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

HP FMS for OpenVMS, Version 2.5 SPD 45.06.02
(Forms Management System)
Attributes from the following list can be assigned to each
individual field:
• Name of the Field
• A default value
• A help message
• Autotab
• Clear Character
• Display Only
• Fixed Decimal
• Indexed
• Left Justify
• Right Justify
• Must Fill
• No Echo
• Response Required
• Supervisor Only
• Uppercase
• User action routines and associated data parameters
• Zero Fill
• Zero Suppress
The attributes assigned to each field are checked for
validity when the form is created. Some combinations
of attributes are not legal. Each form has attributes that
apply to the form as a whole. These attributes include:
• Name of the form
• Name of an associated help form
• Screen background (black, white, or do not change)
• Screen width (80 columns, 132 columns, or do not
change)
• Screen area to clear when displaying the form
• Terminal character set
• User action routines and associated data parameters
• Video attributes to be used if the field being worked
on is to be highlighted at run time
• The order in which fields are to be accessed
• Named Data
Application Development Utilities
Interactive Form Editor
The FMS/EDIT command invokes the interactive editing
facility that is used by the form developer to create and
modify video forms.
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 back-
ground 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. These keys perform functions such as
cursor movement, delete and undelete, cut and paste,
box drawing, video attribute assignment, centering, and
displaying Help. Additional phases are used to assign
form and field attributes, to enter Named Data, and to
assign field access order. Named Data and all form and
field attributes, including user action routines, are spec-
ified by filling in questionnaires. Highlighting is used to
indicate which field is being referred to during the field
attribute and the field order assignment phases. Finally,
the test phase allows the developer to interact with a
form just as the end user would without exiting the edit-
ing session.
Form Language Translator
The Form Language Translator provides an alternate
means for defining forms. The Form Language is a
free-form, keyword-oriented, declarative language that
provides the means to create and modify source form
descriptions with a text editor or program.
The FMS/TRANSLATE command is used to convert the
source form descriptions (contained in a text file) to form
data structures. The data structures created are equiv-
alent to those created with the FMS interactive editor.
Existing form data structures can be converted back into
Form Language source code for modification or docu-
mentation by using the FMS/DESCRIPTION/FULL com-
mand.
Other Application Development Aids
FMS provides additional facilities to aid in the applica-
tion program development process. The facilities are
invoked with the following commands:
• FMS/LIBRARY - To create and maintain form li-
braries.
• FMS/DESCRIPTION - To obtain any of the following
basic types of descriptions of forms:
— /BRIEF - Summary information about a form, its
fields, Named Data, and user action routines.
— /FULL - Text files containing Form Language
statements suitable for input to the Form Lan-
guage Translator.
— /DECLARATIONS - To obtain data division code
that can be edited by the user to create a COBOL
Data Division or DATATRIEVE Domain Definition
reflecting the names, lengths, and order of fields
on the screen.
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