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- !Licensing Agreement
- Coding Standard
- Customer Comments
- Generic advice on debugging
- Help File Issues
- How Did You Find Out About Winbatch
- Scripting White Paper
- The Year 2000 Problem
- Two Minute Lecture on ErrorMode No-Nos
- What Winbatch Can and Cant Do
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Windows Interface Language Coding Standard
Your code should meet the following coding standard. It is a recommendation, not a requirement. Clarity, simplicity and organization are the goals.
Structure
Overall program structure is as follows:
- Program header block (program documentation)
- #include statements
- Constant declarations
- User Defined Function definitions, orderedalphabetically or in calling order
- Main code section
- Exit
- Subroutines
Documentation
The program should have a header block containing:
- a line of dashes or asterisks at the top and bottom of the header block
- the name of the program
- a brief but comprehensive description of the program
- the name of the author
- a brief description of program usage, including all external resources needed by the program (data files, output files)
- any special compilation or linking instructions
- known program issues
- revision history : the date the code was written and any documented changes
;**************************************************************** ;* PROGRAM NAME ;* ;* Purpose : ;* Author : ;* Inputs : ;* Outputs : ;* Special Instructions : ;* Known issues : ;* Revision History : ;****************************************************************
Every 'User Defined Function' or 'Subroutine' should have a header block containing:
- a line of dashes or asterisks at the top and bottom of the header block
- the syntax of the function
- a brief description of the purpose of the function
- a description of the parameters
parm1 : description parm2 : description
- a description of the return value
returns : description
- any special instructions
;---------------------------------------------------------------- ; udfFunction ( parm1, parm2 ) ;---------------------------------------------------------------- ; description ;---------------------------------------------------------------- ; parm1 : description. ; parm2 : description. ;---------------------------------------------------------------- ; returns: @true if success, @false if failure ;---------------------------------------------------------------- ; notes : ;----------------------------------------------------------------
Blocks of code need short descriptions to identify their purpose. For example:
; fill the array with values 1,2,3,...,n for i = 0 to n list[i] = i + 1 next
Inline comments should be used to clarify anything that is not immediately obvious in the code.
roll = Random(12) Mod 11 + 2 ; compute random roll of dice
White space
Should be used liberally
- put at least one blank line between logically connected block of code, such as loops.
- put at lease 2 blank lines after the end of a function or a program section.
- put space around parentheses, and after comma-separated lists:
Compute_sum( list, n )
- Binary operators need one space on both sides:
x = 3 + y ; NOT: x=3+y
- Logical expressions need on space on both sides:
if ( x < 10 && y > 13 ) ; NOT: if(x<10&&y>13)
Indentation
- Indent 3 spaces or one 'tab' for each nested block level.
- The opening structure element (e.g. for, while, switch) is aligned below the first character in the preceding line, and the closing structure element is aligned with the matching opening structure element.
for i = 1 to 10 if i Mod 2 == 0 Pause( 'Number is even', i ) else Pause( 'Number is odd', i ) endif next - Switch statement blocks are aligned as follows:
switch ( day ) case 1 ;handle Monday Pause( 'Notice', 'Today is Monday' ) break case 2 ; handle Tuesday Pause( 'Notice', 'Today is Tuesday' ) break endswitch - A statement can be a maximum of 2048 characters long
- Position inline comments to enhance code readability; if possible, position comments above the code or neatly lined up at the same column to the right of the code.
WinBatch Studio can be used to help indent your code. You can highlight blocks of code then use the Tab key to indent or the Shift-Tab key to remove indents.
Be sure to tailor WinBatch Studio's Tab settings to fit your needs. You can modify the tab size using the View|Options menu and selecting the 'File types' tab.
There is a code Beautifier Script available for reformatting existing code in the tech database. After formatting your source file. Make sure to double check your code for compliancy to the coding standards.
Variables and other identifiers
- Named objects in your program (variables, functions, etc.) should be given meaningful names. For example, sum is a good name, s is not. On the other hand, x is a fine name if it refers to the x coordinate or is the name of the variable used in a well-known formula. Loop index variables named i, j, and k are good. Avoid lower case L, it's almost impossible to distinguish from the integer one.
- Begin all variable names with a lower-case letter, and begin all function names with an upper-case letter. Use the underscore character to enhance readability of identifiers (sum_of_squares). Avoid use of all upper case (except for labels, constants and global variables; see below).
- Constants should use all upper-case letters in the identifier name.
MAX = 1000 @TRUE @TAB
- Labels should use all upper-case letters in the identifier name.
:CANCEL
- Global variables should be used very sparingly, and should always be commented. To highlight global variable usage in your code, use all caps surrounded by underscores for global variable names:
_GLOBAL_TABLE_SIZE_ = 1023
- User Defined Functions should begin with the udf prefix. (eg., udfMyFunction ).
- User Defined Subroutines should begin with the uds prefix. (eg., udsMyFunction ).
- Pointer variables should begin with the ptr prefix.
- Binary buffer variables should begin with the buf prefix.
- Array variables should begin with the arr prefix.
- COM object variables should begin with the obj prefix.
Article ID: W17640
Filename: Coding Standard.txt
File Created: 2014:06:18:13:39:34
Last Updated: 2014:06:18:13:39:34