MLINE( ) Function Example

In the following example, two methods are used to return lines from a memo field. Two loops use MLINE( ) to return lines from the memo field. Note the improvement in performance in the second loop when the system variable _MLINE is used in MLINE( ).

CLEAR
SET TALK OFF
SET MEMOWIDTH TO 50
CLOSE DATABASES
CREATE TABLE tmemo (name c(10), notes m)
APPEND BLANK                  && Add a record
WAIT WINDOW 'Filling memo field - takes several seconds' NOWAIT
*** Fill the memo field  ***
FOR gnOuterLoop = 1 TO 5         && loop 5 times
   FOR gnAlphabet = 65 TO 75   && letters A to H
      REPLACE notes WITH REPLICATE(CHR(gnAlphabet), 10) ;
         + CHR(13) ADDITIVE
   NEXT
NEXT

*** Display all lines from the memo field ***

STORE MEMLINES(notes) TO gnNumLines   && Number of lines in memo field
STORE SECONDS( ) TO gnBegin      && Beginning time
FOR gnCount = 1 TO gnNumLines   && Loop for # of lines in memo field
   ? MLINE(notes, gnCount)      && Display each line
NEXT
? STR(SECONDS( ) - gnBegin, 4, 2) + ' seconds'   && Total time

*** Preferable method using _MLINE in MLINE( ) ***
*** Display all lines from the memo field ***

WAIT 'Press a key to see the preferred method' WINDOW
CLEAR
STORE 0 TO _MLINE             && Reset _MLINE to zero
STORE SECONDS( ) TO gnBegin      && Beginning time
FOR count = 1 TO gnNumLines      && Loop for # of lines in memo field
   ? MLINE(notes, 1, _MLINE)      && Display each line
NEXT
? STR(SECONDS( ) - gnBegin, 4, 2) + ' seconds'   && Total time
SET TALK ON
CLOSE DATABASES
ERASE tmemo.dbf
ERASE tmemo.fpt