Beijer Electronics (formerly QSI Corporation)

I am looking at adding a version string to the user header as described in Appendix C and E of the Programmer's Reference Manual. Appendix E states that the data from the user header can be retrieved from the application with GetBinaryResource. I would like to be able to pull the version string from the header and display it to the user on screen. Do you have an example of how to access user header data from within the application?

I am using Qlarity 2.63 and a QTERM-G56.

Thanks!
-Tim

Here is a brief code sample that demonstrates how to use GetBinaryResource to parse a variable initial value from the user header.



Note that for this sample to work, you need to go to Tools->Settings->Compile and add

to the Extra compiler flags box.

_________________
Jeremy
http://www.beijerinc.com

Note that in general, parsing an initial value from the user header within Qlarity isn't particularly useful -- after all you can just use the variable directly. Where it becomes more useful is for external tools to be able to look at a .bff file and extract the version information.

GetBinaryResource(bff_user_header) is more useful to the Qlarity application if you are interested in the date that the BFF was compiled.

_________________
Jeremy
http://www.beijerinc.com

Jeremy,

Thanks for the quick response. I want to be able to choose the version number at build time. I'm actually generating the version number externally and loading it into the header via the -uhs compiler option. I was able to adapt your solution to pull out the version number. In this case, it looks like the value isn't wrapped in quotes, but starts with VerStr= and ends with a newline (\n). Is each field in the user header always expected to be terminated with a newline?

The big missing piece for me was the bff_user_header resource name. I didn't see it in the documentation anywhere. We have a utility on the system to which the handheld is attached that can load new versions of the handheld software. Having the version number in the header would allow the utility to check the version before trying to load new software.

Thanks again!
-Tim

I can see how that might not be obvious.

For reference, if you are interested: bff_user_header is briefly documented with the GetBinaryResource function. Also, if you type GetBinaryResource( in CodeView, the autocomplete help will provide bff_user_header as an option.

Also, an alternative implementation which may be more convenient for a script-based system would be to place the init VerStr line of code in a separate file and then use in your global code. Then you can have your script just update that file as needed.

Yes, the compiler will emit a newline between each entry in the user header. (I would recommend not putting a newline in the content of your entries to make parsing easier).

_________________
Jeremy
http://www.beijerinc.com