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

62 Chapter3
INTRODUCTION TO FORMS DESIGN
EASE OF FORMS DESIGN
Figure 3-5. Example of a Form Layout
Each layout consists of two kinds of information:
Fields Areas, delimited on the form, into which data will be entered by or
displayed to the user. The maximum number of fields allowed on anyone
form is 128.
Text The headings and other displayed information that appears on the form
but is never altered during execution.
You must distinguish between these two kinds of information within the form layout using
field delimiters and field tags to indicate the fields.
Field Delimiters
The data fields are delimited by brackets (
[ ]), by ESCAPE followed by brackets, or by a
combination of these. Pressing
ESCAPE, then bracket, prevents the brackets from being
displayed on the screen.
Printed Delimiters. If you delimit the data fields with brackets, they are not included in
the length of the field, but they do take on the display enhancements assigned to the field.
Brackets make it easy to see where a field begins and ends during definition, but they take
up space on the form. If you must concatenate two data fields, you should use nonprinting
delimiters to delimit the fields.
Nonprinting Delimiters. You can also delimit fields by pressing
ESCAPE followed by:
the left bracket (
[ ) OR the right bracket ( ] ).
The advantage of these delimiters is that they take up no space on the form and thus can
be used to delimit contiguous fields. The disadvantage of using these keys is that they are
not displayed and therefore do not show up during form design.
Mixing Printing and Nonprinting Delimiters. To use one printing and one
nonprinting delimiter to fix the boundaries of a field, use the delimiters as follows:
PREV
FORM
NEXT
FORM
REFRESH
PREV NEXT MAIN/
RESUME
EXIT
*****ABC MANUFACTURING*****
Date: [ordate ]
SHIP TO:
Name [name ]
Address [address ]
City [city ] State [st]
Zip [zip ] Telephone [phone ]