HP 3000 Manuals

USING VPLUS/V AN INTRO. TO FORMS DESIGN Self-Paced Training Guide

TOPIC: FIELD MENU FIELDS 

The next step in designing this form is to specify the field edits to be
used for each field of this form Figure 3-6.

But before doing this, read the following brief description of the field
attributes issued on all Field Menus.

The Field Number Field 

A field number is assigned by FORMSPEC to every field.  This number is
initially based on the position of the field on the form (for example,
ordate is field number 1), and this number never changes.  If you change
the form layout at a later time so that ordate is no longer the first
field, it is still identified as field number 1.  (Note that these field
numbers are not significant unless you use the VPLUS/V intrinsics to
write your own application or to modify ENTRY.)

The Field Length Field 

Field length, like the field number, is based on the form layout.  The
number of characters you leave between the field delimiters is shown on
the Field Menu as the length of that field.  Unlike the field number, the
length changes whenever you change the field size on the form layout.  In
our example, 18 character positions were allowed for the date, so ordate
has a field length of 18.

The Field Name Field 

Field tags are used when laying out the form--field names are used on the
Field Menu to uniquely identify the field.  When the Field Menu is
initially displayed, the field tag is used as the field name by default
and is always shown in uppercase letters.  This is because FORMSPEC
automatically shifts any lowercase letters in the field tag (the name
between field delimiters on the form) to uppercase.  It does not change
any letters outside the field delimiters.  Both upper and lowercase
letters are allowed during form layout so that you can have up to 52
one-character fields.  In the current example, the field tag ordate was
shifted up to become the official field name ORDATE.

The Field Enhancement Field 

The field enhancement indicates how the field looks when ENTRY displays
the form.  Unless you specifically change the field enhancement in the
Field Menu, the default enhancement is HI meaning that the field will be
shown as Half-bright and Inverse video, which distinguishes them from all
other text on the form.  (When you run ENTRY, you will see what this
means.)  This is the default enhancement for all fields unless you change
it.  Other enhancements could be U for Underline, B for Blinking, S for
Security, NONE for no enhancement, and 1 - 8 for Color.  Combinations of
up to four characters of the possible enhancements are also allowed, such
as HIU for a underlined, half-bright, inverse video field or B2 for a red
blinking field.

The Field Type Field 

The field type determines whether the user can leave data out of the
field (O for optional), must enter data (R for required), or cannot enter
data (D for display-only), in which case the application must supply the
data.  There is also a field type which forces the system to process the
field even if it is blank (P for process).  Unless you change the field
type, all fields are optional.

The Data Type Field 

The data type determines the validity of data that is entered in the
field, the formatting method allowed, and the operations, if any, allowed
on the field.  Each field must be specified as one of three types:
character, date, or numeric data.  By default, all fields are type CHAR,
which means you can enter any characters in the field.  The other two
types indicate how dates or numbers can be entered and are described
later in this section.

The Initial Value Field 

If you want, you can assign a value to appear in the field when the form
is first displayed by ENTRY.


          Figure 3-7.  The Field Menu for the Order Number Field 

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation