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

Chapter 3 109

INTRODUCTION TO FORMS DESIGN

USING FORMSPEC TO CREATE AN ARB

Once you have created a form and saved it in a forms ﬁle, you can create an associated

application-ready buffer (ARB) for that form. There are two steps to the process; ﬁrst, you

must set up a data type conversion (DTC) record, then you can generate the ARB. The DTC

record need only be set up once for the entire forms ﬁle.

You may want to transform data between the screen and application for several reasons.

First, the data the application will store may differ from what appears on the screen:

menu-selection and next-screen ﬁelds, for example, would normally be excluded from the

ARB. Conversely, you may want to store data from a source other than the screen, such as

key ﬁelds for an IMAGE dataset, along with the screen data. This can be done by using

"ﬁller" ﬁelds, ﬁelds that exist on the ARB but not on the corresponding form (see RES

below).

Second, the order in which the application stores data may differ from the order in which it

is entered on the screen. An arrangement of ﬁelds that makes logical sense to the user may

not be suitable for a database, for example. Fields can be rearranged on the screen without

affecting their order on the ARB, and vice versa.

Third, data type and length may differ from screen to ARB, and the designer uses the ARB

screens, in conjunction with the Data Type Conversions Menu, to specify conversions (see

discussion under "ARB Data Types").

Figure 3-25. shows the sequence of menus used to create, modify and delete an ARB and

the ﬁelds on it.