HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Form Utilities
Enter the utilities menu, shown in Figure 2-11, by pressing f7 (FORM
UTILS) from the main menu.
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| HELP DELETE COPY MERGE PRINT GEN I/O EXIT FRM|
| AREAS FORM FORM CATALOG SPECS SPECS UTILS |
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Figure 2-6. Utilities Menu
Each of these keys is described in the next sections.
Printing Specifications
In SIGEDITOR you can print a copy of the form and field specifications in
two places; in the form utilities menu, using the f6 (PRINT SPECS) key,
and in the main menu, using the f5 (PRINT SPECS) key. The resulting
printout includes a visual representation of the form, the form name, and
the global form attributes. For each field in the form, the name,
position in the form, and the attributes are printed. In general,
SIGEDITOR only prints what is necessary to understand the set up of the
form and fields.
The formal file designator is SIGLIST.
Generating I/O Specifications
You can generate RPG input/output specifications either using the f7
key (GEN I/O SPECS) on the form utilities menu, or using the f6 key on
the main menu. You must enter the name of a valid forms file and output
file before generating the I/O specifications. Press ENTER to begin.
When the procedure is complete, press f8 to return to the previous
menu.
If the output file already exists, SIGEDITOR sends a verification message
to the screen asking if the previous contents of the file can be purged.
If the answer is no, SIGEDITOR requests another filename. Otherwise, a
new message, GENERATING INPUT/OUTPUT SPECIFICATIONS is sent to the
screen. You are then returned to the utilities menu. You can merge the
file containing the I/O specifications with the RPG program to avoid
entering information that is already available (see the $COPY option
description in the HP RPG/XL Reference Manual). If a field's size,
position, name, or sequence number is changed, the changes must be
reflected in the program by regenerating the I/O specifications and
copying the new specifications into the program.
NOTE When generating I/O specifications, SIGEDITOR assigns a field name
to any field you leave unnamed. This default field consists of the
letters FLD followed by the field's sequence number.
Deleting a Form
Use the delete form option to delete a form. Press f3 (DELETE FORM) on
the form utilities menu. The delete form screen is displayed (see Figure
2-9).
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| Forms file: |
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| Form name: |
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Figure 2-7. Delete Form Screen
Here you must supply the name of the form to be deleted, as well as the
forms file containing that form. The forms filename defaults to the name
of the currently opened form file. Once the correct information is
entered, press ENTER to delete the form. Press f8 to return to the
form utilities menu.
Copying a Form
The copy form option copies a form from one forms file to another. When
the f1 key (COPY FORM) is pressed, the Copy Form screen is displayed
(see Figure 2-8).
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| Forms file: |
| FROM: |
| Form name: |
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| Forms file: |
| TO: |
| Form name: |
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Figure 2-8. Copy Form Screen
The space allowed to enter the name of the FROM forms file is long enough
to specify the fully qualified filename of a forms file. Once the
designated forms file and form names are given and the ENTER key is
pressed, SIGEDITOR simply copies the form to the specified forms file
under the new form name.
Press f8 to return to the form utilities menu.
Referencing Messages and Merging Catalog Files
In SIGEDITOR, a message is informational text that may be displayed at
runtime. There are two ways to reference messages when a program is run.
The first method is to specify a message set number and message number in
the message set number and message number fields when setting field
attributes for a given field.
The message set number and message number specified in the field must
correspond to a message set number and message number in a catalog (or
message) file. The RPG Reference Manual describes how to create a
catalog file. The catalog file contains the actual message; the field
attribute contains the set number and message number.
The second method of referencing a message is to identify the message in
the RPG program. If this is done, the set number and message number on
the field attributes screen can be left blank if desired. See the
description of the output field attribute in this chapter for more
details. The catalog file is set up in exactly the same way, but the
message is referenced from the program, not from the form. Examples of
both methods are given in chapter 4. The two methods can be used
together to provide a default message (from the field attributes screen)
if a set number and message number are not provided by the RPG program.
A merge operation retrieves a message that is referenced by a message set
number and message number and stores the message as part of the form.
Merging can be performed any time after a forms file is created using the
f5 key on the utilities menu, or by using f1 on the main menu. If
you do not merge a forms file with a catalog file, messages must be
retrieved at runtime. However, merging prior to runtime speeds the
running of the program. Therefore, saving the merge until runtime is
less efficient.
NOTE If you merge catalog messages with forms files, any subsequent
modifications to the catalog messages require that the catalog be
remerged in order for these changes to show in the program at
runtime. The messages must also be remerged after editing a form
that uses merged messages.
When merging a catalog file, you must enter both a valid catalog and
forms file. Press ENTER to merge the messages. To exit the merge
utility, press f8 .
When the merge operation is performed, only the messages identified by a
set number and message number on the field attributes screen will be
stored as part of the form. Messages that are identified with a set
number and message number from the RPG program cannot be merged using the
SIGEDITOR.