Coding Conventions

1. All lines should be terminated with a semi-colon ";", C-Style.
2. Namespaces are all lowercase and begin with "::".
3. Function names use Hungarian notation and start with an uppercase letter.
4. Variable names use Hungarian notation and start with lowercase letter.
5. Variable names use following prefixes:
   For Widgets

   Option <Parameter>

   Description

   button

   "btn_"

   canvas

   "cnv_"

   textbox

   "txt_"

   combobox

   "cmb_"

   frame

   "frm_"

   radiobutton

   "rad_"

   checkbox

   "chk_"

   collector

   "col_"

   label

   "lbl_"

   entry

   "ent_"

   scrollbar

   "scr_"

   For Data Types

   Option <Parameter>

   Description

   integer

   "n_"

   float/double

   "d_"

   string

   "str_"

   bool

   "b_"

   array

   "arr_", since it may contain more than one data type

   For list variables: Append "List" to the variable name (n_myIDList).

   For return variables: Use "retval" as the variable name regardless of data type.

6. All functions will return 1 or any meaningful value for success or partial success, "null" for a program failure (this means the function is writing an error message) i.e. return {}. The function can also return {}. If an API function it calls returns {}, in this case, it does not need to write an error message.
7. All functions within namespaces must conform to style A, and not style B:

   a.	Namespace eval ::hwat::util {};
   proc ::hwat::utils::MyProc {n_intArg d_floatArg} {
   puts "hello world";
   return 1;
   }
   b.	Namespace eval ::hwat::util {
   proc ::hwat::utils::MyProc {n_intArg d_floatArg} {
   puts "hello world";
   return 1;
   }
   # end namespace
   }

8. The function ::hwat::utils::WriteErrorMessage will be used to post error messages to the message box.
9. If the hwat::globals::DEBUG variable is set to 1, the function ::hwat::utils::WriteDebugMessage will be used to post debug messages to the message box. Use ::hwat::utils::SetDebugOnOff to set the debug variable.
10. The function ::hwat::utils::PostToMessageBox will post messages to the message box in the application or post messages in a Tk message box in HyperMesh.

1. One argument per line.
2. The LAST person to modify should be first in the Author list.
3. Everything that begins with "##" and keyword "proc" will be parsed, so begin all other comments with a single "#".
4. If needed, have a more detailed description for developers after the headers and starting with "#".
5. If a change is made to the procedure just overwrite the info in the header instead of appending to it.

#######################################################################
## Procedure name: 
## ::vcl::utils::GetXYZFromTag
##
## Description:
## Returns the coordinates of the node with the given tag.
##
## Arguments:
## Tag = Keyword "TAG:" followed by the tag name (ex. "TAG: J_Node"). 
## Poo = some other argument, just to make my point.
## 
## Returns:
## A Tcl list containing the x, y and z coordinates of the node if successful, 
## {} if unsuccessful.
## 
## Comments:
## Where's the beef?
##
## Author: 
## Girish Deshmukh, Shawn Freeman
##
## Last updated:
## 02/28/2003
##
#######################################################################
##
## UAT
## Test Procedure:
## 1. Create Tag on a node in HM
## 2. Verify Tagged nodes X/Y/Z location using HM
## 3. Call this function with the Tag name as the argument
##
## Success:
## Returns the X/Y/Z location of the node which you tagged
## 
## Failure:
## Case 1 – passing in a Tag name that contains a space or other special character
## Result 1 – function cannot find Tagged node and should return {} gracefully
## Case 2 – Tag does not exist in session
## Result 2 - function cannot find Tagged node and should return {} gracefully
##
#######################################################################