CLASS

CLASS

Class

Objects

Purpose

Create a user-defined class

Syntax

CLASS <class name>

[OF <base class> [, …]]

[PUBLIC | PRIVATE]

[DYNAMIC]

[NOTIFY]

[PROPAGATE]

ENDCLASS

See Also

ADDPROPERTY(), CLASS – METHODS, CLASS – PARAMETERS, CLASS – PROPERTIES, CLASS – SCOPING, DEFINE CLASS, CREATEOBJECT(), DODEFAULT(), METHOD, NEWOBJECT(), REMOVEPROPERTY()

Description

The Class construct is a fundamental part of the object-oriented programming language (OOPS) which is part of the Recital/4GL. The OOPS language supports encapsulation, inheritance (single and multiple), polymorphism, complex member scoping, property notification, and method propagation.

Fundamental to object-oriented programming is the concept of Objects and classes. An object is a self-contained unit of data and functions that manipulate that data. A class is a specification of an object. A class contains memory variable specifications known as properties and functions that perform actions on the object known as methods. An object is an instance of a class.

The NEW operator is used to define a new object based on a class. The class name must be postfixed with parentheses when the new operator is used. The syntax is therefore as follows:

<object> = NEW <class>()

e.g. myobject = new myclass()

The CLASS...ENDCLASS construct is used to create a user-defined class. The beginning of a class is specified with CLASS <class name>, where <class name> can be any valid name up to 32 characters. The ENDCLASS command is used to complete the class construct. The CLASS...ENDCLASS construct is built using the commands describe in this section. Any Recital/4GL command can be used in building methods in the class, however these commands cannot be used outside the method definition inside a CLASS...ENDCLASS construct.

OF <base-name> [, ...]

A key feature of the object-oriented code is reusability through a mechanism called inheritance, that is, one class can inherit the members and their implementation from another class. Building new classes out of existing classes allows for the reusing of proven classes and the incorporation of system classes into user defined classes. Inheritance enables developers to build a hierarchy of descending objects. The inheriting class is called a derived class, and the class from which the derived class inherits is called a base class. The OF clause is used to inherit the <base name>. You can inherit multiple classes by specifying a class name comma separated list.

PUBLIC | PRIVATE

A user-defined class by default is defined as PRIVATE, which means that it will be visible only at the level where the class is instantiated. If the PUBLIC clause is specified, then when the class is instantiated, it will be visible at all levels until it is RELEASED from memory.

DYNAMIC

The DYNAMIC keyword provides the ability to add property names to objects at runtime.

NOTIFY

The Recital/4GL supports what is known as Property notification. If you specify the NOTIFY clause all properties defined will have notify set. Property notification is an essential element in the real-time interaction with system objects. When a property that has been defined with the NOTIFY clause is read, and the class contains a method called GETPROPERTY, that method is called. The property name is passed to the GETPROPERTY method as a parameter.

PROPAGATE

Any methods which are called, which have the PROPAGATE attribute set, cause a cascading execution effect down through the class hierarchy. After the method is executed, a search is made in all of the sub-objects (if any) that are defined as properties within the current object. If a method with the same name is found and that method has the NOTIFY attribute specified, then that method is called.

The CONSTRUCTOR and the DESTRUCTOR methods always act as if sub-objects have the PROPAGATE and the NOTIFY attributes set. This allows any properties that have been specified as sub-objects to operate correctly when an object is created with the NEW operator.

All classes have an inbuilt ADDPROPERTY 'factory method'. This can be used as an alternative to the ADDPROPERTY() function to add properties to an object at runtime.

Example

class Null dynamic
property CHARACTER
property NUMERIC
endclass
 
oNULLDATA = new Null() 
oNULLDATA.CHARACTER = ""
oNULLDATA.NUMERIC = 0 
oNULLDATA.DATE = {  /  /    }
oNULLDATA.LOGICAL = .f.
display memory
 
// Use of the Notify Keyword
class CharWin
public notify:
property lVISIBLE as logical
property nROW, nCOL, nENDROW, nENDCOL
public:
property cWINDOW
property cCOLOR
 
method Constructor 
parameters cWINDOW, cCOLOR, nROW, nCOL, nENDROW, nENDCOL
define window &cWINDOW ;
from nROW, nCOL to nENDROW,nENDCOL ;
color &cCOLOR panel float grow
this.cWINDOW = cWINDOW
this.cCOLOR  = cCOLOR
this.nROW    = nROW
this.nCOL    = nCOL
this.nENDROW = nENDROW
this.nENDCOL = nENDCOL
return  && Constructor
 
method SetProperty
parameter cNAME
if lower(cNAME) = [lvisible]
if this.lVISIBLE
activate window &(this.cWINDOW)
else
hide window &(this.cWINDOW)
endif
endif
return  && SetProperty
endclass
 
clear screen
oMYWIN = new CharWin("mywin", "w/r",2,20,15,60)
dialog box [Calling a NOTIFY property]
oMYWIN.lVISIBLE = .t.
?
? [    Welcome to the world of Objects]
?
 
//Example of Constructor & Destructor
 
class OpenTable
property cALIAS
property nRECNUM
 
method Constructor
parameters cTABLENAME, cTAGNAME
local cTMPALIAS
cTMPALIAS = basename(cTABLENAME)
cTMPALIAS = iif(at('.',cTMPALIAS) = 0, ;
cTMPALIAS, ;
left(cTMPALIAS,at('.',cTMPALIAS) - 1))
if select(cTMPALIAS) = 0 
use &(cTABLENAME + iif(empty(cTAGNAME), '', ;
" order " + cTAGNAME)) in workarea()
else
select select(cTABLENAME)
set order tag &cTAGNAME
endif
this.cALIAS = alias()
this.nRECNUM = recno()
return  && Constructor
 
method Destructor
close &(this.cALIAS)
return  && Destructor
 
endclass
 
set exclusive off
oCOMPANY = new OpenTable("/usr/recital/unixdeveloper/demo/state.rdb", "state")
? oCOMPANY.cALIAS 
? oCOMPANY.nRECNUM
 
//Example of ADDPROPERTY method
 
class Box 
endclass 
 
oDIALOG = new Box()
oDIALOG.AddProperty("myprop", "hello world") 
dialog box oDIALOG.myprop
release oDIALOG

Products

Recital Database Server, Recital Mirage Server, Recital Terminal Developer