FORM MENU [ HP Data Entry and Forms Management System (VPLUS/V) ] MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation
HP Data Entry and Forms Management System (VPLUS/V)
FORM MENU
The name and characteristics of each form are specified on the Form Menu.
As soon as the Menu specifications are entered, FORMSPEC displays a blank
screen on which you design the layout of the form. This form layout
phase establishes the field names and their characteristics. Based on
the form layout, FORMSPEC then displays a Field Menu for each field
established on the form.
The Form Menu is displayed once for each form you define. When you have
no more forms to define, press MAIN/RESUME to display the Main Menu in
order to compile the forms file. The Form Menu is illustrated in Figure
3-19.
FORMSPEC stores forms in alphabetic order. When new forms are added to
the forms file, they are inserted in the USASCII collating sequence. The
Globals Menu (see description later in this section) allows you to
specify which form is to be executed first. This form can be referenced
by the system-defined value $HEAD. If you do not specify the head form
name, $HEAD defaults to the first form in the file. Adding a new form
may change the value of this default.
Click here to view figure.
Figure 3-19. Form Menu
You must specify at least a form name on the Form Menu. Default values
are provided for the remaining specifications. If these defaults are not
what you want, you can overwrite them with other values. If satisfied
with the defaults, press ENTER to go directly to form layout.
Fields
Form Name Enter a name to identify the form. The name can be from
1 to 15 characters, either letters of the USASCII
alphabet (A-Z), digits (0-9), or the underline (_). The
first character must be alphabetic. The name can be
entered using uppercase or lowercase letters, but all
lowercase letters are shifted to uppercase by FORMSPEC.
Thus, if you enter the name Form2, FORMSPEC changes it
to FORM2.
The form name must be unique within the forms file, and
it cannot be one of the reserved words listed earlier in
Table 3-2. Note that the form name can be changed by
replacing the name in the Form Name field. If you
change a form name, you should make sure that references
to this form as "Next Form" in other Form Menus are also
changed.
Repeat Option When the forms in the forms file are displayed, a form
may be repeated and appended to itself (A); it may be
repeated overlaying the previous display of the same
form (R); or it can be a non-repeating form that is
displayed on the screen once (N).
Either repeat option (A or R) causes the form to be
repeated until the application changes the repeat
option, or, in ENTRY, the user presses NEXT to request
the next different form.
Default No repeat (N).
_______________________________________________________
NOTE Both Repeat Option and Next Form can be changed
dynamically within the application (refer to
Section 6) as well as through processing
specifications (refer to Section 4).
_______________________________________________________
Next Form You must enter the name of the next form to be displayed
after the current form. You may also specify whether
the next form is to be appended to the current form, A;
and, if appended, whether the current form is to remain
on the screen when the screen fills up, F. If the screen
is to be cleared before the next form is displayed,
leave the default value, C.
Default Clear (C).
Next Form Name The next form name is entered as a standard form name or
you can enter one of the following system-defined
values:
$RETURN Display the previous (but different)
form.
$HEAD Display the first form (either the
first in the file or as defined on the
Globals menu).
$END Terminate forms display with this form.
$REFRESH Display current form cleared to initial
values as the next form.
Note that each of these values has
meaning only when the forms file is
executed. Any value entered for Next
Form Name can be changed through the
CHANGE NFORM processing specification
described in Section 4.
Default $HEAD
Freeze/Append This option allows you to specify how
Option the next form will interact with the
current form. The next form can be
appended to the current form, and if
so, the current form can be frozen on
the screen when subsequent forms are
displayed. Note that this option can
also be changed by the CHANGE NFORM
field processing specification
described in Section 4.
Default Clear screen before displaying
next form (C).
Function Key To define or modify form level function
Labels key labels, enter a Y in this box to
obtain the Form Function Key Labels
Menu. After function key labels have
been defined, FORMSPEC will place an X
in the Function Key Label field. The
default function key labels can be
reset by entering an N. If you specify
a Y in this field, the Form Function
Key Labels Menu is displayed, as shown
in Figure 3-20. The data capture
devices do not support function key
labeling.
Reproduced from This optional field is used in the
(opt) creation of form families, a feature
discussed earlier in this section.
Comments You can enter a comment to help
document the form. The comment is
displayed with the source file, but is
not included in the displayed form at
execution time. A comment can be up to
50 characters long.
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