Saving and Restoring of Values

It is possible to save and restore the noticeboard data as well as just the definition by using a different option when ending the noticeboard definition.

End the definition, writing it and the noticeboard data to file AUTOFIB.NBD.

      NBS_END_DEFINITION   (`AUTOFIB',          ! Name of noticeboard file
                            `NOTICEBOARD_SAVE', ! Write noticeboard to disc
                            STATUS)

Restore the noticeboard definition plus data from a file and create the noticeboard.

      NBS_RESTORE_NOTICEBOARD (`AUTOFIB',       ! Noticeboard name
                               `AUTOFIB',       ! Name of noticeboard file
                               STATUS)

Map (find) the noticeboard.

      NBS_FIND_NOTICEBOARD (`AUTOFIB',          ! Noticeboard name
                            TOPID,STATUS)       ! Top-level ID

Get the ID for an item we want to write to and put its value.

      NBS_FIND_ITEM (TOPID,`CURRENT_CONFIG',CONID,STATUS)
      NBS_PUT_CVALUE (CONID,0,STRING,STATUS)

Save the noticeboard to disc.

      NBS_SAVE_NOTICEBOARD (TOPID,              ! ID of any item on noticeboard
                            STATUS)

• NBS_RESTORE_NOTICEBOARD can be used to restore from a file that contains only a definition as well as from a file that contains a definition plus data. However if a file does not contain data the NBS__DATANOTSAVED warning status is returned -- this indicates that the noticeboard has been created but that it is in its initial state.
• NBS_RESTORE_DEFINITION cannot be used to restore from a file that contains data in addition to a definition. In cases where both sorts of file are to be accessed, use NBS_RESTORE_NOTICEBOARD.
• The implementation of NBS_SAVE_NOTICEBOARD is inefficient in that the entire definition plus data is copied to disc. Under operating systems that support the mapping of files into virtual memory it could be implemented using an ``update section'' call.
• NBS_SAVE_NOTICEBOARD does not create a new version of the noticeboard definition file; it always overwrites the data in the file from which it was restored.