Entering Data

You can enter data only in unprotected fields. Depending on how the forms are designed, unprotected fields may be delimited by brackets as shown in Figure 2-1, they may be designated simply by the enhanced display as shown in Figure 2-1, or they may not be distinguished from the protected areas of the screen. Press Tab to position the cursor to the beginning of the next unprotected field.

Figure 2-1 Bracketed Fields

You enter data anywhere within the unprotected field. The brackets, although enhanced like the field, cannot be overwritten by data. If the data you key into a field does not fill the field, press Tab to go to the next field.

After keying all the data into the unprotected fields on the screen, press Enter. ENTRY collects the data and tests for errors. If no errors are detected, the data is then written as a record to the batch file you named when you first ran ENTRY.

Each time you press Enter, a new record is written to the batch file. Each batch file record is associated with the data entered on a single form. If a number of appended forms are displayed on the screen, the data you enter on each form is written to a separate record in the batch file. (The relationship of records to forms is important during the browse/modify phase of data entry, described in the section entitled "Viewing and Modifying Data".)

Figure 2-2 Fields without Brackets

Optional and Required Fields

Fields can be defined as required or optional. If a field is required and you do not key in data, ENTRY detects an error and displays an error message. If a field is optional, ENTRY accepts an empty field.

Program-Generated Data

When you press Enter, ENTRY can assign values to certain fields in the form if the appropriate processing specifications have been supplied during forms design. With the appropriate processing specifications, ENTRY can calculate values from data that you have entered. It can also move values from other fields in this form or another form or can specify actual values to be displayed in these fields.

For example, you might enter the quantity, the unit price, and the part number of an item. ENTRY uses these values to calculate the net price for this line of the order and, when you are in Browse mode, will display the price in a field on the form. Figure 2-6 illustrates this example. Another application for these calculations is that you could enter a value that ENTRY automatically edits. For example, a date you enter as September 15, 1989 could be displayed in the same (or a different) field as 9/15/89.

The following steps provide an example of assigning values to fields.

Key in values for QTY, PART NO., DESCRIPTION and UNIT PRICE.
Press Enter.
ENTRY calculates NET PRICE and displays it in Browse mode.

Correcting Errors

You can correct errors either before or after pressing Enter. If ENTRY detects an error after you press Enter, ENTRY does not write the data to the batch file until you correct all errors in the form. (Data can be changed after being written to the batch file with the Browse/Modify capability described in the section entitled "Modifying Data.")

Before Pressing Enter

You can examine the form for errors before pressing Enter. If you notice an error, you can correct it and then press Enter. Refer to your terminal reference manual for information on how to use the cursor positioning and editing keys.

All unprotected fields on the screen can be cleared to the original spaces or default values by pressing the REFRESH function key.




	NOTE: If this is an appended form, any previous forms on the screen will be lost. If forms can be stored locally in the terminal for fastest display, they will be flushed from the local storage area and normal display will occur.

After Pressing Enter

After you have pressed Enter, ENTRY edits the data you have entered. If ENTRY detects any errors, it leaves the form and the entered data on the screen, positions the cursor to the beginning of the first field with an error, and causes all fields with errors to blink (or, depending on the forms design, to be enhanced in another manner). Also, a message describing the first error is displayed in the window line. This line is dedicated to error and status messages, and it appears on the form in the position specified in the forms file with FORMSPEC.

You should correct the field in error and then press Enter again. If more than one field contains errors, you can correct all of them before pressing Enter.

System and Logic Errors

Some errors cannot be corrected as described above. When a system error occurs, the program terminates and returns to MPE control. An MPE error message is displayed on the screen. System errors are caused by problems in the computer system. Other errors are logic errors, which do not terminate the program. A logic error is not necessarily the fault of the user, but may result because of a form design flaw.

A logic error might occur, for example, when data entered causes the program to perform an impossible calculation, such as division by zero. Whether you encounter a system or a logic error, you should consult with your application manager for the best method of correcting the error.

Interrupting Data Entry

If you want to interrupt data entry before reaching the last form, press Enter to record the data on the current form, then press EXIT. The next time you run ENTRY with the same forms file and the same batch file, the next form is displayed automatically, enabling you to resume data entry from the point where you had stopped.

If you press EXIT before pressing Enter, data keyed into the current form is not recorded in the batch file. When you run ENTRY again with the same forms and batch files, the last form is redisplayed with any initial values, and you must retype the data into the form whose data entry you interrupted in the previous session.

Terminating a Session

You can terminate ENTRY by pressing EXIT to return to MPE control. The effect is the same as for interrupting data entry. After the MPE colon prompt (:) appears, you terminate the session by entering the BYE command and pressing Return, as follows:

:BYE

Unexpected Program Interruption

The program may be interrupted unexpectedly because of a power failure or because you accidentally pressed Break. Refer to appendix G for instructions on program recovery. Once you have recovered, the form displayed at the time of the failure reappears, and you can continue where you had stopped before the interruption.