The advanced processing discussed in the rest of this section
includes:
Data movement. Data
movement falls into two basic categories: setting the current field
to a value and moving data between fields. Each of these categories
uses the SET statement.
Data formatting. When data
is moved between fields with the SET statement, certain automatic formatting is performed.
If the automatic formatting is not exactly what you want, or if
you want to display data in a different format, you can use the
FORMSPEC formatting statements to reformat the current data field
during data collection. These statements are: STRIP, JUSTIFY, FILL, UPSHIFT.
Altering forms sequence. The CHANGE statement allows you to alter the sequence in which
forms are displayed.
Conditional processing. The IF statement allows you to specify under which conditions the
processing statements are to be executed.
Control Statements. Two statements
provide control over forms processing. The FAIL statement forces a failure of the current field
edit, the STOP statement stops all processing of the current
phase of the current form.
Processing phases. Processing
statements may be associated with one of four phases of form execution:
Configuration. Configure the terminal
for specific field.
Form initialization. Determine initial values of
fields.
Field edits. Edit and validate data entered in field.
Finish form. Complete processing of form.
For advanced processing, the sequence of specifications must
be considered. If you need only the field edits described so far,
you need not be overly concerned with the order in which statements
are specified. Advanced processing statements, on the other hand,
can be thought of as elements of a language where the order in which
they are entered is important.
You may want to refer to "Phases" at the end of the section
before reading the statement descriptions. In any case, you should
be aware that all field edit and advanced processing statements
can be executed in all phases, except configuration. Only configuration processing
statements are executed in the configuration phase. Phases allow
terminal configuration preceding initial processing for the form,
which in turn precedes field edits and finish processing.
