January 30, 2008

Formats in PeopleCode Variables

My client found this oddity and it's something I had never seen before.

A page contained a field that had a field format attached (Format Type = Custom, Family Name = PHONE, Display Name = NORMAL). In FieldChange this field was passed to a PeopleCode function defined in another PeopleCode program (FieldFormula). Within the definition of the function, the value was received using a normal variable like this:

In FieldFormula:
   function MyFunction(&Phone);
      ...
   end-function;

In FieldChange:
   MyFunction(MY_RECORD.MY_FIELD);

Now, the odd thing is that &Phone didn't act like a string variable. If we gave it a value that included a number in parentheses, for example, and then immediately inspected the variable, the parentheses would be gone. The variable was applying the formatting rules. We tried redefining the function like this:

   function MyFunction(&Phone as String);

But that didn't make any difference. We also tried passing in the value of the field (MY_RECORD.MY_FIELD.Value), thinking that would turn it into a regular string, but no good. On the other hand, a field defined with a format of UPPERCASE didn't seem to cause the same behavior—we could send mixed-case values into the &variable and they would "stick."

A new variable could be created (Local String &Other) and set to the value of the &Phone variable, and the new variable would accept any value. But passing it back into &Phone caused the formatting to be applied to &Phone.

I'm surprised by all of this. Apparently a &variable that contains a value (as opposed to an object reference) is not always a standalone storage area but is sometimes a way of referring more directly to an object such as a field.

Until next time...