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

586 AppendixE
Application Hints
Designing Your Forms File
IF EO MINLEN 1 THEN
ELSE<edit statements> EO not marked; apply edits
8. The contributed utility program RESTORE will not correctly copy records larger than
2000 bytes. If you wish to copy a KSAM forms file or reformat file from a store tape to a
disc file, use the MPE :RESTORE command and the FCOPY subsystem.
9. There are three file equations for which VPLUS checks during execution. The use of
these file equations provides the user with a way to override the defaults used by
VPLUS. These file equations are also useful when attempting to debug an application
with trace messages or when DEBUG is used. The VPLUS intrinsic VOPENTERM, used by
FORMSPEC, ENTRY, and REFSPEC, searches for a file equation named A264X.
VOPENTERM attempts to open the device referenced by A264X to display VPLUS forms
and accept their associated input. For example:
:FILE A264X; DEV=28
:RUN ENTRY.PUB.SYS
causes logical device 28 to be opened by VOPENTERM, and subsequent screen displays by
VSHOWFORM appear on LDEV 28. In this example, LDEV 28 must be a logged off
terminal in an available state. Applications can make use of this feature by using the
termfile parameter of VOPENTERM and a file equation. If the second parameter to
VOPENTERM contained the value TERMINAL, the following file equation will cause logical
device 28 to be opened for forms display:
:FILE TERMINAL;DEV=28
Trace and abort messages will be displayed to the command terminal — the one which
initiated the application. This would be the main reason to use this feature as abort
messages are frequently impossible to read because they are displayed in the
unprotected fields of a VPLUS application.
The second file equation which VPLUS searches for is FORMLIST. The VPRINTFORM
intrinsic uses FORMLIST to list forms (as in ENTRY). FORMSPEC also uses
FORMLIST for the LIST command. FORMLIST defaults to the system printer. If,
however, the user wishes to save the list file on disc, the following file equation does just
that, creating a file named FORMLIST containing the form listing.
:FILE FORMLIST; DEV=DISC;SAVE
If your system has both a page printer and a line printer (default), the file equation:
:FILE FORMLIST;DEV=PP
sends the form listing to the page printer.
The third file equation which VPLUS uses deals with a summary listing of the forms
file from batch mode FORMSPEC. Batch mode prints to a file named FORMOUT. A file
equation for FORMOUT can use the same parameters as discussed for the file
FORMLIST.
10.The LIST command and the batch mode FORMS command print a maximum of 60 lines
per page. This maximum may be altered by setting the JCW.
FORMSPECLINESPERPAGE