MACRO unexpected results

Stefan
Administrator

Posts: 990

MACRO unexpected results Feb 25, 2021 5:43:25 GMT -5

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Post by Stefan on Feb 25, 2021 5:43:25 GMT -5

Hi George,

This may just be my misunderstanding or they may be bugs, you decide.

(1) Get_Find_xxxx where 'xxxx' is LPtr, Col, Len

I expected that the 'find_xxxx' values change only when a FIND/CHANGE, etc command (re)sets them, ie. after a command that did some kind of FINDing.

But I note that (at least one) other primary command also resets the values returned by Get_Find_xxxx.

I have a macro that issues a FIND command which completes RC=0 and sets Get_Find_LPtr to the correct value.

Based on that result, some subsequent processing takes place which invokes a subroutine via CALL AddTag(Get_Find_LPtr)

The subroutine is defined as SUB AddTag(lineP AS NUMBER).

It does some pure thinBasic processing, culminating in statement SPF_Cmd("LINE '."+lab$+"' !"+lineP) before returning.

Inside the subroutine, the value of <lineP> is correct, and the correct line is labelled.

However, the SPF_CMD("LINE...) statement resets the value returned by Get_Find_LPtr to 0.

If I comment out that statement, the value of Get_Find_Lptr in the calling procedure is still correct when the subroutines returns.

The same is true of Get_Find_Col and Get_Find_Len which are both reset to 0.

If this is 'working as designed', I think the documentation should mention that the values returned by the Get_Find_xxxx functions are not reliable after other, unrelated primary commands were issued.

(2) Set_Csr(<LinePtr>,<Column>,<HighlightLength>)

I can't get the highlighting aspect to work as described in the Help documentation.

The cursor is placed in the correct row/col, but despite a non-zero 3rd parameter, the highlight does not appear.

What magic incantation am I missing?

----

Hope you're well. Here's a 'senior moment' chuckle for you...

I just spent a good hour wondering why the WHILE clause on a FOR statement did not work.

Guess what - thinBasic and REXX are not mix'n'match!

FOR i = 1 TO eyeMax WHILE eye$(i) <> "" & selPtr = 0 doesn't work, but...

FOR i = 1 TO eyeMax WHILE eye$(i) <> "" AND selPtr = 0 is just fine!

And I even promised myself to always use '+' for concatenation so I'd never have to code '&' in a macro. D'Uh!

Last Edit: Feb 25, 2021 5:52:08 GMT -5 by Stefan

George
Administrator

Posts: 4,062

MACRO unexpected results Feb 25, 2021 10:48:32 GMT -5

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Post by George on Feb 25, 2021 10:48:32 GMT -5

Stefan: Robert:

Quite right! The LINE command performs some incredible gymnastics to invoke line commands. And the fact that it can be wrapped and called from a Macro makes the mind boggle when you think of the depth of the Call Stack when you press (Enter) to call the macro.

Yes, the joys of a common search routine. If you see any command that has selection operands (line range, X/NX, U,NU, Colors MX/DX etc.) then it's a sure sign it's using the common search routine. Having that routine was how we were able to readily add selection criteria to many of the original ISPF primary commands that didn't provide it.

But, as Robert said, fetch and save the search results immediately after the search, good practice even if you don't call other CMDs.

Stefan:
Re: SET_CSR

Somehow there was 1 line missing in the Set_CSR code. After parsing all the operands out it simply was missing the 1 line

IF ilgth > 0 THEN TP.AttrInvSet(ilno, icol, icol + ilgth - 1) ' Set for Hi-Lite

Hard to get hi-lighting when you don't ask for it.

If you need it, a corrected version (21056) is attached.

George

SPFLite23.exe (483.5 KB)

Stefan
Administrator

Posts: 990

MACRO unexpected results Feb 25, 2021 13:42:15 GMT -5

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Post by Stefan on Feb 25, 2021 13:42:15 GMT -5

Guys, thanks for the insights. I appreciate hearing about some of the intricacies, and yes, I am in awe of what has been achieved.

Just for the record, I'm not testing this stuff, just stumbling around and tripping over the odd thing here or there.

I agree with Robert that saving the values right after the call is good practice.

As it happens, in this case I was able to move the the ADDTAG routine (and thus the LINE command) to after I'd finished dealing with all the FIND results so that saved me having to create a bunch of new variables.

I just wanted to bring the fact that this can happen to your attention.

George, thanks for looking up the high-lighting gremlin.

Sorry I only found this after you just released the latest package.

But it's only cosmetic afterall, so no immediate rush.

George
Administrator

Posts: 4,062

MACRO unexpected results Feb 25, 2021 14:05:08 GMT -5

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Post by George on Feb 25, 2021 14:05:08 GMT -5

Stefan: No sweat. You've found a number of lurking bugs, but you've always done the homework to provide me with useful info to track them down.

I have a couple of 'seniors' (like I should use such a term) who email me directly with their problems. It's obvious sometimes that they're losing it somewhat. But I try my best to help them through it. But its tough when the problem is described as "it failed", followed by "I'm not sure just what I tried". Sometimes all I can do is sympathize with them. And other times it gets positively humorous reviewing the thread.

It takes all kinds of users.

George