How to disable Compiling from the WED Editor in AccuTerm

Question

We are using jBASE 5.6 multivalue database. Is there a way to disable the fact that AccuTerm's WED Editor has the ability to compile programs in the underlying MultiValue database? We are running into an issue where the user is accidentally compiling records instead of programs, which creates corrupt records in the datafiles.

I believe there is also a shortcut key (Function Key) that is in use. Help!

Answer 1

As of AccuTerm Release 7.3a there is no explicit option to disable the compile shortcut in the AccuTerm wED (Windows Editor). There are two techniques you can apply, however, that will work:

1. Change the Compile command to a single space
   • Open the wED
   • Click on the Tools menu at the top
   • Click on Settings
   • Click on the Tools tab
   • In the Compile section, change the text in the Command input from BASIC to a single space. Note that some flavors of PICK use BASIC as the compilation command whereas others use COMPILE. Since you are running jBASE, BASIC applies in this instance but for others such as D3 the command to replace is COMPILE.
2. It is possible to write a wrapper program to handle compilation for you, which when cataloged could be called from this same Command input. That program could be written to decide whether or not the target record exists in a code file or a data file and then compile or skip, respectively. Due to the fact that PICK systems do not have a file type specification, this logic would be somewhat unique to your environment depending on your practices. Common practice is to denote code files as BP files, i.e. FileNameBP or FileName.BP but again it would depend on your implementation.

For the record, a request to have a more formal option for disabling the Compile command has been submitted to the AccuTerm development team for consideration in the next major release.