AccessDefinition

int AccessDefinition(
LPSAIDENT ddPrevDef, /* Input: previous definition */
LPCTSTR lpName, /* Input: definition name */
LPWORD lpwMinorType, /* Input: definition type */
DWORD dwCommand, /* Input: combination of commands */
LPSAIDENT lpidDefinitionRet, /* Output: accessed definition id */
LPSAHANDLE lphDefHandleRet, /* Output: accessed definition handle */
LPWORD lpwIsDefNew) /* Output: indicates the creation of the definition */

Pointer to the previous definition's ddId. It can be NULL.

Name of definition to be opened. It can be a qualified name.

Pointer to the minor type of the definition to be opened.

Specifies the action to take. The following values can be combined by using the bitwise OR operator:

Value	Meaning
IMF_DEFACCESS_CREATE	If definition attempting to be accessed couldn't be found, create it.
IMF_DEFACCESS_OPEN	Open definition.
IMF_DEFACCESS_LOCK	Lock the definition being opened. Used in conjunction with IMF_DEFACCESS_OPEN.
lpidDefinitionRet	Pointer to the opened/created definition’s ddId.
lphDefHandleRet	Pointer to the opened/created definition’ s handle.
lpwIsDefNew	Pointer to a variable indicating whether or not we created this definition.

If the function succeeds, the return value is IM2XE_OK.

If the function fails, the return value is IM2XE_*. For information on the returned error, consult IM2XDEF.H located in the SADESIGN directory.

The command to find the definition is implied. In other words this function can be invoked with a dwCommand of 0 to find a definition.

The AccessDefinition function sets its own critical region and was designed to replace sequences of the following types:

When AccessDefinition is required to create a definition, it will actually write a record to the database. The function CreateDefinition did not (and still does not) do this; a call to SaveDefinition was needed to actually write the record to the database. Thus, any extant code sequence which used to call CreateDefinition (creates a memory definition block) and later decide whether to call SaveDefinition (writes out the record) or not, will have to be modified so that, if it is decided not to actually create this record, the code must now call DeleteDefinition to remove the unwanted record.

Microsoft Visual Basic Application macros that use IMF calls might require adjustment. The following IMF calls have been affected by the support for SQL Server databases:

The problem with using this ISAImf call is the same as for Encyclopedia.FullName, instead of a folder reference, a file reference is supplied. This is due to the fact that an encyclopedia is now referenced through a .UDL file and not stored within a folder. This is likely to be used simply to provide information and should not present a problem.

This has been difficult to trace, but normally used as information about the name of an Encyclopedia. The output will identify the UDL filename and not a subdirectory.