF in order to adapt them to color schemes?
Help in debugging AppxIO
How to put multiple of lines of text on a button or label widget.
How to add pulldown menu entries with ILF
How to close an external ASCII file (RT_CLOSE_STREAM)?
How to read data to an external ASCII file (RT_READ_STREAM)?
How to write data to an external ASCII file (RT_WRITE_STREAM)?
How to open an external ASCII file (RT_OPEN_STREAM)?
How to put APPX in sleep (pause) mode (RT_SLEEP)?
How to get the current process parent name (RT_GET_PROC_NAM)?
How to get the APPX runtime parameters (RT_GETPARAM)?
How to get the environment variables (RT_GETENV)?
Dynamic linking using the CALL statement.
How to access APPX Query parameters.
How do you call a window API function?
How do you copy from one application database to another within APPX.
How to display detailed data from a scrolling input.
How to read EXCEL files from Appx.
How do I search the electronic APPX manual(s) for multiple keywords?
The underline character is not displayed under the shortcut letter!
How to get printer friendly pages from the APPX web site.
How do you run an os command and pipe the results through a stream read?
Now that I can generate PDF files from APPX, how can I get the PDF to display as such in a browser?
What is the correct Date Mask for: Apr 13 09:23:00 2004?
Can Current Release of Appx support LDAP?
How does LOCAL and RECEIVE statements work?
Can i have environment variable APPX_41_EPS set while designing in 4.2?
I noticed that all of a sudden i have Applications tab on my Java client. How did it get there and how to get rid of it?
I have set my --- OPTION = END PARAGRAPH, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Why is that?
I am trying to PASTE a statement into the ILF editor, but it put "**" in the front of it and it looks miss-aligned. What did i do wrong?
Is there a way to get rid of the automatic drop down menus that appear on my GUI menus processes?
Is there a way to get rid of the big red X (Cancel) and the green arrow (Return)?
Is there a way to set child constraints on a data lookup field in an Input Process?
How can I wait on Windows-systems without consuming CPU?
I am using a --- STREAM WRITE call on a file that is > 2GB. It doesn't crash or return an error code, but it doesn't write to a file either
When I execute SLEEP command from an Appx CALL i get the error 'You've CALL'ed C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\kernel32.dll,Sleep with the wrong calling convention'
How can i set default values during data entry and make Appx remember them from one entry to the next one?
Copying Files between Databases/Versions
Adding new fileds with defualt values to an existent file
I have an ALPHA field with a validation table, but it allows for any value to be entered, regardless of the validation table values
What is the proper usage of --- STREAM READ LENGTH field?
Can the STREAM READ look for the presence of the \r character as a record delimeter?
The --- COMPARE file contains the fields that are different after an IF DIFF is executed. If a field has multiple occurances, how can I tell which occurance changed?
How to create a PDF Form Overlay
How to create an ASCII fixed length flat file using Appx
Execution Cycle in Appx 4.2
Under what circumstances you need to set NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS

      GOSUB    --- CHECK GUI CLIENT
      IF       --- RETURN CODE        EQ     1
T     *        Running with a GUI client
F     *        Running with a character client

While overriding this “standard behavior” is possible, there are serious program maintenance issues that should be considered.

To run a background process (cron job) in UNIX, build a script as follows;


  export APPXPATH=/appx/appx350/data
  export TERM=ibm3151
  su - xxx -c "/appx/appx350/appx -s -d=ddd -a=TRN -t=JOB -p=BATCH_CYCLE" 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null


The first export command is the APPXPATH directory for your APPX installation.
Example: /appx/appx350/data 


The second export command defines the terminal type.  Example: ibm3151.  Even
thought the process is running in the background, the terminal type must be
defined.


The su command line parameters:

     xxx is the o/s userid of who is running this process
        -c " then the APPX application path
        -s tells APPX to automatically pass through any entry screens
           like sort and disposition that might be encountered.
        -d ddd is the database id of the APPX application
        -a application id
        -t process type, most likely a JOB
        -p the name of your process followed by ".  The underscore maintains
           the space you may have in the APPX process name.
        1> and 2> tells appx to send interactive message to the null device.
           These two parameters are to be included in the su line.  

Of course you would have one script for each process you wanted to run in
background.

APPX 4.2
Starting with APPX 4.2, the parent screen is automatically redisplayed when returning from a child process. The DISPLAY statement in the child’s Post Invocation Event Point is not needed.

      *
      *        Send the file to the client
      *
      SET      --- TEMP 80                    =      /tmp/info.csv
      SET      --- TEMP 132                   =      c:\temp\info.csv
      PASS     --- TEMP 80                    FIELD            SHARE? Y
      PASS     --- TEMP 132                   FIELD            SHARE? Y
      CALL         ,RT_SEND_FILE              RESIDENT? N  END? N  FAIL 0
      *
      *        Run Excel and open the file
      *
      SET      --- TEMP 256                   =      @
      APPEND   --- TEMP 256                   0      "C:\Program Files\Micr
      APPEND   --- TEMP 256                   0      osoft Office\Office\EX
      APPEND   --- TEMP 256                   0      CEL.EXE"
      *
      APPEND   --- TEMP 256                   1      c:\temp\info.csv
      *
      SET      --- LI                         =      256
      PASS     --- TEMP 256                   FIELD            SHARE? Y
      PASS     --- LI                         FIELD            SHARE? Y
      CALL         ,RT_LOAD_URL               RESIDENT? N  END? N  FAIL 0
      *

1. If the file is "columnar" (all the data lines up into columns, and all the records have the same fixed length), define an APPX Data Dictionary file and fields corresponding to the columns for the fields, and read it directly. Have a 2-byte alpha field at the end, the 'absorb' the hex(0d0a) that Windows apps usually put on the end of each of the line, to denote end of line. See "to import a flat file" below.

2. Create an APPX consecutive file with a single 1-byte alpha field. Use it to read the text file into APPX, one byte at a time. Build a record buffer, testing for hex(0d0a) to determine the end of each record, and then writing it out to the file.

3. Using the ",RT_" commands to read the file. 'RT' commands are unsupported and subject to modification, but are often used for these sorts of tasks. We use them in the UPDATE process generated by our "Comma Delimited Update" process within Utilities/Toolbox. You might look at an UPDATE generated by this utility, to get a feel for how the commands work.

To import Tab delimited variable length files into APPX, check this document from "Sparky and Spike" at CANSYS West: http://www.cansyswest.com/importin.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To import a flat file into APPX (for example, from an Excel spreadsheet) try the following:

1. Export the file from Excel into a fixed length format.

2. Define a Consecutive file in APPX, with all Alpha fields, matching the column widths of each Excel column, as exported.

3. Add a 2 byte alpha at the end of the APPX DD, to receive the hex(0d0a) that Excel and other Windows applications append to records to denote record boundaries.

4. Design Transfer the design for the Consecutive file defined above into a 2nd APPX file.

5. Change the field types you want to be other than Alpha, into their other field type. (Numeric, Date, or whatever.) Add indices.

6. Run 'Create Files' on both the Consecutive and Indexed files.

7. FTP the file to your Unix box in ASCII format.

8. Move the FTP'd file into your Data directory as the name of the Consecutive f ile. (Filename is all upper case, with a lower case .dat suffix.)

9. Write an OUTPUT that reads the Consecutive file and reports on its contents.

Within the 'Select Image' event point, write ILF that moves field contents from the Consecutive file into the Indexed file. Write the new record.

If you try to write two records with the same Primary or Unique Key, the WRITE will fail. Check the False condition on a WRITE to catch that and handle it accordingly.

Set --- ALTERNATE IMAGE NUMBER in Select Image to selectively display/print records of interest.

Date fields will require special manipulation. Use SET TEMP commands, to get them into APPX date format.

Run the above OUTPUT on this FTP'd file, converting it from Consecutive into Indexed format. Examine the resulting files. Modify your OUTPUT as needed.

APPX 4.2

The --- PLAY SOUND command ( audio subroutine ) in ILF will support .wav, .au, and .aiff file formats.  Examples;


      SET      --- TEMP 512                   =      /home/pete/test.wav
      PASS     --- TEMP 512                   FIELD            SHARE? N
      GOSUB    --- PLAY SOUND

                                                                        
      SET      --- TEMP 512                   =      file:///home/pete/test
      APPEND   --- TEMP 512                   0      .wav
      PASS     --- TEMP 512                   FIELD            SHARE? N
      GOSUB    --- PLAY SOUND

                                                                        
      SET      --- TEMP 512                   =      http://www.wavsite.com
      APPEND   --- TEMP 512                   0      /sounds/62369/grail22.
      APPEND   --- TEMP 512                   0      wav
      PASS     --- TEMP 512                   FIELD            SHARE? N
      GOSUB    --- PLAY SOUND

Appx main menu > System Administration > Databases/Applications > Applications.

Select the application you want to protect from changes. Press ENTER to go to the popup continuation window. Turn off the flag in the lower right of that window called "Allow Design?".

This makes that application "Inquire Mode Only" from within application design.

Release 4.2 was change to have the default mode in Application Design be Inquire rather than Change mode. Part of the reasoning behind that decision was to assist in protecting applications from accidentally being changed.

You create the cache once, but you use OPEN-CACHE?=Y to control each stream. You can switch a given stream back and forth between the cached and base files by executing OPEN statements.

When Appx creates a file stream, it uses the base. If you have file A open in a process, and then invoke a subprocess child, we don't open file A again (and we don't create a new stream). The child shares the parent's stream. You can prove that to yourself by putting a TRAP in the File-level Open event point for file A - it won't get hit when you invoke the child process.

In the case of cached files, the file contents are always created in the first stack frame (i.e. the cached file contents are detached). The file stream always has a subprocess scope.

Here's a test scenario to illustrate how this works. I defined a simple permanent index file with two fields, TESTSCOP NUMBER and TESTSCOP NAME. Then I created a simple scrolling input process (TESTSCOP as the PDF) and entered five test records. I painted --- CHILD ID on the header frame to make it easier to see which input process was running. Next, I wrote a job that invoked the input process six times:

      CHILD ID  Invocation Type  Pre-invocation Open?   
      --------  ---------------- --------------------   
      1ST       Subprocess       No                     
      2ND       Subprocess       Yes - open cached      
      3RD       Subprocess       No                     
      4TH       Related          No                     
      5TH       Subprocess       No                     
      6TH       Subprocess       Yes - open base        

When the job runs, the first child displays data in the base file (PDF).

In the pre-invocation event point of the 2ND child, I CREATE the cache (type = LOAD), then OPEN the cache, then looped thru each record and appended the word CACHED to each name field. So now the base file is unchanged, but the cache file has the word CACHED in every record. When the 2ND child process runs, it displays the cached file.

When the 3RD child runs, I see the cached records because the stream is shared between the parent and children 2 and 3 (and 5 and 6).

The 4TH child is invoked related. Stream objects are not shared with related invocations, so the base PDF records are displayed.

The 5TH child is invoked subprocess and is identical to the 3RD. I added this child to illustrate that the file contents are persistent. The 5TH child shows the cached records.

In the pre-invocation event point of the 6TH child, I OPEN the CUST file, this time with CACHE set to NONE. The 6TH child displays the base records, as expected.

When you invoke a process, APPX pushes a stack frame onto the process execution stack. A stack frame contains a set of objects. Important point: a process (actually an EM) contains a set of references, a stack frame contains a set of objects.

Data sharing matches each reference to the appropriate object.

When a process is invoked, APPX walks through the list of references and determines which stack frame should contain the corresponding object.

If a process has no parent (i.e. it is the first process), all objects are created in the first stack frame. If a process has a parent, we look at the sharing characteristics of the object and of the ancestor processes. If the object is shared with subprocesses, we stop traversing the stack as soon as we encounter a related or detached invocation. If the object is shared with related processes, we stop traversing the stack as soon as we find a detached invocation. If the object is shared with detached processes, we stop when we find the first stack frame.

For example:

  Process A
          |
       detached
          |
  Process B
          |
       related
          |
  Process C
          |
      subprocess
          |
  Process D
          |
      subprocess
          |
  Process E

We now process the list of references in process E's EM. If we find a reference to a private object (i.e., one that should never be shared, such as --- PROCESS TYPE), we create the object in process E's stack frame. If we find a reference to an object that should be shared with subprocesses, we look back up the stack until we find the most recently invoked related or detached process; in this case, process C. We create any subprocess-scoped objects in the stack frame for process C. If we find a reference to a related object, we look back until we find the most recently invoked detached process (in this case process B) and create related-scope objects in that stack frame. If we find a reference to an object when should be shared with detached invocations (such as --- USER ID), we create them in the first stack frame.

As we process each reference, we locate the desired object (creating it required) and point the reference to the object. That means that the references for a particular invocation can point into four different stack frames (private, subprocess, related, and detached).

Looking back at the stack frame above, consider what will happen when process E ends. All objects private to E are destroyed, but what about other objects? Any subprocess-scoped objects were created in the stack frame for process C so they are not destroyed until process C ends. There are some interesting consequences to this. First, the stack frame for any given invocation can contain objects that are not referenced by that process.

For example, if process E refers to a field named WORK TOTAL (subprocess-scoped), that object is created in C's stack frame even if process C does not refer to WORK TOTAL. Now when process E ends, WORK TOTAL is not destroyed - it lives in C's stack frame until C ends. Let's say that, after process E ends, process D invokes process F (so E and F are siblings even though E dies before F was born). If process F refers to WORK TOTAL, it will find that object in process C's stack frame - in fact, WORK TOTAL will reflect the last value assigned by process D.

That means that if you have a stream positioned at record 10, and invoke a child as a subprocess, and READNEXT within the child, you will be sharing the stream with the parent and the parent will now be positioned at record 11. On the other hand, if you invoke the child as related or detached, the child has its own stream and a READNEXT will not affect the parent's stream.

A stream has four components:

  -  readnext position (record number/key value plus key path)
  -  an optional record lock
  -  a record buffer
  -  pointer to cached or base file

The following rules apply:

A Subprocess work field will only survive a Subprocess level of Process Invocation.

A Related work field survives both Subprocess and Related Process Invocations.

A Detached work field survives all Invocations (and in general survives until the user exits Appx).

                            Input Process Invocation Type
              ------------------------------------------------------------
              | Invocation Type   | SubProcess |  Detached  |   Related  |
              |-------------------|------------|------------|------------|
              |                   |            |            |            |
              | SubProcess        |    Yes     |     No     |     No     |
  Work Field  |                   |            |            |            |
  Invocation  | Detached          |    Yes     |     Yes    |     Yes    |
  Type        |                   |            |            |            |
              | Related           |    Yes     |     No     |     Yes    |
              |                   |            |            |            |
              ------------------------------------------------------------

                Yes=Work field is passed     No=Work field is not passed

 If you ...
          export APPX_FAKE_TIME="2001061510000000"
          appx

 ... you get a date/time of ...
          6/15/2001 8:00am

 ... and the clock ticks forward from there as time goes by.

   BEG READ 0SA USER      HOLD 0      KEY IS
   SET      0SA USER ID            =  0SA USER ID
   SET      0SA USER NAM           =  0SA USER NAM
   END READ 0SA USER

When you enter the BEG READ into the ILF editor, it will give you a message "WARNING - File not found", which you can ignore (option 88).

Be very careful what you do with these techniques, as THEY ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY APPX SOFTWARE, and may change without notice.

Then, in the process where you want to move it to an alpha, you just say:

             CNV TEXT <alpha field> = <numeric field>

The CNV TEXT field will honor the default display mask, and put the minus sign where you want. If you put currency symbols, commas, etc, they will also be formatted into the alpha field. The same thing applies if you use a date field as the source, APPX will format the date according to the date mask, so you don't get '20010517--------', you get '5/17/2001'.

APPX will use your default mask in other places as well, which may or may not be a good thing (inputs and outputs that use the numeric field will be affected). If you are concerned about that, you can create a new numeric field with the default mask you want, SET the original field into the new one, and then use CNV TEXT.

Depending on what version of APPX you are using and how you are accessing it, you may be able to hold down ALT, use the numeric keypad to type the ascii code value in decimal, and release ALT, to enter that ASCII char.

Or you can do it with ILF code;

 SET OWN WF ASCII CODE = 176
 CNV BIN OWN WF ALPHA 1

 ... where WF ALPHA 1 is painted on the report or screen. The other variable
 is a three-digit numeric field.

Is there a general way for the Application designer to manually control
process behavior, based on Security?  For example I would like to 'hide' 
optional children, if the user does not have the required security.  Can I 
determine the security key of the process in ILF?

You can read the 0AD PROCESS file to find out the security class that might 
be assigned to a process.

You can then set up a memory indexed file with a single field of Alpha(4).
Define it as the Record Access security field.  Then, from ILF set the field
to the security code you want to test, write it, and then try to read it back.  If you can't read it back, then you don't have access to that security code.

Details:

1) Create a memory file with one field designated as the RECORD PROTECT
   field, as follows:

2) Make sure that you set the Record Access field for the file as follows:
        
    Record Protection Fields            
        Delete Protection = blank
        Key Protection = blank
        Record Access = SECURITY_CODE

3) The following ILF code will create and populate the memory file and test
   for a specific code.  The READ returns a true if the user has access to the
   specified code.  The READ returns a false is the user does not have access
   to the specified code.

      SCRATCH  SPF SECURITY            FAIL 0 CACHE? N
      CREATE   SPF SECURITY  SHARE? Y  FAIL 0 CACHE NONE
      *        The write will always succeed
      SET      SPF SECURITY CODE              =      0001
      WRITE    SPF SECURITY               FAIL 0
      *        The read will fail if the user does not have access to code 0001
      SET      SPF SECURITY CODE              =      0001
      READ     SPF SECURITY               HOLD 0 FT 0 BY SECURITY CODE
F     ERROR    User Doesn't Have Access To Code 0001

When you want a QUERY to constrain an INPUT process (the regular INPUT Child 
Constraints can't be satisfied using CC's 'EQ' comparison operator only), you 
can use the following technique:

Create a JOB with Job Steps:
    QUERY
    UPDATE   (uq=query)
    INPUT

All three processes use the same PCF.

The UPDATE's Start of Process is:

      SCRATCH  AAA FILENAME              CACHE? Y
      CREATE   AAA FILENAME   SHARE? Y   CACHE? NOLOAD
      OPEN     AAA FILENAME   SHARE? Y   CACHE? N

The UPDATE's Record frame contains only:

      OPEN     AAA FILENAME   SHARE? Y   CACHE? Y
      WRITE    AAA FILENAME
      OPEN     AAA FILENAME   SHARE? Y   CACHE? N

The INPUT's JobStep's Pre-Invocation sets the following detached workfield:

      SET      AAA WORK USE-CACHED-PCF        =      1

The INPUT's Start of Process contains:

      IF       AAA WORK USE-CACHED-PCF        EQ     1
 T    OPEN     AAA FILENAME   SHARE? Y   CACHE? Y

The INPUT's Post-Invocation sets:

      SET      AAA WORK USE CACHED PCF        =      0

This example does not pass changes to the CACHEed version on to the disk 
version.  You'd have to put code in the INPUT's End of Process for that.

 GOSUB --- GET PARENT PROCESS

 ... then check the values of:

 0AD WORK PROC TYPE
 0AD WORK PROC NAM
 0AD WORK AP

What you would do is create a standard subroutine that reads all WIDGET records, looking for widgets of X type (like button). When it finds a widget of that type, it could set the font, text, rollover colors, etc.

Then, call this subr in Pre-Display of any process you want to have the consistent look and feel.

One enhancement you could do is put all the attrs in a one-rec param file, so that you can change them on the fly at run-time without having to touch the code.

This works only for setting attributes for existing GUI elements, and doesn't let you create new elements and add them to processes on the fly (for example, if you want a standard button to always appear on the bottom line of all INPUT processes).

The follow sample will work for any range of numbers where the total numbers
in the range is a maximum of 10,000 (eg., 1 - 10000, 50000 - 60000, 
1678  -11678).  If you use a larger range, you will need to increase the
generating time (TI) by some factor to allow at least one full pass through
the range of numbers.

 
     *        Set start and end of desired number range.
     SET      --- AI                         =      1
     SET      --- ZI                         =      10000
     *        Use current time to get random number of seconds & hundredths
     *        (WORK RGEN TIME SS defined as date field with seconds only)
     *        (WORK RGEN TIME TH defined as date field with hundredths only)
     SET DATE 1EX WORK RGEN TIME SS
     SET      --- SI                         =  1EX WORK RGEN TIME SS
     SET DATE 1EX WORK RGEN TIME TH
     SET      --- TI                         =  1EX WORK RGEN TIME TH
     *        Add number of seconds to number of hundredths
     COMPUTE  --- TI                         +  --- SI
     IF       --- TI                         LT     1
T    SET      --- TI                         =      1
     *        Set Number counter to one less than specified start of range.
     SET      --- NI                         =  --- AI
     COMPUTE  --- NI                         -      1
     *        Calculate time to stop generator by starting at current time
     *        and increasing it by adding the value in TI to the th's part.
     *        (WORK RGEN RUN END defined as date field with YY thru th)
     SET DATE 1EX WORK RGEN RUN END
     DATE ADD 1EX WORK RGEN RUN END          1  --- TI
     *        Start infinite loop that will exit when end time is reached.
     BEG LOOP LI = 001 TO 001  STEP 000
     COMPUTE  --- NI                         +      1
     *        If number count reaches end of range, go back to start.
     IF       --- NI                         GT --- ZI
T    SET      --- NI                         =  --- AI
     *        If current time has reached end time, exit loop.
     *        (WORK RGEN RUN START defined as date field with YY thru th)
     SET DATE 1EX WORK RGEN RUN START
     IF       1EX WORK RGEN RUN START        GE 1EX WORK RGEN RUN END
F    END LOOP LI
     *          ==>  Resulting generated number is in ---NI

Retrieve and occurrence example:
     TRN WORK DATE occurs 66 times (DD)         
        . . .
     SET --- TEMP 30     =     WORK DATE (note this is a literal)
     SET 0AD ELEMENT NAM = --- TEMP 30
     READ 0AD ELEMENT  HOLD 0 FT 0 BY ELEMENT NAM 
     SET --- AI = 0AD ELEMENT OCC

AI will contain 66 in this example.

Now in 4.2 you can use the two new PDFs --- CURSOR AT APPLICATION and --- CURSOR AT FIELD
just in case the user happened to be sitting on the field of interest.
...
     SET --- NEXT APPLICATION = --- CURSOR AT APPLICATION
     OPEN 0AD ELEMENT
T    SET --- TEMP 30     = --- CURSOR AT FIELD
T    SET 0AD ELEMENT NAM = --- TEMP 30
TT   READ 0AD ELEMENT  HOLD 0 FT 0 BY ELEMENT NAM 
...
I haven't tested this to see if it really works and I'm not sure if the
T    SET --- TEMP 30     = --- CURSOR AT FIELD
would really be required.

     --- Input   STACK (EDIT)

This ILF must be coded within an image level EP. Run against any Database.

This is most convenient if you define it as your SysAdmin 'Direct Process 1', or if you put it on a Direct Process 1 menu. Then, in a trapped routine, you can invoke direct process one, cntl+1. This will display the process stack which shows the process name, process type and invocation type. For a detailed description of the process stack see http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=171 .

 1) Ensure that the INPUT process does not specify a "Default Mode" 
   (which it always does)

 2) Ensure that the child spec does not specify an "Override Default Mode"
    (which it normally doesn't)

 3) Invoke the INPUT process with an invocation type of SUBPROCESS.  
    (--- DEFAULT MODE has a share class of SUBPROCESS.)

Think of INPUT Additional Attribute field "Default Mode" as "Initial Mode". Specifying "Default Mode" tells APPX to run the INPUT with that mode as the Initial Mode. APPX then ignores any value you might have set into the PDF.

If a parent INPUT process is running in Inquire or Change mode and you set the PDF to ADD mode before invoking a child INPUT, APPX runs the child INPUT process in Inquire or Change mode instead.

You can control the INPUT process mode by setting the desired mode into --- DEFAULT MODE in the child INPUT's Start of Process.

Create a work date field as CC-DD, in the example below this work field is 
WORK DATE and the year I am checking is in WORK YEAR.

Using ILF:

        SET      TRN WORK DATE                      =     TRN WORK YEAR
        SET      TRN WORK DATE                      =     ----0229--------
        IF       TRN WORK DATE                      EQ    ------29--------
T       (the year in WORK YEAR is a leap year)

When 0229 is put in a date field that contains a year, APPX will determine 
if 0229 is valid for that year.  If it is, 0229 will remain.  If not, APPX 
date logic will convert the 0229 to 0301.  In the example above, the first 
SET puts the year in the CC-DD date field.  The second set puts Feb 29 into 
that year.  The IF checks to see if the day is still 29.  If it is, then this 
is a leap year.  

The row and column position on the widget will still be the nearest row/col intersection, but the micro adjustment field will be filled in with the percentage adjustment away from that row/col. The same thing applies to drawing buttons, etc. - without the shift key you get 'snap to grid', but if you use the shift key, you can make it any size.

APPX_IO_LOG=filename APPX_FMT_IO_LOG=1

The first will tell Appx to log all AppxIO actions to filename. The second will tell Appx to format the log so that mere mortals can read it.

The log file will show all reads, readnexts, writes, deletes, and rewrites. Each entry will show a complete dump of the data being read, written, or deleted. For read operations, the log will show the key number and key value being retrieved.

You'll also see log entries for each process that runs so you can tell which process caused each I/O.

Buttons and Labels on input screens and menus can use html to enhance the
text.  Enter the html code in the Label or Button text field in the object
property(ies).  Example; <html>Request<br>Ship Date will be displayed on two
lines.


----------------
|              |
|  Request     |
|  Ship Date   |
|              |
----------------

 

The caveat is that the individual lines delineated by the <br> formatting 
may not obey all the label's gui settings, CENTER for example.  


In the case of CENTER the justification is applied to all lines at though 
there all the length of the longest segement.  You can revised the html tag 
to center each line of the label as follows;

<html><p align="center">Request<br>Ship Date

Here is a sample menu structure to create:

Daily
-- Transactions
----- Enter Transactions
----- Print Journal
Monthly
-- Postings
----- Balancing Report
----- Post Transactions

To create this, enter the following in pre-display:
*                                                                         
*        Restore and set defaults for creating CHILD widget records       
*                                                                         
   RESTORE  --- WIDGET                     DEFAULT RECORD                    
   SET      --- WIDGET PARENT TYPE         =      CHILD                      
   SET      --- WIDGET POSITION ROW        =      0                          
   SET      --- WIDGET POSITION COLUMN     =                                 
*                                                                         
*        Create the "Daily" top level pulldown                            
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Daily                      
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =                                 
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 1                     
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      D                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
*        Create the "Transactions" pullout menu and attach to "Daily"     
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Transactions               
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =      Daily                      
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 2                     
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      T                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
*     Create the "Enter Transactions" item and attach to "Transacti.." 
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Enter Transactions         
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =      Transactions               
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 3                     
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      E                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
*        Create the "Print Journal" item and attach to "Transactions"     
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Print Journal              
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =      Transactions               
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 4                     
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      P                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
*        Create the "Monthly" top level pulldown                          
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Monthly                    
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =                                 
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 11                    
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      M                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
*        Create the "Postings" pullout menu and attach to "Monthly"       
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Postings                   
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =      Monthly                    
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 12                    
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      P                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
*        Create the "Balancing Report" item and attach to "Postings"      
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Balancing Report           
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =      Postings                   
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 12                    
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      B                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
*        Create the "Post Transactions" item and attach to "Postings"     
*                                                                         
   SET      --- WIDGET LABEL               =      Post Transactions          
   SET      --- WIDGET GROUP NAME          =      Postings                   
   SET      --- WIDGET OPTION              =      USER 14                    
   SET      --- WIDGET SHORTCUT            =      P                          
   SET      --- WIDGET ADD TO MENU         =      Y                          
   GOSUB        :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                          
*                                                                         
END                                                                       
*                                                                         
*        Write WIDGET and increment POSITION ROW to create unique keys    
*                                                                         
   LABEL    :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                              
   WRITE    --- WIDGET                 FAIL 0                                
-  COMPUTE  --- WIDGET POSITION ROW        +      1                          
F  GOTO     :WRITE CHILD WIDGET                                              
   RETURN    

http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=693

http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=693

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http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=693

http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=693

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http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=628

    SET       --- NEXT DATABASE   =    DB1
    OPEN      TAR CUSTOMER        SHARE? Y FAIL 0
    *
    BEG READ  TAR CUSTOMER        Hold? N
    *
    *         The DB1 Customer file is currently accessible
    *         through the CUSTOMER file name - we just read 
    *         a record from the DB1 Customer file.  Now we 
    *         Want to write this record to the DB2 Customer
    *         file - have to open it first
    *
    SET       --- NEXT DATABASE   =    DB2
    OPEN      TAR CUSTOMER        SHARE? Y FAIL 0
    WRITE     TAR CUSTOMER                 FAIL 0
    F CANCEL unexpected error (duplicate key?) WRITEing CUSTOMER 
    *
    *         Now we have to switch databases again before we
    *         do the END READ
    *
    OPEN      TAR CUSTOMER        SHARE? Y FAIL 0
    END READ  TAR CUSTOMER 
 

When APPX needs to open a file, it does so in two phases... a logical open and a physical open. The logical open takes place when APPX opens the file automatically OR when you open the file with an OPEN statement - this phase sets up internal memory structures to keep track of the file - the structure files are also verified during the logical open (this is expensive).

The physical open only takes place when you actually do the first I/O to the file (a read, write, etc.).

A file name (use "CUSTOMER" as an example) actually acts as a file multiplexor - you can get to multiple CUSTOMER files using the same file name. You do this by setting --- NEXT DATABASE and executing an OPEN statement to open a CUSTOMER file in a different database.

      *
      *         RETURN to Display, 1st time thru
      *
      IF       --- PROCESS CODE               EQ     DISP
      T SET --- OPTION = RETURN
      T SET --- PROCESS CODE = DONE
      *
      *         END to go back to INPUT, 2nd time thru
      *
      F IF --- PROCESS CODE EQ DONE
      FT SET --- OPTION = END 

(All this can be done in a SUBR, called from Key Entry's Global Pre-Display event point.)

When the INQUIRY starts, PROCESS CODE is DISP, so the KEY ENTRY frame is skipped. Since the INQUIRY is constrained to one record, it displays only that record from the INPUT.

When the user presses ENTER or END after viewing the data, Key Entry executes again, but since PROCESS CODE is now DONE, it sets OPTION to END. INQUIRY ends, and control is returned to the parent.

http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=785

   SET      --- STREAM OPEN TYPE           =      r
   SET      --- TEMP 256                   =      |ls -la /usr1/appx/
   APPEND   --- TEMP 256                   0      data/C01/AGP/Files/
   APPEND   --- TEMP 256                   0  AGP FILES NAME
   SET      --- STREAM FILE PATHNAME       =  --- TEMP 256
   GOSUB    --- STREAM OPEN
   IF       --- STREAM RETURN CODE         NE     0
T  ERROR    Cannot Get File Listing
T  END
   *    
   SET      --- STREAM EOR SEQUENCE        =      LF
   GOSUB    --- STREAM READ
   *        The results will be in --- STREAM BUFFER         
   DISPLAY  --- STREAM BUFFER              (AT APPEARANCE #    )

  Don't forget to close, GOSUB    --- STREAM CLOSE

Options whose numeric values are >= 20000 are handled by the client and never make it to the engine (things like TAB, CURSOR UP, END PARAGRAPH, ...). But, you can assign any of those tokens to WIDGET OPTION, WIDGET OPTION FOC G, or WIDGET OPTION FOC L.

 SCRATCH APP FILENAME FAIL 0 CACHE? Y
 CREATE APP FILENAME SHARE? Y FAIL 0 CACHE NOLOAD
 OPEN APP FILENAME SHARE? Y FAIL 0 CACHE? N (for disk version)

 Then to populate:

 BEG AT APP FILENAME IN some constraint
 END AT APP FILENAME IN some constraint
 BEG READ APP FILENAME HOLD 0 KEY IS FILENAME KEY FIELD
 OPEN APP FILENAME SHARE? Y FAIL 0 CACHE? Y (for cached version)
 WRITE APP FILENAME
 OPEN APP FILENAME SHARE? Y FAIL 0 CACHE? N (for disk version)
 END READ APP FILENAME
 OPEN APP FILENAME SHARE? Y FAIL 0 CACHE? Y (so process will use
 cached version)

 Now the data lookup should work on the cached file.

 You could also build a memory file and do the same thing and have the data
 lookup work on the memory file.

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\kernel32.dll,Sleep@

That tells Appx to call the Sleep subroutine with the correct calling convention (for some reason, Windows supports a number of different "calling conventions", or rules for calling a function, and most of the kernel32 routines use a non-standard convention - there's no way for Appx to know which convention to use so you have to tell us).

    *Save as Default allows you to designate whether you want to re-display on 

    
    *Auto Read Next allows you to control which record will be read and 

    *Auto Read First allows you to control which record will be read and 

    *Exact Key Required allows you to specify whether or not a complete key must

      *      
      *        Open file in source database      
      *      
      SET      --- NEXT DATABASE              =      AAA      
      OPEN     SPF CUSTOMER  SHARE? Y  FAIL 0 CACHE? N      
      *
      BEG READ SPF CUSTOMER               HOLD 0 KEY IS  CUSTOMER NO
      *
      *        Open file in destination database
      *
      SET      --- NEXT DATABASE              =      BBB
      OPEN     SPF CUSTOMER  SHARE? Y  FAIL 0 CACHE? N
      WRITE    SPF CUSTOMER               FAIL 0
      *
      *        Open file in source database
      *
      SET      --- NEXT DATABASE              =      AAA
      OPEN     SPF CUSTOMER  SHARE? Y  FAIL 0 CACHE? N
      *
      END READ SPF CUSTOMER

     SET      --- STREAM OPEN TYPE           =      r
     SET      --- STREAM READ LENGTH         =
     GOSUB    --- STREAM OPEN
     SET      --- STREAM EOR SEQUENCE        =      LF
     IF       --- STREAM RETURN CODE         NE     0
     *
     *        read tab file record
     LABEL    :NEXT RECORD
     TRAP
     GOSUB    --- STREAM READ
     IF       --- STREAM RETURN CODE         EQ     0
     IF       --- STREAM BUFFER              EQ
     GOTO     :NEXT RECORD 

The field --- STREAM READ LENGTH is used for two things. If set to a value other than zero the READ subroutine will limit the data bytes it reads to no more than that many bytes. What gets you is that your READ routine also uses that field to tell you how many bytes it actually did read. So, the first time you call it the value was zero, it read in number of bytes (if you count the tab bytes) up to the linefeed and set that number of bytes into this field. Since you didn't reset it to zero that value carried forward to the next read. It read that number of bytes and stopped leaving the rest<lf> unread. The next time you called read it read the remaining number of bytes up to the linefeed and set the length to that number. And so on.....
So, you need to set this field to zero before each read attempt.

Create an update process and simply SET, or CNV TEXT, fields from your source file (PCF) into the alpha fields of the consecutive file. The actual Appx file (filename.dat) in the database Data directory will contain the ASCII text file. You might consider renaming it to filename.txt before using or sending the file to someone else.

The carriage return/line feed characters can be added as follows;

     In Start of Process…
         CNV BIN --- CDF HEX00                    =  0
         CNV BIN --- CDF HEX0A                   =  10

     In Start if Frame…
         APPEND  --- TEMP 2                            0  --- CDF HEX0A    
         APPEND  --- TEMP 2                            0  --- CDF HEX00

Don’t forget to WRITE the records to the consecutive file. Also, you must SCRATCH and CREATE the flat file on each execution of the Update process. If the file is not scratched, data will be appended to the end of the file.

By setting APPX_41_EPS=1 environment variable, you can get previous EP behavior.
This variable, however, can not be set for design. It is for Run time only.

Execution cycle in 4.2 has been changed in 3 areas:
1.      Input execution after OC
2.      Input execution on Delete
3.      Input execution auto execution of child process.


On #1 – input Execution after OC – if you have ORDER1 Input Process, and execute opt1 to run Line Items process, we changed execution cycle when you come back from a child.
The order of the events as follows:
1.      Read the PCF record with HOLD
2.      Executes Post PCF Read
3.      Executes Post Invocation of the Child
4.      Executes Select Image
5.      Executes Pre-Display/Verify EP
6.      Executes Pre-Display
7.      We display the Screen

4 – 6 – is what changed in 4.2.

On #2 – Input Execution on Delete – if you delete a record, Appx will execute Pre-Update EP, after Delete – Post_PCF Update EP.
Prior to 4.2 – Pre-PCF Update Ep wasn’t executing.

On#3  Input Execution auto execution of child process – Key change, record delete (for example, you have ORDER1 and ORDER2 as an AC to ORDER1. If you delete ORDER1 record, you need to delete all corresponding ORDER2 records).
It looks to see if ORDER2 needs to be run.
It executes ORDER2 in autoexecute, it goes through all the steps to delete ORDER2 records.

It executes:
Post PCF read
Pre PCF Update
Post PCF Read
Delete – Post PCF Update

It will execute all these EP’s for each line item.

In 4.1, it wasn’t executing Post PCF Read and Pre PCF Update.

First a short introduction on the choice of character set and length semantics: 
Using Unicode as a character set will allow you to store any character, 
not just the western European characters you are normally limited to.

Unicode is a multi-byte character set which means that a single character could use more than a single byte. So what do you mean by VARCHAR2(10)? 
Is this 10 characters or 10 bytes? 
This used to be the same with our single byte character set, but with UTF8 this is no longer true. 
You can specify VARCHAR2(10 BYTE) or VARCHAR2(10 CHAR) if you want to be specific. 

However, APPX doesn’t use this syntax and does not specify either. 
This is where the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS parameter comes in. 
You can set this to BYTE or CHAR basically defining which one of the two is the default when not specifying it explicitly.
 
A default Oracle installation will use BYTE semantics which will work with APPX.  
However, if the default is changed to CHAR semantics, then APPX won't work without setting the following environment variable:

NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS=BYTE

Answers in this category:
Is the documentation for the CNV TEXT statement wrong regarding the use of occurrence "000"?
How do I get the my current APPX Process ID
ILF verb shortcuts (abbreviations).
GOSUB/SUBR/COPY exit considerations.
GOSUB/COPY/SUBR usage considerations?
Variable Scoping considerations with GOSUB/COPY and SUBR.
Load time, memory usage, and caching considerations when determining using GOSUB, COPY and SUBR.
Why are there lowercase I/O Verbs in ILF?
ILF Option 94
ILF Force Save Option 88
ILF Option 95
Text and Icon Position via ILF --- WIDGETs
I keep loosing my toolbar when I go in and out of the Image Editor.

In Chapter 4-6: ILF Keyword Reference <CNV TEXT> of the designer manual, under CNV TEXT, it says:

    ••••• CNV TEXT ••• •••••••••••••••••••••• ••• =  ••• •••••••••••••••••••••• •••
    (1)            (2) (3)                    (4)    (5) (6)                    (7)

Restrictions

When all occurrences of the sending field are selected as the CNV TEXT data (by entering occurrence number 000), all occurrences are treated as a single, rectangular alpha field. When the data is copied from the sending field, a check is made to ensure that soft spaces are compressed, ensuring that the next “word” is separated from the previous one by just one space.

... should the first "sending field" text instead be Destination field?  

With respect to the second one, the ILF editor that lets you set it up appears to be broken.   It won't take an occurrences of "000" on the RHS (Source side), it just disappears, and is treated normally (as if it were '1').   The '000' CNV TEXT spec only works on the LHS (Destination)...

Unless both the LHS and RHS fields are multi-occurrence.  In which case the ILF editor will accept 000 for the RHS occurrence.

There's something I'm not understanding here.

-pat-

======================================================================
SUBROUTINE  Process Name:     GET PROCESS ID
 
      GOSUB    --- GET CONFIGURATION INFO 
      SET      --- CONFIG TYPE                =      PID 
      READ     --- CONFIG                 HOLD 0      BY CONFIG TYPE 
F     CANCEL    unexpected error trying to READ "--- CONFIG" 
      SET      --- TEMP 32                    =  --- CONFIG DATA 
      *        --- TEMP 32 contains the unique Process ID 

====================================================================== 

The following list of shortcuts can be used while entering statements in the ILF editor.

S  =  SET
W  =  WRITE
A  =  APPEND
G  =  GOSUB
I  =  IF
T  =  TRAP

BA (or BEG A) =  BEG AT
BR (or BEG R) =  BEG READ
BL (or BEG L) =  BEG LOOP

EA (or END A) =  END AT
ER (or END R) =  END READ
EL (or END L) =  END LOOP

CA    =  CALC
CO    =  COMPUTE
READN =  READNEXT
R     =  READ
REW   =  REWRITE

RECIEVE = RECEIVE   (auto correct)

If you use an EXIT or RETURN statement in the subroutine, then you may be setting yourself up for a problem.

Exiting a subroutine with a RETURN for GOSUB calls will generate an EM Compiler error if you try to call it as a SUBR. A SUBR is a standalone process that now has a RETURN without a GOSUB.

A worse problem is using an EXIT in the subroutine. This works fine when you call it as a SUBR. It also does not complain when you call it as a GOSUB. The problem is that the GOSUB brings the code inline. This means that the EXIT statement in the subroutine will also exit the calling code. This can be handy if this is what you really intended to do. This can be bad if you forget and call it with a GOSUB intending on it to return back when the GOSUB is done.

Try not to include a RETURN or EXIT in an external subroutine. Since you can never be completely sure of how it will be called in the future.

COPY and GOSUB are almost identical in that they both bring the code inline 
to your process.  In fact, when you code something like:


 GOSUB    XXX SUBROUTINE


where SUBROUTINE is *not* a label in the current event point, then APPX will 
create


 LABEL    SUBROUTINE
 COPY     XXX SUBROUTINE
 RETURN


The major difference between COPY and GOSUB is that GOSUB has its own set of 
T/F flags, whereas COPY just copies the requested code into the event point 
at that location, and if there are any T/F flags involved, the copied routine 
better know about them.  Example:


   READ   <some file>
F  COPY   <routine a>


The code in routine <routine a> will have the F flag set in the first position 
when it starts running, and any T/F flags it changes will be visible to the 
code following the COPY.  If the copy was a GOSUB instead, then in <routine 
a>, the first T/F flag would not be set, and any T/F  flags it changes would 
*not* be visible to the statements following the GOSUB. 


A SUBR is another process invocation, so:


 - the code exists as a separate process, which is sometimes required.
   For example, you can call SUBR within a BEG READ/END READ loop, and
   the routine can also do a BEG READ/END READ on the same file without
   any problems.


 - you can control sharing via the SUBPROCESS/RELATED/DETACHED invocation


 - the code is *not* compiled into the calling program, thus reducing EM
   size (but who cares, really).


 - you cannot exit the routine with a RETURN, you must have an END or
   EXIT, or just run out of statements.


 - takes longer to invoke, as a separate process needs to be brought
   into memory and control passed to it, and then returned to the caller.
   Not a problem for data entry programs but can add run time if it's
   in a update & gets invoked hundreds of times.


Because of the difference in exiting a SUBR (with END/EXIT) vs. a GOSUB (with 
RETURN), you can't really call the routine one way or the other.  You must 
decide if it's going to be invoked as SUBR or GOSUB, and code accordingly.  
If a SUBR attempts to exit with RETURN, you will get a run time error, however,
if a GOSUB encounters an END/EXIT, then you have just ended the execution of 
the entire Event Point, not just that subroutine.  This is a subtle programming 
error that can lead to difficult to track down bugs, ie, sometimes a post just 
skips part of the updating for a record because someone put an END instead of 
RETURN in a GOSUB'd routine.


As to which one to use:


 - COPY if you just want to bring in some straightforward code, i.e., for
   this current ORDER2 record, read the ORDER1, CUSTOMER and PRODUCT files.


 - GOSUB if you need to preserve the T/F flags


 - SUBR if you *need* the special advantages it offers.

This concept deals with variable values and memory as you branch into and  
return from subroutines.  If you have a process that is using --- AI as a 
counter and at some point in the code you branch into a subroutine and return, 
the variable --- AI may have been changed (or stepped on) by the subroutine.  
That is because GOSUBs and COPYs bring the code into the current process.  
You can have the subroutine STORE and RESTORE any variables it uses, but that 
only works one level deep.  

If a subroutine is called by a GOSUB and it in turn calls another subroutine 
with a GOSUB, then the STORE in the second subroutine will step on the STARE 
done by the first subroutine.  This is because there is only one STORE/RESTORE 
area per variable/process. 

Example:

Process: TEST
SET      --- AI                 =     10
GOSUB    AAA DO SOMETHING
SET      --- BI                 = --- AI
*
END
*
LABEL    DO SOMETHING
STORE    --- AI
SET      --- AI                 =     20
GOSUB    AAA DO SOMETHING ELSE
RESTORE  --- AI
RETURN
*
LABEL    DO SOMETHING ELSE
STORE    --- AI
SET      --- AI                 =     30
RESTORE  --- AI
RETURN

So, instead of --- BI getting a value of 10, it would get a value of 30.  This 
is because the second GOSUB'd routine wrote over the STORE buffer created by 
the first routine.

On the other hand, if you use SUBR calls, then each SUBR routine contains it's 
own STORE/RESTORE buffer area that can never step on the parent process 
STORE/RESTORE buffer or be stepped on by any child process the SUBR calls.  
This way, you are safe to use any variable as long as you STORE it first and 
RESTORE it when done.  Process sharing characteristics are also handy for this.
If you call SUBRs as related, and SUBPROCESS variables are local and any 
RELATED variables are shared.  This also allows for easy recursion.

The downside, is that there may be a very slight, theoretical, performance penalty since you are branching between separate processes, but I doubt this is a measurable difference unless you are very low on memory and other modules have to be cached back in.

APPX 4.1.3 has new I/O statements, with different formats than the prior I/O statements. To prevent conflicts, instead of replace the APPX I/O statements, we added new ones. But, we wanted the new one to have the name of the old ones.

Our solution was to convert the current I/O statement names from upper to lower case, then have the new statements be the names with uppercase.

So, the old I/O statements are still there and work. A lower case "read" is the old READ statement and an upper case "READ" is the new I/O statement.

The statements are converted as you edit ILF code. When an ILF event point series is loaded into the ILF editor, the "read" statements are converted to "READ" statements. When you save the code, the I/O statements have been updated to the new I/O statement format.

If you select "upper/lower" with opt-6, the command goes in as "read" instead of "READ", and the remainder of the line uses the old format (8-character file name, etc.) instead of the new. It also does not verify the key path on entry, as READ does.

The results of performing an Opt-94 from within the ILF editor depends on the statement at which the cursor is currently positioned and sometimes where the cursor is positioned within the statement.

If you're positioned to a statement that names a label or a process (GOSUB, SUBR, INPUT, etc.), then your cursor can be anywhere on that line and Opt-94 will take you to either the local label, or the process.

Some statements will jump to the DD, not to a process. In those cases you must have your cursor positioned within the field name on the statement. Some statements can contain more than one field name (like IF, APPEND, SET).

With a statement like BEG READ, you can jump to 3 different places. Based on the cursor position, you can jump to the FILE, the FIELD, or the END READ.

If you're not positioned somewhere where ILF Browse can determine where to jump to, then it invokes Xcopy logic. This is the beginning of an enhanced Xcopy that hasn't been implemented yet. For example, you might want to ILF Browse to a subroutine and mark some statements to be Xcopy'd. Someday you should be able to do that.

 
Text Position    WIDGET ALIGN HORIZ  WIDGET ALIGN VERT
---------------- ------------------  -----------------
{null}           {null}              {null}
CENTER           CENTER              CENTER
TOP              CENTER              TOP
RIGHT            RIGHT               CENTER
BOTTOM           CENTER              BOTTOM
LEFT             LEFT                CENTER
UPPER LEFT       LEFT                TOP
UPPER RIGHT      RIGHT               TOP
LOWER RIGHT      RIGHT               BOTTOM
LOWER LEFT       LEFT                BOTTOM


                 WIDGET TEXT  WIDGET TEXT  WIDGET TILING 
Icon Position     POS HORIZ    POS VERT     MODE 
---------------- -----------  -----------  -------------
{null}           {null}       {null}       {null}
BEHIND TEXT      CENTER       CENTER       {null}
ABOVE TEXT       CENTER       BOTTOM       {null}
TRAILING TEXT    LEFT         CENTER       {null}
BELOW TEXT       CENTER       TOP          {null}
LEADING TEXT     RIGHT        CENTER       {null}
ABOVE & LEADING  RIGHT        BOTTOM       {null}
ABOVE & TRAILING LEFT         BOTTOM       {null}
BELOW & TRAILING LEFT         TOP          {null}
BELOW & LEADING  RIGHT        TOP          {null}
EXPAND TO FILL   {null}       {null}       EXPAND
EXPAND PROP'L    {null}       {null}       TILE
    

Answers in this category:

Answers in this category:
How can I get a date range from an input to the heading on an output?

Change the Share Class in the Additional Attributes of the work field(s) in the data dictionary to Related and the fields should become visible to both the query and output.

For more information on invocation type and share class refer to Chapter 1-5; Interprocess Communications in the online APPX Application Design Manual at http://www.appx.com/common/documents/manuals/appx/designer/helpset.htm.

Answers in this category:
How can I scale a picture on an Input screen?
How to add a second image to a frame in an input process
Message “Scrolling Frame Must Precede All Interactive Frames”
How to have a scrolling input process display in-progress messages?
Display spaces instead of MM/DD/CCYY on an input screen which is inquiry only
Can my scrolling input refresh itself when a record is added or deleted?
Can I use different image sizes in my scrolling input?
How do I create a dynamically sized scrolling input?
When using the PICTURE command I get Load Error!
How to set button (widget) colors!
How to print tech doc for GUI input processes?
How to get information about why the --- SEND FILE TO CLIENT subroutine failed?
How can I dynamically apply Special Characteristics (Underline, Bold, Inverse Video)
What’s PreDisplay/Verify for?
How to display the HELP text for the current Menu?
How do you create dynamic screen titlebar text with ILF?
What are the rules for non-positive widget positions within an image?
How do I stop APPX from automatically displaying the next record during INQUIRY.
How can I make a constrained field editable?
Which fields in the --- WIDGET file correspond to the GUI attr. input fields?
When I go into an Input screen with Optional Children exceeding option number 130 - options 1 through 30 are not there.
Word wrapping on multi-line text fields.
Is it possible to make the cursor on APPX thicker or more visible?
How to blank out or make invisible a Field on an Image
Optional frame may result in infinite loop
How To Add a Picture to an input process

This message will appear when a scrolling input function is invoked that has multiple image specifications defined and the display only (Dspl Only?) checkbox is set to “no” on an image prior to the scrolling image. Within a Frame, all the images defined before a scrolling image must be display only.

Note; if a modifiable field is specified on an image that is defined as display only, APPX will automatically set the Dspl Only? flag to “no” when the image is saved. You can reset the flag to “yes” if your application requires a modifiable field on the image. Refer to Chapter 3-6 of the Application Design Manual for further information on the Dspl Only? specification.

Instead of executing the input directly, execute the job. Place a value in the CHILD ID field for the job step, such as RERN. In the Post Invocation event point add ILF code to test the value of a work variable to see if the input should re-execute or if the job should terminate. To re-execute the input set the value of --- NEXT CHILD ID to the value you entered on the job step (RERN). This will cause Appx to change its default behavior and go the job step with that child id and start processing from there.

In the parent input process, go to the Additional Attributes of the optional child and set the Parent Disposition to End Before. In places appropriate to your processing in the parent and/or the optional child (the full screen process) set the variable you are going to check in the Post Invocation of the job to a value to indicate if the parent input should be re-executed or not (this is the code mentioned above). Make sure the share class of the variable and the invocation type of the inputs are set so that the variable you use is visible to the Post Invocation event point of the job.

Here is an example from 1EX:


I added the following code to the ORDER2 Input Process, in 1EX, frame 200,
Option Intercept:

      SET      1EX  WORK LOG                  EQ     0

      *        Copy current line
      IF       --- OPTION                     EQ     USER 1

T     STORE    1EX ORDER2                     RECORD

T     BEG LOOP WI = 000 TO 001  STEP 000

T     COMPUTE  1EX ORDER2 SNO                 +      1

T     WRITE    1EX ORDER2                 FAIL 0


TT    SET      1EX WORK LOG                   EQ     1

TT    END PROC


Then in the parent process - INPUT ORDER1, i went to the  AA and gave it a

child ID of TSTT.

Then in the Post Invocation of the Child Rule i added:


    IF       1EX WORK LOG                   EQ     1

T   SET      --- NEXT CHILD ID              =      TSTT


It causes the child process to re-display silently and the newly added record

is displayed to a user.

The first frame will have a starting position of row 1, column 1 (or whatever you want as your upper left corner anchor). The size will be set to -1 for the rows and however wide you would like for the data you need to display. The -1 tells Appx to end the frame one line up from the bottom of the display area. Set the box attribute to Y. Do no create an image for this frame (do not go to the image editor). This will be a display only frame.

The second frame will be the heading frame. The starting position will be the same as the first frame. The size will be the number of rows needed for the headings. This will be a display only frame.

The third frame is the footing frame. The starting position will be a negative number set to the number of rows needed for you footing information. This negative number tells Appx to start the frame that many rows from the bottom of the display area. This will be a display only frame.

The fourth frame will be the scrolling area. The starting row will be one more than the starting row of the heading frame plus the row size of the heading frame. The row size of this frame will be a negative number, one less than the starting row of the footing frame. That indicates to Appx to end the frame size that many lines up from the bottom of the display area.

See the image below for an example of the frame specifications listed above.

When you create the button (or any other widget), assign a name on the
Button Properties screen.

In Pre-Display, based on the condition you wish to check:

     SET     --- WIDGET NAME =  <Name you gave the widget>
     READ    --- WIDGET HOLD 1 FT 0  BY WIDGET NAME
F    CANCEL      Widgit not found
     IF          <Condition you need to test on>
T    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN FG R  = <red value: 0-255>
T    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN FG B  = <blue value: 0-255>
T    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN FG G  = <green value 0-255>
T    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN BG R  = <red value: 0-255>
T    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN BG B  = <blue value: 0-255>
T    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN BG G  = <green value 0-255>
    *       Set the default color for button 
F    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN FG R  = <red value: 0-255>
F    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN FG B  = <blue value: 0-255>
F    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN FG G  = <green value 0-255>
F    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN BG R  = <red value: 0-255>
F    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN BG B  = <blue value: 0-255>
F    SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN BG G  = <green value 0-255>
   *
     SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN FG NL = 1   <so color is not ignored>
     SET     --- WIDGET COLOR EN BG NL = 1   <so color is not ignored>
     REWRITE --- WIDGET FAIL 0

The color values are the decimal values for the colors.  For example; hex 
color value #FFFFFF (white) is decimal value 255 for red, green, and blue.

The FG fields set the text color (foreground) on the button.  The BG fields 
set the background color.  When you save the ILF READ and WRITE statements, 
if it says the widget file could not be found, use Opt 88 to save the code.

     PRE-DISPLAY
     PRE-DISPLAY/VERIFY
     VERIFY

VERIFY is executed after the operator keys data and presses ENTER. It is not executed prior to displaying the screen. It is only executed after data entry. The this event point's purpose to validate data entered and to allow for displaying of ERROR and WARNING messages..

PRE-DISPLAY is executed only once when a record is initially retrieved in Change mode or Inquire mode, just before the screen is displayed. In Add mode it is executed once for each ENTRY LEVEL which occurs, just before the screen is displayed.

Pre-Display's primary purpose is to allow default values to be set, and screen attributes such as NO INPUT, etc.

The PRE-DISPLAY/VERIFY event point is the most difficult to understand because it is more or less a combination of the other two event points although there are some differences. It is executed before the screen is displayed after retrieving a record (much like PRE-DISPLAY).

However, it is also executed after data entry - after the VERIFY event point - just before the screen is redisplayed. It can be executed multiple times for a record being processed, not just once like PRE-DISPLAY. This is intended to facilitate displaying of related information such as data lookups, results of calculations, etc.

This event point should not be used to validate data unless the ERROR and WARNING messages are intended to be displayed when the screen is initially displayed since they will be executed at that point as well. This behavior is the source of the current discussion regarding error messages which display in inquire mode as well as other modes.

It is my contention that the prior behavior (before 3.3) of APPX was the correct one and there is a good chance that the next release (3.4) will revert back to that behavior.

 Create a detached Optional Child:

               --- SUBROUTINE   HELP (PROCESS)

 Give it a Pre-Invocation ILF command:

               GOSUB    --- HELP (GRAB CURRENT PROCESS)

1) If no Window Label is defined in the widget, the label value comes from the first row of the screen. That will include the display values of any fields that are on line 1.

2) If there is a Window Label defined in the Window widget, that is used instead of the line1 text. You can name the widget and use ILF in Pre-Display of the image that contains the Window Widget definition. Read the widget by name, change the label, and rewrite it.

If you have an INPUT process with a Window widget Label and call another INPUT process that is the same or smaller size but has no Window widget and has Box? = No, the screen contents will be layered into the prior window and the prior windows widget will still be enforced. You can break this reuse by setting Box? = "?" on the child process frame, and/or add a Window widget to the child image.

            SET   --- EXACT KEY REQUIRED   =    Y

When the INQUIRY is in Key Entry, if a non-existing key value is entered, it will then not advance to the next record. Also, by setting:

            SET   --- AUTO READNEXT        =    N

... after a valid key has been entered and the INQUIRY has been run, when END is pressed, it will then not auto advance to the next key value. (Setting READ NEXT to NO in the INQUIRY's Additional Attributes does not accomplish this.)

Setting the field to OK INPUT (or maybe Entry Level=0) will make the 
field editable. But, then you will need the following trick to actually 
get the changed value to save because APPX always restores the constraint 
field values just before rewriting the PCF record.


In Pre-Update
STORE   XXX HOLD    RECORD


In Post-Update
READ    XXX HOLD (with hold) 
RESTORE XXX HOLD    RECORD
REWRITE XXX HOLD

Text Position    WIDGET ALIGN HORIZ       WIDGET ALIGN VERT
---------------- ------------------------ --------------------
{null}           {null}                   {null}
CENTER           CENTER                   CENTER
TOP              CENTER                   TOP
RIGHT            RIGHT                    CENTER
BOTTOM           CENTER                   BOTTOM
LEFT             LEFT                     CENTER
UPPER LEFT       LEFT                     TOP
UPPER RIGHT      RIGHT                    TOP
LOWER RIGHT      RIGHT                    BOTTOM
LOWER LEFT       LEFT                     BOTTOM

Icon Position    WIDGET TEXT POS HORIZ    WIDGET TEXT POS VERT    WIDGET TILING MODE
---------------- ------------------------ ----------------------- -------------
{null}           {null}                   {null}                  {null}
BEHIND TEXT      CENTER                   CENTER                  {null}
ABOVE TEXT       CENTER                   BOTTOM                  {null}
TRAILING TEXT    LEFT                     CENTER                  {null}
BELOW TEXT       CENTER                   TOP                     {null}
LEADING TEXT     RIGHT                    CENTER                  {null}
ABOVE & LEADING  RIGHT                    BOTTOM                  {null}
ABOVE & TRAILING LEFT                     BOTTOM                  {null}
BELOW & TRAILING LEFT                     TOP                     {null}
BELOW & LEADING  RIGHT                    TOP                     {null}
EXPAND TO FILL   {null}                   {null}                  EXPAND
EXPAND PROP'L    {null}                   {null}                  TILE

http://bugtracker.appx.com:81/

   SET  --- WIDGET INVIS = Y

  www.appx.com > Support > Online Manuals > Application Design Manual

You can check for duplicate keys, primary and unique alternates, within a displayed frame and send a message to the status line informing the user of the condition. You could also set a flag in pre-pcf update and check this flag in select image and set the alternate image number to non-zero so the frame will be displayed.

Answers in this category:
How do I keep an Output from automatically printing Grand Totals?
Can I print a date in Julian format?
When I add rows at the frame level the rows on the image do not change.
Does APPX support printing a bar code on an output form?
How to get a setup grid on a PDF report?
How to format a date to automatically display day of week or month of year!
Can I format the date on automatic OUTPUT header(s)?
Why are my labels in an output PDF report being truncated?
How do I pass 'ESCape' sequences to my printer?
How to print duplex, print on front and back of each page
How to program an exception report, example of ALTERNATE IMAGE NUMBER
Can GRAND TOTAL be controlled via ILF
Additional help on PDF layout options
Now that I can generate PDF files from APPX, how can I get the PDF to display as such in a browser?
What is the best format to print a logo, images?
We need to be able to use a specific font to support an OCR scan line
HTML tags that can be used within a text field that is to be displayed with an HTML Viewer widget type via the APPX client.
Can I print an OCR font in a PDF document?
How to embed an image on an output?
I have upgraded to 4.2.6 recently and now my PDF output text is shifted
Is there a limit to the number of lines PAGE-END can have?
HTML in PDF Documents
How to create a PDF Form Overlay.

A display mask of "Monday January 05, 04:03 am" will (on 9/16/96) yield a displayed Date of "Monday September 16, 11:48 am".

A display mask of "05 January 0807" will (on 9/16/96) yield a displayed Date of "16 September 1996".

Also, the 'SET DATE' ilf command can extract the Day-of-the-Week or the Month-of-the-Year, as documented in ...

            http://www.appx.com/manuals/appl-dsgn/drm282.html

Date masks on OUTPUT Report Page Headings can be controlled by means of a
System-Parameter, or Application-override Date masks, and an environment
variable 'APPX STD PGH MASK'.

For Example:

If I have no System or Application date mask override set, and I run an
OUTPUT with a standard page heading, I get a page heading date (for example)
of "03/25/1999 00:16 23.83"

If I had set my System or Application date mask to 

"06/05/07 - 04:03:02.01"

I get a page heading date of

"03/25/99 - 00:16 23.83"

If you are trying to print using Adobe Acrobat, make sure that the image is not being modified by the viewer when it prints. In Acrobat 6.x, on the File/Print screen set Page Scaling to none, Auto Rotate to no, and Choose Paper Source to yes. Set the "Bitmap" ("Image" in English?) option under the Advanced button on the bottom-right of the Adobe print screen.

Also ensure that the form definition is defined and allows enough ‘grid’ space for the elements on the output page.

The ILF code ...

         CNV BIN  --- TEMP 1           = 27

 ... puts an "ESC" Escape character (hex(1b)) into TEMP 1.  You can then SET
this into an Alpha field, append other control codes as necessary, then embed
Alpha fields constructed in this manner in our OUTPUT report.

 ('ESCape' = Hex(1b) = 16 + 11 = decimal(27).)

See the ILF manual on the CNV BIN verb, for more detail on how it works.  

 www.appx.com > Support > Manuals > Application Design > Search > CNV BIN

On APPX/Windows platforms, you'll need to send a 'Form Control' of "-raw", in
order to tell the Windows Print Spooler not to filter out your escape codes.

WARNING:  Winprint interfaces to the printer's printer driver.  Some printer
drivers don't honor '-raw' pass through of hex codes.  The only way to find 
out is to try it.

If you need to hard code it in the body of your output file with escape/hex codes, you must turn on the -raw flag in the Form or Printer Control string.

WARNING: Winprint interfaces to the printer's printer driver. Some printer drivers don't honor '-raw' pass through of hex codes. The only way to find out is to try it.

           SET --- ALTERNATE IMAGE NUMBER = 0

Put the ILF that tests for exceptions below that. If a Record (or set of conditions in a Range-End frame) qualifies as an exception:

           SET --- ALTERNATE IMAGE NUMBER = 1

You can also issue MESSAGE, WARNING, ERROR, or CANCEL ILF commands at this point. Paint whatever fields and text you'd like on the OUTPUT Frame's Image, and you have a customized exception report!

The design spec, "Grand Totals", is used to set the following QSORT fields:

     QSORT SUBT
     QSORT SUBT NEW PG

They are set respectively as follows:

     NO       N,N
     STANDARD Y,N
     NEW PAGE Y,Y

Note that there are multiple QSORT records. This one is the one with QSORT SNO=0. The other QSORT records would be for the other "Sort Order" records. The field QSORT ACTV probably also needs set to 'Y'.

You're dealing with APPX internals here, so ASI does not provide support for the viewing and manipulation of these files. You're on your own.

Changing the content type tag in the CGI script to "application/pdf", which is the content type for *.pdf documents, will do the trick.

The high resolution means the image will be scaled down for the pdf form instead of up. Scaling formulas do a lot better job throwing away extra detail than they do creating detail where it doesn't exist.

The large color depth gives the formula a much better ability to anti- alias. If you are using a black and white (1 bit) color depth, it can't anti-alias at all and will always create a jagged border. If you are using straight black and white, just converting the image to a gray scale image will make a big difference in the result of scaling.

As for image processing software, you can use Adobe Photoshop. But almost any tool will allow you to alter the image color depth and save under a number of formats. If you have linux, it comes with a tool called "gimp" that is an open source knockoff of photoshop without the fancy user interface.

Is .JPG the 'best' file type? Or is there a better one? And for that matter, what other formats are acceptable (if any)?

For screens, you can use JPG, GIF, and PNG files. JPG's aren't good for line drawing (because the images are compressed with a lossy algorithm - sharp lines disappear).

GIF's are patent-encumbered.

If you want to include a resource image that has fine, crisp, details, you don't want to use JPG to store the image. JPG uses pixel averaging which distorts and drops out fine detail. Like very thin lines and such. JPG was create to store high color, low detail images like photographs.

PNG is the best bet. It's the newest if the three and does a fine job.

Go the the output editor and bring up your output image. In the Object Properties > GUI Attributes of the field there is a selection for Font (in Font Options box). This is a drop down list showing the fonts that are available to you. Select the font you want. Of course this has to be a PDF document for printing this report. If the font is not listed in the drop down, then the font will have to be installed on your machine.

For a new line, use CTL RETURN.

<p>               - new paragraph (does not require an ending </p>)
<pre> ... </pre>  - new paragraph with Courier font and fixed spacing
&nbsp             - fixed space (needed when not using <pre>)
<b> ... </b>      - bold
<i> ... </i>      - italic
<li> ... </li>    - each bullet
<ul> ... </ul>    - to indent bullets
<font size="n"> ... </font> where n=1-9 (1=8,2=10,3=12,4=14,5=18,6=24,7=36pt)

A good example of usage to look at is the new IF DIFF statement under 
System APPLICATION DESIGN, Subsystem ILF STATEMENTS.  
Remember, in INQ mode, you see the HTML tags applied; 
in CHG mode, you see the actual HTML tags coded.

   RESTORE  --- WIDGET                     DEFAULT RECORD
      SET      --- WIDGET PARENT TYPE         =      WIDGET
      SET      --- WIDGET WIDGET TYPE         =      PICTURE
      SET      --- WIDGET POSITION ROW        =      1
      SET      --- WIDGET POSITION COLUMN     =      2
      SET      --- WIDGET LOC OFFSET COL      =      -100
      SET      --- WIDGET SIZE ROWS           =      3
      SET      --- WIDGET SIZE COLUMNS        =      15
      SET      --- WIDGET RESOURCE TYPE       =      RESOURCE
      SET      --- WIDGET RESOURCE NAME       =      <your resource name>
      SET      --- WIDGET RESOURCE AP         =      <your app>
      SET      --- WIDGET TEXT POS HORIZ      =
      SET      --- WIDGET TEXT POS VERT       =
      SET      --- WIDGET TILING MODE         =      TILE
      WRITE    --- WIDGET                 FAIL 0

The <br> is ignored, and the text prints w/o a break.

I used a LABEL control type. This works fine in an input process.

What I am doing wrong?

 <br> is ignored...  

 <i> italics </i> <em> italics </em> <tt> tele-type font (courier) </tt> <small>
 next smaller font </small>

You will have to determine the scale of your image in relation to the form size that will be used for the output. It may be necessary to create a form in System Administration that is adequate for the overlay you are using. For this example, I have a form named PDF-6P10 that is a type PDF with form length of 60 and width of 80. The overlay image is a .png file named POForm.png.

Although Appx accepts jpg, gif and png images, the png format is the recommended image type to use.

1. The first step is to obtain or develop the electronic form you wish to use in your output process and create the Appx form definition as described above.

2. Copy the overlay file (POForm.png in this example) to the AppxPath/vv/aaa/Resource directory where vv is the application version and aaa is the application.

3. In Application Design add a Named Resource (PO FORM in this example). Make the State ENABLED and set the Type to Design File. The Location is the name of the overlay file, POForm.png. Note; match the case in the Location to that of the actual file name in the Resource directory. The image will not display if the name and case is not exactly the same.

4. Now create an output process. In my example I add a new output process called PRINT PO, Columns set to 80, Standard Page heading set to No, Column headings set to No, and remove the default Separator character (=).

5. Set the Preferred Form in Additional Attributes with the predefined form for this output process, PDF-6P10 in my example. If the default form is not set to the form name you have defined the printed result may not match your design.

6. Select PAGE-START for the first output image.

7. Set the length and width to match the form you will be using. In this example the form is length 60 and width of 80.

8. Navigate to the image editor.

9. Select the Picture icon from the toolbar and drag out a box the size of the display area.

10. Enter the Resource name you added above, PO FORM in this example (don’t forget to include the Application Id). Save these settings.

11. Page the image down (Cntl-down arrow) and drag the bottom of the Picture widget to the bottom of the display area. Repeat this step until you are at the bottom of the display area, line 60.

12. Go back to the top of the display area (Cntl-up arrow).

13. Edit the Picture properties and set the scale to a number that fits your liking. This might be a trail and error process until the overlay is exactly the way you want it. If necessary the overlay image may have to be adjusted using an editing tool such as MS Paint or PhotoShop.

14. Save the output image.

15. Return to the Frame level and set the length to 1, explanation below.

16. Add other frames as needed to complete the output process. On my PO FORM there is a place for repeating and non-repeating data. For the non-repeating fields, the top of the PO FORM, I set the Size of this frame to 21 by 80. There are 21 rows on the form before the repeating line items begin.

17. In the image area for ach frame add the fields, placing them at the approximate location to match your form. You can fine tune their locations while testing the process.

18. Create a Job process to include a Disposition. The Disposition Form Id must be the form you added for this output (PDF-6P10) and the Format must be PDF. You can set these parameters in Pre-Invocation of the Disposition job step for testing.

19. Run the job to test the output process and make adjustments as necessary.

The PAGE-START frame was changed back to 1 line after dragging the picture widget out so that the output would be a single page. PDF output cannot distinguish blank areas within a widget. If the length was left at 60 lines, the output would have printed the form as a page followed by the text on the second page based on my form and image sizes. By changing the length to 1 the output prints only one line, although the actual image extends beyond that. The text image then starts on line 2 of the output for the length indicated. The result is that your data is printed on top the overlay image on a single page.

The fit of the fields into the boxes of the form can be further refined by creating the text or fields as widgets and using micro adjustments to move the widgets into the exact location. Don’t forget you can also adjust the font type, size and color for each widget.

Answers in this category:
Query stops before processing entire file!
Why doesn’t my QUERY use the file’s index?
Can I create a Cached copy of a file to use in my pre-user selection event point?
Is there a way to edit query and sort order screens?

        APPX_RUN_MEM=2097150

The Query compiler currently (as of 4.1.9) stops looking for indexes once it runs into an OR condition.

      *                                                                         
      *        Customer of interest were supplied in an earlier input.          
      *                                                                         
      BEG READ DAR MCUST                  HOLD 0 KEY IS  MCUST CUSTOMER NO      
      BEG AT   DAR TRANSACT IN DAR MCUST CUSTOMER NO                            
      END AT   DAR TRANSACT IN DAR MCUST CUSTOMER NO                            
      BEG READ DAR TRANSACT               HOLD 0 KEY IS  TRANSACT KEY           
      GOSUB    --- PROCESS QUERY RECORD                                         
      END READ DAR TRANSACT                                                     
      END READ DAR MCUST                                                        

QSLCT EDIT QSLCT EDIT (EXPR) QSORT EDIT

Answers in this category:
How can I show my users a progress message?
How to change the Progress bar color during an update!

The first, and simplest, is the APPX_SHOW_PROGRESS environment variable. Setting this variable with a value to 1 when APPX is started will cause APPX to display the record counts for selection and processing in queries, update, and outputs. The message is displayed on the status line at the bottom of the APPX screen. The count will display starting at 1 and then changing the frequency of the display as the count increases. It starts at 1, then every 10, then every 100, then every 1000, etc. as the file is processed.

Answers in this category:

Answers in this category:

Answers in this category:
Invocation error when subroutines with the same name in different applications

GOSUB TRN TEST ABC
GOSUB XFR TEST ABC
GOSUB TRN TEST ABC

The subroutine TRN TEST ABC will be invoked in all cases. Now reverse the App Id's so that XFR TEST ABC is invoked first. Now only XFR TEST ABC is invoked.

This is a document bug in APPX (Bug #799).

Answers in this category:
How many fields can be defined for a file in the Data Dictionary?
I changed the alignment of the field from left to right but the sorting remains the same, why?
Can I invoke another process in a FLEP?
FLEP’s may not execute when the cache priority it set to 1.
What is the scope of a FLEP?
Can I pass information into a FLEP?
How many times does Post-PCF Read FLEP fire?
Do many duplicate keys decrease the performance?
Can ERROR statement be used in FLEP's?
FLEP questions
I want to delete fields from a file in my DD, but those fields contain data, should i delete the data first?
I added a new value to a validation table and it’s not listed at run-time, why?

Maximum record length is regardless of file type (AppxIO, Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, etc.).

However, with experience comes wisdom. We now agree that there are situations where it is desirable and even necessary to share some additional information between the controlling process and the FLEP's. We will be reviewing the functionality of this feature in the near future.

However, with experience comes wisdom. We now agree that there are situations where it is desirable and even necessary to share some additional information between the controlling process and the FLEP's. We will be reviewing the functionality of this feature in the near future.

For instance, if you need to pass in a POST TO HISTORY flag so that the FLEP knows if it should update the HISTORY file from this record. You would add this flag to the data dictionary for the file. It doesn't hurt to have it there and stored with the record. Doing so lets you know at a later date which records have been posted to history. Being part of the record makes it visible and obvious that the data element is there and needs to have a value for the FLEP code to execute properly. This is visible and passed regardless of when, how, and why the FLEP fires. By an APPX Process, an ILF Write, an AppxODBC Rewrite, etc. it doesn't matter.

The FLEPs that are associated with a file only share the file record buffer with the processes that trigger them. Additionally, the standard PASS and RECEIVE statements will not work to pass data in and out of FLEPs.

This is by design. There are a number of reason for this restriction.

1)Work field and file fields other than those in the FLEP record buffer used in a process are protected from being stepped on by any FLEP code that might fire during the running of that process.

2) FLEPs run as a separate process and don't always fire in a procedural fashion as a design might expect. They are event driven and fire anytime Appx reads, writes, rewrites, or deletes a record. There are times when Appx does this automatically for the designer. And also times when FLEPs are fired when there is no designer created process running. One example of this is when a AppxODBC connection manipulates data that is stored in an Appx database.

3)FLEPs were designed to provide a place to code data specific rules, not process specific rules. If there is code that is specific to a process, code it in that process, not in the FLEP.

Some customers have come up with creative ways to bypass this restriction such as creating a permanent disk file with OS process ID as the key to write data into that they can later read in the FLEP. This is not recommended as a general programming technique for the reasons listed above.

Yes.
A query process returns every detail record once. If a PCF record triggers a range-start, it's returned twice. If a PCF record triggers two range-starts, it's returned three times (and so on). The same is true if a record triggers a range end.
So, detail records are processed once and range-start/range-end records are processed more than once.

    Primary
    Alternate/Unique
    Alternate
    Alternate/Forced

There are two advantages to an Alternate/Forced key (and at least two disadvantages).

The first advantage is that you don't suffer the performance penalty usually associated with a long chain of duplicate key values (because you have no duplicate key values). The second (and typically more important) advantage is that, when you read along the Alternate/Forced key path, you get duplicate records in primary key order. Many applications assume that duplicate key values appear in primary key order.

The first problem with an Alternate/Forced key is that it takes more disk space to store the index and, therefore, more disk I/O to read and write the index - Appx must store the complete primary key for every record in the alternate index (along with the key segments that define the Alternate/Forced key). The second problem with an Alternate/Forced key comes from the fact that Appx limits keys to 16 segments - if you have a four-segment primary key, you can't define more than 12 segments in an Alternate/Forced key. That's not often a problem, but it can be difficult to work around when you run into it. Appx will coalesce adjacent string segments into a single segment to reduce the segment count so you run into the 16 segment limit less often than you might think.

Note that the on-line help text for Key Type states that an "Alternate/Forced key is identical to an Alternate key fields, except that duplicate alternate keys are retrieved in primary key order" - there's no guarantee there that you'll gain better performance by choosing an Alternate/Forced, we just promise to return records with duplicate key values in a specific order. The mechanisms that we use may (and in fact do) vary by file type (AppxIO vs. Oracle vs. DB2, etc.
It just so happens that an Alternate/Forced key performs better than an Alternate key (at least for AppxIO files). In fact, AppxIO treats every Alternate key the same way it treats Alternate/Forced keys. Appx may choose a different method to improve the performance of duplicate indexes in the future - so, if your application requires that duplicate key values appear in primary key order, be sure to choose Alternate/Forced: you'll get record in the order that you expect and you'll get better performance (in most cases).

Each "stream" has it's own set of variables (not just the record buffer, but PDF's, readnext positions, ....).

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What is the difference between --- MODE and --- INTERACTIVE PHASE?

APPX      Application Excellence

AA        Additional Attributes
AC        Automatic Child Process
APPXPATH  Default directory location for APPX applications and data
CC        Child Constraint
CDF       Comma Delimited File
DD        Data Dictionary
DLU       Data Look Up
EM        Executable Module
EP        Event Point
FLEP      File Level Event Point
FMS       File Management System
GUI       Graphical User Interface
ILF       Integrated Language Facility 
LFN       Logical File Name (If you use symbolic links or the "Use DB" feature,
          many logical file names can map to the same physical file.  
          A logical file name is (roughly) an application ID + database ID + filename) 
OC        Optional Child Process
PCF       Process Control File
PDF       Pre-Defined Field

These interactions can take place at different stages of a process. Some points of interaction would be when a process starts or ends, when a frame is executed or completes, when an image is displayed, when a user makes an entry through the keyboard or mouse, or when a record is read or written.

In the following example:

SET ABC WORK CCYYMMDD 20------------ SET ABC WORK CCYYMMDD --98----------

ABC WORK CCYYMMDD would contain "19980101--------" after the second set statement was executed. Here's why:

Assuming the pivot year is 35 and the current year is 2004, after the first SET, ABC WORK CCYYMMDD contains "20040101--------". After the second, it contains "19980101--------". The pivot rule is applied. The month and day of 01 was set because the MMDD was null in the work field.

APPX date-synthesis rules will cause APPX to synthesize a century if a pivot date is specified and if a field containing only a YY is set into or compared with a field containing CCYY. As in the case above, "--98----------" is a date containing only a YY. APPX thus figures out a century for it, and when doing the SET into the CCYYMMDD field, the CCYY is set to 1998.

In file-level Event Points, does APPX report reliably on the 'real' mode of 
the I/O?

For example, if we're adding a record in an INPUT process, and a file-level 
event point fires incrementing a value in a parent table, how does the  file-
level Event Point for the event report set flags indicating what's going on?

When the event triggering the firing of the File EP's is an ILF statement, 
then INTERACTIVE PHASE and MODE both are inferred from the ILF statement 
itself:

   WRITE - Add
   REWRITE - Change
   DELETE - Delete

This is true even if the ILF statement is itself part of a File EP.

Another interesting point:  In a File's POST READ event point, if it fired off
because of an ILF statement, then ...

 - INQUIRE is inferred if the read operation was without a hold on the record
 - CHANGE  is inferred if the read operation was with a hold on the record.

This then results in both INTERACTIVE PHASE and MODE being set accordingly.

1) The MODE and INTERACTIVE PHASE are not what they are in the Input process.
   You will not see DATA SCROLL for instance.

2) Multilevel process families.  For example, if you add an order in Order
   Entry:

You add some header info, then lineitem info, then to the header and down to 
charge/allowance items, then back to the header and down to order comments, 
then back to the header to complete the order.

      You will get several file level event points fired.  When you go from
      the header down to the lineitems while adding the order, APPX will write
      the order header PCF and fire the event points with a MODE=ADD, but the 
      order is not done yet.

      It will then re-trigger the file event points several more times in 
      MODE=CHANGE as it resaves the PCF during the remaining entry of the 
      order including the exit from the final frame of the order header to 
      complete the order.

      So, if you want to do something when the order is completed, you need   
      some way to detect a completed order other than MODE=ADD in the file 
      level event point.

      Also, File Event Points are fairly isolated from the trigger process 
      that fires them.  You can't set a workfield in your input process and 
      check it in the file event point.  Only the PCF record is shared.

DESIGN FILE is the most convenient. In this case you place the images in a $APPXPATH/vv/aaa/Resource directory. When the application is moved, the images move with it. If the images appx.gif were placed in the .../Resource directory, the path in the 'Named Resource' would simply be appx.gif.

SERVER FILE means that the images are stored somewhere on the server. The path to that location will be entered into the resource. When the process is run, the image is retrieved from that location and sent down to the client.

CLIENT FILE is the client side of that. You must insure that the images are loaded to each individual client machine. If the images are on a shared drive, the client must be able to access that path to the images.

The Named Resource path may be something like /home/images/appx.gif for a SERVER FILE on a Unix server, or x:\images\appx.gif for a shared drive on a Windows client.

SERVER URL and CLIENT URL can be used to access images across the internet. SERVER URL will currently work on a Windows/NT server. The path would be an address that can be resolved by the client.

DIRECT is not currently used.

You do not need a product like Photo Shop to maintain or store images. As long as the image is the size you want, you need only the image.

If you want to modify the image you will need an editor of some kind. APPX will help you alter an image, although in some cases, such as defining a picture widget, APPX will allow you to scale the image size to fit (in 4.1.4 and after).

The 0LC application is new in release 4.2. This application contains some of the processes in 0LA to provide designers the ability to customize the look and feel of their application(s). Use design transfer to copy the desired process from 0LC as a starting point for your own process. The original process in 0LA could then be overridden by a HOOK record.

The 0LC application is read-only. Processes may be transferred out but may not be modified within the 0LC application.

For Example:

SET --- NEXT APPLICATION = XXX
SET --- NEXT VERSION = YY
OPEN 0AD PROCESS
READ 0AD PROCESS
...
CLOSE 0AD PROCESS

http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=654

http://www.appx.com/assets/asp/dynamic_generator.asp?pageid=157

PNG: PNG images which make use of interlacing,contain an alpha channel (which

      will be lost anyway - we don't support alpha channels in PNG files),or 
      have 16 bit color depth will have to be uncompressed.

JPEG: APPX supports baseline JPEG compression which accounts for the vast

      majority of JPEG images.  We also support progressive JPEG compression.
       

      JPEG images can be packaged in several different file formats. We
      support all common JPEG file formats, and will read resolution 
      information from the following types:

 
       - JFIF,which is generated by a wide variety of imaging applications. 
       - JPEG files written by Adobe Photoshop and other Adobe applications.

GIF: Due to restrictions in the compression schemes supported by the PDF file

      format, the entry in the GIF file called "LZW minimum code size" must 
      have a value of 8 bits.

      Unfortunately,there is no easy way to determine this value for a certain 
      GIF file. An image which contains more than 128 distinct color values 
      will always qualify (e.g.,a full 8-bit color palette with 256 entries). 
      Images with a smaller number of distinct colors may also work,but it is 
      difficult to tell in advance because graphics programs may use 8 bits or 
      less as LZW minimum code size in this case,and we may therefore reject 
      the image.

      The following trick which works in Adobe Photoshop and similar image 
      processing software is known to result in GIF images which are 
      accepted:

         load the GIF image,and change the image color mode from "indexed" 
         to "RGB". Now change the image color mode back to "indexed",and 
         choose a color palette with more than 128 entries (for example the 
         Mac or Windows system palette,or the Web palette).

      The image must not be interlaced.

TIFF: We support the following TIFF images:

      compression schemes: 
       - uncompressed 
         CCITT (group 3,group 4,and RLE) 
         ZIP (=Flate) 
         LZW (with restrictions) 
         PackBits (=RunLength) 
         other compression schemes are handled by uncompressing. 
      color: 
         black and white 
         grayscale 
         RGB 
         CMYK 
            any alpha channel or mask which may be present in the file will be 
            ignored.

      TIFF files containing more than one image 

      Color depth must be 1,2,4,or 8 bits per color sample (this is a 
      requirement of PDF).

      Multi-strip TIFF images are converted to multiple images in the PDF 
      file which will visually exactly represent the original image,but can 
      be individually selected with Acrobat s TouchUp object tool. Multi-
      strip TIFF images can be converted to single-strip images with the 
      tiffcp command line tool which is part of the TIFFlib package. The 
      Image-Magick tool always writes single-strip TIFF images. Some TIFF 
      features (e.g.,CIEL*a*b*color space,JPEG compression)and certain 
      combinations of features (e.g.,LZW compression and alpha channel or 
      mask, LZW compression and tiling)are not supported. 

  1 - draw horizontal grid lines at grid boundaries
  2 - draw vertical grid lines at grid boundaries
  4 - label horizontal grid lines
  8 - label vertical grid lines
 16 - subdivide grid height into 1/10 intervals
 32 - subdivide grid width into 1/10 intervals
 64 - draw outlines around all widgets

I design-transferred the 0LC input DISPOSITION and started to work with it when I noticed something strange. The GUI attributes which are already there by default do not show up. It behaves as if the client has its GUI Interface option turned off. Yet when I change the Window Properties for the image (to change the background color), those changes are applied.

It will not work because BEG AT/END AT and BEG READ/END READ share the same stream buffer. What will work however, is the following scheme:
BEG AT
AND AT

LABEL: DO SOMETHING
READNEXT
BEG AT
END AT
BEG READ
.
.
END READ
GOTO DO SOMETHING

You'll need to change two things: unset APPX_UI_LOG and write-protect $HOME/.appx_last.
.appx_last is an automatic APPX_SCRIPT_OUT. If you don't have APPX_SCRIPT_OUT defined, Appx logs keystrokes to $HOME/.appx_last (if that file is writable). It's there for debugging purposes.

You can't hook a subroutine that you invoke from a GOSUB or COPY. The hook mechanism only works when you invoke a process - that means that you can hook a subroutine that you invoke with a SUBR statement, or a subroutine that you invoke as an optional or automatic child.

        IF   XYZ  FOO      RS  .*123.

Setting option to PRINT SETUP in ILF code has no effect because the client does not see the ILF code run. Just like setting option to TAB has no effect.

Print Setup is client platform specific. On windows it works for a number of reasons:

It does not work on Linux because:

1) There is no one common dialog we can call;
2) If we did call one of the dialogs on linux the values you set would not get picked up by the appx_print script we run to queue files. This last reason is also why we do not call a print setup on OSX. The values you set would not get used anyway by appx_print.

--- INTERACTIVE PHASE is set during input processes and indicates which data
entry phase is currently in force. It works with  --- MODE and, although they
work together, each has a specific use.

MODE is determined when the user selects an input process from a menu and
selects a mode option (ADD, CHG, DEL, or INQ). INTERACTIVE PHASE determines
what the user may do while in that mode. For example, if you are in ADD mode
entering data into a scrolling frame, you can move the cursor to a previously
added record and select the change item option. At this time you will still be
in add mode, but the interactive phase will change from data addition to data
modification. 

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Message "pc_item - Unexpected case switch"