Thoroughbred Basic Developer Guide
Preface
Section titled “Preface”Thoroughbred Basic is a business BASIC designed to meet the needs of developers who design, code, enhance, and maintain business applications. The Thoroughbred Basic language is part of the Thoroughbred Environment, part of the Thoroughbred 4GL Environment, or part of the Thoroughbred OPENworkshop Environment.
The Thoroughbred Basic Developer Guide contains a summary of concepts implicit in the Thoroughbred Basic language, descriptions of how Thoroughbred Basic can interact with site hardware and software, and a summary of all Thoroughbred Basic directives, functions, and system variables. This manual assumes knowledge of the BASIC language, programming concepts, and program development procedures.
The Thoroughbred Basic Developer Guide is a companion to the Thoroughbred Basic Language Reference, which contains full descriptions of Thoroughbred Basic directives, functions, and system variables. Both manuals are part of a Thoroughbred Software International documentation library that includes the Thoroughbred Basic Quick Reference Guide, the Thoroughbred Basic Installation and Upgrade Guide, the Thoroughbred Basic Customization and Tuning Guide, the Thoroughbred Basic Utilities Manual, and the Thoroughbred Basic Technical Appendices.
Notational Symbols
Section titled “Notational Symbols”- BOLD FACE/UPPERCASE
- Commands or keywords you must code exactly as shown. For example, CONNECT VIEWNAME.
- Italic Face
- Information you must supply. For example, CONNECT viewname. In most cases, lowercase italics denote values that accept lowercase or uppercase characters.
- UPPERCASE ITALICS
- Denotes values you must capitalize. For example, CONNECT VIEWNAME.
- Underscores
- Displays a default in a command description or a default in a screen image.
- Brackets [ ]
- You can select one of the options enclosed by the brackets; none of the enclosed values is required. For example, CONNECT [VIEWNAME|viewname].
- Vertical Bar |
- Piping separates options. One vertical bar separates two options; two vertical bars separate three options. You can select only one of the options
- Braces { }
- You must select one of the options enclosed by the braces. For example, CONNECT {VIEWNAME|viewname}.
- Ellipsis . . .
- You can repeat the word or clause that immediately precedes the ellipsis. For example, CONNECT {viewname1}[ [, viewname2] . . . ].
- lowercase
- displays information you must supply, for example, SEND filename.txt.
- Brackets [ ]
- are part of the syntax and must be included. For example, SEND [filename.txt] means that you must type the brackets to execute the command.
- Punctuation
- such as, (comma), ; (semicolon), : (colon), and ( ) (parentheses), are parts of the syntax and must be included.
In this guide
Section titled “In this guide”- 1. Introduction
- 2. Data Representation
- 3. Program Control
- 4. Input/Output Processing
- 5. Thoroughbred Dictionary-IV Interface
- 6. 3GL Trigger
- 7. Thoroughbred Basic Language Overview
Copyright and trademarks
Published by: Thoroughbred Software International, Inc. 7 Cedar Grove Lane, Suite 30 Somerset, New Jersey 08873 Copyright © 2026 by Thoroughbred Software International, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Document Number: BD8.9.1M101 The Thoroughbred logo, Swash logo, and Solution-IV Accounting logo, OPENWORKSHOP, THOROUGHBRED, VIP FOR DICTIONARY-IV, VIP, VIPImage, DICTIONARY-IV, and SOLUTION-IV are registered trademarks of Thoroughbred Software International, Inc. Thoroughbred Basic, TS Environment, T-WEB, Script-IV, Report-IV, Query-IV, Source-IV, TS Network DataServer, TS ODBC DataServer, TS ODBC R/W DataServer, TS DataServer for Oracle, TS XML DataServer, TS DataServer for MySQL,TS DataServer for MariaDB, TS DataServer for MS SQL Server, GWW Gateway for Windows, Report-IV to PDF, TS ReportServer, TS WebServer, TbredComm, Thoroughbred Web Terminal, WorkStation Manager, FormsCreator, T-RemoteControl, Solution-IV Accounting, Solution-IV Reprographics, Solution-IV ezRepro, Solution-IV RTS, and DataSafeGuard are trademarks of Thoroughbred Software International, Inc. Other names, products and services mentioned are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective vendors or organizations.