Preprocessor directive syntax changed

The preprocessor directives use an ampersand character (&) instead of a hash (#) character.

Before version 2.00, the preprocessor directives start with a (#) hash character, to be compliant with standard preprocessors (like cpp). This caused too many conflicts with standard language comments that use the same character:

#include "myheader.4gl"
# This is a comment

Starting with version 2.00, the preprocessor directives use an ampersand character (&):

&include "myheader.4gl"
FUNCTION debug( msg )
  DEFINE msg STRING
&ifdef DEBUG
  DISPLAY msg 
&endif
END FUNCTION

The preprocessor is now integrated in the compiler, to achieve faster compilation.

Important: To simplify the migration, the # hash character is still supported when using the -p fglpp option of the compiler. However, it is recommended that you review your source code and use the & character instead; # hash will be desupported in a future version.