After defining the field attributes on the Field Menu (as
described in Section 3), if you want to define additional processing,
press FIELD TOGGLE. You can then enter the processing statements in the lower
(nonformatted) area of the Field Menu. (Refer to Figure 4-1 “Field Menu with Processing
Specifications” for an illustration of the Field Menu that includes
processing specifications.) When additional field processing is
requested, FORMSPEC performs the following steps:
Leaves the Field Menu on the screen with its current values
for the field attributes.
Places the terminal in nonformatted block mode.
This allows you to type anywhere on the screen, not just in unprotected
fields, and use the full terminal capabilities for block mode entry
(refer to your terminal manual for details.)
Positions the cursor at the beginning of the first
line on which you can enter the processing specifications.
Figure 4-1 Field Menu with Processing
Specifications
You
can then enter any of the processing statements described in this
section. They can be typed on any line in the processing specifications
area, and must conform to the specified syntax rules. When you have
typed all the specifications for this field, press ENTER. When ENTER is pressed, the field attributes are cheeked first. If
there are no errors, the processing specifications are checked for
syntax errors. When the Field Menu passes these checks, the next
menu is displayed. You can continue with field definitions or go
back to change previously defined fields.
Special Cases |
 |
If a processing specification statement line extends to the
80th column, the line is expanded to two lines when you return to
the Field Menu. This may in turn result in processing specification
truncation due to either terminal memory overflow or FORMSPEC internal
buffer overflow.
In nonformatted mode, it is possible to accidentally clear
or delete any field attributes with a key such as CLEAR DISPLAY or DELETE LINE. Doing this is only a problem if the values for
the field attributes have not yet been recorded by pressing ENTER. To recover, press REFRESH and then reenter any changed values for the field
attributes.
While in the processing specification area of the Field Menu,
recovering from accidently pressing BREAK or from system problems requires a special recovery procedure.
Refer to Appendix G.
Correcting Existing Specifications |
|
Whenever you return to a Field Menu, the terminal is in formatted
mode with the cursor positioned to the first unprotected field in
the upper part of the screen. To change the field attributes, TAB to the field you want to change and type in the new value.
To change the processing specifications in the lower part of the
screen, you must press FIELD TOGGLE to put the terminal in nonformatted mode. The cursor is
then positioned to the beginning of the processing specification
area.
If you want to change a field attribute in the upper part
of the Field Menu when you are in the lower part entering processing
specifications, you must press FIELD TOGGLE to return to formatted mode. The cursor is then positioned
at the first unprotected field in the upper part of the menu, and
you can then change the field attributes.
