HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
MAIN MENU The Main Menu, as shown in Figure 3-18, is the main control menu for all FORMSPEC operations. If the forms file is new, you usually select A for Add a form. FORMSPEC then displays the menus that allow you to define your forms file, as described in "Ease of Forms Design". If the forms file already exists, you may enter any selection depending on what you want to do, such as add new forms to the file, select a particular menu in order to change it, delete a form, and so forth. Most of the options available on the Main Menu are also available using FORMSPEC in batch mode. (See Section 7 for more information.) After modifying the forms file, you must compile it before it can be executed with the modifications. Only those forms of the existing file which have been changed are actually recompiled, unless a global attribute of the forms file, such as a save field, has been modified.Figure 3-18. Main Menu Fields A--Add a Form To add a form, simply type A in the selection box and press ENTER. In response, FORMSPEC displays a Form Menu, as shown in Figure 3-19, so you can define the form. For details of form definition using this menu, see the description below under "Form Menu". S--Add a Save If you specify S in the selection box and press ENTER, a field blank Save Field Menu is displayed. This menu, as shown in Figure 3-25, allows you to specify a save field description. If you want to modify a save field, you use PREV or NEXT to locate the particular Save Field Menu specification. For more information, refer to the "Save Fields Menu" description. T--Terminal/ If you specify T in the selection box and press ENTER, Language the Terminal/Language Selection Menu is displayed. This Selection Menu menu, as shown in Figure 3-26, allows you to specify the terminal or set of terminals as well as the native language (if utilizing Native Language Support) with which the forms file will be used. For more information regarding Native Language Support, see Section 8. (Refer to "Terminal/Language Selection Menu" below for detailed information.) G--Go to Type G in the selection box, but do not specify a form Globals Menu or field name. Press ENTER. The Globals Menu, as shown in Figure 3-23, is displayed so you can make changes to the global characteristics of the forms file. It provides access to the Data Type Conversions Menu. (Refer to "Globals Menu" for detailed information.) G--OR Go to To display the Form Menu for a specific form, type G in form the selection box, specify the form name, and press ENTER. (You can also locate the Forms Menu with PREV FORM or NEXT FORM. When the Form Menu is displayed, you can then change any specification on the menu. (Refer to "Form Menu" below for a discussion of the form description.) G--OR Go to The Field Menu for a specific field can be located by field typing G in the selection boxes then specifying both the form and field name, and pressing ENTER. You can display or change field descriptions either on the Field Menu or directly during the form layout. The field attributes (except for length and number) and processing specifications can be entered and changed directly on the Field Menu. Any new fields are added, existing fields deleted, or the number or length of fields are changed by changing the form layout. (For details, refer to the "Ease of Forms Design" discussion earlier.) L--List Forms Type an L in the selection box, specify the form name File OR List and press ENTER to print a description of any form in form your forms file. If you want to list all the forms in the file with a description of the file in general, simply type L but do not specify a form name. Press ENTER. Refer to the example listing in Figure 3-13. The listings are printed on the standard list device (;DEV=LP, usually, the line printer) if there is no overriding MPE :FILE command. Consult Appendix E for information on the file equations and the JCW that VPLUS/V uses when listing forms files. D--Delete Save To delete a save field, specify D in the Main Menu Field selection box, specify the save field name, and press ENTER. The field will be deleted. You should be sure there are no references to the deleted field in the processing specifications of any other field (refer to Section 4). D--Delete Form You can delete an entire form from the forms file by typing D in the selection box on the Main Menu, specifying the form name, and pressing ENTER. If the form has an ARB associated with it, the ARB is deleted at the same time. C--Copy new To copy a form, type C in the selection box. Then form name from specify the name you want to give the new form, the name form from Forms of the existing form to be copied, and, if the form to file (opt) be copied is not in the current file, the name of the file containing this form. Press ENTER. If the form has an ARB associated with it, the ARB will also be copied. X--Compile You can compile the current forms file by typing X in Forms File the selection box on the Main Menu and pressing ENTER. If the forms file has already been compiled, only new and modified information is recompiled unless a global attribute such as a save field, an item on the Terminal/Language Selection Menu, or an item on the Globals Menu has been modified. The new compiled version replaces the previous version. There is never more than one compiled version of a forms file at a time. You may however modify the source version without affecting the compiled version. For example, if the compiled version is being used for data entry, it is not altered in any way as you modify the source version. When the source is completely modified, you can compile it and use the newly compiled version for data entry. In that case, the previous compiled version is lost. X--Compile To compile to a fast forms file, type X in the Main Menu Optional: Fast selection box exactly as you would for any compilation Forms File (or recompilation), but also supply the fast forms file name and press ENTER. R--Relate child Form family relationships can be created by typing an R form to parent in the Main Menu selection box, and the names of the two form forms which are to be "related" in the Relate fields and pressing ENTER. The forms must already exist and their form layouts must be identical. The forms must be distinct forms; that is, one form cannot be both the parent form and the child form. Furthermore, the child form cannot already be a child form or a parent form. Thus, it is also possible to relate forms which were never previously related. Family forms and their characteristics are fully discussed under "Form Families" earlier in this section. B--Go to ARB To create, modify or delete an application-ready buffer Menu (ARB), type B in the Main Menu selection box, and the name of the associated form in the ARB Menu field, and press ENTER. The form must already exist in the forms file and the data type conversion record must have been set up using the Globals menu. Construction of an ARB is discussed in detail later in this section.
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