Undocumented feature - current assignment file

One great feature of Uniface is it's great flexibility and configurability, through the use of different assignment (.asn) files.  These are used to define paths to the different runtime files and server locations, etc.  The problem can then come though, especially with multiple environments, that you don't know which assignment file you're using!

I wrote a post a while ago about the undocumented $assignments function, which allows you to get access to the assignment file settings that you are currently using, but this doesn't help you get to the filename itself.

One suggestion I've seen before is to add a logical to each assignment file which specifies the name/location of the file.  However, it's way too easy for someone to move, copy or rename the file and neglect to update the logical, and then worse than not knowing, you think you do know but the information you're being given is inaccurate.

Luckily Uniface 9.6.06 has solved this problem with a new undocumented feature of $processinfo...

  putmess $processinfo("cmdline")

This will put the command line used to access the application into the message buffer.  For example...

  "\\server\location\uniface\bin\uniface.exe" /asn=\\server\location\adm\uclidev.asn /ini=\\server\location\ini\me.ini APPSHELL

As you can see, the assignment file and ini file are both specified in the command line, along with the application shell as well.  This should give you all the information you need, although you'll need to do some string manipulation to pull out the bit(s) you want.

This was recently discussed on the UnifaceInfo.com forums, so you can check there for more context, and sign up if you haven't already!

Summary: You can access the current assignment file location, but accessing the command line, as long as you're happy to use an undocumented/unsupported feature.

Undocumented feature - assignment files

I was asked yesterday if I knew about the Uniface function $assignments.  I did and it's something that we started using as soon as it became available (from version 9.something) and it's incredibly useful.  I searched the manuals so that I could send the enquirer the details, but I couldn't find any reference to it.

When a userver starts up, it reads the assignment file in order to get numerous settings.  There are many sections, including a custom section called "logicals", which allows you to add your own assignment files settings, which can be read using the $logical function.  

It is now possible to list all of the logicals at once, like this...

  list = $assignments("LOGICALS")

This returns a Uniface list of all the logicals.  It is possible to return any section of the assignment files in this way, including "paths", "files" and "services_exec".

This was mentioned on the Hacking UnifAce blog over a year ago, but hopefully you find it useful.

Summary: You can access the assignment file settings in code, listed by their section, which can be useful for checking which settings the current userver is using.