Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Reporting:
Query/Results Administration and Development

Feature procedures

Feature procedures are Progress 4GL procedures that meet certain information interface requirements for Results. All feature procedures require a character input parameter and a logical output parameter. Consider the following template for a feature procedure:

/* Template 1 for a RESULTS Feature Procedure */ /* 1 */ DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER args AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO. /* 2 */ DEFINE OUTPUT PARAMETER winState AS LOGICAL NO-UNDO. /* Your code here */

These notes refer to the commented numbers in the template:

Results requires a character input parameter to pass argument values specified in the Argument field of the Feature Editor. All feature procedures must have this input parameter even if you did not specify argument values in the Argument field.

The Progress 4GL supplies several language elements that allow you to parse strings, parse lists, and convert character values into different data types. For more information about these and other language elements, see the OpenEdge Development: Progress 4GL Reference .

This logical output parameter determines whether the Results window redisplays when the feature procedure finishes executing. If the feature procedure changes the current query or current view of the query, set the value of this output parameter to TRUE.

You can code feature procedures to perform all types of processing including interactive and noninteractive processing. Results supplies a complete API that you can use within a feature procedure to access and manipulate information. The Results API is based on a set of procedures and shared variables that contain information about the current state of the Results application and the current query in Results. For more information about the Results API see the "Results application programming interface (API)" section.

Feature procedures can manipulate the Results application window, display a dialog box, or display a secondary application window. To implement a feature procedure that displays a second window, use the following technique to manage user focus and multiple windows in Results:

/* Template 2 for a RESULTS Feature Procedure - Multi-windows */ DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER args AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO. DEFINE OUTPUT PARAMETER winState AS LOGICAL NO-UNDO. /* 1 */ DEFINE VARIABLE resultsWin AS WIDGET-HANDLE NO-UNDO. DEFINE VARIABLE newWin AS WIDGET-HANDLE NO-UNDO. /* 2 */ ASSIGN resultsWin = CURRENT-WINDOW /* 3 */ resultsWin:WINDOW-STATE = WINDOW-MINIMIZED resultsWin:SENSITIVE = FALSE. CREATE WINDOW newWin. CURRENT-WINDOW = newWin. /* Your code here */ /* 4 */ DELETE WIDGET newWin. CURRENT-WINDOW = resultsWin. ASSIGN resultsWin:WINDOW-STATE = WINDOW-NORMAL resultsWin:SENSITIVE = TRUE.

The commented numbers in the code refer to these notes:

Create a variable to hold the widget handle of the Results window.
Place the widget handle of the Results window into the new variable. The CURRENT–WINDOW session handle returns the widget handle of the Results window.
Minimize the Results window and disable it for user input while the feature procedure displays the second window.
Restore the Results window and enable it for user input after the user closes the second window.

See the "Generating new queries" section for a sample feature procedure. See the OpenEdge Development: Progress 4GL Reference for a reference entry for each language element in the Progress 4GL.