Information gathered during data collection is stored in one
or more "batch" files. The data entered for each field in a form
is stored exactly as it was entered. All blanks, punctuation, or
special characters are included in the data. The only exception
is that any formatting specified on the Field Menu or any automatic
formatting resulting from data movement (refer to Chapter 4) is
completed before the data is written to the batch file. Thus, if
a value has been entered in the middle of a field, the blanks on
either side are stored as part of the data; or if a number has been
right justified and zero filled, it is stored in the batch file
in that form.
All data from all fields in a single form are concatenated
together without delimiters into a single record in the batch file.
If the configuration of the data in a batch file is not suitable
for input to an application program, the data can be reformatted
with REFORMAT. This program writes the data from the batch file
to another file, the "output" file, according to formatting specified through
the reformat design program, REFSPEC. (Refer to Figure 5-1 “Relation among Files Used for Formatting”)
You may want to reformat data entered in the batch file in
order to:
Combine data from several forms into
one record in the output file.
Separate data from a single form into two or more
output records.
Generate several output files from the data entered
through a single forms file.
Add literals (such as sort codes or record separators)
to each output record.
Use only a selected portion of the data entered
in any field.
Write only selected fields from any form to an output
record.
Fill, justify, or strip characters from data entered
in any field.
Add a check digit to alphabetic or numeric data.
This chapter describes how to use the reformat design program
REFSPEC. It is an extension of forms design and is used by the forms
designer in conjunction with an application programmer to specify
how data is to be reformatted. Use of REFORMAT is described at the
end of this chapter.
Figure 5-1 Relation among Files Used for Formatting
