@Environment (Formula Language)

Sets or returns an environment variable stored in a formula.

Syntax

@Environment( variable ) @Environment( variable ; value )

Parameters

variable

Text or text list. The name of the environment variable you want to retrieve. To retrieve multiple environment variables, use a text list.

value

Text. Optional. The value you want to assign to the environment variable. Since users have their own notes.ini or Notes® Preferences file, this value can be customized for each user. Omit this parameter if you just want to retrieve the value, not set it.

If variable is a text list, every environment variable in the list will be assigned value.
If value is a text list, only the first value in the list is used; the rest are ignored.

Return value

environmentVariable

Text. The value of the environment variable you specified. To use the return value in arithmetic operations, use @TextToNumber to convert it to a number.

Usage

Use @Environment when you want to set an environment variable within a formula. If it's to be nested within another @function (such as @If or @Do), use @SetEnvironment instead.

The ENVIRONMENT keyword works the same as @Environment.

@Environment cannot be used in column or selection formulas; it's only intended for use in field formulas, toolbar buttons, and agents. Some formulas, such as scheduled agents, are run on the server instead of on the user's workstation. In this case, the environment variables affected are the server environment variables, not the workstation variables. You can use a computed text formula to retrieve variables, but not to set variables.

You can also use @Environment to get the value of an environment variable stored the user's notes.ini file (Windows™, OS/2, and UNIX™) or Notes® Preferences file (Macintosh). You can only set and retrieve the values of variables that begin with a dollar sign ($) symbol. Do not include the dollar sign in the variable parameter. For instance, to change the value of the $EnableAlarms INI variable from 1 to 0, enter:

@Environment("EnableAlarms";"0")

For Web applications, use predefined field names to gather information about the Web user's environment by requesting Common Gateway Interface (CGI) environment variables.

Examples

This example returns 5, if that is the value of the variable $IEVersonMajor stored in the current user's notes.ini or Notes® Preferences file.
```
@Environment("IEVersionMajor")
```
This example places a variable called OrderNumber in the current user's notes.ini or Notes® Preferences file, and assigns it a value of zero.
```
@Environment("OrderNumber";"0")
```
To save users time while completing Profile documents, you might want to automatically fill in an office location for them. You can create an editable text field called OfficeLocation. Its default formula is:
```
@Environment("ENVOfficeLocation")
```
Its input-translation formula is:
```
@Environment("ENVOfficeLocation"; OfficeLocation);
OfficeLocation
```
The first time the user creates a Profile document, the OfficeLocation field is blank, so the user types in the office location. When the document is saved, the contents of the OfficeLocation field are saved in the notes.ini or Notes® Preferences file. The next time the user creates a Profile document, the office location is retrieved from the environment variable ENVOfficeLocation, and the user doesn't have to type it in again (unless the office location changes, in which case the user edits the field).

You could also write the input-translation formula using either @SetEnvironment or the ENVIRONMENT keyword, both of which achieve the same result:
```
@SetEnvironment("ENVOfficeLocation"; OfficeLocation);
OfficeLocation
```
or
```
ENVIRONMENT ENVOfficeLocation:= OfficeLocation;
OfficeLocation
```
In addition to the OfficeLocation, you might want to use an environment variable to store a user's birthday. You can create an editable time field called Birthday. Its default formula is similar to the one used for OfficeLocation:
```
@Environment("ENVBirthday")
```
Its input-translation formula uses @Text to convert the time value into text:
```
@SetEnvironment("ENVBirthday"; @Text(Birthday));
Birthday
```
Use @Text to write a similar input-translation formula for a number field.
You want to generate sequential numbers on a per user basis, and you want to store the number in a field called OrderNumber. Define the field OrderNumber to be a Text data type; it must be some form of computed field. You can then write the following formula for the field.
```
Temporary := @Environment("OrderNumber");
Temporary2 := @If(Temporary="";"0";Temporary);
CurrentOrderNumber := @TextToNumber(Temporary2);
NextOrderNumber := CurrentOrderNumber + 1;
ENVIRONMENT OrderNumber := @Text(NextOrderNumber);
@Text(CurrentOrderNumber);
```
This formula tests whether an environment variable called OrderNumber has been stored in the user's notes.ini or Notes® Preferences file. If there is no such variable stored, @SetEnvironment initializes it to zero. If a value has already been stored, @Return returns it and stops the formula from executing.
```
@If(@Environment(OrderNumber)=""; @SetEnvironment("OrderNumber";"0"); @Return(@Environment("OrderNumber")))
```
Two agents are used to look up a list of possible group names that users might belong to, prompt the user to select one, and then enter that name in the Group field for all selected documents (which, in this case, pertain to the current user).
The Set Group agent looks up the list of group names stored in column 1 of the Service Requests - By Group view, prompts the user to select a group name, and then stores the selected name in the TmpName environment variable before running the "(Set Group Helper)" agent. The "(Set Group Helper)" agent then retrieves the group name from the user's notes.ini or Notes® Preferences file and stores it in the Group name field for all selected documents.

Set Group agent executes once:
```
GroupList:=@DbColumn("":"NoCache";"";
"Service Requests\\By Group";1);
Group:=@Prompt([OKCancelEditCombo];"Choose a group";"Choose 
	a group";"Marketing";GroupList);
Tmp1:=@Environment("TmpName";Group);
@Command([RunAgent];"(Set Group Helper)");
```
(Set Group Helper) agent runs on each selected document:
```
FIELD Group:=@Environment("TmpName");
```