I’ve hunted for a while on how using temporary, local variables in a function definition, but no luck.

Can someone shed some light on how to accomplish this ?

This code shows that the function works, just not when local variables are used to store intermediate values.

This has 2 DEFINE FUNCTIONs, Length1 is right and Length2 is wrong.

 DEFINE FUNCTION Length1 (SourceString/A4028)

-* Assigning to output variable (FUNCTION name) directly works fine :

    Length1/I4  = ARGLEN(4028, SourceString, 'I4');

END

DEFINE FUNCTION Length2 (SourceString/A4028)
-* This DOES NOT work :

-* Use temp variable to store value,
-*   then assign to output variable (FUNCTION name)

-* Function returns 12 = length of the variable name SourceString
-* This does not measure the string contained in SourceString though.

-SET &Temp = ARGLEN(4028, SourceString, 'I4');

    Length2/I4  = &Temp;

END

TABLE FILE CAR
HEADING
"Using DEFINE FUNCTION with 'local' variables causes problems ?"
 PRINT 
   CAR
   MODEL
-* These COMPUTEs test the Length1 function, and do work properly :
   COMPUTE     CAR/I4 = Length1 (CAR)     ;  AS 'CORRECT,Length of,CAR'
   COMPUTE   MODEL/I4 = Length1 (MODEL)   ;  AS 'CORRECT,Length of,MODEL'

-* These COMPUTEs test the Length2 function, and do work WRONG :
   COMPUTE     CAR/I4 = Length2 (CAR)     ;  AS 'WRONG :,Length of,Variable,Name,''SourceString'''
   COMPUTE   MODEL/I4 = Length2 (MODEL)   ;  AS 'WRONG :,Length of,Variable,Name,''SourceString'''
END

Function Length1 works OK when the result of the ARGELN function is assigned directly to the FUNCTION name.

But function Length2 doesn’t work properly because it apparently ‘sees’ the name of the variable instead of the actual value contained in the variable.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can give !

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

[quote]DEFINE FUNCTION Length2 (SourceString/A4028)
-* This DOES NOT work :

-* Use temp variable to store value,
-* then assign to output variable (FUNCTION name)

-* Function returns 12 = length of the variable name SourceString
-* This does not measure the string contained in SourceString though.

Don't try to use -SET here.

This document gives the syntax -- very tersely, and without giving examples of use of intermediate variables.

Temporary variables, to hold intermediate calculated results, are declared in DEFINE FUNCTION just as in DEFINE FILE:

varname/format=expression;

Thanks Jack,

That work nicely in most cases, but for some reason -REPEAT won't take the variable when a value is assigned, although it WILL take a constant :

i.e. :

 
X/I4 = 27; 
-REPEAT label X TIMES 
...
label

...doesn't work, but this DOES work :
((FOC303) CONTROL LINE NOT RECOGNIZED IN FOCEXEC: -REPEAT label X)

 
-REPEAT label 27 TIMES 
...
label

Here's the entire program to put in perspective :

 
-* Variables-Forum-Question-V2.fex

DEFINE FUNCTION Length (SourceString/A4028)

StringLength/I4 = ARGLEN (4096, SourceString, 'I4');
  CountChars/I4 = 0;

-* Does work but NOT with a variable : 
-REPEAT EndCount 27 TIMES
-* Doesn't work : 
-*REPEAT EndCount StringLength TIMES

    CountChars = CountChars + 1;

-EndCount

    Length/I4  = CountChars;

END

-TYPE ---------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE FILE CAR
HEADING
"Using DEFINE FUNCTION with variables causes problems with REPEAT loop"
""
"Fails using :"
"-REPEAT LABEL   variable   TIMES"
"(FOC303) CONTROL LINE NOT RECOGNIZED IN FOCEXEC: -REPEAT EndCount StringLength"
""
"Works OK with  :"
"-REPEAT LABEL   constant   TIMES"
 PRINT
   CAR
   MODEL
-* These COMPUTEs test the Length function using a REPEAT loop :
   COMPUTE     CAR/I4 = Length (CAR)      ;  AS 'Length,of CAR,Using,REPEAT'
   COMPUTE   MODEL/I4 = Length (MODEL)    ;  AS 'Length,of MODEL,Using,REPEAT'
END

Does REPEAT require some 'prep work' to make it work ?

Thanks again,

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charlz,

The function you define, when used in other defines that are ultimately used in table, is fired up once per input record, and its argument values vary accordingly.

Any dialog manager statements (-SET, -REPEAT, etc.) appearing in the DEFINE ... END chunk of code are executed when the DEFINE FUNCTION code is initially parsed, not when the function is subsequently referenced. Hence, the dialog manager statements have no access to the function's argument values. Dialog Manager, as a macro language, can sometimes be useful within DEFINE (to calculate constants, or to generate repetative lines of code).

The reason your -REPEAT referencing StringLength does not work should now be clear: StringLength, to dialog manager, is not a reference to a variable -- it is interpreted an alphanumeric constant (where a numeric value is expected).

Yes, thanks Jack,

That fits the results of "View Source" on the HTML output, where I see it looking at the positions in the variable SourceString and returning S,o,u,r,c,e,S,t,r,i,n, and g !

I did notice the HTML source showed the DEFINEs at the top, which made me suspicious, and you've validated my suspicion !

I resorted to DM's -REPEAT when the WF version of REPEAT gave me problems that seemed to be resolved by using -REPEAT.

Question now is, how to do a WF REPEAT (not the DM '-REPEAT') in a DEFINE FUNCTION to spin through a string (as just one application) ?

Thanks for the lesson in Dialog Manager, too, that was insightful. I hadn't realized the impact on defining functions.

So, how can a value in the argument passed into the function, or a value based on that (such as the lengtrh of the field data) be stored and used with each new record in the TABLE ?

I'll work on that, but if you have any insight that helps me find the answer, I'd appreciate it !

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charlz,

Charles,

Unfortunately there is no such thing as REPEAT in the WebFocus Reporting language.

REPEAT is specific to MODIFY and MAINTAIN.

Within reporting you only have the DM -REPEAT functionality which as Jack indicated
can only work with variables and constants not real columns directly.

I was afraid of REPEAT being peculiar to MAINTAIN.

Help shows DM's -REPEAT and two (2) listings for REPEAT (without the DM '-'), one of which specifies "Maintain" and one does not, so I (mistakenly ?) thought there was one for MAINTAIN and one for regular WF.

So, is there a way to "loop" in a user-defined DEFINE FUNCTION ?

I want to loop through a string to pick out parts of it.

Thanks for all the help from everyone !

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charlz,

Charles,

Someone may know better but the only way that you will be able to achieve that
is by writing and linking a true function (user written sub routine) not using DEFINE FUNCTION
and passing the length as a parameter.

Ah ! My mistake !

I thought a "DEFINE FUNCTION" **was** a 'user-written subroutine' !

I'll start a new thread on this question :
"How to write subroutines using WebFOCUS ?"

Thanks for the tip !

User-written subroutines as referenced here are 3GL programs that are compiled and linked into an executable library.

A DEFINE FUNCTION is only for defines. You could actually put your -REPEAT code in a DEFINE stub that you -INCLUDEd into your program to do what you want. Give that a thought or two.

Any Dialog Manager statements in a Define Function are evaluated at the time the Define Function is evaluated and loaded into memory.

You can put as many DM statements as you in it, but when the Define Function is called, all that is left is the results of the DM evalualted as FOCUS commands.

Thanks Waz,

DM seems to be the deal-breaker here, and so now I've started a new thread on this question :

See "How to write subroutines using WebFOCUS ?"

Where I am still trying to performa loop in a DEFINE FUNCTION, or any way that works ! (Even GOTOs if necessary !)

Thanks