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Large Application Map
Locating yourself in a large multi-DLL set of applications requires some discipline, consistency, and naming conventions. This page describes the convention used for the RES application collection. You can see some examples of the Browse/Form pairs in the RES International and RES Location screen capture pages.
All procedures that have a window (browse, form, process, report) have a naming convention based on the file name, file prefix and function of the window. This window name and font size is also added to the procedure description line. This ties the procedure to the window, and the template named RYB Prototype Explorer creates an include file that contains a listing that can be used for the prototypes in a LIB module but also contains lists for the imported, and local procedures. Since using the Prototype Exporter is used in all the applications, you will have an application source file map of the procedures and how they are used in each application that can be searched with a text editor.
- Procedure: Browse_languages [ PROCEDURE ] 2021/02/11 12:34:04PM | Browse languages [L001-01]; Segoe UI, 10
- Procedure: Update_languages [ PROCEDURE ] 2021/03/10 08:14:15AM | Languages Form [L001-02]; Segoe UI, 10
- Procedure: Select_languages [ FUNCTION ] 2021/02/06 06:01:04PM | Select Languages [L001-03]; Segoe UI, 10
The above three procedures show the lines generated by the prototype explorer. The L001 is the table prefix which is unique at the dictionary level. The 01=Browse, the 02=Form, and the 03=Select. The window titles are: Browse languages [L001-01], Languages Form [L001-02], and Select Languages [L001-03].
On the Languages Form, the update languages on disk template, messages and titles button:
- View Message: Languages View [L001-02]
- Insert Message: Languages Add [L001-02]
- Change Message: Languages Change [L001-02]
- Delete Message: Languages Delete [L001-02]
You have now tied the window name to the procedure name and that makes it easier to search with a text editor and find the where the specific procedure is located and used. Additionally, you can search for the L001- text and find all the procedures related to that table. That is useful in finding possible duplicate browse and form procedures that have similar functionality.
Adding the font to the procedure description lets you know this specific fact of the window. This makes sure that all your windows are done in a consistent font style. There are some older systems where the fonts are all over the place and the look and feel of the windows are varied.
If you inherit an older system built over time, chances are good that the descriptions are not consistent. As you work in each procedure, change to a standard description for all your windows. Just choose one with a font added to it. Over time, with the Prototype Explorer template you will know what has been cleaned up and what you need to work on.