GetNextPopulation(Population As Integer)

Purpose: This function is necessary for applications which may run with other GeneHunter applications (in the background, for example, including running with other copies of itself).  Since only one copy of the DLL is used by all applications running under Microsoft Windows, multiple GeneHunter applications could all be trying to use the same population number if they were all coded to use population 0, for example.  GALIB32.DLL allows you to use up to 128 populations at the same time.  The GetNextPopulation function allows the user to get the ordinal number of the next available population.  The number is used as an argument of the MakePopulation function and most other GALIB functions.  The population number should be stored in a variable that may be used in all calls to GALIB32.DLL functions to reference the population currently in use.

If you use GetNextPopulation to choose your population number at runtime, you could theoretically run 128 copies of the application (or 128 GeneHunter applications) at the same time.

Arguments:

Population is the variable where the next available population number will be stored.  Population numbers start with 0.

Example: i = GetNextPopulation(PopNum)

The next available population number will be stored in PopNum.  This number should be used in subsequent function calls to refer to the population.

Related Functions: MakePopulation, KillPopulation