When you use variables in an expression, you can use a special type of variable that asks you for its value when the expression is evaluated. These variables, called ASK variables, can be used just like any other variable. When Alpha Anywhere encounters the ASK variable, an input dialog box appears requesting that you type in a value. The expression result will depend upon the value you enter. The outcome of a query, the filter expression for an export, or the value of an update expression are all examples of operations and expressions which can be based on an ASK variable.

There are several variables that are assigned or used by Alpha Anywhere for special purposes. These variables, called system variables, provide a way to exchange information directly with Alpha Anywhere. Each system variable has its own intended usage. You should not use these names for any of your variables. The following table lists some of the available system variables:

The Dim Variables action identifies variables dimensioned outside the current action script. For example, this action would be useful in the case where you are defining a filter for a record list control on an Xdialog and your filter references a variable that was previously defined.

The A5 variables, A_DB_CURRENT and A_DB_CURRENT_PATH

The following example uses the F directive within a Text Box control to format and display date and time values.

Alpha Anywhere allows you to define pointer variables with sub-elements, so called "dot" variables. Dot variables can have multiple layers of sub-elements.

In this example, you will create an Xbasic script that prompts the user for the name of the customer, and then prints the corresponding mailing label. This lesson uses Xbasic scripting (not Action Scripting) and is intended for users with some experience with Xbasic.

It is possible to pass variables by reference, using the byref keyword. If the receiving function changes the value of the variable, the sending function will see those changes. Assume you have the following function named test().

After you create a pointer variable, you may add to it any number of "child" variables of different types. These are known as dot variables.

A change has been made in how Xbasic operates when DIMMing a dot variable. If the user has not explicitly specified the scope in the DIM statement, Alpha Anywhere will now try to see if the dot variable parent container already exists in all scopes (GLOBAL, SHARED, etc. ) and if so, it will DIM the variable in that scope rather than creating a new locally scoped variable.

It is possible that this change will break an existing application in some way. We think that chance of this breaking existing applications is extremely small, but if so, the change to your Xbasic to fix the problem will likely be very simple, as explained below.

The example in this article will illustrate the point.