I'm gonna throw my 4 cents in to hopefully stop this excessive coding.
<snip>
> 0005: EOF = 0
> 0006: LOOP
> 0007: READNEXT ITEM_CODE ELSE
> 0008: EOF = 1
> 0009: END
> 0010: UNTIL EOF DO
</snip>
Can be replaced with one line that's pretty readable:
ud/uv version:
LOOP WHILE READNEXT ID DO
or the D3 version
LOOP READNEXT ID ELSE EXIT UNTIL 0 DO
or even the Mvbase or Microdata version
LOOP READNEXT ID ELSE ID="@@@" UNTIL ID="@@@" DO ( use @@@ or whatever is
not a likely item-id)
I have read these EOF=FALSE blah, blah, blah ways of avoiding the GOTO
statements for almost 30 years. It's pretty tiring and does not need to be
perpetuated.
While anyone can argue that we have an infinite amount of resources (disc
space, RAM etc), we are still human programmers reading source code.
Condensing the code isn't for the system's sake, it's for the programmer's
sake.
Please, anyone who's new to MV should consider more than one style of
programming examples. From what I continue to view, It's perpetuating the
technique first learned with no opportunity for learning a better or shorter
way.
Another pet peeve of mine is the habit of using the null DICT portion when
OPENing a file. I recall in the late 1970's when I accidentally forgot to
include it on a Microdata and it compiled and worked anyway. Haven't looked
back on that useless parameter.
Old School:
OPEN "","ABC" TO F.ABC ELSE xxx
Works on all Platforms:
OPEN "ABC" TO F.ABC ELSE xxx
also
OPEN "DICT ABC" TO D.ABC ELSE xxx
I forego the entire OPEN mess with a subroutine that does not cause the
bother of the wide variety of "Can't Open" scenarios. 99% of the time, the
OPENing of a file is a must-do, ie if you can't don't continue. There is the
less than 1% of the time where opening a file is a logical THEN/ELSE. Most
of the time it's a requirement for the rest of the program to continue.
Therefore, I use a sub called OPENER that I published in an issue of
Spectrum. It's use is:
CALL OPENER("ABC", F.ABC)
or
CALL OPENER("DICT ABC", D.ABC)
and in that subroutine, you can write War & Peace if you want to get that
verbose about a file not opening.
My point is, I have seen some pretty stupid methods of handling these 99%
OPEN scenarios. It's a 'housekeeping' section of the program that should be
blown past without too much fanfare in the source code. Thus you can have
this:
CALL OPENER("FILE1", F.FILE1)
CALL OPENER("FILE2", F.FILE2)
CALL OPENER("FILE3", F.FILE3)
instead of these 3 ridiculous methods
OPEN "FILE1" TO F.FILE1 ELSE PRINT "CANNOT OPEN FILE1. PLEASE CALL TECH
SUPPORT. PROGRAM TERMINATING" ; STOP
OPEN "FILE2" TO F.FILE2 ELSE PRINT "CANNOT OPEN FILE2. PLEASE CALL TECH
SUPPORT. PROGRAM TERMINATING" ; STOP
OPEN "FILE3" TO F.FILE3 ELSE PRINT "CANNOT OPEN FILE3. PLEASE CALL TECH
SUPPORT. PROGRAM TERMINATING" ; STOP
or
OPEN "FILE1" TO F.FILE1 ELSE
PRINT "CANNOT OPEN FILE1. PLEASE CALL TECH SUPPORT"
ERR.SW=1
END
OPEN "FILE2" TO F.FILE2 ELSE
PRINT "CANNOT OPEN FILE2. PLEASE CALL TECH SUPPORT"
ERR.SW=1
END
OPEN "FILE3" TO F.FILE3 ELSE
PRINT "CANNOT OPEN FILE2. PLEASE CALL TECH SUPPORT"
ERR.SW=1
END
or this doozy of a mess
OPEN "FILE1" TO F.FILE1 THEN
OPEN "FILE2" TO F.FILE2 THEN
OPEN "FILE3" TO F.FILE3 THEN
<500 LINES OF PROCESSING AS PER APPLICATION>
END ELSE
PRINT "CAN'T OPEN FILE3"
END
END ELSE
PRINT "CAN'T OPEN FILE2"
END
END ELSE
PRINT "CAN'T OPEN FILE1"
END
Please, lets not spend so much effort on this simple task. OPEN them and get
on with it.
I work with a guy who sometimes uses method 2 above and sometimes uses
method 3 above. I try to show him the simplicity of OPENER (it's already on
that system) but he continues to respond "But that's how I was taught".
Pretty stupid. I even have a program called MAKE.OPENER that will go through
source code and replace whatever open statements exist with OPENER.
I don't know the approval or voting process on what methods are useful to
show the newbies so they start off on the right foot.
Respectfully submitted
Mark Johnson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sanjeebkumar Sarangi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 6:40 AM
Subject: [U2] Error in report generation.
> Hi
> I tried to generate a report by writing a small program. But I got an
error
> as below.
>
> ERROR:
>
> >RUN TEST.BP MAIN
> MAIN
>
> 45 record(s) selected to SELECT list #0.
> Program "SUB": Line 3, Variable "REC" previously undefined. Empty string
> used.
> Program "SUB": Line 3, Printer name UVDEFAULT is not recognized by the
> system.
>
> CODE:
>
> >ED TEST.BP
> Record name = MAIN
> 15 lines long.> 0005: EOF = 0
> 0006: LOOP
> 0007: READNEXT ITEM_CODE ELSE
> 0008: EOF = 1
> 0009: END
> 0010: UNTIL EOF DO
>
> ----: P
> 0001: CRT 'MAIN'
> 0002: OPEN 'INVENTORY.T' TO INEVNTORY ELSE STOP
> 0003: SENT = 'SSELECT INVENTORY.T BY ITEM_CODE'
> 0004: EXECUTE SENT
> 0011: READ REC FROM INEVNTORY ,ITEM_CODE THEN
> 0012: CALL SUB
> 0013: END
> 0014: REPEAT
> 0015: STOP
> Bottom at line 15.
> ----: Q
>
> File name = TEST.BP
> Record name = SUB
> 6 lines long.
>
> ----: P
> 0001:CRT 'SUB'
> 0002: PRINTER ON
> 0003: PRINT "ITEM_CODE" "L#16":REC<1>
> 0004: PRINT "DESCRIPTION" "L#16": REC<2>
> 0005: PRINT "TYPE" "L#16":REC<3>
> 0006: PRINTER OFF
> 0007: RETURN
> Bottom at line 7.
> ----:
> How do I resolve this?
>
>
> Thanks
> Sanjeeb
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