xbasic function not recognized

[[email protected]]

Trying to diagnose an issue I'm having with an Xbasic Function in a Dialog and it was like my function wasn't responding - so I tried creating a simple function as per the A5 doco.

I declared this function in the Dialog's Xbasic Functions window.

function sayHello as c (name as c )
sayHello = "Hello: " + name
end function

Then I switch to the Interactive window of the Xbasic Functions window and enter

?sayHello("martin")

... and I get ERROR: Function: 'sayHello' was not recognized

Maybe I just don't get it so any help appreciated.

[madtowng]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

As crazy as this may sound, sometimes exiting Alpha5, and the restarting it will force alpha5 to recognize new functions.

[[email protected]]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

Thanks but still getting the same error

[Jeff Benson]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

The interactive window only recognizes Alpha functions or functions you define in the interactive window itself.
The function you define in the Xbasic tab doesn't get instantiated until you run the Dialog component.


This is my interactive session:

function sayHello as c (name as c )
#sayHello = "Hello: " + name
#end function


? sayHello("martin")
= "Hello: martin"

[DaveF]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

The Interactive Window does recognize global functions you define in the Control Panel's Code tab.

[mixter]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

The Interactive Window does recognize global functions you define in the Control Panel's Code tab.

I can't figure out how to get the interactive window to work that way for me.

It does work when I define a function directly into the interactive window.

But if I try and run my "real" Xbasic function using the interactive window it says the function was not recognized

?GetVehicleIDTest1()
ERROR: Function: 'GetVehicleIDTest1' was not recognized

The Xbasic function does work correctly when I trigger it from a button click event on my UX, and I return the output value to a javascript alert box.

I just don't understand how to use my Xbasic function in the interactive window, it would be useful.


actually, reading DaveF comment above, what does he mean by "global functions"

does that just mean a regular function placed on the main Code of the UX like this:
xbasic_function.png

Or do I need to somehow define my function specifically as "global" so that I can use it in the interactive window

[GGandhi]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

i could be wrong, but i don't think webside xbasic is available on the desktop side
your function is defined in the webside and you want to test it in the desktop side.
if you define similar code in the control panel, code section then you could test in the desktop side.

[DaveF]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

Hopefully this video will clear things up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNEuxKsACLM. There might be some other videos that cover global functions as well as AEX libraries. You are trying to use the Interactive Window with a local UX XBasic function. I believe it will only work with global XBasic functions and classes defined in the Control Panel.

[mixter]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

Thanksamundo Dave, that makes more sense, and now I understand the concept of global, and AEX files

That's the fun part about being on the steep part of the learning curve... always a new doorway to go down and explore

So what I ended up doing was creating my function as global on the Code tab temporarily, and while in there I was able to call my function from the Interactive window and use the nice debugger to fine tune my function.

Then I cut and pasted my function back out of global, and put it back into the UX.

Is that a normal workflow for debugging Xbasic functions, to be inserted later into a UX or Grid?

Or is it best practice to keep all functions global for the whole time, and use the compiled AEX method as described on the Youtube videos that you so kindly pointed me towards.

[DaveF]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

Not for me. I enter my Xbasic code in the "XBasic functions" section of the UX component and insert a "debug(1)" statement wherever I want to begin my debugging. The only time I use the Interactive Window is if I am doing some general testing or sometimes debugging one of my global classes or functions. You can also debug a global XBasic function by setting a breakpoint in a local UX function and then stepping inside the global function. I was having some problems stepping into a global XBasic function a couple months ago, but I have done this thousands of times in the past. It may have just been a fluke or a new bug that was introduced this year. I have not tried it in a while.

Edit: I would recommend keeping your local XBasic functions which are specific to the component embedded in the component. Only make a function global if you plan to use it in another component.

[mixter]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

Awesome, thanks for that.

[DaveF]

Re: xbasic function not recognized

By the way, you can put a "debug(1)" statement in a global function and temporarily save it to disk. Then, any component that calls the global function will break at the "debug(1)" line and pull up the debugger window as long as you are running in Working or Live preview mode. You should just remember to remove the "debug(1)" statement before you publish your project. It should not cause any harm if you forget and publish your global function with the debug(1) statement.