Webutil Host Process ID help

Question

Good morning,
Here is my problem:
1. I present a series of records to be edited, one per line to the user in the top half of the screen.
2. I present data for reference, one record per line, in the bottom half.
3. The user right-clicks on a record to edit and selects an image to display using the following lineof code:
wPID := WEBUTIL_HOST.NONBLOCKING('cmd ' || filename);
The data type for the process id is WEBUTIL_HOST.Process_ID.
The problem: I need to preserve the process ID number once the code leaves the trigger that fired when the pop-up menu was displayed and an option was selected.
Once the user selects an image to display, they will reference the data in that image, perhaps, reference data from the bottom half of the screen and finally, they will update the record to be edited and move on to the next record.
When they move on to the next record, I want to automatically break-down the window by killing the Process associated with the display of the image by Process_ID.
How do I preserve that Process_ID value outside of the trigger that fired and displayed the image?
Thanks,
Don.

Answer 1

Good afternoon,
Ok, I have figured this out and thought I would pass the information along. Since no one answered, I'm assuming that I wasn't the only one scratching my head.
Here is the answer:
1. The variable type WEBUTIL_HOST.PROCESS_ID is a RECORD, not a field.
2. There is one field in the record, named HANDLE of type pls_integer.
So, in my case, I simply defined an item in my control block
CONTROLBLOCK.PTOP_PID with a data type of Integer. This type can be a signed or unsigned integer so it will properly handle the PLS_INTEGER data type. Then I just added the following assignment in the appropriate place in my code -
:CONTROLBLOCK.PTOP_PID := wPID.HANDLE;
This works exactly how I had hoped, preserving the process_id associated with a call to WEBUTIL_HOST.NONBLOCKING. This way, I can break down any currently open processes associated with the current record when the user moves to the next record on the form. It will also allow for multiple processes, depending on how many items you define in the control block, or by some other means.
Thanks,
Don.