{ } Preprocessor name reference

References the value of a preprocessor name in any ABL or preprocessor expression.

Enter the braces ({}) as shown; they do not represent syntax notation in this description.

{ &`preprocessor-name` }

Expands the name, preprocessor-name, to its defined value. You can define preprocessor names using either the &GLOBAL-DEFINE preprocessor directive or the &SCOPED-DEFINE preprocessor directive. ABL also provides a set of built-in preprocessor names that you can reference for a variety of session information. Table 3 lists each built-in preprocessor name with its description.

Table 3: Built-in preprocessor names
The preprocessor name . . .	Expands to an unquoted string . . .
BATCH-MODE	Equal to "yes" if the Batch (`-b`) startup parameter was used to start the client session. Otherwise, it expands to "no".
FILE-NAME	That contains the name of the file being compiled.¹ If you want only the name of the file as specified in the { } Include File Reference, the RUN statement, or the COMPILE statement, use the argument reference {0}.
LINE-NUMBER	That contains the current line number in the file being compiled. If you place this reference in an include file, the line number is calculated from the beginning of the include file.
OPSYS	That contains the name of the operating system on which the file is being compiled. The OPSYS name can have the same values as the OPSYS function. The possible values are “UNIX” and “WIN32".²
SEQUENCE	Representing a unique integer value that is sequentially generated each time the SEQUENCE preprocessor name is referenced. When a compilation begins, the value of {&SEQUENCE} is 0; each time {&SEQUENCE} is referenced, the value increases by 1. To store the value of a reference to SEQUENCE, you must define another preprocessor name as {&SEQUENCE} at the point in your code you want the value retained.
WINDOW-SYSTEM	That contains the name of the windowing system in which the file is being compiled. The possible values include "MS-WINDOWS", "MS-WIN95", "MS-WINXP", and "TTY".³

¹When running the source code of a procedure file loaded into the Procedure Editor or the AppBuilder, {&FILE-NAME} expands to a temporary filename, not the name of the file under which the source code might be saved.

²ABL supports an override option that enables applications that need to return the value of MS-DOS for all Microsoft® operating systems to do so. For example, if you do not want the value WIN32 to be returned when either Windows 95 or Windows NT operating systems are recognized, you can override this return value by defining the Opsys key in the Startup section of the current environment, which can be in the registry or in an initialization file. If the Opsys key is located, the OPSYS function returns the value associated with the Opsys key on all platforms.

³ABL supports an override option for the &WINDOW-SYSTEM preprocessor name that provides backward compatibility. This option enables applications that need the WINDOW-SYSTEM preprocessor name to return the value of MS-WINDOWS for all Microsoft operating systems to do so. To establish this override value, define the WindowSystem key in the Startup section of the current environment, which can be in the registry or in an initialization file. If the WindowSystem key is located, the WINDOW-SYSTEM preprocessor name returns the value associated with the WindowSystem key on all platforms.

Table 4 lists the additional built-in preprocessor names that apply to SpeedScript.

Table 4: SpeedScript built-in preprocessor names
The preprocessor name . . .	Expands to an unquoted string . . .
DISPLAY	DISPLAY {&WEBSTREAM}
OUT	PUT {&WEBSTREAM} UNFORMATTED
OUT-FMT	PUT {&WEBSTREAM} FORMATTED
OUT-LONG	EXPORT {&WEBSTREAM}
WEBSTREAM	STREAM WebStream

The r-prprc1.p procedure shows how you can reference a built-in preprocessor name and include it in a character string.

r-prprc1.p
MESSAGE "The current operating system is" "{&OPSYS}." VIEW-AS ALERT-BOX.

The procedure r-prprc2.p shows how to capture the value of a {&SEQUENCE} reference. In this example, {&SEQUENCE} is referenced three times, once each to assign its value to wvar (0) and xvar (1) at run time. The third reference defines the preprocessor name Last-Value with the value 3. As shown, Last-Value is assigned unchanged to both yvar and zvar, each of which take the value 3 at run time.

r-prprc2.p
DEFINE VARIABLE wvar AS INTEGER NO-UNDO. DEFINE VARIABLE xvar AS INTEGER NO-UNDO. DEFINE VARIABLE yvar AS INTEGER NO-UNDO. DEFINE VARIABLE zvar AS INTEGER NO-UNDO. ASSIGN wvar = {&SEQUENCE} xvar = {&SEQUENCE}. &GLOBAL-DEFINE Last-Value {&SEQUENCE} ASSIGN yvar = {&Last-Value} zvar = {&Last-Value}. MESSAGE "wvar =" wvar SKIP "xvar =" xvar SKIP "yvar =" yvar SKIP "zvar =" zvar VIEW-AS ALERT-BOX.

The procedure r-prprc3.p shows how preprocessor names override compile-time arguments. In this example, r-prprc3.p defines the preprocessor name My-Name as "Daniel". It then passes the compile-time argument My-Name, with the value "David", to the include file r-prprc3.i, which in turn defines a preprocessor name My-Name as "Donald".

r-prprc3.p
&SCOPED-DEFINE My-Name "Daniel" {r-prprc3.i &My-Name = "David"} MESSAGE "My-Name preprocessed in r-prprc3.p is" {&My-Name} + "." VIEW-AS ALERT-BOX.

r-prprc3.i
MESSAGE "My-Name argument in r-prprc3.i is" "{&My-Name}" + "." VIEW-AS ALERT-BOX. &SCOPED-DEFINE My-Name "Donald" MESSAGE "My-Name preprocessed in r-prprc3.i is" {&My-Name} + "." VIEW-AS ALERT-BOX

During execution, the first message included by r-prprc3.i displays the value of the My-Name argument, "David". The second message included by r-prprc3.i displays the value of the following My-Name preprocessor name, defined as "Donald", permanently overriding "David" passed by the My-Name argument. Finally, the message in r-prprc3.p displays the value of the My-Name preprocessor name that was initially defined there, "Daniel", because the value from My-Name established in r-prprc3.i ("Donald") went out of scope during compilation.

Note also that the reference to the My-Name compile-time argument in r-prprc3.i is inside double-quotes, because ABL passes string constant values for compile-time arguments without the surrounding double-quotes.

You can encounter compilation problems mixing preprocessor names with compile-time argument names. The following example, a variation of r-prprc3.i, does not compile, even when passed a My-Name argument as an include file. This is because the preprocessor My-Name value overrides the argument My-Name value, as shown:

Because the preprocessor My-Name defines a quoted "Donald" value, ABL replaces "{&My-Name}" in the fourth line with ""Donald"". This appears to the compiler as two empty strings and an unknown variable reference (Donald). Although you can do it with care, in general, avoid using the same names for compile-time arguments and preprocessor names.