MESSAGE...METHOD

 Synopsis

         Declare message and corresponding method

 Syntax

         MESSAGE <message name> METHOD <method name>
              [CONSTRUCTOR | CTOR]

 Arguments

         <message name> is the name of the message being declared. Like
         a Clipper function or variable name, up to 10 characters are
         significant. Extra characters will be ignored.

         <method name> is the name of the method to invoke when the
         specified message is sent. A method of this name should be defined
         later in the same module using the METHOD definition command,
         unless an external method is being declared.

 Description

         This command allows a method to be declared which is invoked by a
         message with a name different from that of the method. This may be
         necessary for one of several reasons:

 1.      The message name conflicts with a Clipper reserved name. Examples
         of this are left, delete, and at (see the Clipper
         documentation section on reserved words). These are names which
         the Clipper compiler handles specially, so having methods with the
         same names is problematic. However, this does not prevent the use
         of these names as messages. To map a message to a method with a
         different name, a statement such as the following can be used:

              MESSAGE left METHOD boxLeft

         In this example, the message left is mapped to the method
         called boxLeft.

 2.      When an ordinary function is called which has the same name as the
         method from which it is being called. For example, attempting to
         call a function called Display() from a method called
         display will result in an endless recursive loop. To resolve
         this, give the method a different name, for example:

              MESSAGE display METHOD boxDisplay

         This maps the display message to a method called boxDisplay.
         Now if a function called Display() is called from within the
         boxDisplay method, everything works as expected.

 3.      To map a message to a method which is defined in a module other
         than the one containing the class specification. This is not
         recommended practice. See External Methods.

 4.      To map two or more messages in a class to the same method. This
         might be required to support an obsolete message which is still in
         use. For example:

              MESSAGE getValue METHOD get
              METHOD  get

         In this case, the messages getValue and get both map to
         the same method, named get. Note that the second statement
         above uses the default behaviour of the METHOD command to name
         a message and method the same name - it would be unnecessary
         (although it would work) to use MESSAGE get METHOD get.

 Note

         If the optional CONSTRUCTOR clause is included (or its
         abbreviation CTOR), then the message is flagged as a
         constructor message. See Constructor Messages and Methods
         for more information.

 See Also

         METHOD (declaration), METHOD (definition), External
         Methods, Constructor Messages and Methods