Use of Vantage browsers in your 4GL code

Yahoo Archive
1
Andy,

I would be interested in seeing the examples.

Mike Tonoyan / All American Products Co.
E-mail: miket@...


----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Watts" <andy@...>
To: <Vantage@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 5:43 AM
Subject: [Vantage] Use of Vantage browsers in your 4GL code


> Hi all,
>
> First - thanks to those who responded to my question about VB forms several weeks ago, and apologies for not saying so sooner!
>
> Some time ago there was a short thread about the possibility of using Vantage browsers to select records in your own 4GL programs.
I think the last word was that it would be cool, but Epicor didn't document how to do it. I've started doing it here, and it IS
cool!! It's easier to call up some than it is for others, it involves some trial and error guesswork, but I use a couple of them and
intend to use more as needs arise.
>
> I will be happy to make examples available and document how to use them, but I don't want to waste my time doing that if nobody
gives two hoots - so let me know if there's any interest.
>
> On the question of whether or not doing this compromises the terms of our license agreements - I don't know. All I know for sure
is that I didn't use any software that actively reverse-engineered the Vantage code, and I still don't know how the browsers works -
I just found out the names of the input/output parameters using wordpad to view the compiled program files, and used guesswork from
there (as suggested by Wayne in the original thread). If anyone would care to ask their representative of his/her opinion, that
would be interesting!
>
>
> ++ Andy Watts
>
> ++ Ripley Engineering Ltd
> ++ Tel: 01256-473940
> ++ Fax: 01256-479991
> ++ mailto: andy@...
>
>
>
> Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to
enable access. )
> (1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
> (2) To search through old msg's goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
> (3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
2
Hi all,

First - thanks to those who responded to my question about VB forms several weeks ago, and apologies for not saying so sooner!

Some time ago there was a short thread about the possibility of using Vantage browsers to select records in your own 4GL programs. I think the last word was that it would be cool, but Epicor didn't document how to do it. I've started doing it here, and it IS cool!! It's easier to call up some than it is for others, it involves some trial and error guesswork, but I use a couple of them and intend to use more as needs arise.

I will be happy to make examples available and document how to use them, but I don't want to waste my time doing that if nobody gives two hoots - so let me know if there's any interest.

On the question of whether or not doing this compromises the terms of our license agreements - I don't know. All I know for sure is that I didn't use any software that actively reverse-engineered the Vantage code, and I still don't know how the browsers works - I just found out the names of the input/output parameters using wordpad to view the compiled program files, and used guesswork from there (as suggested by Wayne in the original thread). If anyone would care to ask their representative of his/her opinion, that would be interesting!


++ Andy Watts

++ Ripley Engineering Ltd
++ Tel: 01256-473940
++ Fax: 01256-479991
++ mailto: andy@...
3
I would be very interested in seeing some examples of this.

Bart Sgroi

-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Watts [mailto:andy@...]
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 8:43 AM
To: Vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Use of Vantage browsers in your 4GL code


Hi all,

First - thanks to those who responded to my question about VB forms several
weeks ago, and apologies for not saying so sooner!

Some time ago there was a short thread about the possibility of using
Vantage browsers to select records in your own 4GL programs. I think the
last word was that it would be cool, but Epicor didn't document how to do
it. I've started doing it here, and it IS cool!! It's easier to call up some
than it is for others, it involves some trial and error guesswork, but I use
a couple of them and intend to use more as needs arise.

I will be happy to make examples available and document how to use them, but
I don't want to waste my time doing that if nobody gives two hoots - so let
me know if there's any interest.

On the question of whether or not doing this compromises the terms of our
license agreements - I don't know. All I know for sure is that I didn't use
any software that actively reverse-engineered the Vantage code, and I still
don't know how the browsers works - I just found out the names of the
input/output parameters using wordpad to view the compiled program files,
and used guesswork from there (as suggested by Wayne in the original
thread). If anyone would care to ask their representative of his/her
opinion, that would be interesting!


++ Andy Watts

++ Ripley Engineering Ltd
++ Tel: 01256-473940
++ Fax: 01256-479991
++ mailto: andy@...



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
Thanks for the comments Todd, I agree with you!

Here's some sample code that should work on anyone's implementation. We're on v5.1 - it may or may not work for other versions as it stands. Sorry if the format has been messed up by sending it as plain text...



/* Andy Watts, Ripley Engineering Ltd

An example of calling an internal Vantage browser, in this case, the simple parts browser.

1- Save this piece of code to your [vantage server]\Vantage\UD directory. Make sure it's
name begins with 'ud' (I often forget this) e.g., 'ud partbrowser.w'
2- Add the new program to your Vantage menu structure (it will only work when run from an
active Vantage session)
3- Run it! You should get the parts browser, and if you select a part and 'OK' the browser,
the little dialog box should show you the part number you selected. Cool huh?!

I will post the pieces of code I use for other browsers, and document how I use them in the
context of programs asking for user input, sometime soon

I hope it all proves useful! */

DEFINE OUTPUT PARAMETER txtSelectedPart AS CHARACTER.

DEFINE VARIABLE StartPart AS CHARACTER INITIAL "".
DEFINE VARIABLE IP-DefaultType AS CHARACTER INITIAL "M".
DEFINE VARIABLE PartRecID AS RECID.

RUN v:\vantage\lib\brwpart.r(INPUT StartPart,IP-DefaultType, OUTPUT PartRecID).

OUTPUT TO txtSelectedPart.
FIND part WHERE
RECID(part) = PartRecID no-lock.
PUT partnum.

OUTPUT CLOSE.

MESSAGE "You chose part " + txtSelectedPart.




Please let me know whether or not it works for you :-)




-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Watts [mailto:andy@...]
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 7:43 AM
To: Vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Use of Vantage browsers in your 4GL code


Hi all,

First - thanks to those who responded to my question about VB forms several
weeks ago, and apologies for not saying so sooner!

Some time ago there was a short thread about the possibility of using
Vantage browsers to select records in your own 4GL programs. I think the
last word was that it would be cool, but Epicor didn't document how to do
it. I've started doing it here, and it IS cool!! It's easier to call up some
than it is for others, it involves some trial and error guesswork, but I use
a couple of them and intend to use more as needs arise.

I will be happy to make examples available and document how to use them, but
I don't want to waste my time doing that if nobody gives two hoots - so let
me know if there's any interest.

On the question of whether or not doing this compromises the terms of our
license agreements - I don't know. All I know for sure is that I didn't use
any software that actively reverse-engineered the Vantage code, and I still
don't know how the browsers works - I just found out the names of the
input/output parameters using wordpad to view the compiled program files,
and used guesswork from there (as suggested by Wayne in the original
thread). If anyone would care to ask their representative of his/her
opinion, that would be interesting!


++ Andy Watts

++ Ripley Engineering Ltd
++ Tel: 01256-473940
++ Fax: 01256-479991
++ mailto: andy@...