STRERROR()
Syntax
STRERROR( [ <expN> ] )Description
The STRERROR() function returns a string describing the last operating system error message. If the optional error number is specified then the related operating system error message will be returned.Example
mqdes=mqcreate("/myqueue", 2)
if (mqdes < 0)
messagebox(strerror()+",errno="+alltrim(str(error())))
return
endif
rc = mqsend(mqdes, "Test message")
if (rc < 0)
messagebox(strerror()+",errno="+alltrim(str(error())))
return
endif
mqclose(mqdes)
Recital 10 introduced the PIPETOSTR() function. This function operates in a similar fashion to the FILETOSTR() function but it can be used to capture the output from externally executed operating system commands. e.g.
// determine how many Recital users are on the system
nusers = pipetostr("ps -ef | grep db.exe | wc -l")
When using Recital on linux you can integrate your favorite linux shell commands and use then directly inside Recital using the alias command. This can be particularly useful when you ssh into a remote system and run recital. You can then issue linux commands without having to open another terminal session. Several aliased shell commands are predefined in /opt/recital/conf/config.db. You can add others to suit your needs.
On my system i have these commands aliased.
The alias command handles parameter substitition.
alias pwd "? default()"
alias cp "copy file "
alias mv "rename "
alias rm "erase "
alias ls "run('ls $0')"
alias ps "run('ps $0')"
alias grep "run('grep $0')"
alias cd "set default to $1"
alias cls "clear screen"
These commands can now be used inside the Recital command window just as you would use them at the linux prompt, including the ability to pipe commands together.
ls -l | grep .prg ps -elf | grep db.exeThe run() function that is used to run the shell command as specified in the alias command will capture output and display it in a text viewer. If you want to run the command and display the contents full screen, then specify true as the third parameter to the run().
run("command", true, true)
The arguments to run() are as follows.
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | the command line to run |
| 2 | True if output should be displayed in a text area (default True) |
| 3 | True if the output should be displayed full screen (default False) |
| Macro | Description |
|---|---|
| $0 | the command line following the command name |
| $1..$n | the arguments given to the command |
Awk is an powerful text processing language that allows you to manipulate files containing columns of data and strings. Awk is extremely useful, both for general operation of Unix commands, and for data transformation.
Introduced in Recital 10 is the PIPETOSTR() function (as well as backticks `` inside strings) which can be used in conjunction with awk to transform recital data.
The following links provide good tutorials on awk:
By default Recital uses PAM to authenticate users. It is also possible to tell PAM to use Kerberos. Simply replace the existing entries in the /etc/pam.d/recital file with the ones below:
auth sufficient pam_krb5.so try_first_pass
auth sufficient pam_unix.so shadow nullok try_first_pass
account required pam_unix.so broken_shadow
account [default=bad success=ok user_unknown=ignore] pam_krb5.so
auth sufficient pam_krb5.so try_first_pass
auth sufficient pam_unix.so shadow nullok try_first_pass
account required pam_unix.so broken_shadow
account [default=bad success=ok user_unknown=ignore] pam_krb5.so
System Requirements:
- Minimum memory: 4MB
- Minimum Diskspace: ~20MB
Yes, your FoxPlus and FoxPRO applications should run under Recital with little to no changes at all. We provide expert product support if you have any questions or problems. If you lack the resources to move your applications into Recital we can provide that service to you also if required.
SE Linux is a feature of the Linux kernel that provides mandatory access control. This policy based access control system grants far greater control over the resources on a machine than standard Linux access controls such as permissions.
Many modern Linux distributions are shipping with SELinux enabled by default, Fedora 14 and Rhel 6 both install with it enabled.
When you run Recital Web on a SELinux enabled machine and navigate to the default.rsp page you will see something similar to the screen shot below.

If you launch the SELinux troubleshooter you will see the following problem.
SELinux is blocking the apache server from accessing the Recital server running on port 8001.

To manage you SELinux policy you must have the policycoreutils package group installed. The policycoreutils contains the policy core utilities that are required for basic operation of a SELinux system.
If you wish to use a GUI tool, you must install the policycoreutils-gui package.
At the command prompt execute the following:
As root
$ yum install policycoreutils
$ semanage port -a -t http_port_t -p tcp 8001
$ service recital restart
$ service httpd restart
We use the semanage command here to allow the http server access to port 8001. Once you have completed the steps detailed above you can go and navigate back to the default.rsp page in your borwser, where you will find the permission denied message is now replaced by the default.rsp page.

SELinux does a great job of restricting services and daemons so rather than simply disabling it, why not work with it!
When it comes to security, every little bit helps...
Tagged under
In this article Chris Mavin, explains and details how to Store and Retrieve Binary Objects in a Recital Database.
In this article Yvonne Milne looks at the use of the Recital Remote Data Connectivity Functions with Recital Database Gateways.