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ESL Documentation

Definition

Group a number of objects under one identifier.

class CLASS_NAME [is OBJECT_NAME1 [OBJECT_NAME2]...]

CLASS_NAME

The identifier for a class of objects.

OBJECT_NAMEn

The identifiers for an object.

Description

Use this statement to group a number of objects under one identifier. This allows you to define response definitions for and perform operations on a group of objects.

All of the objects in the class definition must have been previously defined in the program. The class can be initially empty.

As a general rule, it is inadvisable to group different types of objects as members of the same class. You should define classes that consist of only one type of object.

You cannot define a class as a member of another class; only individual objects can be defined as class members.

An object can be a member of more than one class.

Once a class is defined, you can reference it in any action statement that is valid for an object. When the actions are executed, they will affect all of the objects in the class. Also, you can define a response to the class, and the response will be triggered by any of the objects in the class.

Example

class Empty_CL

class Keys_CL is

KeyA KeyB KeyC ClearKey PanicKey

...

response to Keys_CL # If KeyA, KeyB, KeyC,

# ClearKey, or PanicKey is

make Panel visible # selected, Panel becomes

# visible.

response to GoBack_PB # When GoBack is selected,

# all of the objects in the

make Keys_CL invisible # class Keys are made invisible.

See Also

add to class Action Statement

delete from class Action Statement

members Special Inquiry Built-in Function