Browsing for Global Procs in your Application Library

Tony Marston - 15th July 2002

How many times have you wanted to browse through the global procs in your application library but felt restricted by the limitations of the standard dialog box within the UNIFACE development environment?

By experimenting with XML and XSL files I have created a facility which provides the following abilities:-

• List entries in a window larger than 6 occurrences.
• Include the proc contents in any search criteria.

This particular method is a two-stage process:-

• Extract entries from the UNIFACE repository into an XML file.
• View the contents of the XML file using a web browser and an XSL file.

When viewed from within a web browser the contents of the XML file can be viewed in a single browser window, and can be searched using the standard Edit/Find commands available from the browser's pulldown menu. This will enable you to include the whole of the proc body in your search criteria. Provided that you follow the steps outlined below your browser view should look something like Table 1. You will notice that this starts with a table of contents with hyperlinks into the body of each proc.

Table 1 - Formatted View of XML file

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
; standard initialisation proc for all external schemas
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
variables
   string  lv_formname
endvariables

....

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
; put labels into buttons on ACTION_BAR
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
params
   string  pi_Action_Bar       : IN
endparams

variables
   string  lv_List, lv_Field
endvariables

....

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
; create and activate an instance
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
variables
   string  s1, s2
   string  lv_Component, lv_Instance, lv_Properties, lv_Params
   numeric lv_RetStatus
endvariables

....

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
; merge ADDITIONS list with ORIGINAL list
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
params
   string  pi_additions    : IN
   string  pio_original    : INOUT
endparams

variables
   string  lv_string_in, lv_entry, lv_idbit, lv_valuebit
endvariables

....

Creating an XML file

The ability to export/import repository objects in XML format was first made available in UNIFACE 7.2.05. To export your application messages to an XML file you must perform the following:-

• From the pulldown menu within the UNIFACE IDE select Utilities then Export. The Export Repository Objects screen should then be displayed.
• Enter selection criteria for Library Name and Procs.
• For File Format you must select XML and not TRX.
• Select GLOBALPROCS as the filename and change Save as Type from EXP to XML.
• Click the EXPORT button and the file will be created.
• If necessary you can append one export file to another.

The contents of the XML file created by this method should look something like the following when viewed in a text editor:-

<?xml version='1.0' ?>
<!-- Created by UNIFACE - (C) Compuware Corporation -->
<UNIFACE release="7.2.06.33(u-stz033)" xmlengine="1.0">
<TABLE xmlns:ULIBR="ULIBR.DICT">
<OCC>
<ULIBR:ULIBRARY>MENU</ULIBR:ULIBRARY>
<ULIBR:UDESCR>MENU system</ULIBR:UDESCR>
<ULIBR:UTIMESTAMP>1999-07-09T08:06:50</ULIBR:UTIMESTAMP>
</OCC>
<OCC>
<ULIBR:ULIBRARY>SYSTEM_LIBRARY</ULIBR:ULIBRARY>
<ULIBR:UTIMESTAMP>2001-02-12T17:47:33</ULIBR:UTIMESTAMP>
</OCC>
</TABLE>
<TABLE xmlns:USOURCE="USOURCE.DICT">
<OCC>
<USOURCE:UTIMESTAMP>2001-04-09T08:50:41</USOURCE:UTIMESTAMP>
<USOURCE:USUB>P</USOURCE:USUB>
<USOURCE:UVAR>MENU</USOURCE:UVAR>
<USOURCE:ULABEL>INIT_PROC</USOURCE:ULABEL>
<USOURCE:ULAN>P</USOURCE:ULAN>
<USOURCE:UDESCR><INIT> operation</USOURCE:UDESCR>
<USOURCE:UCONFIRM>F</USOURCE:UCONFIRM>
<USOURCE:UTEXT>;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
; standard initialisation proc for all external schemas
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
variables
   string  lv_formname
endvariables

....

;</USOURCE:UTEXT>
</OCC>
<OCC>
<USOURCE:UTIMESTAMP>2002-06-20T13:50:03</USOURCE:UTIMESTAMP>
<USOURCE:USUB>P</USOURCE:USUB>
<USOURCE:UVAR>SYSTEM_LIBRARY</USOURCE:UVAR>
<USOURCE:ULABEL>ACTIVATE_PROC</USOURCE:ULABEL>
<USOURCE:ULAN>P</USOURCE:ULAN>
<USOURCE:UDESCR>activate an instance</USOURCE:UDESCR>
<USOURCE:UCONFIRM>F</USOURCE:UCONFIRM>
<USOURCE:UTEXT>;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
; create and activate an instance
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------
variables
   string  s1, s2
   string  lv_Component, lv_Instance, lv_Properties, lv_Params
   numeric lv_RetStatus
endvariables

....

;</USOURCE:UTEXT>
</OCC>
</TABLE>
</UNIFACE>

Viewing an XML file

If you simply double-click on this XML file it is possible for it to appear in your browser, but instead of being formatted as shown in Table 1 it will simply look like the raw XML data but indented and colour coded. In order for the raw XML data to be formatted into a more readable format what you need are two additional files which can be created using the sample code shown below. These files are:-

• GLOBALPROCS.XSL which contains XSL commands to transform the contents of an XML file.
• GLOBALPROCS.HTML which instructs your browser to perform the transformation.

Contents of GLOBALPROCS.XSL

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0" 
                xmlns:USOURCE="USOURCE.DICT">

<xsl:template match="/">

  <html>
    <head>
      <STYLE type="text/css">
      <![CDATA[
      <!--
        BODY { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; }
        TR.contents { background-color: #ccffff; }
        TR.hdg { background-color: #99ff99; }
        TR.code { background-color: #dddddd; }
      -->
      ]]>
      </STYLE>
    </head>
  <body>

    <table border="1" cellpadding="6px">
      <caption style="font-size:150%;"><b>Global Procs</b></caption>
      <tr><th>Library</th><th>Module</th><th>Description</th></tr>

      <xsl:apply-templates select="/UNIFACE/TABLE/OCC[USOURCE:UVAR]" mode="toc">
        <xsl:sort select="USOURCE:UVAR"/>
        <xsl:sort select="USOURCE:ULABEL"/>
      </xsl:apply-templates>

    </table>
    <br />

    <table border="1" cellpadding="6px"  width="100%">

    <xsl:apply-templates select="/UNIFACE/TABLE/OCC[USOURCE:UVAR]">
      <xsl:sort select="USOURCE:UVAR"/>
      <xsl:sort select="USOURCE:ULABEL"/>
    </xsl:apply-templates>

    </table>

  </body>
  </html>

</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="/UNIFACE/TABLE/OCC" mode="toc">

    <tr class="contents">
      <td><xsl:value-of select="USOURCE:UVAR"/></td>
      <td><a href="#{USOURCE:UVAR}:{USOURCE:ULABEL}"><xsl:value-of select="USOURCE:ULABEL"/></a></td>
      <td><xsl:value-of select="USOURCE:UDESCR"/></td>
    </tr>

    <xsl:variable name="position" select="position()" />
    <xsl:variable name="next" select="/UNIFACE/TABLE/OCC[$position+1]/USOURCE:UVAR" />
    <xsl:if test="USOURCE:UVAR != $next">
      <tr><td colspan="3">&#160;</td></tr>
    </xsl:if>

</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="UNIFACE/TABLE/OCC">

    <tr class="hdg">
      <td><xsl:value-of select="USOURCE:UVAR"/></td>
      <td><a name="{USOURCE:UVAR}:{USOURCE:ULABEL}"><xsl:value-of select="USOURCE:ULABEL"/></a></td>
      <td><xsl:value-of select="USOURCE:UDESCR"/></td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="code">
      <td colspan="3"><pre><xsl:value-of select="USOURCE:UTEXT"/></pre></td>
    </tr>
    <tr><td colspan="3">&#160;</td></tr>

</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

This basically contains instructions to create an HTML document using data obtained from an XML file. I shall not bother to explain what the individual commands mean as that is better done in an XML/XSL tutorial such as can be found at www.w3schools.com.

Contents of GLOBALPROCS.HTML

<html>
<body>

<script language="javascript">
// Load XML 
var xml = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xml.async = false
xml.load("globalprocs.xml")

// Load the XSL
var xsl = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xsl.async = false
xsl.load("globalprocs.xsl")

// Transform
document.write(xml.transformNode(xsl))
</script>

</body>
</html>

When you double-click on GLOBALPROCS.HTML this will activate your browser. This will then transform the contents of GLOBALPROCS.XML into a new document using the instructions in GLOBALPROCS.XSL. This new document should look something like that shown in Table 1. If it does not then you are probably running a version of Internet Explorer with an out-of-date version of the XML Parser. You need at least version 4.0 which can be obtained from Microsoft at http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/default.asp. The latest release (27 March 2002) is v4.0 SP1.

Tony Marston
15th July 2002

mailto:tony@tonymarston.net
mailto:TonyMarston@hotmail.com
http://www.tonymarston.net