No Sweat Runtime Table Editing
Zane Parks 70372,3255


How many times have you thought, "The way Paradox handles so-and-so is fine. 
Wouldn't it be nice if I could just tell Runtime to do it the way Pardox does
it." For example, if we wanted to provide users with the same menus, speedbars,
etc. during an edit session that Paradox provides, it was necessary to write
moderately complex PAL code that simulated Paradox's behavior. The capability
of Runtime to do that itself was obviously there; there just wasn't any way to 
tap into it.

In version 4.0, you can often tell Runtime, "You know how to do it. Just do
it!" There is a way to tap into Runtime's ability to do Paradox tasks. For
example, the following bare-bones script segment will edit a table, providing 
the same menus, speedbars, etc. available during a normal Paradox edit session:

     Edit tableName                     ; edit table
     Echo Normal                        ; make menus, etc. accessible
     While SysMode()<>"Main"            ; loop until edit done     
       GetEvent All To eventInfo        ;   anything to do?        
       ExecEvent eventInfo              ;   let Runtime handle it  
     EndWhile                           ; end loop                 
                                        ;                          

Simulating all of that function would take hundreds of lines of PAL code. 
Here we do what's wanted in six lines. No sweat.



Sacramento, CA
23 February 1993
