MESSAGE
The MESSAGE command can be called using MESSAGE or the abbreviation MSG. There are a number of different sub-commands you can pass to the command (see below). Many of the sub-commands use the variable #msg to return values.
If you want to use macro message handlers in an application, you must call the macro GETMESSAGE to retrieve messages instead of using this command directly. This macro implements, in conjunction with the macros SETMSGHANDLER and DISPATCHMSG the standard STx message handling system.
Note: To implement message handling in classes the member functions AttachItem, DetachItem and MsgHandler can be used.
The complete set of STx messages is listed under Communication Messages.
BEEP
MESSAGE BEEP /Speaker|Asterisk|Exclamation|Hand|Question|Okay
MESSAGE BEEP frequency duration
Play a tone via the PC loudspeaker. A standard windows sound (selected with an option) or a frequency (Hz) and duration (ms) can be specified. No commands are processed while the sound is played.
DEBUG
The MSG DEBUG command has the following general syntax:
MSG DEBUG cmd [ par ] [ option ]
There are a number of different sub-commands which are described below.
MSG DEBUG INIT [ shell ] [ /Step ]
Initialise the debugger. This must be called once, before any other MSG DEBUG commands.
- shell
- The shell in which to start the debugger. If this is not specified, the caller's shell is debugged.
- /Step
- If specified, the debugger breaks execution (like calling
MSG DEBUG STEP).
MSG DEBUG STEP [ text ]
Open the debugger and break execution.
MSG DEBUG ON [ macroName ]
Open the debugger. If a macro is specified, the debugger will break as soon as this macro is called.
MSG DEBUG OFF
Close the debugger.
MSG DEBUG NO
Close the debugger and disable debugging. If you wish to re-enable the debugger, you must restart STx.
DESKTOP
MESSAGE DESKTOP
Get the origin, height and width of the whole desktop (all monitors) and the number of monitors connected to the computer. Note that the primary monitor always has an 0/0 x/y origin. Therefore, if you have three monitors, and the middle one is the primary monitor, the value desktopXOrigin will be negative. The return values are stored in the variable #msg.
#msg = desktopWidth desktopHeight desktopXOrigin desktopYOrigin numberOfMonitors
EXIT
MESSAGE EXIT shellid
Terminate a shell shellid immediately. This message is processed by the internal message loop and not by the macros. It can be used to abort shells which are not responding.
LOGFILE
MESSAGE LOGFILE logfilename
Redirect all log-window output to the specified file. Set logfilename to * to turn redirection off.
LOOP
MESSAGE LOOP [/Nowait]
Get the next message from the shell's message queue. Use /Nowait if you do not want to wait should the message queue be empty. The return values are stored in the variable #MSG.
#MSG = sendertype sendername msgid msgparameter(s)
MAIN
MESSAGE MAIN mode [style xpos ypos width height title]
Set and/or get the log-window's mode (HIDDEN|VISIBLE|ENABLED|*), style (MINIMIZED|RESTORED|MAXIMIZED|*), position, size and/or caption. The current settings are stored in the message variable #MSG.
#MSG = mode style xpos ypos width height title
MENU
MESSAGE MENU /Add name item1 item2 ...
MESSAGE MENU /Add name table /Table
MESSAGE MENU /Show
MESSAGE MENU /Delete
Log window popup-menu handling. All log-window menu commands are similar to the equivalent display/dialog-item commands.
NOMAIN
MESSAGE NOMAIN
Hide the log window and all other STx windows.
RUN
MESSAGE RUN shellid messageid messegaparameters
Send a message to the shell shellid. Do not use this command directly, call the macro POSTMESSAGE instead. The special shellid '*' (all shells, except sender) or '=' (to the sender itself) can be used. Messages sent using this command are pre-processed by the macro GETMESSAGE!
QUEUE
MESSAGE QUEUE [ qtable ]
Empty the internal message queue. If the argument qtable is a simple table, a copy of the internal message queue is stored in the table before the queue is cleared.
