Try OpenEdge Now
skip to main content
Object-oriented Programming
Programming with Class-based Objects : Using static members of a class : Accessing static members : Options for referencing static members
 
Options for referencing static members
In most cases, you can reference a static member by name, with or without a type-name prefix, depending on the access modes that it supports. For each kind of static member that supports the PUBLIC access mode, you can, with one exception, reference the member by prefixing the member name with the object type name of the class that defines it. For all other static members, you can only reference them by name, according to their kind. You can use this type-name prefix to reference the member name as specified for static type-name syntax. For more information, see Usingstatic type-name syntax.
Therefore, you can use static type-name syntax to reference the following kinds of static members, all of which support the PUBLIC access mode:
*Variable data members
*Properties
*Named methods (not constructors or destructors)
*Class events
If it has been named with a reserved keyword, accessing a static variable data member, property, method, or class event within the class in which it is defined requires static type-name syntax as a qualifier.
You cannot use static type-name syntax to reference the following kinds of static members, all of which do not support the PUBLIC access mode:
*Buffers
*Data-sources
*ProDataSets
*Queries
*Temp-tables
For these kinds of static members, you can only reference them by name, exactly like instance members, as defined for the type of member. For example, to reference the default buffer of a statically defined temp-table, you precede the temp-table name with the BUFFER keyword.