Software Customisation Reference Manual

Function	Comments
BADREF
DEFINED,UNDEFINED
CREATED
DELETED
EMPTY
MATCHWILD
MODIFIED
UNSET
VLOGICAL

Synopsis	BADREF (id)	-> logical
Description	TRUE if id is invalid, else FALSE.
Side Effects	None
Example	BADREF(TREF) -> ’true’ if TREF=nulref
Errors	None.

Synopsis	DEFined (variable_name)	-> logical
	DEFined (variable_name,number)	-> logical
	UNDEFined (variable_name)	-> logical
	UNDEFined (variable_name , number)	-> logical
Description	With one argument, DEFINED is true only if the scalar variable, the array variable or the array variable element exists. With two arguments, DEFINED is true only if the first argument is an array variable which has a value for the index denoted by the second argument. UNDEFINED( !foo ) is equivalent to NOT DEFINED( !foo ).
Side Effects	None.
Example	DEFINED ( !var ) -> TRUE DEFINED ( !array ) -> TRUE DEFINED ( !array[1] )) -> TRUE DEFINED ( !array , 1 ) -> TRUE DEFINED ( !var) -> FALSE UNDEFINED ( !array) -> TRUE DEFINED ( !array , 3 ) -> FALSE
Errors	None.

Synopsis	CREATED	-> logical
Description	Returns TRUE if the element has been created since the set date.
Side Effects	None.
Example	CREATED -> TRUE
Errors	None.

Synopsis	DELETED	-> logical
Description	Returns TRUE if the element has been deleted since the set date.
Side Effects	None.
Example	DELETED -> TRUE
Errors	None.

Synopsis	EMPTY(text)	-> logical
Description	Returns TRUE if text is a zero length string, else FALSE
Side Effects	None.
Example	EMPTY(‘’) -> TRUE EMPTY(‘not empty’) -> FALSE
Errors	None.

Synopsis	MATCHW/ILD( text1, text2)	-> logical
	MATCHW/ILD( text1, text2, text3)	-> logical
	MATCHW/ILD( text1, text2, text3, text4)	-> logical
Description	Matches string text2 to string text1. If they are the same then returns TRUE, else FALSE. text2 may contain wildcard characters. The defaults for wildcards are ‘*’ for any number of characters, and ‘?’ for a single character. With three arguments, the multiple wildcard character ‘*’ may be redefined by text3. With four arguments the single wildcard character ‘?’ may be redefined by text4.
Side Effects	None
Example	MATCHW/ILD(’A big bottle of beer’,’*big*’) -> TRUE MATCHW/ILD(’A big bottle of beer’,’??big*’) -> TRUE MATCHW/ILD(’A big bottle of beer’,’???*big*’) -> FALSE MATCHW/ILD(’A big bottle of beer’,’*big*beer’) -> TRUE MATCHW/ILD(’** text’,’**!’,’!’) -> TRUE
Errors	None.

Synopsis
.-----------------------------------.                                  /                                    | >- MODIFIED-(-+- attname -------*- DESCENDANTS ‑-+-+-comma +-attname ‑’               |                 |                | |               |- DESCENDANTS -. |- SIGNIFICANT --| |               |               | |                | |               |- SIGNIFICANT--| |- PRIMARY ----- | |               |               | |                | |               |- PRIMARY -----| |- OFFSPRING-----| |               |               | |                | |               |- OFFSPRING ---| ‘----------------’ |               |               |                    |               |               |                    |               |               |                    |               ‘---------------+--------------------+--+-- ) - OF ‑ id                                                        |                                                       ‘-
Description	For sophisticated queries relating to modifications. Returns TRUE if a modification has taken place. Each attribute name may be followed by the following qualifying keywords: OFFSPRING, to check this element and members SIGNIF, to check all elements for which this element represents the significant one; PRIMARY, check all elements for which this element represents the primary one; DESCENDANTS, this element and everything below (descendants). The ‘OF’ syntax may be used as for attributes. The MODIFIED function or the GEOM, CATTEXT and CATMOD pseudo-attributes can be used instead of the AFTERDATE function. Refer to Pseudo Attributes for further information.
	The MODIFIED, DELETED and CREATED functions may go anywhere within a PML1 expression. i.e. after Q/VAR and within collections
Side Effects	None
Example	Q MODIFIED()	Returns TRUE if element has changed at all since the comparison date. It will also return TRUE if the element has been created since the comparison date.
	Q MODIFIED(POS,ORI)	Returns TRUE if POS or ORI modified since the comparison date.
	Q MODIFIED(P1 POS)	Returns TRUE if the position of P1 has changed.
	Q MODIFIED(GEOM DESCENDANTS	Returns TRUE if any geometry for item or any descendants has changed
	Q MODIFIED(PRIMARY)	Returns TRUE if any element for which this element is primary, has changed.
	Q MODIFIED() OF /PIPE1	Returns TRUE if /PIPE1 has been modified since the comparison date.
	Q (BUIL OR MODIFIED()OR ELECREC OF NEXT )
Errors	None.

Synopsis	UNSET(value)		-> logical
Description	Returns TRUE if value is unset, else FALSE. The value can be of any data type including ARRAYS. Normally it will be a attribute.
Side Effects	None.
Example	UNSET( DESC )	TRUE where DESC is an unset text attribute
	UNSET(CRFA)	FALSE where CRFA contains unset reference attributes
Errors	None.

Synopsis	VLOGICAL ( variable_name ))	-> logical
	VLOGICAL ( variable_name , number)	-> logical
Description	With one argument, return the value of the scalar variable or the value of the array variable element as a logical. With two arguments, return the value of the element corresponding to the index number as a logical. The rules of conversion are: TRUE for the strings ’T’, ’TR’, ’TRU’ or ’TRUE’ (case insensitive) or any numeric value not equal to zero; FALSE for the strings ’F’, ’FA’, ’FAL’, ’FALS’ or ’FALSE’ (case insensitive) or a numeric value equal to zero. Scalar variables may not be indexed. For example, VTEXT(!var[1]) will return an error. Array variables must have an index. For example, VTEXT (!array) will return an error. The value cannot be translated into a logical. See also VTEXT, used for late evaluation when a text result is required; and VVALUE, used for late evaluation when a numeric result is required.
Side Effects	If the scalar variable, the array variable, or the array variable element does not exist, the result is undefined.
Example	VLOG ( !array[1] ) -> TRUE VLOG ( !array , 2 ) -> FALSE
Errors	None.