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Autoprompt is a fairly simple thing. It checks line by line for the presence of & variables. And if it finds it on a line, only that line will be parsed for use in autoprompt, not any subsequent line. You need to consider that Autoprompt is not running nor parsing your program, it is just scanning for parameters, that's all.
GamP
- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
in Focus since 1988
Posts: 1961 | Location: Netherlands | Registered: September 25, 2007
That's a bug in Autoprompt then. Did you open a case with IBI yet?
WebFOCUS 8.1.03, Windows 7-64/2008-64, IBM DB2/400, Oracle 11g & RDB, MS SQL-Server 2005, SAP, PostgreSQL 11, Output: HTML, PDF, Excel 2010 : Member of User Group Benelux :
It is not a bug. The auto-prompter "requires" selections on 1 line, period.
In this case, both DM and the auto-prompter parse the same lines of code. Even if they use different parts of that code, they should at least interpret the line continuations of the same lines of code in the same way! This is definitely a bug.
I'm getting really tired of folks here and at IBI continuously claiming that if some incorrect behaviour is documented, it is not a bug! No no no! You documented a bug, but it's still a bug! Don't be ridiculous!
WebFOCUS 8.1.03, Windows 7-64/2008-64, IBM DB2/400, Oracle 11g & RDB, MS SQL-Server 2005, SAP, PostgreSQL 11, Output: HTML, PDF, Excel 2010 : Member of User Group Benelux :
The one big difference between the two situations is that DM parses and executes, while autoprompt can't do that. It is only allowed to scan, not parse and execute. Autoprompt will not resolve anything, will not run nor interpret code and has no knowledge of continuation stuff and such. And it is not limited to DM statements, it will also find variables within Focus code. And if something is built according to specifications, than it can't be a bug, it can at most be an enhancement.
GamP
- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
in Focus since 1988
Posts: 1961 | Location: Netherlands | Registered: September 25, 2007
And if something is built according to specifications, than it can't be a bug, it can at most be an enhancement.
That's an interesting way to say that the problem is with the specification(s). I don't think you meant that sarcastically though, or did you?
Obviously there is a problem (whether you refuse to call it a bug or not), as the OP wrote some perfectly valid DM code that consecutively didn't get picked up by Autoprompt, because it was designed to a different specification of how to handle such lines. If that's the case, then we're looking at a design flaw.
...maybe it's not a bug, but a spider that encountered a malicious child?
WebFOCUS 8.1.03, Windows 7-64/2008-64, IBM DB2/400, Oracle 11g & RDB, MS SQL-Server 2005, SAP, PostgreSQL 11, Output: HTML, PDF, Excel 2010 : Member of User Group Benelux :
Does TABLE know how to deal with MODIFY code? No, you'll get an error. Does DM know how to process maintain code? No, it just puts it on the stack. Autoprompt just does what it is designed for. Regardless of syntax, table, modify, maintain or dm code, it just scans the file for a very small set of things - the &variables. And if you want to call that a bug, fine go ahead and do so. Why not open a case with IB and see what they've got to say about the issue.
GamP
- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
in Focus since 1988
Posts: 1961 | Location: Netherlands | Registered: September 25, 2007
Wep5622, I checked a group of Wizards and here is the suggestion: Most of the Dialogue Manager commands were not created with "continuation" capability. Basically, at the time, there was continuation only for those commands which were thought to need multiple lines, such as -SET and -IF ... which continue until the semicolon, and -READ/-WRITE . These, of course, were also based on the maximum size of a FOCEXEC line. , So, no continuation on -PROMPT, -GOTO, etc. Then, with the advent of a 64K possible line in Dialogue Manager, there was no suggestion to us from customers, that this needed to be changed. However, if you do determine that you need to have a continuation for -PROMPT (or the code that would be considered part of a -PROMPT, ie &VAR.(POSSIBLE VALUES).Message., then please open a case as a New Feature Request with InfoResponse ONLINE, and Customer Support will forward it to the appropriate product managers for evaluation.
Cheers,
Kerry
Kerry Zhan Focal Point Moderator Information Builders, Inc.
Posts: 1948 | Location: New York | Registered: November 16, 2004