Messaging With @Message

Related Information

Syntax Long Messages Technical Details See Also

Examples & Tutorials

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The @message command enables you to display a text message to the screen. This command allows you to print a custom message when running a control file or printing a report. The @message command enables you to create the text message using plain text or report writer variables such as @var and @tvar.

Message Displayed by Control File

Use @Message to:

Alert the operator when a debtor is worked
Display information to the end user when a report is printed
Give the end user any additional information needed when a special condition is encountered
And much, much more!

This command can use plain text or variables, allowing you to do set conditions, do calculations, retrieve database fields or give the end user any information needed. This minimizes error and gives the operators the ability to answer their own questions about what to do next when a special condition is encountered.

When running a control file, you can use the @message command to display a message when certain conditions are met. Alert the operator when a certain debtor record is worked, for instance.

When printing a Collect! report you can display a text message to the screen during the print process by using the @message command in your report code. You can use this convenient method to additional information to the user, such as instructions for processing the printed output, or statistics taken from the report itself.

Syntax

@message([text message prompt] [@tvar] [@var])

Examples:

1. @message(This is plain text.)

2. @tvarBal% = @de.ow
@message(Balance: @tvarBal)

3.@varFile# = @de.fi
@message(File Number: @varFile)

4. @tvarAlert* = ""
@tvarAlert = Do not phone this debtor if (@de.wo = @d)
@message(@tvarAlert)

Don't nest an @message command inside an @message command.

Long Messages

You can string together many individual text strings in one call to @message. This enables you to output over 1000 characters, if needed. The message wraps at the edge of the application screen.

Example:

@message(@var1 @var2 @var3 @var4 ... etc.)

If you exceed the acceptable limit, the message window appears empty.

Technical Details

Do not include extra spaces within the parentheses. The @message command will not display a message window if the message is empty, but extra spaces count as data. This may give unexpected results when @message is used with conditional clauses.