User's Guide

Connecting parameters

Now you have given VisualAge enough information to find the DLL and the procedure to call. The next step is to have VisualAge parse the procedure declaration, so it knows how many parameters are required and what their data types are.

There are two ways to give VisualAge the information it needs:

It is usually easier to use the Prototypes settings page, but you can use whichever technique you prefer. In this example, we will continue by using the Prototypes settings page.

Parsing

Select the Prototypes settings page. If you are using the C External Function part, type the full path name to catm.h or, if you are using the COBOL External Function, type the full path name to atm.cbl. If you prefer, use the Find push button to search your directories for the file you want. Select the Parse push button to have VisualAge read the file and find any entry points and their parameters.

Tip icon
The parser will run much faster if your include or source file includes only the definitions it needs. If your file includes toolkit or compiler files, it will take much longer to parse.

From the list of procedure names, select atm (or ATM if you are using COBOL) and then select OK to save the settings.

After parsing, you can edit parameters from the Records page only. To view and access a record definition for editing, select Edit from the pop-up menu of the To be passed field of the Records page.

Using quick forms

When you return to the Composition Editor, notice that the public interface for the external function part has changed. Now, it includes the parameters needed for the function call:

Note:Because C and COBOL naming rules are different from those of VisualAge scripts, the parser automatically transforms variable and function names. All underscores or dashes are removed, and the first character is changed to lowercase for function names, or to uppercase for types, variables, and all other names.

To build the contents of the window part, create quick forms for the action code and customer record attributes. As you place each quick form in the window part, the attribute is torn off for you and all of the labels, text fields, and connections are created for you. Change the labels and alignment of the quick forms to make the window part look the way you want.

Add a push button and connect its clicked event to the execute action of the external function part.

Your final connections should look like the following:
ATM example with connections

Test your visual part. For the atmAction type 1 if you are using C, or Q if you are using COBOL. Enter 12345 as the pinNumber and then select Find to make the function call. The rest of the fields in your visual part will be filled in with the customer's data.


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