INTOUCH^® 4GL
A Guide to the INTOUCH Language

Substrings are a way to refer to a part of a string. The format of a substring is:

str_var [begin : end]

str_var is the name of a string variable. begin is the position in the string where your substring begins. end is the position at which the substring ends. For example, here is a string called ALPHABET$:

10 alphabet$ = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ' 20 PRINT alphabet$[9:14] 30 END RNH IJKLMN

The substring ALPHABET$[9:14] tells INTOUCH to begin at the ninth character and count to the 14th character. Everything between and including these two positions makes up the substring. Therefore, the substring is "IJKLMN".

begin and end are integers. If you give real numbers for these positions, INTOUCH rounds them and uses the remaining integers. You can manipulate a substring like any other expression. You can store data in the substring. And, you can use substrings to change the value of a string. For example:

10 LET a$ = 'Your tests are in.' 20 PRINT a$ 30 LET a$[6:10] = 'results' 40 PRINT a$ 50 END RNH Your tests are in. Your results are in.

3.2.6 Structure References

Another type of variable is a structure reference. INTOUCH includes a transparent interface to several record management systems, including the OpenVMS file management system. One of the major features of INTOUCH is its ability to perform database operations as a part of the language. INTOUCH's data structure statements allow you to manipulate stored data from within your own programs. (See Chapter 14, Data Structure Statements for informaton on the INTOUCH data structure statements.)

INTOUCH stores data in structures. Structures look something like this:

Example 3-2 Structures

FIELDS / | \ / | \ / | \ / | \ / | \ R | Client | Last name | First name E | Number | | C |---------|-----------------------------|-------------------- O _____ |8|0|5|4|3|C|a|s|s| | | | | | | | | | | |C|a|t|h|y| | | | | | R _____ |8|0|5|4|2|B|r|o|c|k| | | | | | | | | | |B|u|d| | | | | | | | D | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | S positions

Each structure is made up of records and fields. In the CLIENT structure above, we have a record for each customer.

Each record consists of fields. For example, our customer records might contain a field for the customer's ID number, last name, first name, address, phone number, company name, etc.. Each of these pieces of data is stored in its own field--the name field, address field, phone number field, etc.. These fields appear as columns in the example shown above.

For information on creating structures and defining fields, see Chapter 16, Creating Structures, Field Definitions with SETUP.

You can reference the field data in structures by using structure references. To reference a field, indicate the structure name and the expression of the field whose contents you want to access.

struc_name(field_expr)

struc_name is the name associated with the structure. field_expr is the name of a field in the structure. When you reference a field, INTOUCH searches the current record for this field and reads its contents. Some examples of structure references are:

CLIENT(PHONE) CATALOG(PART_NUM)

The field_expr can be either a string or numeric expression.

You can use a string constant to specify the field name. If you give the field name as a string constant, you need not enclose it in quotes. INTOUCH will use the string constant as the field name:

PRINT CL(LAST) / the field is specified by its field name

If you specify the field as an expression, you will need to precede the expression with a pound sign (#). The pound sign tells INTOUCH that the following characters are an expression, not the field name. If you do not include the pound sign, INTOUCH will interpret the characters as a field name. Here are two examples:

PRINT CL(#FIELDNAME$) / the field is specified by the variable FIELDNAME$ PRINT CL(#FIELDNUM) / the field is specified by the variable FIELDNUM

See Section 14.8.1.1, FIELD Expressions for an example of a program that uses field expressions.

3.2.7 Multiple Occurrence Fields

When defining a field with multiple occurrences, the length of the field must be the length of a single occurrence. Individual occurrences of a field are accessed by including the occurrence number in the field expression.

10 OPEN STRUCTURE cust: NAME 'tti_run:customer', ACCESS INPUT 20 EXTRACT STRUCTURE cust PRINT cust(address#1) PRINT cust(address#2) END EXTRACT 30 END RNH 10010 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. 1122 Monroe Ave. PO Box 8765 11A SE. Hwy A1A PO Box 11A-A 2111 Brawley Blvd. . . . 999 World Vista Avenue #2 Bougainvillea Blvd.

3.2.8 Compound Expressions

You can use compound expressions in your programs. Compound expressions consist of operators and operands. There are three types of compound expressions:

• Numeric expressions
• String expressions
• Conditional expressions

3.2.8.1 Numeric Expressions

Constants Variables + Add 4%+2% Z + TWO16 - Subtract 4%-2% Z - TWO16 / Divide 4%/2% Z / TWO16 * Multiply 4%*2% Z * TWO16 ^ Raise to a power 4%^2% Z ^ TWO16

You can combine any number of these operators in an expression.

4 + Z ^ TWO16 Z * TWO16 / 2

You cannot generally use two arithmetic operators next to each other. However, you can use a + or - sign to indicate a positive or negative number. For example:

TOTAL * -2 = TOTAL * (-2) TOTAL / +2 = TOTAL / (+2)

If all the values in an arithmetic expression are of the same data type, the result of the expression will be that data type. For example, if an expression consists only of integer numbers, it will yield an integer result. If an expression consists only of real numbers, the result will be a real number. If an expression consists of integers and real numbers, the result will be a real number. If the target of a real calculation is an integer (a% = 1.5 + 2.8) the result is rounded before it is assigned to the target.

3.2.8.2 String Expressions

10 z$ = 'MO' + 'TH' & 'ER' 20 PRINT z$ 30 END RNH MOTHER

In the above example, INTOUCH joins the strings separated by a plus sign and an ampersand, and assigns their value to Z$. You can include string constants, variables, functions, etc. in your string expressions. For example:

10 LET last$ = ' is it.' 20 PRINT 'This' + last$ 30 END RNH This is it.

3.2.8.3 Conditional Expressions

Conditional expressions are expressions which yield a TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) value. Conditional expressions are created by using either relational or logical operators. When INTOUCH evaluates a conditional expression, it returns a value of either TRUE or FALSE. If the expression is TRUE, INTOUCH returns the integer 1. If the expression is FALSE, INTOUCH returns the integer 0.

Conditional Numeric Expressions

Relational operators are similar to those used in algebra. The relational operators are:

= equals X=Y X is equal to Y < less than X<Y X is less than Y > greater than X>Y X is greater than Y <= less than or equal to X<=Y X is less than or equal to Y >= greater than or equal to X>=Y X is greater than or equal to Y <> not equal to X<>Y X is not equal to Y

X and Y can be any unconditional or conditional expression.

Performing Relational Operations on Strings

When you perform relational operations on strings, INTOUCH determines which string occurs first in the the ASCII collating sequence and returns TRUE or FALSE. For instance, when you perform relational operations on two strings, INTOUCH checks the ASCII values for each character in each string. INTOUCH compares the strings character by character--using these ASCII values--and determines where there is a difference in the values.

When INTOUCH finds a character that differs, it compares the two and determines which one is less (which has a smaller ASCII code number). INTOUCH then returns a TRUE or FALSE value depending on the relational expression. For example:

10 a$ = 'TEXT' b$ = 'TEST' MESSAGE$ = 'Strings are equal' 20 IF a$ < b$ THEN message$ = a$ + ' is less than ' + b$ IF b$ < a$ THEN message$ = b$ + ' is less than ' + a$ 30 PRINT message$ 40 END RNH TEST is less than TEXT

INTOUCH compares the two strings. They are identical up to the third character. The ASCII value of S is 53. The ASCII value of X is 58. Therefore INTOUCH prints "TEST is less than TEXT".

Logical Operators

The logical operators are:

NOT NOT X TRUE if X is false and FALSE if X is true. AND X AND Y TRUE if X and Y are true. OR X OR Y TRUE if X or Y is true. XOR X XOR Y TRUE if X is true, or if Y is true but FALSE if both X and Y are true. EQV X EQV Y TRUE if X and Y are true, or TRUE if X and Y are false, but FALSE otherwise. IMP X IMP Y TRUE if X is true and Y is false.

X and Y can be any expressions. Logical operators are usually used on integers or expressions which yield an integer result such as conditional expressions. Logical operators will always yield an integer result. If a logical operator is used on a real number, the real number is rounded and the resulting integer is used.

Logical expressions always return an integer value. If the integer value is a 1, the expression is TRUE. If the integer value is a 0, the expression is FALSE. (NOT 0 is equal to -1 and is TRUE. NOT 1 is equal to -2 and is FALSE.)

VALUE TRUE FALSE +--------------------------+ | 0 | | X | |-----------|------|-------| | 1 | X | | |-----------|------|-------| | NOT 0 (-1)| X | | |-----------|------|-------| | NOT 1 (-2)| | X | +--------------------------+

• If a logical operator is used on a real expression, the expression is rounded and the resulting integer value is operated upon.
• Integers are represented as a signed 32-bit quantity.

Bit Manipulation

Logical operators can be used to do bit manipulation. Computers represent values in a binary code, using ones and zeros. INTOUCH integer values are represented as a 32-bit binary longword. A bit which is set to 1 is considered on. A bit which is set to 0 is off. The value of the word is equal to the value of all the bits which are on, added together. For example:

0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 = 16 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 23

The last bit has a value of 1. The second to the last bit has a value of 2. The third bit has a value of 4, the fourth a value of 8, the fifth bit has a value of 16, and so on. Each bit has a value double that of the previous one.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --------------------------------------------- 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

Bits can be manipulated and tested using logical operators. The logical operators work on bits. They compare each position in each word according to the particular rules of the logical operator. For instance, here is the AND operator used on two values:

10 LET a% = 23% ! 00010111 20 LET b% = 37% ! 00100101 30 LET c% = (a% AND b%) 40 PRINT c% 50 END RNH 5

When INTOUCH executes this program, it compares the two values. It sets a bit in the result to 1 (on), only if both the bits at a given position are on (1). The value of the resultant word is 5.

A% 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 = 23 B% 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 = 37 --------------- C% 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 = 5

3.2.9 Order of Evaluation

When INTOUCH evaluates an expression, it evaluates it in a specific order. INTOUCH evaluates expressions from left to right.

1+Z+4 equals (1+Z)+4 1+Z-4 equals (1+Z)-4 3*4/QUANTITY equals (3*4)/QUANTITY 12/QUANTITY*3 equals (12/QUANTITY)*3

The following priorities take precedence over the left to right evaluation rule:

1. INTOUCH always evaluates expressions in parentheses first. Parentheses, ( ), can be used to change the order of any of the following operations. If parentheses are nested, INTOUCH evaluates them from the inside out. For example:

   Z%-(X% / (Y% + AMOUNT))

   
   INTOUCH evaluates the expression Y% + AMOUNT first. Next, it divides the X% by AMOUNT to determine that result. Finally, it subtracts the entire sum from Z%.

2. INTOUCH performs functions second.
3. INTOUCH performs exponentiation.
4. INTOUCH performs multiplication and division.
5. INTOUCH performs addition and subtraction.
6. INTOUCH performs relational operations from left to right. (The relational operators are: =, <, >, <=, >= and <>.) The only exception is the assignment of the result. The result is always assigned last.
7. INTOUCH performs logical operations in the following order:
   • NOT
   • AND
   • OR
   • XOR
   • IMP
   • EQV