ws

Posted on June 15th 2011 by Mr Chimp

MapBasic is as powerful as it is frustrating. Theres no built-in way to get a list of open tables, so
Ive written some code that does just that.
First Ill explain how to populate an array with a list of table names and numbers, then how to
select a table from this list using a dialogue box, then Ill package it all nicely into a sub and a
function so that you will only need a couple of lines of code. If you dont want to understand and
just want to DO things then just skip to the last section!
Getting a list of all open tables
This is fairly simple. NumTables() returns the total number of tables opened. All open tables are
numbered sequentially, starting from 1. Therefore we just need to loop through, from 1 to
NumTables() and put all the names into an array, making each names array index value
correspond with its MapInfo table number. Like so:
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Dim i as integer
Dim j as integer
i = NumTables()
Dim TableArray(1) as String
ReDim TableArray(i)
For j = 1 to i
TableArray(j) = Tableinfo(j, TAB_INFO_NAME)
Next
Choosing a table via a dialog
Now that you have a variable (TableArray) that contains a list of all open table names with
corresponding numbers. This can then be used in dialog boxes, for example in a drop-down
menu (or as MapBasic calls it, a pop-up menu):
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Dim TableNum as Integer
Dim TableName as String
Dialog
Title "Choose table"
Control PopupMenu
Title From Variable TableArray
Into TableNum
Control OKButton
Control Cancelbutton

If CommandInfo(CMD_INFO_DLG_OK) Then
TableName = TableArray(TableNum)
Note "You chose: " & TableName
End If
Choosing a table with a sub and a function
MapBasic functions cannot return arrays. Therefore you must create an array variable to store the
list and then use a sub to insert the data into the array.
Here are is everything above packaged into a sub and a function.
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Sub GetTableList (TableList() as String)
Dim i as integer
Dim j as integer
i = NumTables()
ReDim TableList(i)
For j = 1 to i
TableList(j) = Tableinfo(j, TAB_INFO_NAME)
Next
End Sub

Function ChooseTable As String
Dim TableNum As Integer
Dim TableArray(1) As String

Call GetTableList(TableArray)

Dialog
Title "Choose table"
Control PopupMenu
Title From Variable TableArray
Into TableNum
Control OKButton
Control Cancelbutton

If CommandInfo(CMD_INFO_DLG_OK) Then
ChooseTable = TableInfo(TableNum, TAB_INFO_NAME)
End If
End Function
and here is how you would use them to choose a layer:
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Dim TableName as String
TableName = ChooseTable()
and heres how youd get an array of table names.
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Dim TableArray(1) as String
Call GetTableList(TableArray)
You cant get much easier than that and if you can Id like to know how you did it!
You can use exactly the same procedure to get a window name or a list of windows. You just
need to swap table for window and TAB for WIN (literally a search and replace will
work).