Progress
AppBuilder
Developer’s Guide


External Versus Internal Procedures

In Progress 4GL terminology, external procedure is the usual term for a separate subprogram module that exists as a set of related files on disk and can be independently developed and compiled. An external procedure is not a procedure in the sense of being a defined 4GL subprogram that begins with the reserved word PROCEDURE or FUNCTION, but it is callable in much the same way. An external procedure’s main filename serves as its identifier, and you can use it in references; for example:

RUN example.w. 

External procedures typically have some number of internal procedures and functions defined locally to them. Because these internal procedures and functions implement the external procedure’s repertoire of behaviors, they are often known as methods. They are defined as normal Progress 4GL subprograms and begin with one of the reserved words PROCEDURE or FUNCTION.


Copyright © 2004 Progress Software Corporation
www.progress.com
Voice: (781) 280-4000
Fax: (781) 280-4095