Writing an Alert in a System

["John Clemens" <jbclem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm  trying to get an alert to work in a system without success.  I've
written it this way:

IF CHECKALERT THEN IF "whatever" THEN ALERT=TRUE;

The "whatever" is a copy of the condition that fires a BUY in this system.
This is the way the help files directed me to write it, but it's not
working.  Can someone comment and help me with this?

Thanks,  John