# ⚡ Uniface 10.4: Advanced activate Examples & Special Cases

🧑‍💻 Complex Usage Examples

1️⃣ Operations with Variable Names

You can dynamically pass the operation name as a variable:

Code:

$vOperation$ = "do_it"
activate "myCptInstance".$vOperation$()

Or with a local variable:

vOperation = "do_it"
activate "myCptInstance"."%%vOperation%%%"()

---

2️⃣ Passing Typed Lists with /list

With /list, you can pass multiple parameters as typed lists, e.g., for service operations:

Code:

putitem vInParms, -1, $date(20250101)
putitem vInParms, -1, $number(5)
activate/list "SERV2".ADD_WEEK(vInParms, vOutParms)

After the call, vOutParms contains the result.

---

3️⃣ Working with Entities and Occurrences

You can pass entire entities or occurrences to an operation:

Code:

setocc "PO_ITEMS", -1
activate "SERV2".TOTAL_LNS("PO_ITEMS")

---

🖥️ Special Cases & Noteworthy Features

Modal Forms

• Only certain operations can be activated in modal forms.
• The EXEC operation can be started from outside, others mostly only internally.

Code:

activate "MyModalForm"

---

Executing Operating System Commands

With a special service signature, you can start OS commands via activate:

Code:

activate "OS_SERVICE".COMMAND("dir C:")

---

Exception Handling

If an activated operation throws an exception, it is propagated to the activate statement.

You can use try/catch to handle errors:

Code:

try
    activate "MyCpt".do_it()
catch
    message "Exception: " + $procerror
endtry

---

📝 Practical Tips

• Use variables for operation names to keep your code flexible.
• With /stateless, you can call services statelessly and efficiently.
• Always check $status and $procerror after every activate call for robust error handling.

---

This post is based on the official Uniface 10.4 documentation and was created with AI support. For details, see the original documentation.

What special cases have you solved with activate? Share your experiences in the comments! 👇