PPWIZARD is a free preprocessor for HTML, REXX, Visual Basic or any text files.

Switch /Pack[:YesOrNo]

This is a PPWIZARD command line switch. You can set up your own default switches in the "PPWIZARD_OPTIONS" environment variable or in project files.

This switch is only useful if "/rexx" is also specified. You can get a much smaller generated rexx program by packing (off by default). Packing does not significantly slow down processing.

If the "YesOrNo" parameter is not specified then it defaults to "Y", otherwise one of the following values is expected:

• Y
• N
• YES
• NO

MORE ON PACKING

The preprocessor packs well written code (by my definition!) and can fail to correctly pack code where strings are appended without the use of the "||" operator (as the excess spaces will be removed). For example the following statement will not create the string you expect when packed:

       BothPartsCombined = 'Value:'   TheValue;
    

The following statement is a version of the above that will work:

        BothPartsCombined = 'Value:   ' || TheValue;
    

You can get very good results by packing but if you have got legacy code or you don't wish to change (your evil ways!) you should use the "/Pack:N" command line switch. This turns off most packing (rexx comment and trailing ';' removal still occurs).

If you have trouble with some parts of your code but the bulk packs well then you may wish to consider leaving packing on and using the AllowPack option to indicate parts of your rexx code that should not be packed.

WARNING

This has not been tested on object rexx so I don't know if it will work or not (I assume it will).

PPWIZARD Manual

Thursday January 17 2002 at 6:27pm