HP Data Entry and Forms Management System (VPLUS) Reference Manual (32209-90024)

56 Chapter3
INTRODUCTION TO FORMS DESIGN
GETTING STARTED WITH FORMSPEC
The function keys used by FORMSPEC should not be confused with the function keys
defined by an application or by ENTRY for use while the application is executing, as
discussed under "Advanced Forms Design" later in this section. Although the two groups of
keys are physically the same programmable keys, their functions differ in most cases.
Menu Sequence
FORMSPEC displays its menus in a predetermined sequence. As each menu is displayed,
type in the specifications you want and then press
ENTER. If you do not want to enter a
specification on a particular menu, or you want to skip over one or more menus, you can
use the menu sequence control function keys (
NEXT FORM, PREV FORM, NEXT, and PREV).
These keys allow you to select menus relative to the current menu in order to make
changes or additions. Figure 3-3. illustrates the relation between the menus provided by
FORMSPEC and the function keys that control menu sequence.
You can move forwards or backwards through the sequence of menus to locate a particular
menu by pressing
NEXT or PREV, respectively. If you want to skip the field menus
associated with each form, you can use the
PREV FORM or NEXT FORM. An alternate
method is to request the Main Menu with
MAIN/RESUME, and then select an existing menu.
Although it is not technically a menu, the form layout associated with each form is treated
as the menu following the Forms Menu when
NEXT is pressed, and as the menu preceding
the first Field Menu when
PREV is pressed.
The sequence control keys can also be used from the Main Menu. You can go to the Main
Table 3-1. FORMSPEC Key Labels
Key Key Action
PREV
FORM
f1
Display the previous Form Menu. If no forms are defined, a Form Menu with no
values is displayed.
NEXT
FORM
f2
Display the next Form Menu. If the next form is not defined, a Form Menu with no
values is displayed.
FIELD
TOGGLE
f3
Only used in Field Menus to switch between field attributes and the optional
processing specifications.
REFRESH
f4
Redisplay current menu in its initial state before any specifications were entered
or existing specifications modified. Also used to recover in case of unexpected
program interruption (refer to Appendix G).
PREV
f5
Displays previous menu in sequence of menus (refer to "Menu Sequence").
MAIN/
RESUME
f7
Request Main Menu or, if Main Menu displayed, return to menu displayed when
MAIN/RESUME was requested.
EXIT
f8
Terminate FORMSPEC and return to MPE control.