Alastair,
The point of my examples was to illustrate that you can put a comment most anywhere, IF that comment is created using the curly braces. The double-dash, on the other hand, gets interpreted slightly differently. It looks to me as if once R:BASE reads the double-dash it takes the rest of the line as the comment, whereas the curly braces encapsulate the comment. So anything on a line following the double-dash is ignored, and therefore the EOL has been encountered. But since the curly braces encapsulate the comment, it can in fact be embedded in the middle of a command. Not that I recommend the practice, unless you want to drive another programmer crazy or something . Personally, I like the comment-on-its-own-line approach. The comment is clear, the code is clear. But I've seen code that puts a double-dash comment following, say, an ENDIF to indicate which IF condition it is ending. When the entire IF / ENDIF block cannot be displayed on the screen at once, this technique can be useful. Emmitt Dove Manager, Converting Applications Development Evergreen Packaging, Inc. [email protected] (203) 214-5683 m (203) 643-8022 o (203) 643-8086 f [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alastair Burr Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 3:38 AM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice Thanks Buddy & Emmitt. To make a comment really stand out and, in particular, to divide a command file into sections I used something like this: -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Pre-run set-up: -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- where the length of the first and third lines is 78 characters. For SET VAR, for example, I put the comment on the same line and line them up to make a "column" on the right-hand edge. Now, Emmitt, it must take a very special brain <g> to come up with your example so I copied and pasted both into a file. RBEdit nicely highlights what it sees as comments. I'm not sure that it would ever have occurred to me to put any comment in the middle of any command but, I suppose, that is, in effect, what I was asking about: does any command need a CR/LF - in another way. Regards, Alastair. ----- Original Message ----- From: Walker, Buddy To: RBASE-L Mailing List Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 12:25 AM Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice Alastair I do the same as you keep comments on their own line. I actually like the comment to be left justified. This way it is easier to pick up. Buddy ----- Original Message ----- From: Emmitt Dove <mailto:[email protected]> To: RBASE-L Mailing List <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 1:31 AM Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Double Hyphen Comments: good practice There appear to be some limits. Try this code: IF {this is a test} .#PI <> 0 THEN WRITE -- really testy! 'It Works!' ENDIF RETURN You'll get a syntax error on the WRITE statement, which, of course, means that the IF worked. Now try this: IF {this is a test} .#PI <> 0 THEN WRITE {really testy!} 'It Works!' ENDIF RETURN Emmitt Dove Manager, Converting Applications Development Evergreen Packaging, Inc. [email protected] (203) 214-5683 m (203) 643-8022 o (203) 643-8086 f [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alastair Burr Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 6:47 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Double Hyphen Comments: good practice I've not come across any problem and the help makes no observations other than leaving at least one space if placed on the same line as a command... but: Are there any situations where it is preferable not to place a comment on the same line as the command? I only ask because, generally, I tend to avoid doing so with, for example IF, SWITCH, WHILE. Am I being over-cautious? Regards, Alastair ---------------------------- Alastair Burr St. Albans, UK. [email protected] ----------------------------- _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.51/2151 - Release Date: 06/02/09 17:53:00
