Hey, Steve. Wouldn't know about NC - I'm in CT. Dawn can speak for NC, but here, well, 62 and overcast.
It makes sense that your example would fly - some might even say "soar" - as each comment follows the continuation character. Once the parser hits the continuation, it is looking for the next line, and all it finds on the current line is a comment, so, on to the next line! Speaking of JLS, somewhere in my archive I have a photo I took, contemporaneous with the book's appearance, from the deck of the Staten Island Ferry. As I recall, it is a couple of seagulls soaring along with the ferry, and the backdrop is the not-yet-completed World Trade Center and the southern tip of Manhattan. Nice shot for an amateur. You know you're getting old when buildings you watched get built have disappeared. There are others, too. Emmitt Dove Manager, Converting Applications Development Evergreen Packaging, Inc. [email protected] (203) 214-5683 m (203) 643-8022 o (203) 643-8086 f [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Wills, Steve Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 10:29 AM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice Emmitt, how are you and how's things in NC? FWIW on this topic, have y'all ever tried something like this, in a command file: --*************************************** --*** GULL_WING.TXT ********************* --*************************************** --*** 2009.06.04, JSW ******************* --*************************************** --*** Not part of the X Prize Contest *** --*************************************** SELECT + --*** get some data MyColumnA, + MyColumnb, + COUNT(MyColumnC) + --*** how many are there FROM + MY_TABLE + --*** silly table WHERE MyColumnA = 'MINE' + --*** basic script line AND MyColumnB = 'MINE, TOO' + --*** advanced script line AND MyColumnC = 'I am a gull in Finding Nemo' + --*** gull. aka rat of the sea GROUP BY + --*** AIA to J. L. Seagull MyColumnA, + MyColumnb --*** The asterisks after the double-dashes are just attention-getters *** RETURN I know it works in v8: R>run GULL_WING.TXT MyColumnA MyColumnB GullCT -------------------- -------------------- ---------- MINE MINE, TOO 5 Here's the table: SET QUOTES=NULL SET QUOTES=' SET DELIMIT=NULL SET DELIMIT=',' SET LINEEND=NULL SET LINEEND='^' SET SEMI=NULL SET SEMI=';' SET PLUS=NULL SET PLUS='+' SET SINGLE=NULL SET SINGLE='_' SET MANY=NULL SET MANY='%' SET IDQUOTES=NULL SET IDQUOTES='`' SET CURRENCY '$' PREF 0 B DISCONNECT SET STATICDB OFF SET ROWLOCKS ON SET FASTLOCK OFF CREATE SCHEMA AUTHOR DCM_DLAM_a121 JSWILLS CREATE TABLE `MY_TABLE` + (`MyColumnA` TEXT (80) , + `MyColumnB` TEXT (80) , + `MyColumnC` TEXT (20) ) SET CASE OFF SET AUTOSKIP OFF SET REVERSE ON SET BELL ON SET NULL '-0- ' SET DATE YEAR 30 SET DATE CENTURY 19 SET DATE SEQUENCE MMDDYYYY SET TIME SEQUENCE HHMMSS SET TOLERANCE 0. SET ZERO OFF LOAD `MY_TABLE` NONUM 'MINE','MINE, TOO','I am a gull' 'MINE','MINE, TOO','I am a gull' 'MINE','MINE, TOO','I am a gull' 'MINE','MINE, TOO','I am a gull' 'MINE','MINE, TOO','I am a gull' 'Oh, would you just shut up! You''re rats with wings!',-0-,'I am a pelican' 'There, take it! You happy!',-0-,'I am a pelican' END SET DATE FORMAT 'MM/DD/YYYY' SET TIME FORMAT 'HH:MM:SS.SSS' SET DATE SEQUENCE MMDDYY SET TIME SEQUENCE HHMMSS Steve in Memphis From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Emmitt Dove Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 5:22am 05:22 To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice Alastair, The point of my examples was to illustrate that you can put a comment most anywhere, IF that comment is created using the curly braces. The double-dash, on the other hand, gets interpreted slightly differently. It looks to me as if once R:BASE reads the double-dash it takes the rest of the line as the comment, whereas the curly braces encapsulate the comment. So anything on a line following the double-dash is ignored, and therefore the EOL has been encountered. But since the curly braces encapsulate the comment, it can in fact be embedded in the middle of a command. Not that I recommend the practice, unless you want to drive another programmer crazy or something . Personally, I like the comment-on-its-own-line approach. The comment is clear, the code is clear. But I've seen code that puts a double-dash comment following, say, an ENDIF to indicate which IF condition it is ending. When the entire IF / ENDIF block cannot be displayed on the screen at once, this technique can be useful. Emmitt Dove Manager, Converting Applications Development Evergreen Packaging, Inc. [email protected] (203) 214-5683 m (203) 643-8022 o (203) 643-8086 f [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alastair Burr Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 3:38 AM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice Thanks Buddy & Emmitt. To make a comment really stand out and, in particular, to divide a command file into sections I used something like this: -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Pre-run set-up: -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- where the length of the first and third lines is 78 characters. For SET VAR, for example, I put the comment on the same line and line them up to make a "column" on the right-hand edge. Now, Emmitt, it must take a very special brain <g> to come up with your example so I copied and pasted both into a file. RBEdit nicely highlights what it sees as comments. I'm not sure that it would ever have occurred to me to put any comment in the middle of any command but, I suppose, that is, in effect, what I was asking about: does any command need a CR/LF - in another way. Regards, Alastair. ----- Original Message ----- From: Walker, Buddy To: RBASE-L Mailing List Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 12:25 AM Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice Alastair I do the same as you keep comments on their own line. I actually like the comment to be left justified. This way it is easier to pick up. Buddy ----- Original Message ----- From: Emmitt Dove <mailto:[email protected]> To: RBASE-L Mailing List <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 1:31 AM Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice There appear to be some limits. Try this code: IF {this is a test} .#PI <> 0 THEN WRITE -- really testy! 'It Works!' ENDIF RETURN You'll get a syntax error on the WRITE statement, which, of course, means that the IF worked. Now try this: IF {this is a test} .#PI <> 0 THEN WRITE {really testy!} 'It Works!' ENDIF RETURN Emmitt Dove Manager, Converting Applications Development Evergreen Packaging, Inc. [email protected] (203) 214-5683 m (203) 643-8022 o (203) 643-8086 f [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alastair Burr Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 6:47 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Double Hyphen Comments: good practice I've not come across any problem and the help makes no observations other than leaving at least one space if placed on the same line as a command... but: Are there any situations where it is preferable not to place a comment on the same line as the command? I only ask because, generally, I tend to avoid doing so with, for example IF, SWITCH, WHILE. Am I being over-cautious? Regards, Alastair ---------------------------- Alastair Burr St. Albans, UK. [email protected] ----------------------------- _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.51/2151 - Release Date: 06/02/09 17:53:00
