Programming Guide - Actian

How You Can Use Ghost FramesA Simpler Process for Creating Information and Reply Pop-upsThe OpenROAD message and prompt statements provide an alternativeprocess for opening Information and Reply pop-up frames, respectively. Theseframes function identically to the pop-up frames you open with the InfoPopupand ReplyPopup methods.The OpenROAD message statement opens an Information pop-up frame thatdisplays a specified message. The syntax of the message statement is:message varchar_expressionThe OpenROAD prompt statement opens a Reply pop-up frame that displaysan entry field with the specified message as a prompt. You specify the variablename in which to store the user's response. The syntax of the promptstatement is:variable = prompt varchar_expressionvariableSpecifies any varchar variable in the framevarchar_expressionContains any variables, constants, or expressionsHow You Can Use Ghost FramesGhost frames differ from other OpenROAD frames in that they do not containforms (making them invisible to the user). They differ from 4GL procedures inthat they can receive and execute user and database events. Ghost frames areuseful for handling operations that run continuously without requiring userintervention.How You Can Run Non-interactive ApplicationsBecause ghost frames and 4GL procedures do not require the window managerto be running, you can write OpenROAD applications that run entirely withoutuser interaction. To execute these applications without running the windowmanager, use the -nowindows flag when invoking the runimage or rundbappcommands.Programming Frames 111