Q61673: "Illegal Function Call" with TAB & LOCATE in Compiled Program

Article: Q61673
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 4.50
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | SR# S900417-103 B_BasicCom buglist4.50 | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 11-MAY-1990

This article documents a special case where the TAB function placed
between two LOCATE statements causes an "Illegal Function Call" in a
subroutine. This problem occurs only in a compiled (.EXE) program
using QuickBASIC version 4.50.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft QuickBASIC
version 4.50. This problem was corrected in Microsoft BASIC
Professional Development System (PDS) version 7.00 for MS-DOS
(fixlist7.00).

This problem does not occur in Microsoft QuickBASIC versions 4.00 or
4.00b or in Microsoft BASIC Compiler versions 6.00 and 6.00b for
MS-DOS.

The problem does not occur if you do one or both of the following:

1. Remove the TAB function from between the Locate statements. Instead
   of TAB, use a literal such as "     " with the appropriate number of
   spaces, or use the STRING$() function.

2. Compile with /x.

Code Example
------------

   ' Compile line: BC tab.bas;
   ' Link line:    LINK tab ;

   DECLARE SUB test (col)
   CALL test(20)

   SUB test (col)
       LOCATE col, 1
       PRINT TAB(2);
       LOCATE col, 1     'This line gives the "Illegal Function call"
   END SUB

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