OpenUserObjectWithParm

Adds a user object to a window or visual user object and makes all its properties and controls available to scripts, as OpenUserObject does. OpenUserObjectWithParm also stores a parameter in the system's Message object so that it is accessible to the opened object.

To

Use

Open an instance of a specified visual user object

Syntax 1

Open a visual user object, allowing the application to select the user object's type at runtime

Syntax 2


Syntax 1: For user objects of a known datatype

Description

Opens a user object of a known datatype and stores a parameter in the system's Message object.

Applies to

Window objects and visual user objects

Syntax

objectname.OpenUserObjectWithParm ( targetobjectvar, parameter {, x, y } )

Argument

Description

objectname

The name of the window or user object in which to open the target user object.

targetobjectvar

The name of the target object you want to display. You can specify a user object defined in the User Object painter (which is a user object datatype) or a variable of the desired user object datatype. OpenUserObject places a reference to the opened target object in targetobjectvar.

parameter

The parameter you want to store in the Message object when the target object is opened. Parameter must have one of these datatypes:

  • String

  • Numeric

  • PowerObject

x (optional)

The x coordinate in PowerBuilder units of the target object within the objectname object. The default is 0.

y (optional)

The y coordinate in PowerBuilder units of the target object within the objectname object. The default is 0.


Return value

Integer. Returns 1 if it succeeds and -1 if an error occurs. If any argument's value is null, OpenUserObjectWithParm returns null.

Usage

The system Message object has three properties for storing data. Depending on the datatype of the parameter specified for OpenUserObjectWithParm, scripts for the opened user object check one of the following properties:

Message object property

Argument datatype

message.DoubleParm

Numeric

message.PowerObjectParm

PowerObject (PowerBuilder objects, including user-defined structures)

message.StringParm

String


In the target user object, consider accessing the value passed in the Message object immediately, because some other script may use the Message object for another purpose.

Avoiding null object references

When you pass a PowerObject as a parameter, you are passing a reference to the object. The object must exist when you refer to it later or you get a null object reference, which causes an error. For example, if you pass the name of a control on a window that is being closed, that control will not exist when a script accesses the parameter.

See also the usage notes for OpenUserObject, all of which apply to OpenUserObjectWithParm.

Examples

This statement displays an instance of a user object named u_Employee in the window w_emp and stores the string James Newton in Message.StringParm. The Constructor event script for the user object uses the string parameter as the text of a StaticText control st_empname in the object. The script that opens the user object has the following statement:

w_emp.OpenUserObjectWithParm(u_Employee, "Jim Newton")

The target user object's Constructor event script has the following statement:

st_empname.Text = Message.StringParm

The following statements display an instance of a user object u_to_open in the window w_emp and store a number in message.DoubleParm:

u_employee u_to_open
integer age = 50
w_emp.OpenUserObjectWithParm(u_to_open, age)

See also

CloseWithReturn

OpenUserObject

OpenWithParm

Syntax 2: For user objects of unknown datatype

Description

Opens a user object when the datatype of the user object is not known until the script is executed. In addition, OpenUserObjectWithParm stores a parameter in the system's Message object so that it is accessible to the opened object.

Applies to

Window objects and user objects

Syntax

objectname.OpenUserObjectWithParm ( targetobjectvar, parameter, targetobjecttype {, x, y } )

Argument

Description

objectname

The name of the window or user object in which to open the target user object.

targetobjectvar

A variable of datatype DragObject. OpenUserObjectWithParm places a reference to the opened target object in targetobjectvar.

parameter

The parameter you want to store in the Message object when the target object is opened. Parameter must have one of these datatypes:

  • String

  • Numeric

  • PowerObject

targetobjecttype

A string whose value is the datatype of the target object to open. The datatype of targetobjecttype must be a descendant of targetobjectvar.

x (optional)

The x coordinate in PowerBuilder units of the user object within the objectname object's frame. The default is 0.

y (optional)

The y coordinate in PowerBuilder units of the target object within the objectname object's frame. The default is 0.


Return value

Integer. Returns 1 if it succeeds and -1 if an error occurs. If any argument's value is null, OpenUserObjectWithParm returns null.

Usage

The system Message object has three properties for storing data. Depending on the datatype of the parameter specified for OpenUserObjectWithParm, scripts for the opened user object check one of the following properties.

Message object property

Argument datatype

message.DoubleParm

Numeric

message.PowerObjectParm

PowerObject (PowerBuilder objects, including user-defined structures)

message.StringParm

String


In the target user object, consider accessing the value passed in the Message object immediately, because some other script may use the Message object for another purpose.

Avoiding null object references

When you pass a PowerObject as a parameter, you are passing a reference to the object. The object must exist when you refer to it later or you will get a null object reference, which causes an error. For example, if you pass the name of a control on an object that is being closed, that control will not exist when a script accesses the parameter.

See also the usage notes for OpenUserObject, all of which apply to OpenUserObjectWithParm.

Examples

The following statement displays an instance of a user object u_data of type u_benefit_plan at location 20,100 in the container object w_hresource. The parameter "Benefits" is stored in message.StringParm:

DragObject u_data
w_hresource.OpenUserObjectWithParm(u_data, &
      "Benefits", "u_benefit_plan", 20, 100)

These statements open a user object of the type specified in the string s_u_name and store the reference to the object in the variable u_to_open. The script gets the value of s_u_name, the type of user object to open, from the database. The parameter is the text of the SingleLineEdit sle_loc, so it is stored in Message.StringParm. The target object is at the default coordinates 0,0 in the objectname object w_info:

DragObject u_to_open
string s_u_name, e_location
 
e_location = sle_location.Text
 
SELECT next_userobj INTO  : s_u_name
FROM routing_table
WHERE ...  ;
 
w_info.OpenUserObjectWithParm(u_to_open, &
      e_location, s_u_name)

The following statements display a user object of the type specified in the string s_u_name and store the reference to the object in the variable u_to_open. The parameter is numeric, so it is stored in message.DoubleParm. The target object is at the coordinates 100,200 in the objectname object w_emp:

userobject u_to_open
integer age = 60
string s_u_name
 
s_u_name = sle_user.Text
w_emp.OpenUserObjectWithParm(u_to_open, age, &
      s_u_name, 100, 200)

See also

CloseWithReturn

OpenUserObject

OpenWithParm