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Edit Buffers and Procedure Files

An edit buffer is a temporary area in computer memory maintained by the Procedure Editor where you can create and edit Progress procedures. A buffer only lasts as long as a Progress session. When you are done with your session, you can use the Procedure Editor to save buffers to procedure files.

A procedure file is a text file that contains one or more Progress procedures. By convention, procedure files have a .p file extension. As you go through this tutorial, you will learn about specialized procedure files and other text files that contain Progress language statements but do not contain procedures. These Progress files have other file extensions.

It is important to understand the relationship between buffers and procedure files. When you open an existing procedure file using the File Open menu option, the editor creates a buffer whose title echoes the name of the file. Edits that you make in a buffer associated with an existing procedure file are temporary until you explicitly save the buffer. If you do not save the buffer, your edits are lost when the Procedure Editor session ends.

In addition to the editing tasks described in the last section, it is important to realize that you can cut or copy text from one buffer and paste into another buffer.

NOTE: Although you can open multiple buffers in the Procedure Editor, you can open only one buffer for each operating system file.

Table 2–6 summarizes the Procedure Editor features that help you create and manage buffers.

Table 2–6: Buffer Tasks and Associated Menu Options
Task
Menu Option
Description
Create a new buffer.
File New
Create a new “Untitled” buffer and make it the current buffer.
Open a procedure file and create a buffer for it.
File Open
Open a specified procedure file into a new buffer named after the procedure filename. The newly opened buffer becomes the current buffer.
Close a buffer.
File Close
Close the current buffer. If you modified the contents of the buffer, Progress notifies you and asks you if you would like to save the modifications to a procedure file.
Save the contents of a buffer to a procedure file.
File Save
Save the current buffer to a procedure file. If the current buffer is “Untitled,” the Save As dialog box prompts you for the name of a procedure file.
Save the contents of a buffer to a specified procedure file.
File Save As
Save the contents of the current buffer to a specified procedure file.
Print the contents of a buffer.
File Print
Print the contents of the current buffer.
List the open buffers.
Buffer List
Display a list of open buffers in the Buffer List dialog box. You can go to another buffer or save an open buffer from this dialog box.
Go to the next open buffer.
Buffer Next Buffer
Make the next buffer in the buffer list the current buffer.
Go to the previous open buffer.
Buffer Previous Buffer
Make the previous buffer in the buffer list the current buffer.
Display detailed information about a buffer.
Buffer Information
Display specific details about a buffer such as the name of the file, file access privileges, the number of lines, bytes, and columns that it contains, and whether it has been modified.
Compile and run the contents of the buffer.
Compile Run
Compile and attempt to run the contents of the current buffer as a Progress procedure. If there are syntax errors in the current buffer, Progress displays a dialog box that contains a list of error messages.
Check the contents of the current buffer for 4GL syntax errors.
Compile Check Syntax
Check the contents of the current buffer for 4GL syntax errors. If there are syntax errors in the current buffer, Progress displays a dialog box that contains a list of error messages.


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