harbour-hix-development

name	Harbour & HIX Development
description	Critical rules for coding and compiling Harbour (.prg) files in this environment.

Harbour Development Rules

1. Indentation Rules (CRITICAL)

Always respect block indentation in .prg files. Do not write flat code. CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: ALL INDENTATION MUST BE EXACTLY 3 (THREE) SPACES. Never 4 spaces. Never tabs. Always 3 spaces per level.

• If you write an if ... else ... elseif ... endif block, a do while ... enddo loop, a for ... next loop, or a do case ... case ... endcase structure, the code inside the branches MUST be indented to the right (exactly 3 spaces).
• Examples of correctly indented code:

if nError == HB_CURLE_OK
    cResponse := curl_easy_dl_buff_get(hCurl)
    if !Empty(cResponse)
        LogTrace("Success")
    endif
else
    LogTrace("Error: " + Str(nError))
endif

2. Hash Map Syntax

In Harbour, use => to define key-value pairs in hash maps, not :.

• Correct: { "key" => "value" }
• Incorrect: { "key": "value" } (This generates runtime/compile JSON mapping errors).

3. Compiler Command & Location

To compile Harbour scripts in this workspace, you MUST use exactly the following compiler executable: c:\harbour\bin\win\bcc\hbmk2.exe [filename.prg]

4. BCC Environment Setup

Before executing hbmk2.exe, you must ALWAYS ensure the Borland C++ compiler (bcc32c) is in your path. If you do this in a single command line, combine them: set PATH=c:\bcc77\bin;%PATH% && c:\harbour\bin\win\bcc\hbmk2.exe aios.prg

5. Dependencies & HBC Files

If using network/web features like UGet, UWrite, or curl, remember to compile with the necessary harbour libraries by appending the .hbc configurations to the command line: c:\harbour\bin\win\bcc\hbmk2.exe aios.prg hbcurl.hbc xhb.hbc hbhttpd.hbc

6. Keywords

In Harbour, always use the full keyword return instead of the abbreviation retu.

7. Function and Local Variables Spacing (CRITICAL)

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: You must rigorously apply this spacing rule to every single function and procedure in the .prg files.

• You MUST leave exactly ONE BLANK EMPTY LINE immediately after a function or procedure declaration, before starting with the local variables blocks.
• You MUST leave exactly ONE BLANK EMPTY LINE exactly after the local variable definition blocks to separate them from the rest of the body code.
• Example:

function Example()

   local nVar := 1
   local cTxt := "test"

   if nVar == 1
      LogTrace(cTxt)
   endif
return nil

8. Logical NOT Operator (!)

Whenever you use the logical NOT operator !, you MUST leave exactly one space after it.

• Correct: if ! Empty( cVar )
• Incorrect: if !Empty(cVar)

9. Parentheses Spacing

Whenever you use parentheses ( ), you MUST leave exactly one space after the opening parenthesis ( and exactly one space before the closing parenthesis ).

• Correct: if ( nVar == 1 ) or hb_HGetDef( hArgs, "query", "" )
• Incorrect: if (nVar == 1) or hb_HGetDef(hArgs, "query", "")

10. Comments Language

All code comments within .prg files MUST be strictly written in English. Do not write comments in Spanish or any other language.

11. Local Variables Declaration (CRITICAL)

In Harbour, all local variables MUST be declared at the very beginning of a function or procedure, before any executable code or assignments. You cannot interleave local declarations with executable statements.