4.2 Form Description Screen
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You enter the attributes of a form on the Form Description screen.
Within this screen, all but three of the fields are boolean, or yes/no,
fields. Boolean fields will accept the following input and convert upper-case
input to lower-case:
Value - Acceptable Entries
yes - y or yes
no - n or no
The fields of the Form Description screen are described in the following
paragraphs, and reference should be made to the preceding table should
questions arise regarding input within any of the boolean fields.
Form Name
Each form stored in the formfile must have a name which is unique
within that formfile.
Data File
This field identifies the name of the RMSfile associated with the form.
Beginning Form
This field identifies which is the first form of a formfile to be displayed.
When a formfile contains more than one form, one of the forms must be
designated as the first, or beginning, form. If the form being described
is the beginning form, enter yes. If nothing is entered in the
field, then a value of no is assumed, although it will not appear in
the field until the screen is redisplayed at a later time.
Unique Records
This field specifies whether or not records in the RMSfile may contain the
same value in the primary key field(s). An entry of no means
that the records need not be unique. Conversely, an entry of yes means
that the records must be unique. If no entry is made in this field, a
value of no is assumed.
Repeating Form
An entry of yes in this field means that the form is not be
repainted each time a record is stored (unless the Append Form field
is set to yes); only the fields are cleared. In addition, the next
form is not be displayed until the NEXTFORM key <F7> is pressed. An
entry of no means that the next form is displayed as soon as the
information on the current form has been stored. If nothing is entered in this
field, the value defaults to no.
Append Form
If you set the Append Form field to yes, form displays this form
below the previous form instead of displaying it at the top of the screen. If
this field is set to no, this form replaces the previous form on the
screen. If no entry is made in this field, its value is set to no.
Freeze Form
This field indicates whether the form should remain on the screen when
additional forms are appended. An entry of no in this field causes the
form to be scrolled if additional forms are appended and there is not enough
room on the screen for them to be displayed. If this field is set to
yes, then the forms appended to this form will scroll off the screen
as they reach the bottom of the frozen form. The field is set to no if no
entry is made in it.
Additional Form For One Record
Normally, one form accesses one record. When more than one form is required
to display or enter one record, an entry of yes in this field allows
further information to be entered belonging to the same record. This field
should be set to no for the first form used to create a record. If
additional forms are needed to enter further information to the same
record, this field should be set to yes for those forms.
No is the default value for this field.
Required Form
If your formfile contains a sequence of forms (say header, detail, and
trailer) and you want to make sure that when the operator adds or updates a
record on one form, the operator must add or update the subsequent forms, set
the Required Form to yes. For example, to insure that the
trailer form containing the sales tax calculation is always updated when the
operator adds or updates a detail record, set the Required Form field
in the trailer form to yes. If the Required Form field is set to
yes and you have updated or added in an earlier form in this sequence,
then you must update or add this form before you are allowed to use the EXIT
function. The field will default to no if nothing is entered in it.
Next Form Name
Enter the name of the next form that should appear following the display of
the current form. The last form in a series of forms generally
has the name of the beginning form of the series in this field. In a
formfile consisting of only a single form, the entry in this field should be
the same as the name displayed in the Form Name field.
After you store the information entered on the Form Description screen,
toolkit displays a blank development screen. You can move the
cursor about freely on this screen using the ARROW keys, SPACE BAR, RETURN,
BACK SPACE, or TAB keys. Background text can be typed as needed, and fields may
be added simply by positioning the cursor in the location that you want the
field to begin and pressing the ADD key <F6>, thereby causing the
Field Description screen to be displayed. Complete and store this screen
for each field to be added to the form. After you store the Field
Description screen, toolkit redisplays the development screen,
including the newly added field. The fields are displayed in various modes,
depending upon the nature of the field being displayed, as well as the type of
screen being used to display them.