fP Technologies

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NEW FEATURES GUIDE

COMMANDS	LABELS	Enhanced COMMANDS	System Maintained Variables
Environment Variables	Financial Functions	Math Functions	Hyperbolic Functions
BLOB fields!	Text/memo fields!	ODBC - Client Side!

NEW EDITING/DEBUGGING/INDEXING FUNCTIONALITY

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Toggle insert mode is now available in every place where you enter data into fields during filePro development and runtime execution.

Now you can toggle the insert mode in *clerk, ddefine, dmakemenu, short and extended selection sets, etc. that will allow you to insert characters without
hitting multiple F1's etc. This has been the case for *cabe but 5.0 extends
this functionality to *clerk, ddefine, dmakemenu, short and extended selection sets to name a few.

You toggle the insert mode using Alt-F9 in Dos/Native and typically Ctrl-Z in UNIX

*cabe F9/goto and syntax errors now places the cursor at the exact location, rather than at the beginning of the line:

When running *clerk, short selection is now a dialog box which now allows full cursor control while entering selection criteria:

If an extended selection set is left blank, filePro will ask a "select all" question before continuing:

Descending Automatic Indexes:

Descending Automatic Indexes are now supported.

Index Selection F7 with no value goes to last record:

If you go to index selection and select an index and press F7 with no value specified it will take you to the last record in the index.

Dxmaint no longer builds indexes without a major key sort specified:

Dxmaint no longer allows indexes without a major key sort to be built. Setting the new PFNULLIXSORT=ON will re-enable this ability

You can now 'hide' indexes:

Using DXMAINT, you can now specify which indexes you want to 'hide' from the Inquire, Update, Add Index Selection screen.

Numeric config variables:

Numeric config variables can now be specified in octal by pre-fixing with zero.

This new octal syntax is in addition to the existing hexadecimal ("0x" prefix) and normal decimal syntax.

New debugger F8 - Extended functions:

L - Displays all lookups within this processing table, along with their status. (closed/failed/open)
An '*' marks which is the current lookup for the given alias.
F - Displays all open files.

NEW BLOB fields

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filePro 5.0 includes support for BLOBs (Binary Large OBjects). Items such as sound clips, pictures, or even entire word processor documents can be stored within a filePro record. New functions allow you to store and retrieve these objects for use by external programs to display, edit, print, or otherwise manipulate them.

BLOB/MEMO notes:

BLOB/MEMO fields:

Type must be either (16,MEMO) or (16,BLOB).

BLOB/MEMO commands:
- If: BLOB / MEMO / NOT BLOB / NOT MEMO
  
  Allows you to determine of the most recent BLOB/MEMO command succeeded or not. Currently, BLOB and MEMO are aliases. If a MEMO command fails, "NOT BLOB" will be true as well. (MEMO fields are simply a plain-text BLOB.)

NEW Text/memo fields

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filePro 5.0 includes built-in memo fields. Such fields will word-wrap within a user-defined area on the screen or output format. If you change the size of this region, the word-wrap will change accordingly.

Memo fields are stored as plain-text BLOBs. See MEMO/BLOB notes above.

NEW ODBC- Client Side

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filePro 5.0 will allow you to access ODBC databases as you are able to access a filePro file. Using ddefine you will be able to specify a file as an (existing) ODBC database filePro will automatically build a map based on the record structure of the ODBC file.
Then you will able to access this file as you would any other filePro file including but not limited to lookups in processing, output formats, *clerk, *report etc.

NEW COMMANDS

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BACKGROUND ON | OFF

Turn on/off ability to enter background via "!G".

Note that you cannot turn it on if PFBACKGROUND=OFF. (BACKGROUND ON will be ignored.)

CURSOR ON | OFF | DEFAULT

Forces the cursor on/off, or restores the default behavior.

Example:

CURSOR OFF
xx = LISTBOX(array)
CURSOR DEFAULT

xx = FILENAME(yy)

Returns the filename of the handle specified by yy. The handle must be a value returned from OPEN() or CREATE(). Invalid handles return null.

This could be useful in a generic CALL routine where the filename isn't known.

GUI and NOT GUI

GUI and NOT GUI allows you to test if you are running under a GUI fPclient environment or not

SAVE ON | OFF

SAVE is a synomyn of "ESCAPE"

READOUTPUT( )

Returns the text portion of an output format as did READSCREEN()

XX = READOUTPUT( filename, formatname [ , section ] )

Where "filename" is the name of the filePro file, and "formatname" is the output format name.
The optional third parameter is the section of the format to be read.

The currently supported sections are:
0: Graphics characters are returned as text equivalents. (ie: '|', '-', '+')
1: Graphics characters are returned as-is
2: Graphics characters are returned as spaces.
3: Returns only the graphics characters, as "+-|" text.
All regular text is returned as spaces.
4: Returns only the graphics characters, as-is.
All regular text is returned as spaces.
5: Returns size information of the output format, as a list of colon-separated 3-digit values:

width
height
format type
records across page
records down page
number of header lines
number of footer lines (always zero for now)
number of data lines
number of break levels (including grand total)
9 entries, one for each break level, innermost first

If not specified, the default section is zero.
If the output format cannot be read (ie: doesn't exist) then READOUTPUT() returns a null value.

NewFINANCIAL Functions

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Time-value-of-money functions have been implemented to calculate n/i/pv/pmt/fv values, given the other 4.

N = TVM_N(i,pv,pmt,fv)
I = TVM_I(n,pv,pmt,fv)
PV = TVM_PV(n,i,pmt,fv)
PMT = TVM_PMT(n,i,pv,fv)
FV = TVM_FV(n,i,pv,pmt)

Where:
N = number of payments
I = interest rate
PV = present value
PMT = amount of payment
FV = future value

NewHYPERBOLIC Functions

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The hyperbolic functions SINH/COSH/TANH/ASINH/ACOSH/ATANH are implemented.

xx = SINH(yy)
xx = ASINH(yy)
xx = COSH(yy)
xx = ACOSH(yy)
xx = TANH(yy)
xx = ATANH(yy)

NewMATH Function

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result = x ^ y

Returns X raised to the power of Y. (Y can be fractional.)
The power of 0.5 is the same as square root

New & Enhanced @LABEL's

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@ONCE

The event labeled by @ONCE will be executed once at the beginning of the output phase in *report, before the first record is processed with output processing.
Also, @ONCE will now execute in *clerk, prior to the first execution of @MENU.
Note: doing a "lookup -" in @ONCE will cause you to jumpto that record and skip the normal *clerk menu, just as a "lookup -" in @MENU will do.

Enhanced .prc COMMANDS

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HTML

The HTML command has been enhanced to include many new commands and flags corresponding to a number of HTML commands that were not implemented with the inital 4.8 release including:

:FN for <FONT>
:IM for <IMG>
:MA for <MAP>
:AR for <AREA>
:DT for <!DOCTYPE
:IS for <ISINDEX>
:BA for <BASE>
:ME for <META>
:LN for <LINK>
:AD for <ADDRESS>
:RP for <PRE>
:DI for <DIV>
:Bq for <BLOCKQUOTE>
:UL for <UL>
:OL for <OL>
:DL for <DL>
:LI for <LI>
:DT for <DT>
:DD for <DD>
:CE for <CENTER>
:SP for <SPAN>

INPUT POPUP ... DEFAULT

Enhanced to allow you to set and display a default input value

LISTBOX

Enhanced to take an optional 8th parameter, which is the position of the initial highlight.

MID()

Enhanced so that, if not on the left side of an assignment, to allow expressions as the first parameter. Example:
MSGBOX "You were born in the year" < mid(InfoFile[5],"7","4")

READ()/READLINE()

Enhanced so that they will now accept long-named variables as the second parameter

READSCREEN( )

Enhanced to return the text, graphics, and color portion of a screen as a series of 1600-character field (sections 3-6 are new for 5.0)

XX = READSCREEN( filename, screenname [ , section ] )

Where "filename" is the name of the filePro file, and "screenname" is the screen name.
New optional third parameters have been added for this release.

The currently supported sections are: 0: Graphics characters are returned as text equivalents. (ie: '|', '-', '+')
1: Graphics characters are returned as-is
2: Graphics characters are returned as spaces.
3: Returns only the graphics characters, as "+-|" text.
All regular text is returned as spaces.
4: Returns only the graphics characters, as-is.
All regular text is returned as spaces.
5: Returns size information of the screen, in the format
"www:hhh:nnn" where "www" is the width, "hhh" is the height, and "nnn" is the format type.
6: Returns the color attributes as a 1600-character field.
If not specified, the default section is zero.
If the screen cannot be read (ie: doesn't exist) then READSCREEN() returns a null value.

New or Enhanced
System Maintained Arrays & Variables

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@CMDLINE[]	*Contains the command line passed to clerk/report. (Note: also known as "@ARGV[]")*
@CO	Returns the column of the first position of the field just entered or left.
@DIRLIST[]	Contains the full lines as returned by NEXTDIR() for all files found by the OPENDIR() command.
@DIRLIST_NAME[]	Contains the format name as returned in the first column by NEXTDIR() for all files found by the OPENDIR() command.
@DIRLIST_EXT[]	Contains the extension as returned in the second column by NEXTDIR() for all files found by the OPENDIR() command.
@DIRLIST_FILENAME[]	Contains the full filename as returned in the last column by NEXTDIR() for all files found by the OPENDIR() command.
@SYSFILES[]	Contains a list of all open files. Some entries may be blank, representing an unused (ie: closed) file.
@ALLFILES[]	Contains a list of all files open by filePro, even those closed due to dynamic open/close. Some entries may be blank, representing an unused (ie: closed) file.
@FPFILES[]	Contains a list of all open filepro files. Some entries may be blank, representing an unused (ie: closed) file.
@FPSTAT[]	Contains information about the last successful EXISTS() function. See your O/S manual for a description of each entry. All entries are numeric, except for the date/time entries, which are returned as (10,mdyy/) and (8,TIME) respectively, [0] = length of array (currently always 14) [1] = st_dev [2] = st_ino [3] = st_mode [4] = st_nlink [5] = st_uid [6] = st_gid [7] = st_rdev [8] = st_size [9] = st_atime_date (date portion of st_atime) [10] = st_atime_time (time portion of st_atime) [11] = st_mtime_date [12] = st_mtime_time [13] = st_ctime_date [14] = st_ctime_time
@LI	Returns the current line number within the processing.
@RO	Returns the row of the first position of the field just entered or left.
@VR	*Version number of clerk/report being run. This is the full version number (ie: "4.9.01K3DN9") that can be moved into a (4,.1) field to get the major version (ie: "4.9") for comparisons.*

New or Enhanced
Environment Variables

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PFNOIXHIDE=ON	Disables index hiding (all are shown even hidden)
PFCHECKLOCKPOPUP=OFF \| ON	Ability to log non-protected lookups that are not locked records that are being to/from another file but not do a popup so the next program in sequence can run without interruption/operator intervention
PFDIALOGPROMPT= L \| C \| R	This places the message prompts on System popups <C>enter <R> ight or <L>eft but does not effect MSGBOX or SHOW POPUP
PFNOQUAL=OFF	Turns off "[NONE]" from the qualifier list.
PFNULLIXSORT=ON	Re-enables the ability of Dxmaint to build indexes without a major sort key.
PFPERL=fullpath	Points to the PERL executible
PFQUALMESG=text	Replaces the default prompt for -md
PFSHOWF6ARROW=ON	Causes a down-arrow to be used a EOF marker for fields with F6 popups [DOS/Native Only for now]

filePro is a registered trademark of fpTechnologies, Inc.

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