HP 3000 Manuals

HP Data Entry and Forms Management System (VPLUS/V)

GLOBALS MENU 

The Globals Menu, shown in Figure 5-14, requests information that applies
to the total reformat process.  All information entered on the Globals
Menu relates to the output file produced when REFORMAT is run.  Since
only one output file is generated for each REFORMAT execution, this
information appears only once in the reformat file.


          Figure 5-14.  Globals Menu 

When the Globals Menu is displayed, default values are shown for each
option.  The possible values and their defaults are listed below.  You
can change any of the values or you can keep the default values provided
by REFSPEC. Press ENTER to record the values and request the next menu,
the Input Forms Menu.

Fields 

Output Record    Specifies whether the output record is fixed, variable,
Format           or undefined in length.  Enter:

                   F - Fixed -length records
                   V - Variable -length records
                   U - Undefined-length records

                 Default = F (Fixed length)

Record Length    A positive integer that specifies the total number of
                 characters in the output record, including all fields
                 and separators.

                 If the output records are fixed length and the total
                 number of characters is less than this length, the
                 record is padded with blanks at the end.  If there are
                 more characters in the field than will fit in the
                 record, the record is written up to the specified length
                 and the excess characters are discarded.  In this case,
                 a warning message is issued to the user who runs
                 REFORMAT.

                 For variable length records, the actual record length is
                 the sum of all the fields written to the record,
                 including separators.  In this case, the record length
                 specified here is the maximum length allowed for any
                 record.

                 Default = 80 characters.

Upshift?         Indicates whether letters of the alphabet are to be
                 shifted up to all uppercase letters when data is written
                 to the output file.  Specified as:

                   Y--Shift letters to uppercase.
                   N--Leave letters as entered by the user.

                 Default = N (do not upshift).

                 If nothing is specified, an error is returned.

Convert to       Indicate whether the output file is to be written in
EBCDIC?          EBCDIC code rather than USASCII.

                   Y - write output file in EBCDIC
                   N - leave output file in USASCII

                 Default = N (do not convert).

Record           Indicates a character or string of characters to be
Terminator       appended to the end of every record.  The record
String           terminator may be specified as any of the following:

                  *  Quoted String--Any USASCII characters, including
                     blanks, enclosed within single or double quotes.
                     For example:  "eof" or " " or '**'.

                  *  USASCII Code--Numeric equivalent to an USASCII
                     character preceded by a dollar sign ($).  Code may
                     be any decimal number in range 0-127 (refer to
                     Appendix C for decimal equivalent to USASCII code).
                     For example:  $34 is the numeric equivalent of
                     quotation mark; $65 is the equivalent of the letter
                     A.

                  *  System Constant--The following system defined
                     constants may be used as a terminator:

                       $LF--line feed
                       $CR--carriage return
                       $GS--group separator
                       $US--unit separator
                       $RS--record separator

                 Default = No terminator

                 If a record terminator is not specified, no special
                 terminator is placed at the end of output records.

                 You can combine any of the above terminators into a
                 single terminator by specifying them one after the
                 other.  For example:  "end" $LF $CR or $120 "! " $CR or
                 "ABC" "DEF".

                 Such multiple terminators are concatenated together to
                 form a single string that is inserted between fields.
                 Note that blanks are optional except between quoted
                 strings where a separating blank is required.  If a
                 blank does not separate quoted strings, the quote is
                 included; for example:  "ABC""DEF" becomes ABC"DEF in
                 the record.

Field Separator  A user-defined value to be inserted between all
String           consecutive fields in the output record.  It will not
                 appear after the last field in the record, or before or
                 after a constant.  If two consecutive fields are
                 assigned specific column positions so that the second
                 does not immediately follow the first, the field
                 separator is placed after the first field.  For example,
                 suppose the field separator is "**", and the fields are
                 defined as:

                   FIELD 1 value = ABCD start column = 5
                   FIELD 2 value = XYZ start column = 15

                 The output record for this example is shown below.

                 The separator may be a quoted string, a USASCII code, or
                 a system constant, as described above for the Record
                 Terminator.

                 Unless a separator is specified, fields in an output
                 record are not separated, but are written as one
                 continuous string of characters.

                 Default = No separator.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation