PA_GetFieldProperties

version 2003

PA_GetFieldProperties (tNum; fNum; fieldKind; stringLength; isIndexed; fAttributes)

Parameter	Type		Description
tNum	short		Table number
fNum	short		Field number
fieldKind	PA_FieldKind *		Kind of field
stringLength	short *		Length of the string field
isIndexed	char *		1 = Indexed field
fAttributes	long *		Field attributes

The routine PA_GetFieldProperties returns different information about the given field.

fieldKind is the kind of the field, a returned value from the PA_FieldKind enum, defined as this:

typedef enum

{

  eFK_InvalidFieldKind
= -1,

  eFK_AlphaField
= 0,
//  Alphanumeric field (from 2 to 80 characters)
  eFK_RealField
= 1,
//  Numeric field (Double or Extended value)
  eFK_TextField
= 2,
//  Text field (up to 32000 characters)
  eFK_PictureField
= 3,
//  Picture field (virtually any block of data)
  eFK_DateField
= 4,
//  Date field 
  eFK_BooleanField
= 6,
//  Boolean field
  eFK_SubfileField
= 7,
//  Subfile field
  eFK_IntegerField
= 8,
//  Integer field (-32768..32767)
  eFK_LongintField
= 9,
//  Long Integer field (-2^31..(2^31)-1)
  eFK_TimeField
= 11,
// Time field
  eFK_BlobField
= 30
// BLOB field
} PA_FieldKind;

stringLength is the length of the field expressed in characters. It may vary from 2 to 80 characters. The length is significant only for alphanumeric fields and can be ignored for all other types of fields.

isIndexed is 1 if the field is indexed, otherwise it is 0. Note that for non-indexable fields (text, Pictures, blobs, subtables), this value can be ignored

fAttributes are the attributes of the Field (such as Mandatory), returned bit field coded on the Low Word of fAttributes.

Bit number	Set to 1 if the Field	Can be ignored if
15	Is Indexed	Text, Picture or SubTable
14	Is Indexed unique	SubTable Boolean, Text, Picture, or if bit
		15 is not set
13	Is Mandatory	SubTable
12	Is Modifiable	Picture or SubTable
11	Is Mandatory	SubTable
10	Is Modifiable	SubTable
8	Is Invisible	SubTable
6	Has an Automatic	Text, Picture or SubTable
	Many to One relation*
5	Has an Automatic	Text, Picture or SubTable
	One to Many relation*
2 and 1	Has an Automatic One to Many	Allow Deletion Control in the
	relation* whose "Deletion Control"	Preferences Dialog box is not checked,
	option is:	(equivalent to Leave Related Many
	00 Relational Integrity database	intact)
	option is not active
	01 Leave related many intact
	10 Delete related many
	11 Can't delete related many
0	Has an automatic One to Many	Text, Picture, or SubTable, or if bit 5 is
	relation* whose "Auto assign	not set
	related value" attribute is set

*The relation starts from this Field.

Note that the definition of a field may change during a session if the database is not compiled a user may edit field definitions in the Design environment while the 4D Extension is running in another process.

Get the visible of a field

   #define kINVISIBLE_MASK      0x00000100
   
   char IsFieldVisible (short tNum, short fNum)
   {
      PA_FieldKind   kind;
      short         len;
      char         isIndexed;
      long         attrs;
      
      PA_GetFieldProperties(tNum, fNum, &kind, &len, &isIndexed, &attrs);
      if(PA_GetLastError())
         return 0; // or error code ?
      
      return (char) ( (attrs & kINVISIBLE_MASK) ? 1 : 0 );
   }

PA_GetFieldList, PA_GetFieldName, PA_GetFieldRelation.

Use PA_GetLastError to see if an error occurred (bad table/field numbers).