HP 3000 Manuals

HP ALLBASE/4GL Developer Self-Paced Training Guide

Creating a Message 

The first message you will create is the add_prod message.

Menu Path 

To access the Messages screen: 

   1.  From the main menu, select the Dictionary option.

   2.  Choose Messages.

Description 

A message can be constructed from a number of items.  Most messages have
a literal component.  You can also include communication area fields,
variables, file record fields, screen fields, and other items.  The HP 
ALLBASE/4GL Developer Reference Manual contains a list of all of the
items you can use in messages.


          Messages Screen 

To enter the field values: 

        Field                 Entry                         Explanation 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name                  add_prod              The name of the message within the
                                            application.

Type                  m                     The type code for this message.  Note that
                                            HP ALLBASE/4GL converts your entry to
                                            uppercase, and expands it to the full
                                            message type code.  The different available
                                            codes are listed to the right of this
                                            field.  You only need to enter the first
                                            character of the message type code.

Response Item         Entry not possible.   This field only applies to QUERY type
                                            messages.  HP ALLBASE/4GL moves the user's
                                            response to the query into the field that
                                            you specify here.

Help Name             Entry not possible.   The name of the help screen that is
                                            displayed if the user presses the  Help  
                                            function key while the message is
                                            displayed.  This option is only valid for
                                            QUERY, ERROR, and ABORT messages.

Message Construction  "New product may be   The content of the message.  Note that you
                      added."               must start and finish literal text in
                                            messages with double quotes (").  A message
                                            can be up to 160 characters long.  If it
                                            exceeds this length, it is truncated to fit
                                            in the message area at the base of the
                                            screen.

To complete the message: 

   1.  Press the  Commit Data  function key to create this message.

       Messages are automatically generated when committed.  Once
       generated, a message is ready to be used in an application.

Message - file_error 

To create another message: 

   1.  To create the file_error message, follow these steps:

Action                    Explanation 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enter file_error          The name of the message

Enter ERROR               This is an error type message.  It requires the
                          user to reenter the data in the current field.

Press Return              This time you have access to the Help field.  Leave
                          it blank for the time being.  You can define a help
                          screen for this message at a later time.

Enter "File error, code:" This is the first part of the message.

Enter *IOSTATUS           The current value of the file return code, which is
                          stored in the *IOSTATUS communication area, is
                          included in the message when it is displayed.

Enter " has occurred."    This is the final part of the message.

Press  Commit Data        The message is generated automatically.

When HP ALLBASE/4GL displays this message, it joins the three components
together.  You must explicitly enter any spaces that you want to appear
between each component.  You can define the individual parts of the
message on separate lines.  If you include more than one item on a line,
separate the items with spaces.

To create the remaining message: 

   1.  Now create the remainder of the messages.

       Only the essential information for each message is listed here.

          a.  Message - prod_add_ok 

     Name              prod_add_ok

     Type              MESS

     Contents          "Product added successfully."

          b.  Message - prod_modify_ok 

     Name              prod_modify_ok

     Type              MESS

     Contents          "Product modified successfully."

          c.  Message - prod_delete_ok 

     Name              prod_delete_ok

     Type              MESS

     Contents          "Product deleted successfully."

          d.  Message - prod_add_fail 

     Name              prod_add_fail

     Type              WARN

     Contents          "This product already exists. "

                       "It cannot be added to the file."

          e.  Message - no_product 

     Name              no_product

     Type              WARN

     Contents          "This product does not exist. "

          f.  Message - prod_delete_fail 

     Name              prod_delete_fail

     Type              WARN

     Contents          "This product has NOT been deleted. "

              All the messages necessary at this stage of application
              development are now complete.

The final step to the expansion of this application is to define a
validation range to automatically validate product numbers as they are
entered by the user.  You will do this in the next lesson.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation