Creating a Dialogue Manager Procedure

In this section:

Commenting a Procedure

You can create a procedure with a system editor. When creating a procedure, you must follow these rules:

Dialogue Manager commands begin with a hyphen in column 1. Other commands do not.
At least one space must be inserted between the Dialogue Manager command and other text.
If a Dialogue Manager command exceeds one line, the following line must begin with a hyphen (-) in the first position. The continuation line can begin immediately after the hyphen, or you may insert a space between the hyphen and the rest of the line.

Commenting a Procedure

Reference:

Adding a WebFOCUS-Style Comment in a Procedure

It is good practice to include comments in a procedure for the benefit of others who may use it. It is particularly recommended that you use comments in a procedure heading to supply the date, the version, and other relevant information. Two styles of comments are available:

WebFOCUS-Style Comments. A hyphen and an asterisk (-*) mark the beginning of a comment, which can be on a single line.
C-Style Comments. The comment is enclosed within an opening /* tag (slash followed by asterisk) and a closing */ tag (asterisk followed by slash). A C-style comment can appear anywhere and span multiple lines.

Reference: Adding a WebFOCUS-Style Comment in a Procedure

You can place a comment in a procedure in the following ways:

Include text after the -*, optionally with a space before the text.
Place a comment at the beginning or end of a procedure, or between commands. A comment cannot be on the same line as a command. The following is invalid:
```
-RUN -*Version 3 06/10/00
```

Example: Placing a WebFOCUS-Style Comment in a Procedure

The following example places WebFOCUS-style comments at the beginning of a procedure.

-* Version 1  08/26/02  HRINFO  Procedure
TABLE FILE CENTHR
   .
   .
   .

Example: Placing C-Style Comments in a Procedure

The following example places C-style comments in a procedure.

TABLE FILE GGSALES /* this is a multi-line comment
that will not interfere with processing and will be ignored
until the comment is closed with */
SUM /* Another comment */ DOLLARS 
   .
   .
   .