Script buffer limited???

[CraigSchumacker]

Greetings:

A recent project has left me battling either a problem with my computer, or possible limits in the script buffer.

I have a 128MB of ram in a 400MHZ machine.

Recent global scripts have pushed from 400 - 742 lines.

Depending on the content of the script, I have reached points where I can no longer add any characters to the script. I get a non-Windows error message that says "Out Of Windows Memory"

By 'content of the script', I mean that complex updates with multiple conditions seem to swallow up more 'memory', so those scripts are closer to a 400 line limit.

Some scripts are closer to 800 lines, but have less 'content' (the lines are shorter!).

I have resolved this by going to multiple scripts, but was wondering where the problem lies. One recent script was around 2000 lines, so it resulted in 7 sub scripts..

Here I go assuming again, but since it is just text, with no formatting, and I can paste the whole thing and much more into notepad without saving the file, I would think that script length would be unlimited.

Has anyone else experienced this? It's not a major, but I have this thing about having scripts jump about from card to card, or script to script. It just makes it more difficult for the next programmer to determine what's going on... The biggest 'pain' is when I need to paste a sequence into an existing script, and then have to move everything in every sub- script up again.

Thanks for any input or insight...

Craig

[Lowell Wardlow]

RE: Script buffer limited???

Craig - the length of a script is determined by a total number of characters, not lines. I forget what it is, and
can't find it in any documentation.

A 2000 line script is HUGE !. I do all my posting routines
in scripts, and have never aproached this.

What you might try is to break it down into seperate sections, each a stand alone, then use script_play("scriptn") to execute them sucessively.

This would eliminate the need to juggle the sections - if you need to modify a module, just change it in the code section.

Lowell

[csda1]

RE: Script buffer limited???

Craig,

My longest script is 730 lines, and most of that is import or append field mapping. In fact, I should break it up. In all most all cases, my scripts are very short because I make use of (global or embedded) functions that simplify repeated lines of code. Making a long piece of code makes it extremely hard to debug and understand and is considered poor programming practice.

One popular programming style tries to have everything on 1 page. If it doesn't fit, then it calls scripts and functions that fit on one page until you get to the smallest piece of detail in the code.

Break your code up into distinct pieces (ones that have very few common parameters) and create separate scripts or functions for them is my recommendation.

Alpha 5 shouldn't have any practical limit for a script size (It's all stored in memo fields that can grow very large), but I bet the script editting window does.

As a side note, the Inline XBasic window in action scripting does have a byte limit, which in version 5 (and I think 4.5) is limited so you know when it will cut off.

Regards,

Ira J. Perlow
Computer Systems Design & Associates
[email protected]

[CraigSchumacker]

RE: Script buffer limited???

Lowell:

Thanks for the response!

I have been using script_play to trigger the next script in the sequence, and numbering the scripts numerically so they can easily be traced in future.

You are right. I should have refered to characters, rather than lines. It would be interesting to know how many characters the buffer allows for.

As far as huge... Most scripts I write are as condensed as possible, but these scripts move and modify a lot of data, and interact with the user, and must all be accomplished with a single button push.

Well, thanks for your valued input! I take it you think it's not 'my computer', which is fine...

Craig

[CraigSchumacker]

RE: Script buffer limited???

Ira:

Thanks for the feedback... I appreciate it!

>

I'm glad you didn't know me years ago when all one could do was write long pieces of code. I stopped programming because I got tired of the typing. In high school it was worse, as the Digitals were a straight keyboard with no monitor, and the card readers were time consuming, too!

I agree that concise code is better, and always strive to achieve that measure. It's just no possible this time. I've been using A5 for years, and just found it's limits this past month!

I'm not sure I agree on the one page theory. It works for the programmer who creates the code, but anyone following behind is hopscotching to try to ascertain what's going on. The end result is just as much code, but scattered all about. I'd rather print a script in it's entirety, than print 20 scripts and flip back and forth through the pages. Now that I think about it, I've even had to go back to my own code written in version 1 and print it to see how I accomplished something years back!

The above could be debated with arguments in favor of both sides, but again, I don't like jumping around any more than necessary. The only time I waiver is a segment that is duplicated in many scripts, but I rarely have a situation like that anyway.

Don't take the above offensively. I've known your name for several years and respect what you have accomplished.

Now that you mention it, I could have trimmed a segment by defining a function for it. Good point!!!

The Action scripting buffer was just expanded in A5 v4.5. I have never had a problem here, as I've never even come close to the buffer on an event script.

So I thank you for the input, but you left out the most signifcant point... Did you just stop at 730 lines on that script, or couldn't you go any further!!!

Take Care,

Craig