FWD » Core Development » Conversion Tools

• Added a note on each abbreviated field name, and quick fixes which expand an abbreviated keyword or field name, one at a time or all in the file (source action ‘Expand abbreviations’). A word after a colon is left alone, as an attribute or a method (btn:HEIGHT stays HEIGHT).
• Added the Correct Case source action, which writes a file's keywords in upper case, leaving names, class and member names, preprocessor names and include arguments as written.
• Stopped reporting an include pulled in more than once, since it is legal and common.
• Removed the include walk and the 255 nesting limit.

• Fixed Go to Definition for a name declared in an include, which now lands in the include, and the outline, which no longer lists an include's declarations as the program's own nor shifts those below an include.
• Fixed the position of an error on a line with tabs, which was placed to the right of the token.
• Stopped the abbreviation expansion from changing include paths and the names of user functions.
• Read the files which are not open in the project's source charset, so renaming an include, completion and the editor's lookups no longer skip a file which is not UTF-8.
• Stopped a check which ends after its file was closed from bringing back the file's errors.
• Stopped parsing an open include on its own on every edit, and released the preprocessed text and hints of a closed file. The cache file is no longer written beside stale hints after a failed preprocess.
• Made highlight and hover search the include spans only for the nodes which name the symbol.
• Fixed the folding and colouring of strings with a tilde escape, and the folding of property GET and SET accessors.
• Hid the extension's commands while the server is not running.
• Applied code style fixes.

• Stopped a check from writing into the project: a class pre-scan now inherits check-only mode and the unsaved text, adds no class or @TestSuite procedure to the conversion list and writes no .NET dependencies. Conversion behaves as before.
• Wrote the cache file on save only when every source the parse read matches the disk, a byte order mark aside, and reported a charset difference apart from unsaved edits. Regenerate now refuses, with the reason, a program which includes a file with unsaved edits.
• Moved the work off the thread which reads messages: requests, fwd4gl/preprocessed and fwd4gl/regenerate run on their own thread, and the parses on the check thread.
• Took the keywords for Correct Case and Expand abbreviations from FWD's lexers, leaving file names, internal procedures and preprocessor directives alone, and kept the finding on the first statement of a block.
• Took the name characters from the lexer, so # $ % and & are read as part of a name everywhere (h#: offers members).
• Made rename refuse a name declared twice which the tree cannot pair, count a FUNCTION prototype and its body as one declaration, and give parameters, properties, events, datasets and methods their own identity. A variable is keyed by class file and index, so a class member is not taken for a local.
• Applied code style fixes.

• Reported the preprocessor's lexer, directive and &IF errors in the editor at thei an unterminated string or comment and a missing &ENDIF. Conversion behaves as before,
  except that an &IF skipped up to the end of the file no longer hangs it.
• Kept the default lock and abbreviation notes while the file has a syntax error.
• Made rename refuse a new name which is already declared in the same scope, is a res one, or is also used by an include. A name of an enclosing or nested scope is
  refused only where a mention would change meaning; the fwd4gl.rename.allowHiding setrigger block is a scope.
• Fixed the position of words after a string followed by a colon, which were one ch
• Made a class created, deleted or edited after the server started visible to the neads the classes again without listing the class files again.
• Found preprocessor references inside strings, for hover, highlight and rename.
• Made code actions honour the kinds the editor asks for, and fixed the class outlitors are named after their class, and a property's GET and SET are nested under it.
• Read a TODO's owner in square brackets too.
• Listed each system table once in the DB Structure view.
• Fixed the word boundaries of the grammar for names with # $ % & and -, and an incquoted }. Updated the colours, snippets and file types.
• Made start-up lazy: the warm-up loads the configuration and the schema only, and cument needs it. The DB Structure view no longer waits for a running check. An unsaved
  new file can be checked.
• Stopped the class file listing from following symbolic links inside a PROPATH dirink no longer makes it list the whole FWD tree (hotel_gui: 55 s down to about 3 s).
  This applies to conversion too.
• Applied code style fixes.

• Ported #3881 (branch 3881b, r16715..r16726): the preprocessor records in the .pphts output came from, and where each preprocessor name was defined, so a position in the
  .cache resolves to the original file, line and column. A parser error now names theosition, and the report server shows the original source position of each detail row.
  Conversion output is unchanged.
• Summarised the history entries of the ported work in one line per file, and folde entries into one.

Editor features take their source positions from the #3881 origin hints instead of outline, definition, rename and errors land correctly.

• Added cursor sync between a program and its preprocessed view. The view is now th abl-preprocessed, read-only); the matching line is highlighted in the other editor,
  and Go to Counterpart (Alt+O) moves to the matching place, into the include the texe. fwd4gl/cachePosition and fwd4gl/sourcePosition map positions through the saved
  .pphints origins, and refuse, with the reason, a cache file older than the program while the program is closed), unsaved edits in the program or an include, hints
  without origins, and an include, which has no view of its own. The view's badge marThe extension publishes the synced .cache position for the debugger.
• Fixed the #3881 origins of an include whose last line ends in a directive: the re recorded as the includer's text, and the includer's text maps to its exact column.
  Conversion output is unchanged.
• Made fwd4gl/preprocessed and the cursor sync wait for the warm-up without holdingche editor restored by Reload Window gets its badge and sync. fwd4gl/preprocessed no
  longer sends the cache file's text.
• Added the knowledge base hover of a statement's keyword: the short text of its fwink which shows the long text in the same hover at the first click, then Less and Open
  to the side. Topics are JSON resources in com/goldencode/p2j/lsp/kb/ (statements-dikeyword is taken from the tree and the lexer's keyword table, so DISP finds DISPLAY.
• Laid out a class's outline as PDSOE does: the USING declarations, then the class es and methods, constructor and destructor included, without GET/SET. A constructor's
  and a destructor's entry now selects its name.
• Made F2 on a class name, constructor or destructor rename all three and offer to ed otherwise than its file reports the error on the class name, with quick fixes torename the class or the file. Renaming in an include opened alone says that include
• Made the DB Structure view open the .df at the line which adds a database, table,
• Gave a temp-table field's hover the short form of a variable's (name - TYPE), andon every hover of a file with a buffer named like its temp-table.
• Made a {&name} hover and completion consider only the definitions above the referhere says it is not defined at this point.
• Applied code style fixes.

• Made Go to Definition (Ctrl+Click) on a {&name} open the definition the preproce in the program or in the include (nested too) that made it.
• Replaced the extension's keyword-scan folding (blocks.ts, folding.ts) with the sblock of the parse folds down to its END, and a DEFINE FRAME over several lines down to
  its period, as in OpenEdge; progress.g now records both places in a check-only paranged), and comments over several lines fold as FWD's lexer reads them. While the
  buffer differs from the last parse, the folds follow the edit, so folded blocks sterver asks the editor to fetch them again after every check. Code in an inactive &IFbranch no longer folds. fwd4gl.folding.enabled still falls back to indentation folding.
• Completed the list of FWD extension members which completion marks: the PROGRESSd TIMER attributes and methods progress.g marks as FWD's were offered as real 4GL.
• Added a Show expansion lens above each include reference of a program: it shows, a title and the text that reference expanded to at the last check (arguments and
  preprocessor names substituted, nested includes expanded, skipped branches left ouion. The preprocessor keeps, in memory only, where each include's reference was
  written, so the reference is matched by its place; conversion output and the .pphi

• Added completion of the names the caret sees, from the last successful check: variables, parameters, properties, events, widgets, queries, streams, datasets, procedures, functions and methods, each in its own scope and only below its definition, except an internal procedure ets you use above it. Names declared in includes are offered too; the parameters of adeclaration with no body (a FORWARD or IN SUPER function, an abstract method, an eter RUN, the internal procedures are offered with the program paths. Nothing is offeredin a string, a comment, after a dot or on a preprocessor directive's line.* Added completion after an ampersand in code: PDSOE's &FR, &GL and &SC templates,ives, read from the preprocessor lexer. Nothing is offered inside braces, where theampersand starts a preprocessor name or an include's named argument.
• Turned off VS Code's word-based suggestions for ABL and the preprocessed view, wments and names out of scope.
• Fixed a position inside a string or comment left open to the end of the text, wh

• Moved the language server to com.goldencode.p2j.ide.lsp and the VS Code extension from tools/vscode-4gl to src/com/goldencode/p2j/ide/vscode, under the ide super-package that will also hold the debug adapter.

• Added a newline count to ByteCountOutputStream and the TRPL functions getCurrentLine and getLastWrittenLine, which report the output line of the code being emitted.
• Added the .dbgmap debug map model and its JSON reader and writer.
• Added the Java line ownership algorithm that assigns each generated Java line to a 4GL statement.

• Made conversion write a <program>.dbgmap line map next to each program's cache file.
• Added DebugMapCheck, a command line check of .dbgmap files against marker programs, with a coverage count.

• Added the 4GL debug adapter launcher, which speaks DAP over stdio and finds the converted project.
• Added the debug adapter's lazy index of .dbgmap files, with stale map detection.
• Added attach to a running FWD server over JDWP, the FWD version check, and the 4GL session thread list with pause and continue.
• Added breakpoints on cache file lines.

• Added the 4GL call stack, which folds the Java frames of each 4GL routine into one frame.
• Added Step Over, Step Into and Step Out by 4GL statement.
• Added the fwd4gl/setMode request, which switches a debug session between the 4GL and the Java view.

• Added 4GL value formatting for the Variables view, reading large values only in part.
• Added the 4GL variable scopes (Locals, Program, Buffers, Shared, System) and object members.
• Added handle attributes, buffer records and shared data to the Variables view, read by calls in the stopped thread with a timeout.

• Fixed stale map detection after a reconversion, the missing-JDK message, attach timeouts and error containment in the 4GL debug adapter.
• A failing step stops and reports; a failed step start leaves no state; variables() reads a copy of the session state.
• A dead thread and a mode switch release their frames and pinned objects; class prepare requests no longer match FooBar for Foo.

• Fixed the debug map lines of RUN: the run() and runSuper() calls now name their 4GL statement, so a plain RUN, RUN PERSISTENT and RUN SUPER have Java lines.
• Fixed line ownership: a line whose deepest node has no owner goes to another node starting on it, so breakpoints on a DO ON ERROR header fire.
• Fixed the empty vars of the debug map: a definition finds its REFERENCE_DEF through the declaring ASSIGN and member-peerid, and a temp-table definition is named, so the Variables view shows the 4GL variables.
• Fixed property accessors in the debug map: a GET or SET with a body is a routine named GET or SET and the property name, which scopes its own definitions, so it no longer shows as raw Java frames nor lists its local variables as object members.

• Fixed the 4GL call stack around lambdas: the JDK's hidden $$Lambda classes count as runtime, so they no longer split a routine into several frames.
• Fixed breakpoints and steps on DEFINE statements: a DEFINE is no stop point, so a breakpoint moves to the next statement and a step does not stop at a variable's initialization.
• Fixed Step Into of a statement which calls back through the runtime, such as PUBLISH: the step no longer stops in the lambda building its arguments, at the origin statement with more Java frames.
• Fixed a step stopping again on a statement after a function it called returned, as on n = f(x): a return into the middle of a line starts no statement, only the first code of the line does.
• Fixed Step Out after a setter or a constructor's SUPER call, which skipped the caller's next statement: the event which leaves the frame is judged like any other event.

• Fixed the value display of a DECIMAL, which showed the 10 decimals of a variable, and of a ROWID: they now show as STRING does.
• Fixed the value of an object variable, which showed the Java class: it shows the 4GL class name.
• Fixed the members of an object, which left out the inherited ones: the members of each converted class it inherits from are listed too.

• Fixed the missing parameters in the Variables view: the debug map lists DEFINE PARAMETER and signature parameters through the local their routine copies them into, an extent parameter keeps its extent, and a dynamic extent parameter is read through its holder array.

• Fixed a step which skipped a block body whose first instruction calls the runtime: method entries into converted code are judged like step events.
• Fixed a step which stopped twice on one line holding two statements, such as IF x THEN NEXT.

• Fixed the collapsed value of a handle in Locals, which showed the Java class: it shows the resource id and its 4GL type, read without calls.
• Fixed the field names of a buffer in the Variables view, which were Java property names: they are the 4GL names.
• Fixed bufferField, which reported a failed buffer read as no record.
• Fixed the missing BUFFER parameters in the Variables view: the debug map lists them in Buffers, through the local their routine defines with defineAlias.
• Fixed computed properties, which showed their unused backing field: a property with a GET body is a lazy variable whose getter runs when the user expands it.
• Fixed the lazy properties of a frame, which copied the frame owner lookup: ScopeReader.frameOwner finds the instance and class once per scope; an EXTENT property records no getter, as its GET takes an index.
• Fixed THIS-PROCEDURE in the System scope, which followed the session: it is the procedure of the selected frame.
• Fixed THIS-PROCEDURE of a frame with no program instance, which showed the session's: only the innermost frame falls back to it.

• Added the parser and evaluator of the restricted 4GL expressions used by the debug adapter's evaluate, conditions and logpoints.
• Fixed the expression evaluator: division by zero is unknown, unknown arithmetic results keep their type, DECIMAL results round to 10 decimals.
• Added evaluate to the debug adapter: watch expressions, hovers and the Debug Console accept 4GL names, fields, extent elements, attributes and simple expressions.
• Fixed evaluate: a plain name keeps the text prefix and other expressions read texts whole up to 1 MiB characters, a procedure's own buffer or shared name wins over the program-level one, errors use EvalException.userText, an empty expression is refused, and the class maps of an object and the shared lookup are shared helpers of ScopeReader.

• Added conditional breakpoints, hit counts and logpoints to the debug adapter.
• Fixed the breakpoint decision: a finished decision no longer clears the deciding mark of the thread's next hit, a failure while the session lasts stops the thread, errors show their message without the Java class, the condition is parsed before the hit condition, and a log message error keeps its cause.

• Added setting variable values in the Variables view: variables, parameters and extent elements of the scalar types, assigned in the stopped session.
• Fixed setVariable: a DECIMAL is built with decimal.fromLiteral, so the session's number format does not change the value, an exception thrown in the server shows its message without the Java class, and a timed out set says that it may still be set.
• Fixed setVariable: a DECIMAL beyond 50 digits is refused before any call, a failure of the debug adapter shows a text naming the 4GL type and logs the detail, and a timed out creation of the value says the variable was not changed.

• Fixed the Buffers scope of an alias buffer found in the live run: the record of a BUFFER parameter is read from the record buffer behind its proxy, so the parameter shows its record and its fields.
• Fixed the cost of a breakpoint decision found in the live run: a decision, a stack trace and a step event look up the map of each class once, not once per frame.
• Fixed the map lookups of a step event found in the live run: the step view looks up the map of each class once for its frames and its statement start, a frame's map and currentMap share MapIndex.usableMap, and the field read behind an alias buffer is a named constant.
• Fixed a breakpoint decision whose call timed out: a logpoint or condition whose call still runs in the thread stops it with a console line saying why, never resumes it, and so does a deferred step; a stop keeps the thread from taking calls while that call runs.
• Fixed hovers running the GET of a computed property: a hover shows a bare reference to one as the lazy variable of the Variables view and refuses an expression which needs its value, while watches and the Debug Console still run it.
• Fixed the minors of the final review: an exception thrown in the target shows its message without its Java class in evaluate, conditions and logpoints, one factory builds the frame value source and one method formats a value, stale texts are true again, and a refused set says what it refused.

• Added the fwd4gl/javaLocation request, which gives the Java file and line of a frame for the Java View.
• Fixed the debug map of DEFINE TEMP-TABLE and DEFINE BUFFER (and DEFINE WORK-TABLE, DEFINE STREAM and the local of a DEFINE PARAMETER), which had no Java lines: the map records the declaration of their buffer as decl, so the Java View can show it.

• Added the 4GL debugger (attach to a FWD server, 4GL/Java mode toggle, hover over 4GL references) and the Java View (the generated Java beside its .cache file, synced by cursor and by debug stops, with a stale-map badge) to the VS Code extension in src/com/goldencode/p2j/ide/vscode. Breakpoints and the debug hover also work in the preprocessed views (abl-preprocessed). The Java View does not yet follow the cursor sync from a program to its preprocessed view.

• Fixed the debugger changing the program when it reads handle attributes (code review 2026-10-29): attribute getters run through the new server-side SilentGetter inside ErrorManager.nestedSilent, so an error a getter reports (DATA-SOURCE-COMPLETE-MAP 12780 of a buffer outside a dataset, STRING-VALUE 26 of an extent field, ...) is shown in place of the value and reaches neither the end user, nor ERROR-STATUS, nor the program's CATCH; RECORD-LENGTH, BUFFER-VALUE and STRING-VALUE of a record read with a FIELDS list are not read; TOP-NAV-QUERY and REPORT, whose getters create objects, are denied.
• Fixed the reading of STATIC data members (code review 2026-10-29): the conversion keeps a STATIC member in a ContextLocal field, one value per session, which the debugger showed as "<unavailable: type ...$1>"; InvokingInspector.contextValue reads the session's value with ContextLocal.getImpl(false) in the stopped thread ("<not set in this session yet>" when the session has none, without creating it), used for the Program scope, the members of an expanded object, the members in an evaluation and the target of a set.
• Fixed the variable of a CATCH block, which was not in the debug map (code review 2026-10-29): DebugMapWorker lists it with kind CATCH through the parameter of its catchError lambda (not the "_top" copy, which is unknown before the CATCH and stale after it); ScopeReader.outOfScope finds the CATCH variables whose lambda frame is not on the stack, and ScopeBuilder.partition leaves them out, so the variable is in Locals and resolves in watches, hover and the Debug Console only while its CATCH runs, two CATCH blocks of one routine naming the same variable give one row, and it is not settable; a local lookup passes over frames without a local variable table.

• The Java View follows the cursor of a program: while a pair is linked, it follows the cache file positions which the language server's cursor sync reaches from the program of the pair's .cache (onDidSyncCachePosition), also when the .cache is not visible, and shows the Java lines of the statement at that line, as a cursor move in the .cache does; the subscription is held only while a pair is linked, so the sync asks the server for program positions only when the view can use them.

• DEFINE statements are stop points (#11742-17), for breakpoints and steps.
• The Variables view shows a definition only from its position on; a program's NEW [GLOBAL] SHARED data is shown with its own definitions.
• Fixed the program's variables in a trigger with its own definitions, which showed as unavailable.
• Java View: fixed the highlights of trigger ON, DO: and END lines; DEFINE FRAME and widget DEFINEs open the generated frame class (new .dbgframe maps).
• Cursor sync: no more alignment scroll, the Java View's colour, and no highlight left after its editor closes.

• Java View: the line of an IF, CASE, DO, FOR or REPEAT shows only the head of its Java, up to its first nested statement; an ELSE, WHEN or OTHERWISE maps to its else, case or default and back (new clauses in the .dbgmap); END CASE maps to the closing brace of its switch; a blank or comment line before a procedure's END stays in the procedure.
• Java View: DEFINE FRAME highlights where the program creates the frame; a widget DEFINE, also a VIEW-AS variable, opens the frame class, falling back to the statement's own Java when the frame class has no lines for it.
• Outline: a trigger lists the variables defined in it, which are no longer among the program's variables; the Include files category no longer spans the code between its references, so an error there no longer marks it.
• DB Structure: a click on a table, field, index or sequence marks its whole definition in the .df, centred.
• Completion: the lexer's keywords starting with what is typed (from two characters, in upper case, with their abbreviation); a list given for one letter is incomplete, so the editor asks again as the word grows.