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Formal Shape Grammar

  • Article

This is the formal grammar for creating any shape command:

  • Required grammatical terms are text strings delimited by angle brackets ("<>").

  • Optional terms are delimited by square brackets ("[ ]").

  • Alternatives are indicated by a virgule ("|").

  • Repeating alternatives are indicated by an ellipsis ("...").

  • Alpha indicates a string of alphabetical letters.

  • Digit indicates a string of numbers.

  • Unicode-digit indicates a string of unicode digits.

All other terms are literals.

Term Definition
<shape-command> SHAPE [<table-exp> [[AS] <alias>]][<shape-action>]
<table-exp> {<provider-command-text>} |

(<shape-command>) |

TABLE <quoted-name> |

<quoted-name>
<shape-action> APPEND <aliased-field-list> |

COMPUTE <aliased-field-list> [BY <field-list>]
<aliased-field-list> <aliased-field> [, <aliased-field...>]
<aliased-field> <field-exp> [[AS] <alias>]
<field-exp> (<relation-exp>) |

<calculated-exp> |

<aggregate-exp> |

<new-exp>
<relation_exp> <table-exp> [[AS] <alias>]

RELATE <relation-cond-list>
<relation-cond-list> <relation-cond> [, <relation-cond>...]
<relation-cond> <field-name> TO <child-ref>
<child-ref> <field-name> |

PARAMETER <param-ref>
<param-ref> <number>
<field-list> <field-name> [, <field-name>]
<aggregate-exp> SUM(<qualified-field-name>) |

AVG(<qualified-field-name>) |

MIN(<qualified-field-name>) |

MAX(<qualified-field-name>) |

COUNT(<qualified-alias> | <qualified-name>) |

STDEV(<qualified-field-name>) |

ANY(<qualified-field-name>)
<calculated-exp> CALC(<expression>)
<qualified-field-name> <alias>.[<alias>...]<field-name>
<alias> <quoted-name>
<field-name> <quoted-name> [[AS] <alias>]
<quoted-name> "<string>" |

'<string>' |

[<string>] |

<name>
<qualified-name> alias[.alias...]
<name> alpha [ alpha | digit | _ | # | : | ...]
<number> digit [digit...]
<new-exp> NEW <field-type> [(<number> [, <number>])]
<field-type> An OLE DB or ADO data type.
<string> unicode-char [unicode-char...]
<expression> A Visual Basic for Applications expression whose operands are other non-CALC columns in the same row.

See Also

Accessing Rows in a Hierarchical Recordset
Data Shaping Overview
Required Providers for Data Shaping
Shape APPEND Clause
Shape Commands in General
Shape COMPUTE Clause
Visual Basic for Applications functions