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Q111991: PRB: "Compiled Code for This Line Too Long" Error Message

Article: Q111991
Product(s): Microsoft FoxPro
Version(s): MACINTOSH:2.5x,2.6a; MS-DOS:2.0,2.5x,2.6x; WINDOWS:2.5x,2.6x,3.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kberrmsg
Last Modified: 08-FEB-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft FoxPro for MS-DOS, versions 2.0, 2.5x, 2.6x 
- Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0 
- Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5x, 2.6x 
- Microsoft FoxPro for Macintosh, versions 2.5x, 2.6a 
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SYMPTOMS
========

Although the FoxPro command-line length limit is 2048 bytes, a line of compiled
code cannot exceed 1024 bytes (1 kilobyte). This means you can write a line of
code containing fewer than 2048 characters that will generate the error message
"Compiled code for this line too long" (1252).

In Visual FoxPro, the maximum number of characters per line is 8K (kilobytes).
The maximum size of a line of compiled code is 4K.

CAUSE
=====

The relationship between the character representation of a command and its
compiled or "tokenized" length is unpredictable.

Variable names and object references of different lengths may compile to the same
number of bytes. For example, a reference to the memory variable "A" compiles to
3 bytes. However, a reference to the variable "ABCDEFGH" also compiles to 3
bytes. Similarly, a reference to the number "1" and a reference to the number
"200" will each compile to 3 bytes. For this reason, shortening alias names has
no effect on the length of the tokenized line.

In addition, white space and literal strings (character strings placed within
quotation marks) are not tokenized. Therefore, eliminating spaces and
indentation in the command line also will not affect the tokenized line length.

WORKAROUND
==========

To work around this behavior, do one of the following:

- Use an ON ERROR routine that traps errors 18 (Line too long), 1252 (Compiled
  code for this line too long), and 1812 (SQL statement too long).

-or-

- Replace literal strings with variable references. This would also work for
  date literals (for example, {12/30/93}) and many numeric literals (for
  example, 4.5).

  For example, in the following SQL SELECT command

        SELECT * FROM customer ;
             WHERE company = "Allied Products" or company = "Microsoft Corp."

  the quoted text strings, "Allied Products" and "Microsoft Corp.", cannot be
  tokenized any further.

  To work around this, create a set of variables such as

        m.company1="Allied Products"
        m.company2="Microsoft Corp."

  and change your SELECT command line to the following:

        SELECT * FROM customer;
             WHERE company=m.company1 or company=m.company2

  In many cases, this command will tokenize smaller than the original command.

  NOTE: This solution does not work for small integers (less than 256) because
  the size of a tokenized 1-byte integer is the same as the size of a tokenized
  variable reference.

REFERENCES
==========

FoxPro online Help file, "Error Messages" topic

FoxPro for MS-DOS "Developer's Guide," Appendix A

FoxPro for Windows "Developer's Guide," Appendix B

FoxPro for Macintosh "Developer's Guide," Appendix B

Additional query words: FoxMac FoxDos FoxWin VFoxWin 2.50 2.50a 2.50b 2.50c 2.60 errmsg err msg browse create table insert rqbe limitation capacities capacity

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Keywords          : kberrmsg 
Technology        : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbFoxproSearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbFoxPro260aMac kbFoxPro200DOS kbVFP300
Version           : MACINTOSH:2.5x,2.6a; MS-DOS:2.0,2.5x,2.6x; WINDOWS:2.5x,2.6x,3.0

=============================================================================

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