Three special operators exist within the Recital/4GL. These are:
The Macro Operator (&)
When an ’&’ ampersand character precedes a variable or an expression contained within parentheses, the result of the expression is substituted into the command. Nested macros are not supported.
The Alias Operator (->)
An open table can be referred to by its alias name and its fields can be accessed using the alias operator. The alias name is either a name you have specified in the USE
ALIAS <alias name> command, or, by default, the first ten characters of the table basename. The letters a-z (excluding m) can also be used as an alias to the work areas 1-26 (excluding 13). M is used to reference memory variables, so is not available as a table alias
The Dot Operator (.)
The dot operator ’.’ is used to reference either the properties of objects, or it can be used interchangeably with the alias operator.
Example
// Macro Operator Example
cTABLE = [employees]
use &cTABLE
// Alias Operator Example
cEMPNAME = &(cTABLE + "->NAME")
// Dot Operator Example
use employees
class EmpRecord
public:
property NAME
property SALARY
public:
method IDENT
return "Employee Record"
endclass
oMYREC = new EmpRecord()
cTYPE = oMYREC.IDENT()
? cTYPE
