A5_SAVE_SETTINGS Function

Syntax

C a5_save_settings(C setting_name ,P dot_variable [,C dictionary ])

Arguments

setting_name: The name of the setting that you wish to create.
dot_variable: A dot variable containing values to be saved.
dictionary: Optional. Default = dictionary (.ALB file) for current database. Path and filename of any Alpha Anywhere library file (i.e. a .ALB, .DDD or .SET file), or a text file.

Description

Saves the contents of 'dot_variable' to a record in the dictionary. Record name is 'setting_name' and type is 'SAVU'.

Discussion

The A5_SAVE_SETTINGS() function replaces the SAVE_SETTINGS() method and saves the values in Dot_Variable to a data dictionary.

Example

The following script defines a dot variable called family then saves the variable using a parent key name of MyFamily.

dim family as P
dim family.kids as P
family.mom = "Irene"
family.dad = "David"
family.kids.first = "Sam"
family.kids.second = "Pam"
a5_save_settings("MyFamily",family, "c:\A5\settings1.txt")

The resulting data looks like this:

>
>

It is easier to understand the structure of the resulting data, if you imagine it formatted as an outline. For example:

>
>

If you want to save settings to a text file, this is how to do it.

dim family as P
dim family.kids as P
family.mom = "Irene"
family.dad = "David"
family.kids.first = "Sam"
family.kids.second = "Pam"
'convert the dot variable to a string
txt = property_to_string(family)
'save the string to a text file
save_to_file(txt,"c:\settings.txt")
delete family
dim family as P
'read the settings from the text file into a variable
txt = get_from_file("c:\settings.txt")
family.mom = ""
property_from_string(family,txt)
? family.mom
= "Irene"