BEFORE DIALOG block

Syntax

BEFORE DIALOG
   instruction [...]

Usage

The BEFORE DIALOG block is executed one time as the first trigger when the DIALOG instruction starts, before the runtime system gives control to the user. You can implement variable initialization and dialog configuration in this block.

Like all control blocks of the procedural DIALOG / END DIALOG instruction, the BEFORE DIALOG block must appear after the sub-dialog definitions. For a detailed description, see the procedural DIALOG instruction syntax.

The fields are initialized with the default values, before the BEFORE DIALOG code is executed. When an INPUT sub-dialog uses the WITHOUT DEFAULTS option or when inserting/appending a new row in an INPUT ARRAY sub-dialog, the default values are taken from the program variables bound to the fields. Otherwise (with defaults), the DEFAULT attributes of the form fields are used.

In the next code example, the BEFORE DIALOG block performs some dialog setup and gives the focus to a specific field:

DIALOG
   DISPLAY ARRAY ...
      ...
   END DISPLAY
   INPUT BY NAME ...
      ...
   END INPUT
   ...
   BEFORE DIALOG
     CALL DIALOG.setActionActive("save",FALSE)
     CALL DIALOG.setFieldActive("cust_status", is_admin())
     IF cust_is_new() THEN
        NEXT FIELD cust_name
     END IF
   ...
END DIALOG

A DIALOG instruction can include no more than one BEFORE DIALOG control block.