CLEAR RESOURCE does not appear to work (155388)

SYMPTOMS

The CLEAR RESOURCES command, a new command for Visual FoxPro 5.0, does not appear to work. When Visual FoxPro displays a bitmap, picture, cursor, icon, or font resource, Visual FoxPro caches the resource to optimize performance. If you use a resource of the same name (for example, a different bitmap with the same name as the one already cached), Visual FoxPro does not reload the resource.

Therefore, clearing a resource file is useful for removing a graphic image from memory and forcing Visual FoxPro to reload an image of the same name from disk. For example, a report might display graphic images from a database, all of which are named TEMP; however, because they all have the same name, Visual FoxPro does not reload each new graphic unless the existing one has been cleared from memory using the CLEAR RESOURCES command.

RESOLUTION

The CLEAR RESOURCES command acts only on resources that are not currently in use. In the following example, the "Toggle bitmap" button attempts to clear a resource that is in use. The click code for the "Update form" button saves the current value of the picture property, sets the picture property to "", clears the resource (which is no longer in use), and resets the picture property back to its original value. Note that the specific resource is cleared by name. Any remaining resources are not cleared. The resources must be cleared because of caching for performance reasons. You want to clear only the resource you want to update so that any others will still be in the cache.

MORE INFORMATION

Run the following code from a .prg:

      PUBLIC oform
      oform=CREATEOBJECT('form1')
      oform.Show

      DEFINE Class form1 AS Form
        Top = 0
        Left = 0
        Height = 234
        Width = 207
        DoCreate = .T.
        Caption = "Clear Resource Demo"
        Name = "form1"
        changedbmp = .F.
        ADD OBJECT image1 AS Image WITH ;
          Stretch = 2, ;
          Height = 120, ;
          Left = 36, ;
          Top = 12, ;
          Width = 144, ;
          Name = "Image1"
        ADD OBJECT command1 AS CommandButton WITH ;
          Top = 156, ;
          Left = 60, ;
          Height = 27, ;
          Width = 96, ;
          Caption = "\<Toggle bitmap", ;
          Default = .T., ;
          Name = "Command1"
       ADD OBJECT command2 AS CommandButton WITH ;
          Top = 192, ;
          Left = 67, ;
          Height = 27, ;
          Width = 84, ;
          Caption = "\<Update form", ;
          Name = "Command2"

        PROCEDURE image1.Init
          Clear RESOURCES
          COPY FILE home()+'wizards\wizbmps\wzclose.bmp' TO 'bmptemp.bmp'
          THIS.Picture='bmptemp.bmp'
        ENDPROC

        PROCEDURE command1.Click
          IF THISFORM.changedbmp=.F.
            THISFORM.changedbmp=.T.
            COPY FILE home()+'wizards\wizbmps\wzedit.bmp' TO 'bmptemp.bmp'
          ELSE
            THISFORM.changedbmp=.F.
            COPY FILE home()+'wizards\wizbmps\wzclose.bmp' TO 'bmptemp.bmp'
          ENDIF
          CLEAR RESOURCES
          THISFORM.REFRESH
        ENDPROC

        PROCEDURE command2.Click
          LOCAL lcPictemp
          lcPictemp=thisform.image1.Picture
          THISFORM.image1.Picture=''
          CLEAR RESOURCES (lcPictemp)
          THISFORM.image1.Picture=lcPictemp
        ENDPROC
ENDDEFINE

Press the "Toggle bitmap" button. Note how the button does not update the image even though it contains a CLEAR RESOURCES command in its click code.
Press the "Update form" button. Now the image is updated.

CLEAR RESOURCE does not appear to work (155388)

SYMPTOMS

CAUSE

RESOLUTION

STATUS

MORE INFORMATION

REFERENCES