Working with Messages

What are messages?

A message is a language dependent text which can be sent to the user programmatically when certain conditions arise. The script command to send a message is either :

message type, messagenumber [,parm1, parm2, parm3 ......] (this is a standard format message)

or simply...

message 'text' (this is a simple format message)

The type can be set as:

E error message

W warning message

F information message to be displayed on the final page

error messages are the most common type and will result in an error message being displayed immediately above the field where the error was detected or at the bottom of the page if the message is issued from a page event . When a script issues an error message, form processing stops immediately and the page is re-displayed to the user with the error message. The user must correct the error to proceed. The foreground and background colours can be changed to ensure the messages are clearly displayed.

warning messages are similar to error messages except that form processing will not stop. Warning messages must be acknowledged by the user by confirming the message. As with error messages, the foreground and background colours can be changed.

final page messages will be displayed on the Ebase final page that is displayed after form processing has completed. They normally contain information about what the form has done and feedback information on numbers of records created, e.g. order numbers, etc.

The simple syntax displays an error message to the end user. This syntax does not provide support for multiple languages, substitution of form field variables into the message, or warning or final messages.

Note: Error and warning messages can only be issued by FPL scripts associated with after-field or after-page events.

All three types of message allow form field values to be substituted into the message text. For example, if message 1234 contains text :

"You cannot order && with &&"

and a script contains command :

message E, 1234, EXTRA_ORDER_ITEM1, MAIN_ORDER_ITEM;

then the user may get a message saying :

"You cannot order ketchup with caviar"

Working with messages

Messages are created and maintained using the message editor. Numbering of messages is performed automatically by the system and each Ebase project will have its own set of messages. A message can only be issued by a script within the same project. The message editor is opened by clicking once on Messages under the project name in the hierarchy tree panel.

In the language selection you can select all the languages which you wish to maintain (hold the CTRL key to select multiple languages). Then press the REFRESH key.

Messages can be added or deleted using the toolbar or by right-clicking in the messages table area.

The message text can contain any text that you require. You can expand the text entry area by right-clicking over it or by double-clicking in the number or language columns for the appropriate row of the table. To substitute a form field dynamically at runtime into the message text, enter && into the message text. You can have up to 10 such substitutable parameters within each message. See the message FPL script command above for an example of how to specify the form fields to be used for the substitution.

To save the messages, click Save

Presentation of messages

Error and warning messages issued from an after-field event are displayed immediately above the field in error, i.e. the field associated with the FPL command script that issued the message. The focus will be transferred to this field. Error and warning messages issued from an after-page event are displayed at the bottom of the page and the page is scrolled to make the message(s) visible.

Final page messages can be issued at any time during form processing. They are accumulated and displayed on the form's final page.

The presentation attributes font, size, colours, etc. used to display all messages can be specified in the presentation template associated with the form. The attributes of each message type can be specified separately. (See Working with Presentation Templates for more information)

Global Messages

Global messages created in the GLOBAL project are accessible by all forms. They are referenced in exactly the same way as for any other message (as described above) except that they begin their numbering from 100,000 as opposed to 1,000 for messages in all other projects.

Global messages are also used with components (See Working with Components for more information).