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

126 Chapter4
Advanced Forms Design
Levels Of Advanced Design
Levels Of Advanced Design
Advanced forms design can be separated into two levels of processing specifications:
• Field Edits — use a comprehensive set of editing statements that apply to a single
field. These statements allow you to test a value entered in a field for length, and to
compare the value to a single value, a range of values, the values in a table or against a
pattern, and to test a check digit in a field. Each of these edits applies to the field in the
Field Menu in which it appears — the editing statements do not cross field boundaries.
• Advanced Processing — includes statements that control data movement between
fields and across forms, arithmetic calculation and formatting of data, dynamic
alteration of forms sequencing options. Any of these statements and the edit statements
can be combined into conditional statements so that processing is performed only in
specified circumstances. This type of processing, as in any programming language, is
affected by the order in which the statements are specified. The order of statement
execution can be defined explicitly through phase statements.
Advanced forms design uses processing specifications that are specified in the lower
nonformatted area of the Field Menu. Although they apply primarily to particular fields,
some specifications apply to the form in general. The specifications can, if desired, be
executed in four phases: configuration, initialization, field edits, and finish. If used, phases
allow the selection of:
• terminal configuration for local edit terminals and data capture devices,
• initialization of fields in the form before data is entered in the fields,
• editing of data in each field after the data is entered, and,
• after all fields are edited, any finish processing of the form.
The application requests execution of each phase with appropriate VPLUS intrinsics,
except for configuration, which is a passive phase built into the presentation of the form.
Refer to "Phases" later in this section for more information.
If you have collected data in a batch file, you may also use the Reformatting Capability
(described in Section 5) to reformat the data in the batch file for subsequent use by an
application.