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

Chapter 1 23
VPLUS Overview
Product Overview
1 VPLUS Overview
This chapter provides overview information about using VPLUS and also provides
information about using this manual.
Product Overview
VPLUS is a comprehensive software system that provides an interface between a terminal
and any transaction processing program. The interface can support the formatting,
editing, and validation of data as well as the display and collection of that data. VPLUS
also includes a source data entry facility that provides a "front end" for batch transaction
processing applications.
Interface Design
The interface between the user at a terminal and the application program is implemented
as a form. VPLUS enables you to easily design the layout of the form and the data to be
displayed and entered on the form. A variety of processing for the data can be specified to
occur before and after it is displayed and entered.
Transaction Processing
VPLUS provides a set of intrinsics that enables you to control forms and data on a
terminal from an application program. These intrinsics are available for programs written
in any of the supported programming languages listed in appendix A.
Additionally, some languages (also listed in appendix A) provide a special interface with
terminals and forms, as described in their respective reference manuals. With these
languages, you do not call VPLUS intrinsics directly. Instead, you specify the appropriate
statements for the special interface.
Source Data Entry
VPLUS provides a ready-to-use data entry program, called ENTRY, for collecting data
without any programming effort. The data is collected in a file for later batch processing.
Users can browse the entered data using ENTRY and modify the data while browsing it. If
you need additional or different capabilities that ENTRY does not provide, you can write
your own application that incorporates VPLUS intrinsics. Appendix A, "Sample
Programs", includes sample source data entry programs.
VPLUS also provides a batch reformatting capability. You can create specifications to
control how collected data is to be reformatted, and then run a program to actually
reformat the data.