Hi
I was thinking of the following:
1. A compiler option to declare a data dictionary declaration so that statements
of the form:
workarea->fieldname
could be validated.
In the case where a DBF exists it could be used as a kind of "include" file, and
there would need to be an alias mapping:
WORKAREA "acc101.dbf" ALIAS accounts
and:
accounts->name
would be validated, and:
accounts->nane
would cause a compile time error. As would:
ackounts->name
In the case where no dbf exists (perhaps a SQL database or the new "mem:"
files), or it is not practical to read a dbf then some syntax like:
WORKAREA accounts
FIELD accounts->name
FIELD accounts->address ...
If we ever introduce strong typing, then something like this will be needed
anyway.
2. I have come to think of all global state as "evil", and would like to be able
to declare work areas with local scope, and to be able to pass them as
parameters, and to treat global work areas as undefined unless declared. The
same "WORKAREA" keyword and FIELD extension might allow this, depending on
whether it is placed within a procedure/function, or globally.
Anyone like this idea? I always program with full warnings and /es2 but Harbour
does not help me with my field names at all.
Regards
Alex
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