Non request

18.4.0 released Sep 25, 2023

Non request

Non-request source files implement common code used in request-handling .vely files, meaning they are used to implement functionality that is used in more than one place in a program. Their names always start with an underscore ('_').

So for instance, file '_display.vely' would never handle any requests directly - such file may be (for example) implementing common functions that display various HTML statements; those function's prototypes should be declared in both request-handling and non-request files, typically in a header file included (see Examples).

When Vely code is compiled, both request and non-request source code is automatically picked up - all files with .vely extensions are used.

A non-request source file can implement any number of functions which can be named in any fashion. However, Vely will declare a prototype for a function with the same name, saving you to the effort to do that, should you decide to implement it. For example, if you have function "void _display_table()" in file "_display.table.vely":

#include "vely.h"

void _display_table() {
    ...
}

then the prototype for function "void _display_table()" will be automatically generated and you do not have to do it manually.

Examples

In the following example, a list of customer names is shown (note functions "header()" and "footer()" that display a header and a footer), and the code is implemented in request source file "show.vely". Note that header file ("common.h") with prototypes for "header()" and "footer()" is included in "show.vely":

#include "vely.h"
#include "common.h"

void show() {
    run-query @db="select name from cust" output name
        header();
        query-result  name
        footer();
    end-query
}

Function _display() is implemented in non-request source file "_display.vely". Note that header file ("common.h") with prototypes for "header()" and "footer()" is included here too:

#include "vely.h"
#include "common.h"

void header () {
    @Name:<br/>
}
void footer() {
    @<hr/>
}

Finally, in order for functions "header()" and "footer()" to be properly declared, you'd add header the above header file "common.h" (you can name it anything, but don't forget to change it elsewhere):

#include "vely.h"

void header ();
void footer();

Both files ("show.vely" and "_display.vely") will be automatically picked up, compiled and linked.