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Period ('.') expected

Period ('.') expected is shared by several parser contexts. It can mean a literal . member separator, the two-character range token .., or the final period after an explicit program/unit-style end. Inspect the surrounding construct before inserting punctuation.

Example​

This static array range is missing ..:

type
  TValues = array[1 10] of Integer; // Error: Period ('.') expected

Correct the range token:

type
  TValues = array[1..10] of Integer;

Exact emission families​

  • A static-array lower bound is not followed by ...
  • Object[Index] is used on a class that has no registered default indexed property. The compiler reports period because it expected an explicitly named member such as Object.Items[Index].
  • An identifier has resolved to a type name, is not being used as a cast, and is not followed by the period required by the compiler's static external-class member path.
  • An explicit main program, unit initialisation/finalisation block or accepted end-only source ends with ; or another token instead of ..

Velox enables icAllowNoBegin and icAllowNoEnd, so ordinary event scripts made only of procedure declarations do not need an artificial outer begin..end. block. The final-period branch matters only when that source form is present.

Correction procedure​

  1. Determine whether the parser is reading a range, class/member expression, default property or final end.
  2. Use .. between a range's lower and upper bounds.
  3. Use . before a named class member.
  4. For Object[Index], confirm the class actually exposes a default indexed property; otherwise name the intended property.
  5. Use end. only for the outer program/unit-style termination, not a normal procedure body, which ends with end;.

Edge cases and quirks​

  • The range branch expects one CSTI_TwoDots token even though the formatted message uses singular “Period”.
  • Adding . before [ does not repair a missing default property; a real member name must follow the period.
  • The static-member path checks for . before checking that the resolved type is an external class. A different type name can therefore report Period expected first and Class type expected only after the punctuation is corrected.
  • A decimal point inside a real literal is a different lexer token and does not substitute for ...
  • The error location is the token found where the required period form should begin.
  • Not an array property - a host import nominated a scalar property as the default.
  • Unknown Property - the host default-property name is not registered.
  • Closing square bracket (']') expected - an array range was opened but not closed.

External references​