xBase documentor

[HunterEC]

In the early 1990s there was a DOS program called Snap Ver. 5.02 that displayed program flow through graphics lines, symbols (vars) used, where they were read, written, control structures, etc. Is there a program that documents xBase/FiveWin programs ?

[hua]

I've been looking for one too and came across RoboDoc but can't give you any feedback on it yet as I haven't started to play around with it.

[James Bott]

You will find Snap here:

http://www.the-oasis.net/ftpmaster.php3?content=ftputils.htm

It is near the end of the page.

Regards,
James

[HunterEC]

James:

Thank you for your help and link. However, what I'm looking is a software that performs the same functions as the old SNAP but can recognize the extra keywords and new language syntax used with FiveWin / xHarbour / Harbour. Any suggestions ?

[James Bott]

Hunter,

It has been a long time since I used it, but Snap does have keyword files for lots of libraries. I suspect you can create a new one for FWH/Harbour.

Regards,
James

[xProgrammer]

Hi James and all

I downloaded SNAP from the link given but it was a DOS/Windows(?) executable with no source so not much use for a Linux environment. I don't know if it was written in Clipper or some other language. I don't know if source was ever / is now available.

Maybe we could work on a (x)Harbour version of the bits people really feel that they need? I've only just glanced at the SNAP documentation. It seems to have a lot of functions and produce voluminous documentation much of which may not be required by most people.

What do others think?

Regards

Doug

[ukoenig]

Hello

I own the source for a program, to do this.
I used it during clipper-times.
It draws vertical lines between DO WHILE - ENDDO, IF - ENDIF and so on and does the needed spaces.
Is there a need to use it as a basic ?
If YES, I can put it in the Forum.

Regards
Uwe

[xProgrammer]

Hi Uwe

I can remember writing one back in the dBase III days (pre Clipper) which used the IBM extended character graphics to draw vertical lines with little horizontal bits at keywords such as IF ELSE ENDIF.

Good for finding bugs when one was starting out and running as an interpreter. Clipper arrived and the compiler complained about unmatched control statements so its usefulness to me declined.

However whilst I indent my code as I write I do find occasions when assembling some code from several parts, or modifying / extending code there are massive sections that should be re-indented so an auto indenter would be nice. I guess that one should write such a piece of code as a macro to run inside of one's favourite code editor. But having said that I do like the idea of doing things in xBase code as that is ultimately pretty transportable wherever one may be taken writing xBase code.

Regards

Doug

[HunterEC]

Guys:

Thank you all for your thoughts. That's the idea, a program that should do at least:
1. Draw vertical lines to show control / flow structures
2. Documents where we use our variables / fields per procedure / function / whole system.
3. Where our vars and fields are read and where their value changes
4. Which procedure / function call others.
5. Variables summary: help to get least frequently used vars.
6. etc.

That's part of what the old SNAP used to give us.

[xProgrammer]

> 1. Draw vertical lines to show control / flow structures

I started thinking about how one might best do this in a nice structured, flexible way. If I was to write it my primary focus would be Linux and postscript printing but it wouldn't be too hard to do a Windows version.

Just thinking about what one might wish for in the way of options:

Include / exclude line numbers?

Optionally pass the source through the pre-processor prior to analysis?

Flag errors as found / at the end?

Print and/or output formatted source?

Context sensitive highlighting / color?

With postscript it would be easy to have different line types for different control structures. IBM extended graphics set only gave single or double lines.

Don't know what capabilities Uwe's program has / had.

Regards

Doug

[Otto]

Hello Doug,

I don’t know which editor you use for programming.

I use UEStudio and MultiEdit and have nearly all the features you mention:

formatted source I get with MultiEdit (Reindent function and Evolve: Align MemVar ) and the rest is included in UEStudio.



Best regards,
Otto

[HunterEC]

I use as editor Multi-Edit Ver. 9.10.04. Does UEStudio prints source code with vertical lines, cross references variables & fields ? Thank you.