Undefined Identifier Error Message in Clipper Summer87 Application

[liber1]

I have inherited several Financial applications written in Clipper Summer870perating on Windows 9x and know very little about the language.

When one of my co-workers (using Windows 95) tries to run her reports the undefined identifier error mesage pops up and. In the past I have been able to solve this by deleting all index files and reindexing the database files. In this case that does not help.

Any help would be appreciated.

Also can anybody suggest any books and/or tutorials that would allow me to become familiar with Clipper?

 

[VPhilip]

Hi,

The first thing you need to do is locate all the source code.

The Undefined identifier error is generated because a variable that does not have a value has been used in a statement. The error message should display the variable name and the program/procedure in which the error occurred. If the program was complied with Line numbers then the line number in the program will also be displayed. It is likely that any one dbf file has a structure with a field missing.

In Clipper, a variable does not need explicit declaration. If you assign a value to a variable, it gets automatically declared and assumes the type based on the value it was assigned. If the identifier is a field name in a dbf file, than the file needs to be open when the field is being accessed.

If the source code has comments, then finding the missing variable may be easy.

Anyway, work from the error message into your program and figure out which variable or field needs a value. Assign a value that you think may be right, recompile, and run.

Books ... there used to be a lot of books in the market, but ever since GUI took over, these books have all but disappeared. There is a book by a Rick Spence - the title has the words "Clipper 87" - I'm not sure of the full name ... Sorry!

I hope I have not been too curt. ;-)