User Class Constructors
This feature extends the capabilities of OpenROAD user classes by allowing developers of user classes to specify how the user classes are initialized (what 4GL code is to be run) when they are instantiated. The capabilities of user class constructors now parallel the current capabilities of the initialize statement for a frame or field script.
Regarding user class attribute nomenclature, OpenROAD preceded other object oriented (OO) programming languages such as Java and C#, which allow for three types of class attributes: public, private, and protected. OpenROAD user class attributes are public, which is the same as the other OO languages, but OpenROAD's private attributes correspond to other OO languages protected attributes. With the addition of instance global variables, OpenROAD now has functionality that corresponds to other OO language's private attribute types.