Before I realized that this could be done with a parameter object class, I created properties off of _screen and stored the values that way.

Tracy

>>Jim,
>>>
>>>I ran into this old message from you. Do you have additional suggestions on how to make a more complete parameter object class?
>>>
>>>TIA,
>>
>>Alex,
>>
>>That's a difficult question to answer because a "more complete" parameter object is defined by the system it functions in and where within the system it is used.
>>
>>To my mind a parameter object is a dummy object that has as it its sole reason for existing to hold properties and be passed around. As for creating a flexible parameter class that functions well all over the place, well that sort of violates my idea of what a parm object should be. I prefer that there are many different parm objects that are each built for their specific purpose. I don't really want a parm object that is smart and configures itself to the current job.
>>
>>So I guess the short answert to your question is no I don't have more to say regarding building good parm objects, they should be as simple as the original message made them.
>
>Thanks. As long as I have you on the horn...
>
>Im looking for a good way that a method can return some a response to the calling program in addition to the return value. It is not necesarily an error condition, but more of a status condition.
>
>An example: a business object method looks up a student with certain conditions. The program needs to return the id of the student, and if not found the reason why the search failed. In this case since my IDs are > 0, I could use negative values, but I'd like a more flexible method, since sometimes it may be necesary to return more than two values.
>
>Since I'm going to be doing this a lot I'd like something practical and standard.
>
>In C, I believe, the last parameter is often a return variable or object. But if later you need to send additional parameters you must change all calls. Using the first parameter for the response seems so unintuitive... And creating an object to send parameters over is so impractical.
>
>Appreciate your feedback.
>
>Alex