Using PxP 2022. My question concerns formatting of data in numeric cells in a grid. In Format Definition, I assign a numeric variable name to my column; e.g. Cost. In my supporting program, I set the cost's format mask with

let detail_box.ctl'Column$="Cost",detail_box.ctl'row=0, detail_box.ctl'cellformat$="######0.00-"

In the PxP documentation, the CellFormat property redirects to the documentation about multi-line Fmt$ property, which says "Before being output, the number is rounded to the number of decimal places specified in the format mask." But when I test, it truncates, not rounds. (By the way, the incoming value does not exceed the mask.)

Is there a correct way of having numeric grid cell data round instead of truncate?

Thanks in advance.

Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

(I wasn't sure how to word the subject line) 

In the IT editor, if I go to a particular line -- let's say the first line in a routine/method -- is there a way to have the line load at the top of the display? The line in question loads partway down the screen, and I often have to scroll down to see the entirety of a routine that I might not need to if that first line appeared at the top. (By the way, we use line numbers in our installation.)

Just wondering if there's a way, for efficiency's sake. Thanks in advance!

Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

First time experiencing a Win 2022 server. Have PxPlus 2022 installed. The built-in Language Help (via the Help menu) does not display content on the right panel?
Might that be an issue with the 64-bit OS not playing nice with the HTML Help version? Or other?

Thanks in advance.

Paula McKeever
CAI Software

Greetings. The Data Dictionary Update pgm *dict/dd_updt: it looks as though it returns error descriptions, not error numbers. If one's code happens to call it, will checking the err variable immediately upon returning from the call contain the error number associated with the returned message?

Thanks in advance.

Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

Greetings all. Our rule of thumb with Data Dictionary numeric elements is to make them delimited, and we define them using this example in the PxPlus manual:

6.2: 6 represents total length of the field, including explicit signs and decimals, where applicable; 2 represents scaling factor or number of decimal places

So from that, we get that 999.99 is valid, but 9999.99 is too large, because the integer portion of the number is 6 minus 1 (the decimal point) minus 2 (the decimals), which is 3.

But when we consider the checkbox "Force Data Validation on Write/Update," the validation of the integer portion of the number -- using the above example -- appears to max out at 5 digits (decimal point separate), not 3. The documentation references the IOLIST directive for more detail about this data validation.

We're planning to expand our numerics so that, when exported to SQL, they are large enough to not cause an invalid number error of some kind. Does anyone know if the SQL validation follows the PxP validation rules?

I.e. if we have a 6.2 element, then it would accept a 99999.99 (or -99999.99), and by extension 999999.99 would cause an error?

Examples for illustration would be greatly appreciated. TIA,

Paula McKeever
CAI Software

(using PxPlus 2020, Windows server)
Greetings. This concerns the Security property on panels. There are some particular circumstances, as follows:

* Panel X with multi-line Y and dropbox Z, initially disabled
* Panel X has several tabs; let's call them X.1 and X.2
* Panel (tab) X.1 Security has, let's say...
   * Full access for Classification MGR
   * View-only access for Classification USER (we need that view access so that the tab always draws for everyone; everyone has at minimum the USER classification assigned to them)
* The situation in which we encountered this was a file maintenance type panel, but I confirmed this happens with a panel with tabs that was not generated as FM

So if a MGR launches the panel, the two objects are initially disabled as expected. If they then navigate to the first record in the file, that executes a process that enables the objects, because for a MGR, they should be enabled.

But for a USER, we expect the objects to remain disabled, and in fact for multi-line Y, the panel Security keeps it disabled. But dropbox Z enables, and that is not the behavior we expected. (This also happens when we try assigning the security to dropbox Z itself)

I look forward to your feedback.

Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

Hello. Using PxPlus 2020. Is there a way to have a calendar object on a multi-line display =above= the m-l instead of below it?

My m-l control is low on the web page, and when the user clicks on the calendar's button, it pops partially below the visible area, and the user has to scroll down a little.

My other question is more to get a sampling of how are people handling the following scenario. If the date multi-line is null, the calendar pops as "Undefined 2000", and the user has to click on the year link, then the month link (the "Undefined") to get to a more approximate date. One solution is to default the date to today's date, but I'm not sure we want to do that in our particular business application. So I'm wondering if there are any creative solutions out there.

TIA!

Paula McKeever
CAI Software, LLC

I see that in PxP 2021 (v 18.20), when I do a panel compare, the LIBCREP panel now has a visual class assigned to the listbox. I'm guessing that's what changed the listbox font from a fixed font to a proportional font, so now the output no longer lines up visually. We're used to the fixed font because that way, we can more easily identify differences in the compares.

Was there a reason the font was changed for v 18, and if one were to remove the visual class from that listbox, would that mess things up?

Thanks!
Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

Hello. I've tried to get input from PvxPlus about this for the past six months via the support ticket queue, so now I'm trying the Forum.

I created a very simple panel/multiline with a Calendar object, barebones because I'm trying to just get it to work. See attached.

The specific Calendar object's definition is in the other screenshot attachment.


When I test it in regular Nomads by selecting a date from the popup calendar, it returns a date.
When I test it in iNomads by clicking on a date in the calendar, it returns nothing.
If I use my arrow keys to navigate to a new date and hit Enter, it kicks me out.

Has anyone had any luck with the calendar objects in iNomads?

Postscript added later: We've tried this in v. 2020 (17.10) and 2021 (18.20).

Thanks in advance.

Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

Greetings. We have a client that upgraded to PxPlus 2019 Update 2 a few months ago. Before their upgrade, we had been successfully using data mirroring to push their data to a SQL server. We have an AR file for them where the key is Customer + Invoice Number + Invoice Type. Invoice Type is a single character element, and it can be a blank space. (In fact, it frequently is; the ones with alphanum in it are less common.)

When the record is new, the mirroring/insert works fine, for any invoice record.
But when it is updating an existing record, the mirroring/update does not result in the table getting the updated data...if the record's Invoice Type is a blank. If the Type has an alphanum in it, it successfully updates the SQL table.

We have not gotten to the point yet of trying to step through it because of the complexity and the timeframe to dig down into it. And I'm not sure if watching our PxPlus command of write(channel) will tell us anything. Does this information trigger any sort of "aha!" explanation? TIA.

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing okay during this time.

Data Dictionary question. Can someone please give me a better understanding of the purpose of the %Z__PVXDDF$ global, and which programs -- apart from *dict/maint -- use it and how/why? TIA!

Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

Greetings all; hope this finds everyone well during this time.

A question re: password-protected (PP) data files. We have a utility that runs through our data files, and it's supposed to run unattended, no interaction until it completes. As it loops through the files, the code attempts an open input on each (primarily to determine if it exists). With the pwd protection on a file(s), it now pops the prompt for the pwd if the file in question is PP. See attached.

So the question is: can we somehow predetermine that it is PP without the user interaction. The PxPlus panel in question, in the pgm _ext\system\get_pswd, launches automatically. I couldn't see a way to trap it before the panel displays. If a file is PP, we'll skip it.

TIA!

Paula McKeever
CAI Software LLC

Hello. Using PxPlus 15.10. I've only just noticed this now, and it looks like it's been in Nomads for years, but...when the panel compare looks at text values, it does not consider case:

6030 if COMP$<>"C" then goto 6070 else if lcs(ITEM_OLD$)=lcs(ITEM_NEW$) then goto 6160

So e.g. "THIS IS A LABEL" vs. "This is a label" on a Fonted Text object does not show up on the compare results.

I don't suppose there's any consideration of making this case sensitive in some future release, the way that the Panel Search has a checkbox for case?

Thanks!

Paula McKeever
CAI Software

Using PxPlus 15.10. There appears to be a limit to the number of characters in a line that the *patch utility will apply. We use *patch constantly, and it's been recently discovered that if a line is of a certain long length, the patch utility will put only a certain number of characters in. The utility will not report there being a problem (i.e. no message), and eventually we discover that our patched program has a syntax error because the line is chopped short. We're not sure if it's always been this way and we're only noticing it now, or if it's a recent development.

There's no documentation about the *patch utility, and the program is password protected.

Thanks in advance!

We're currently using PxP 15.10 for our inhouse development. But we've been using the product since the days of ProvideX. That includes the Data Dictionary. Has anyone else noticed that in providex.dde, there is sometimes a record that has just the 6-digit serial # in the key -- i.e. no 6-digit sequence number making up the rest of the key -- at the front of a serial file's .dde records. And the iolist is null. Was there a time when, say, ProvideX used to instantiate one of these (header-like??) recs when writing .dde recs? Or are they just symptoms from a hiccough that might have occurred during a DD Maint process? We don't have them for all our serial #s; only some.

I also am wondering whether it's safe to delete them. For now, we're leaving them alone. Thanks!

Paula McKeever
CAI Software, LLC

Hello! Using PxP 15.10. What's the way to find out the name of the embedded I/O pgm in a data file? We have a file that must have had an embedded I/O prgram updated into it, and then it was removed from the DD. But the physical file itself appears to still have the reference to it, and I'm guessing the program no longer exists b/c I'm getting an error 121 when I pull up the DD entry for the file. Thanks in advance.

Paula McKeever
CAI Software

Is there any way to have a grid cell display part of its text in one color, and the rest of that cell's text in another? As a way to highlight the result of a search that can have multiple results (i.e. rows).

This is the date where...
The user runs the update to...
Dated today...

etc. My preference in this case is to use a grid, not a listbox. TIA!

Paula McKeever
CAI Software

Hello List. What controls the (x) bitmap to appear on buttons? See attached example. I can't figure it out, and I had trouble figuring out how to search for that in the documentation. Thanks!

Paula McKeever
Computer Associates
Smithfield, RI