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

208 Chapter5
Reformatting Specifications
Output Record Menu
Output Record Menu
An Output Record Menu, shown in Figure 5-15., is issued for every input forms sequence.
It specifies which fields in the input forms are to be written to an output record. The output
record definition may generate one output record, many output records, or only a portion of
an output record. The order in which fields are specified is the order in which they are
written to the output record.
The Output Record Menu is not a true menu screen. Rather than selecting from predefined
options, you enter the reformat fields in a freeform area on the screen. Once the output
record definition is specified, you will have a complete list of the output record image for
the forms specified in the corresponding input forms sequence. At a glance, you can see the
order in which fields will appear and where each record begins. If only a portion of a field is
to be written, this too is evident from the output record definition. As such, the output
record definition can be thought of as the "screen image" of the reformat similar to the
screen image generated for each form in the forms file.
Figure 5-15. An Example of an Output Record Menu
When the Output Record Menu is displayed, the cursor is positioned to the first position in
the first line in which you can enter an output record specification. Tabs are set so that
when you press
TAB, the cursor is moved to each subsequent position. Figure 5-16.
illustrates an example of a completed Output Record Menu specification.
PREV
FORM
NEXT
FORM
REFRESH
PREV NEXT MAIN/
RESUME
EXIT
FORMSPEC v.uu.ff Output Record Menu REFORMAT IDENTIFIER: A
INPUT OUTPUT
Field Name Substring Form Name Field Name Strt Len Strt
Strt Len Col Rec
^^^^^^^^
1234 5678