Q63273: Editing Before First Line in Procedure Can Cause QB Problems

Article: Q63273
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 4.00 4.00b 4.50
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | buglist4.00 buglist4.00b buglist4.50 B_BasicCom SR# S900115- | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 21-SEP-1990

Editing before the first line in a SUB/FUNCTION procedure can cause
problems in the QB.EXE and QBX.EXE environments. Normally, you would
get the following correct message:

   Blank lines not allowed before SUB/FUNCTION line. Is remark OK?

However, in some cases, making other changes before the SUB/FUNCTION
line can cause the QB and QBX environments to make unwanted changes.
For example, if a remark is accepted for the line before the first
line and then the comment line is deleted, the "Blank lines not
allowed" message incorrectly appears and REMarks out the SUB/FUNCTION
line.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the QB.EXE environment
that comes with Microsoft QuickBASIC versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50
for MS-DOS and Microsoft BASIC Compiler versions 6.00 and 6.00b for
MS-DOS (buglist6.00, buglist6.00b); and in the QBX.EXE environment
that comes with Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System (PDS)
versions 7.00 and 7.10 for MS-DOS (buglist7.00, buglist7.10). We are
researching this problem and will post new information here as it
becomes available.

Besides comments, the only statements that are normally placed before
SUB/FUNCTION lines are DEFtype statements (DEFINT, etc.). To place a
DEFtype statement before the SUB/FUNCTION line, we recommend that you
type it elsewhere in the program and use the cut and paste editing
functions to move the DEFtype statement.

To correct most editing problems such as this in the QBX.EXE editor,
choose the Undo command from the Edit menu in BASIC PDS 7.00 or 7.10,
which can undo as many as the last 20 modifications.

The following information (from the QBX Help screen for the "Blank
lines not allowed" dialog box) describes the behavior of the QBX
editor with respect to blank lines before SUB/FUNCTION statements:

   Ordinarily the SUB or FUNCTION statement that begins a
   procedure is the first line in the View window. When you
   try to use the smart editor to put a blank line above
   the SUB or FUNCTION statement, the editor always transforms
   that blank line into a comment line.

To edit more easily before the first line in a SUB or FUNCTION, you
can save the file in text format and use a different editor or word
processor to edit the code.

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