PowerScript Reference
PowerScript Functions

Description

Provides the class (or name) of the specified object.

Applies to

Any control

Syntax

controlname.Classname ( )

Return value

String. Returns the class of controlname, the name assigned to the control. Returns the empty string ("") if an error occurs. If controlname is null, ClassName returns null.

Usage

The class is the name of an object. You assign the name when you save the object in its painter. Usually the class and the object itself appear to be the same (because PowerBuilder declares a variable with the same name as the class for the object). However, if you have declared multiple instances of an object, it is clear that the object's class and the object's variable are different.

If an ancestor object has been instantiated with one of its descendants, you can use ClassName to find the name of the descendant.

TypeOf reports an object's built-in object type. The types are values of the Object enumerated datatype, such as Window! or CheckBox!. ClassName reports the class of the object in the ancestor-descendant hierarchy.

Examples

These statements return the class of the dragged control Source:

DragObject Source
string which_class
 
Source = DraggedObject()
which_class = Source.ClassName()

These statements return the class of the objects in the control array and store them in the_class array:

string the_class[]
windowobject the_object[]
integer i
 
FOR i = 1 TO UpperBound(control[])
    the_object[i] = control[i]
    the_class[i] = the_object[i].ClassName()
NEXT

Suppose your object hierarchy has a window named ancestor_window and it has descendants called win1 and win2, and the user can choose which descendant to open as a sheet. The following code tests which descendant window class is currently active (the MDI frame is w_frame):

ancestor_window active_window
active_window = w_frame.GetActiveSheet()
IF ClassName(active_window) = "win1" THEN
    . . .
END IF

See also

DraggedObject (obsolete)

TypeOf

Description

Provides the datatype of a variable.

Syntax

ClassName ( variable )

Return value

String. Returns the name of variable. Returns the empty string ("") if variable is an enumerated datatype or if an error occurs. If variable is null, ClassName returns null.

Usage

ClassName cannot determine the datatype if variable is an enumerated datatype. In this case, ClassName returns the empty string.

Examples

If gd_double is a global double variable, ClassName sets varname to double:

string varname
varname = ClassName(gd_double)