bpi.readpath()

This subroutine is provided to allow cross-platform (unidata/uniVerse/etc) read path capability. The subroutine allows the developer to target a specific file by path and it will return the content of that file in the return variable.

Subroutine Syntax

CALL bpi.readpath( path, hdl_dir, doc, ioctl_type, error, message )

Parameters

Param	Direction	Description
path	passed	path to read
hdl_dir	returned	is the handle to directory in path (param)
ioctl_type	passed	is a IOCTL code passed to the read see your multivalue platforms documentation for support for IOCTL. The default is "RB" which stands for Read Binary
doc	returned	The content of the file
error	returned	success is zero and all other indicates error
message	returned	A descriptive message related to the error (if available on platform)

Example

This example demonstrates how you could use this subroutine to poll a file until it reaches steady-state at which point your program can proceed. It could be used when your application wishes to have BP Forms generate a PDF document and then email the document to a recipient using your own email client. Your app will want to wait until the PDF is fully rendered before calling the email client to attach and send it. This will ensure that the document is complete when being sent.

steadyState = @false
lastDoc = \\; lastLastDoc = \\;pdfDocument=\\
LOOP
UNTIL (steadyState) DO
   CALL bpi.readpath( full_path, hdl_dir, pdfDocument ioctl_type, error, message )
   IF NOT(error) THEN
      IF pdfDocument NE \\ AND ((lastLastDoc) EQ lastDoc AND ( lastDoc EQ pdfDocument)) THEN
         steadyState = @TRUE
      END ELSE
         lastLastDoc = lastDoc
         lastDoc = pdfDocument
         nap 50; * half second
      END
   END ELSE
      CRT message
      steadyState = @TRUE
   END
REPEAT

Thank you to Craig Shaynak for the enhancements to this example!