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

Each message is attached to the owning form element e.g. messages issued from control events are attached to the control etc. The message is displayed when the page is next displayed.

· error messages cause event processing to stop immediately, and a re-display of the page to the user with the error message. The user must correct the error to proceed. Error messages cannot be issued from form level events.

· warning messages do not cause form processing to stop but will stop the user from paging forwards – the intention being that the user must see the message. Warning messages cannot be issued from form level events.

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

The simple syntax is a shortcut for issuing an error message. This syntax does not provide support for multiple languages, substitution of form field variables into the message, or warning or final messages.

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"

Presentation of messages

Control messages (issued from control-level events) are attached to the owning control.

Page messages (issued from page-level events) are attached to the Page Control – this is the root control for each page.

Messages can be displayed either locally to the owning control or at another location on the same page represented by a Message Control. This choice is configured in the Message options property for each control – click here for further details. Local messaging means that the message will be displayed adjacent to (usually above) the control to which it relates. Message Controls provide the ability to display all messages for a page in a single area, or to group messages for logical areas of a page.

Messages are styled for local messages by configuring message control properties, and for Message Controls by configuring properties of the Message Control.

A page is scrolled automatically to ensure that error and warning messages are visible to the user.

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).

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