dBL Language Reference VERSION 7.5 release 2.6 for Windows® 98, 2000, NT ME and XP dataBased Intelligence, Inc. Vestal, NY http://www.dbase.com news://news.dbase.com dataBased Intelligence, Inc. or Borland International may have patents and/or pending patent applications covering subject matter in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents. COPYRIGHT © 2005 dataBased Intelligence, Inc. All rights reserved. All dBASE product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of dataBased Intelligence, Inc. All Borland product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland International, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Printed in the U.S.A. Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 4 Introduction 1 Operators and symbols 19 How this book is organized . 1 Operator precedence . 20 Typographical conventions . 2 Assignment operators. 20 Using the online version . 2 + (“plus”) operator . 21 - (“minus”) operator . 22 Chapter 2 Numeric operators . 22 Language definition 3 Logical operators . 23 Basic attributes. 3 Comparison operators. 24 Data types . 4 Object operators . 25 Simple data types. 4 NEW operator . 25 String data . 4 Index operator . 26 Numeric data . 4 Dot operator . 26 Logical data. 5 Scope resolution operator . 26 Date data . 5 Call, indirection, grouping operator . 27 Null values . 5 Alias operator . 27 Database-specific data types . 5 Macro operator . 28 Memo data . 5 Non-operational symbols . 30 Binary and OLE data . 6 String delimiters. 30 Programming data types . 6 Name/database delimiters . 30 Operators and symbols. 6 Comment symbols. 30 Names . 6 Statement separator, line continuation . 31 Expressions . 7 Codeblock, literal date, literal array symbol . 31 Basic expressions. 7 Preprocessor directive symbol . 32 Variables . 7 Assigning variables . 7 Chapter 5 Using variables and field names in expressions 7 Core language 33 Type conversion . 8 class Designer. 33 Automatic type conversion . 8 class Exception . 34 Explicit type conversion . 8 class Object . 35 Arrays . 8 ARGCOUNT( ) . 36 Literal arrays . 8 ARGVECTOR( ) . 36 Complex expressions. 9 baseClassName . 37 Statements . 9 CASE . 37 Basic statements . 9 CATCH . 37 Control statements . 10 CLASS . 37 Functions and codeblocks . 10 className. 38 Function pointers . 11 CLEAR MEMORY . 38 Codeblocks . 11 CLEAR PROGRAM . 39 Codeblocks vs. functions . 12 CLOSE PROCEDURE . 39 Objects and classes . 12 DEFINE. 40 Dynamic subclassing . 12 DO . 41 Methods . 13 DO CASE . 42 A simple class . 13 DO WHILE . 43 Programs . 13 DO...UNTIL . 44 Program files . 13 ELSE . 45 Program execution . 14 ELSEIF . 45 Functions and classes . 14 EMPTY( ). 45 Comments . 14 ENUMERATE( ) . 46 Preprocessor directives. 15 EXIT . 47 A simple program . 15 FINALLY . 47 FINDINSTANCE( ). 47 Chapter 3 FOR...ENDFOR . 48 Syntax conventions 16 FUNCTION. 49 Syntax notation . 16 IF . 50 Syntax example . 17 IIF( ) . 51 Capitalization guidelines. 17 isInherited( ) . 51 SET command defaults . 18 LOCAL . 52 i LOOP . 52 rightTrim( ) . 88 OTHERWISE . 53 RTRIM( ) . 88 PARAMETERS . 53 setByte( ) . 88 parent . 56 SOUNDEX( ) . 89 PCOUNT( ) . 56 SPACE( ) . 90 PRIVATE. 56 space( ) . 90 PROCEDURE . 57 STR( ) . 90 PUBLIC . 57 STUFF( ) . 91 QUIT . 58 stuff( ) . 92 REDEFINE . 58 SUBSTR( ) . 92 REFCOUNT( ). 59 substring( ) . 92 RELEASE . 59 toLowerCase( ) . 93 RELEASE OBJECT . 60 toProperCase( ). 93 RESTORE . 60 toUpperCase( ) . 93 RETURN . 61 TRANSFORM( ) . 93 SAVE . 61 TRIM( ) . 94 SET LIBRARY . 61 UPPER( ) . 94 SET PROCEDURE . 62 VAL( ) . 95 SET( ) . 63 SETTO( ) . 64 Chapter 7 STATIC . 64 Math / Money 96 STORE . 65 abs( ) . 96 THROW . 66 acos( ). 96 TRY . 66 asin( ) . 96 TYPE( ) . 69 atan( ) . 97 WITH . 71 atan2( ) . 97 ceil( ) . ..