HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 (Forms Management System)

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Software

Product

Description

PRODUCT NAME: HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 SPD 45.06.02

(Forms Management System)

DESCRIPTION

HP FMS for OpenVMS (FMS) is a mature, character-cell

based forms management system for interactive appli-

cations running on OpenVMS systems that use video

forms as the user interface. FMS provides application

programmers with a set of development tools to create

and maintain forms-based user interfaces and a run-

time system for displaying and managing the applica-

tion’s user interface at execution time.

FMS has been superseded by HP DECforms for Open-

VMS. DECforms is the preferred forms product for char-

acter cell terminal applications and should be used for all

new application development requiring a forms-based

user interface.

Features

Forms deﬁned using FMS provide the programmer with

the ability to use the following features of VT terminals

by HP:

• Individual character attributes of reverse video, bold,

blinking, and underline

• Line attributes of double width, double height, and

scrolled

• Screen width attributes such as 80 or 132 column

lines, and reverse video

• Alternate character sets including the VT100 "special

graphics character set" for line drawing

FMS form data structures are used by the Form Driver

(FDV) during run time to display forms, and to access

and validate data entered by the terminal operator.

Forms can be created and modiﬁed interactively with

the interactive editing facility (FMS/EDIT), or they can be

deﬁned as a source form description with the Form Lan-

guage and then converted to a form data structure using

the Form Language Translator (FMS/TRANSLATE). In

general, forms larger than 54 lines in 80-column mode

and 63 lines in 132-column mode can only be created

and modiﬁed with the Form Language Translator.

Forms usually reside in form library ﬁles on disk and are

retrieved as needed by application programs at execu-

tion time. This arrangement results in a high degree of

independence between form data structures and appli-

cation programs. Forms can be modiﬁed without recom-

pilation or relinking of the application program. Forms

can also be converted into an object module and linked

with application programs to create memory-resident

forms, or forms can be dynamically loaded into mem-

ory by the application program.

FMS applications use the Form Driver to control the dis-

play of forms, their associated data ﬁelds, and the input

and output of data into ﬁelds. All data input from the

terminal and output to the terminal is passed as ASCII

strings.

Data for each ﬁeld in a FMS form is validated by the

Form Driver. Field-validation characters are used to

construct a "ﬁeld validation picture." During program ex-

ecution, characters input or output to the ﬁeld are com-

pared to the picture to determine if they are valid. In

most instances, the ﬁeld picture can contain several dif-

ferent ﬁeld validation characters and also ﬁeld-marker

characters. Field-marker characters, used to improve

the readability of the displayed form, are transparent to

the application program.

January 2005

Summary of content (6 pages)

PAGE 1
Software Product Description PRODUCT NAME: HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 (Forms Management System) DESCRIPTION HP FMS for OpenVMS (FMS) is a mature, character-cell based forms management system for interactive applications running on OpenVMS systems that use video forms as the user interface.
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HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 (Forms Management System) SPD 45.06.02 The creation of forms with the interactive editing facility is accomplished in phases. The layout phase is used to specify the visual appearance of the form, the background text, and what types of characters are to be valid input to the fields. While laying out a form on the screen, one has available a set of 48 function keys and key combinations.
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HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 (Forms Management System) SPD 45.06.02 Named Data are form constants that can be stored as part of the form data structure and retrieved at execution time by calls in the application program. Named Data allows information needed by the application program (such as form linkage, operator messages and other human language information, and data validation criteria for user subroutines) to be defined, stored, and modified independently of the application program.
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HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 (Forms Management System) SPD 45.06.02 Terminal Image - All escape sequences and control characters are included to present an exact image of the screen as displayed. This image can be output properly only to a printer that understands or can interpret the control characters and escape sequences used by the current terminal.
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HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 (Forms Management System) SPD 45.06.02 Terminal Emulators SOFTWARE LICENSING Terminal emulators on workstations and personal computers are supported only to the extent that the emulator conforms to the supported terminal environment being emulated. This software is furnished only under a license. For more information about HP’s licensing terms and policies, contact your local HP office.
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HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 (Forms Management System) SPD 45.06.