Presentation Classes

Help

The help subsystem lets you provide context-sensitive, structured help throughout an OPENworkshop application. You can specify help messages to display on an application, class, or data element name level. You can present help in a number of different forms.

OPENworkshop displays a help message whenever a user selects Help (F6). Other help messages are displayed as prompts by OPENworkshop applications. As a developer you can define the size and position of the window in which the help is displayed. In VIP size and position confirms to Windows standards. There are two alternative strategies for developing the text of help messages:

Since OPENworkshop allows you to create help whenever none is defined, it is possible to wait until the application has been created then build the help as the application is exercised. For help messages that will be displayed in response to the user selecting Help this strategy will often serve to make your help more relevant and accurate in shorter time.
The alternative is to create help through the Help Header, shown below. This method must be used to create indexed or function key help.

To add a new help item select Line Insert in the Header View. OPENworkshop creates a new row.

Enter a name, description, and other required attributes, as shown in the table below. Then, with the highlight on the Help Name, select Edit (F1) to create the help text using the help text editor.

Column	Attribute
Help Name	Two-character Library name followed by up to 6-character Help name
LS	Language Suffix. Defaults to 1. Select a different suffix for different languages where you are using multi-language support. See Dictionary-IV Administrator Guide for more details.
Description	Up to 40-character description
Hdr Typ	Header Type. C = Centered L = Left aligned R = Right aligned space = no header OPENworkshop uses the Description as the Header.
Other columns	Maintained by OPENworkshop

Help Text Editor

The help text editor allows you to create and edit the contents of a help text file, and also control where the window is displayed on the screen. In VIP size and position confirms to Windows standards. The following table provides an overview of the facilities provided by the editor. See the on-line help within OPENworkshop or review the Dictionary-IV Reference Manual for more details. Below is a table of help editor for character functions:

Key: Function Description

F1 Split Line Splits the current line into two lines at the cursor position.

Characters after the current cursor are moved to the following line.

F2 Join Line Joins two lines eliminating any blanks at the end of the

first line and the beginning of the second.

F3: Spell Check Performs a spelling check on the help file contents.

F4 End Ends the editing session, giving you the choice of saving

or discarding the changes made.

F5 Format Text Justifies text from the current line to the end of the

paragraph.

F6: Help Displays help for the help file editor.
F7: Special Functions A menu of special functions as follows:
Change Tabs: Sets tab positions for the file.
Resize/Move Window: Moves and resizes the window in which help is displayed.
Edit Another Document: Allows you to view or edit another document, returning the current document on completion.
Color Settings: Allows color highlights to be added to help.
Edit Mode Options: Allows the on/off status of a number of flags to be changed. These flags control text mode vs graphics mode, right margin alignment, automatic hyphenations, character attributes.
Change Window Title: Allows the title of the help message to be changed.
Select date: Inserts the current date into the file being edited.
Extended Help: Presents help on how to design help text.
Window Move: Allows the position of the help window to be changed using tab and up/down keys.

F8 Search/Replace Allows a search or search and replace throughout the text

file

F9: Expand Window Expands the window to full screen size.
F10 GoTo: Searches the document for a pattern and places the cursor at that position.

Key	Function	Description
F11	Margin	Sets the left margin to the current cursor position.
F12	Copy	Copies the contents of another document to the current position in the help text.
F13	Cut/Paste	Allows text to be cut from one place and pasted elsewhere within the file.
F14	Undo	Undoes the last change made to the file. Multiple uses successively undo previous changes.
F15	Character/Graphics Mode	Switches editing between editing characters and editing graphics characters.
F16	Print	Prints the help message text.

OPENworkshop offers a choice of types of help. See the beginning of this subsection for examples of their appearance. The type is specified to OPENworkshop by the first line of the help text.

Simple Help

Displays a simple text message when Help (F6) is selected. Any help text file that does not begin with one of the reserved help type specifiers (see the following) is assumed to be simple help.

To define a simple help file select Line Insert in the Help Header, specify the attributes required, then select Edit (F1). Create the text. Adjust the position and size of the help window as required, and save the help file.

Indexed Help

Shows a list of help subjects that the user can select when this indexed help is displayed. After the operator has selected from the list OPENworkshop displays the referenced help file.

Indexed help is specified by the characters .HI. starting at the first row, first column. You must then specify the window size and position for the help. (In VIP size and position conforms to Windows standards.) In this example, the help is to be displayed in a window that is 9 characters wide, 3 characters high, positioned at column 0, row 10.

To define a help index file select Line Insert in the Help Header, specify the attributes required, then with the highlight on the name field select Edit (F1) for the help index file. Create the text as indicated in the model shown above and save it. Then create a help item for each of the options specified in the indexed help list. Typically, each of these items will be simple help, but they may be any type.

Function Key Help

Displays a help message for a number of function keys, determined by the contents of the function key help file. When the user presses a function key while this help message is displayed, a further help message is shown, selected by appending the two-digit function key value (01, 02, etc.) to the help name prefix specified in the first line of the file.

In this example, pressing F3 would display a help module named LLHLP03. Function key help is specified by the characters .HF. starting at the first line and the first column of the help file.

To define a function key help file press Line Insert in the Help Header view, specify a help name, then with the highlight on the Help Name select Edit (F1) for the help text file. Create the text as indicated in the model shown. Adjust the position and size of the help window as required, and save the help file. (In VIP size and position conforms to Windows standards.) Then create a help item for each of the function keys specified in the function key help file to contain the required help text. Typically, each of these items will be simple help, but they may be any type.

String Substitution

The help subsystem allows the application developer to substitute strings in a help message under the control of the application. To take advantage of this facility, use the CONNECT HELP directive and supply substitution parameters in the HELP$ string array, which is described in the HELP$ section of this manual.

Help Topics Subsystem

Complementing the context-sensitive help system, OPENworkshop provides an indexed help subsystem to let users find help on any topic.

Using Help Topics

From the Main menu select Help.

A menu of major topics is presented for the user to select from.

Select the category required, and the Help Topics subsystem opens a view of all available help for the selected category.

Select Search (F8) to search for items that contain one or more keywords.

At the prompt, enter either a single text string or multiple items separated by commas. OPENworkshop searches for all items in the current category that contain any of the keywords entered, i.e., the keyword search does a logical OR between multiple keywords.

Select GoTo (F10) to go to an entry in the list that commences with a specified character string.

The list contains both help items and menus. Once the required item is located in the list, select it to display the item. If the chosen item is help, OPENworkshop simply displays the help text. If the chosen item is a menu, OPENworkshop displays the menu and allows the user to either select from that menu or end the display.

Creating Help Topics Items

The developer can make help items or menus available to the Help Topics subsystem simply by adding a .TOPIC declaration to its definition.

The help shown above contains a Help Topic declaration. The text, Customer Code, will be added to the topics available. The category into which this topic is to be placed is defined in the \APPL segment of the declaration; this declaration will be in the OE category. If no \APPL statement is made, the item will be placed in the Miscellaneous (ZZ) category.

The menu shown above contains multiple Help Topic declarations, enabling the item to be searched for in various ways.

Generating the Help Topics Index

The Help Topics index must be generated before the Help Topics subsystem can be used. Use the Control Menu/System Administration menu to display the menu below.

OPENworkshop requests the names of the libraries to be added to the index. If an index already exists, you are given the choice of appending to the existing index or replacing the existing index. For more information see the Dictionary-IV Administrator Guide.

A menu allows the user to choose an action from a number of options. OPENworkshop supports three different forms of menus: a simple list, a matrix menu, and a selection menu.

List Menu Sample

In a list menu on a character terminal move the cursor up and down using the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys. Alternatively, you can press the first character of the option you require, and the lightbar will move to the next line starting with that character. In a graphical user interface, point and double click on the item.

Matrix Menu Sample

A matrix menu allows you to choose from a matrix of options. On a character terminal use the arrow keys to move around the columns and rows, and the Enter key to select the required option. On a graphical workstation, point and double click to select the option.

Selection Menu Sample

A selection menu is used to pass selection parameters to an operation. The example on the previous page shows a menu that will execute a Delete function when the Enter key is pressed. Each of the parameters listed below the cursor can be toggled by moving to the cell and selecting it. Alternatively, select Toggle to toggle all the parameters at once, when you are ready, select Execute.

The developer is able to control the position and appearance of the list, matrix, or selection menu on the screen, and the groups of users who may see and select the menu as whole or individual options on the menu.

Maintaining Menus

To maintain menus move to the Menu Header view, as shown below:

To edit an existing menu, move to the row and select Edit (F1). To create a new menu, select Line Insert, enter a name and attributes (see below) for the menu and then with the highlight on the name field select Edit (F1) to edit the new definition.

Column	Attribute
Menu Name	Two-character library name followed by up to 6 character help name.
LS	Language suffix. Defaults to 1. Select a different suffix for different languages where you are using multi-language support. See the Dictionary-IV Administrator Guide for more details.
Description	Up to 40-character description.
Hdr Typ	Header Type: C = Centered L = Left aligned R = Right aligned space = no header OPENworkshop uses the description as the Header.
Other columns	Maintained by OPENworkshop

A file containing the menu definition is opened. You can edit the file using the text editor. The definitions for each of the three sample menus shown at the beginning of this section are shown in the following. The type of menu required is specified in the first line of the menu definition.

List Menu

In the first line, .MN. specifies this as a list menu, to be displayed in a window that is 25 characters wide, 4 lines high, and positioned at column 53 and row 1.

Each line of the menu is defined in the following lines of the definition. The first 25 characters are displayed in the window. The directive to be processed when the option is selected starts at character position 25+2. If the definition defines more options than the height of the window, scroll within the window.

Matrix Menu

As with the list menu, the first line defines the type of menu and the size and position of the window. The example also shows how to specify a help file that will be available when the menu is displayed.

The next 9 lines, including the line graphics, in this example define the layout of the menu on the screen. Line graphics define the outline border. Other text is displayed as typed, except fields filled with a # (pound sign).

These fields define where the cursor can move to in the displayed matrix menu.

You must specify a regular matrix, i.e., no gaps can be left. However, different columns do not all have to be specified at the same width. Choose widths that suit the column headings.

The line numbered 0 that follows the screen representation specifies the number 4 columns and 5 rows within the matrix menu options matrix. Each row and column combination offers an option to the user, defined in the following lines of the menu definition.

The following lines specify the directives to be executed for each cell in the matrix. Lines are numbered by counting the columns row-by-row. The line numbered 1 specifies the directives to be executed for row 1 and column 1. Line 2 specifies the option for row 1 and column 2. Line 5 specifies row 2 and column 1. See the following table for cell numbering in this example.

Vitals	Views	Screens	Vitals	Reports
Customer	1	2	3	4
Inventory	5	6	7	8
Sales Rep	9	10	11	12
Invoices	13	14	15	16
Inv Dtl	17	18	19	20
:::

Selection Menu

A selection menu is a type of matrix menu, and is specified as a matrix menu in line 1 of the definition. The screen layout and fields are also specified as in a matrix menu. Note that more than one column of options can be specified if required.

The line after the screen definition specifies the number of columns and rows, followed by the characters to be passed for the ON and OFF state for each option, as follows:

0  Cols,Rows,PassOn,PassOff,DisplayOn,DisplayOff,DefaultValue

Cols: number of columns of options to be displayed in the matrix.
Rows: number of rows of options to display.
PassOn: single character to be passed with directive when option is set ON. The default is Y.
PassOff: single character to be passed with directive when option is set OFF. The default is N.
DisplayOn: string to display in matrix when option is set ON. The default is Yes.
DisplayOff: string to display in matrix when option is set OFF. The default is No.
DefaultValue: default state for options. The default is No.

As with the matrix menu the succeeding lines numbered 1 and above, specify the directives to be executed when an option is selected. In this example the first option is designed to be used to execute the OODMT0 method, passing message D, while the other options toggle the values of parameters.

Lines 2, 3 and 4 of the example above contain the ON/OFF directive. They direct the menu to toggle the value of a parameter between ON and OFF when the user selects the option. ON/OFF ALL on line 2 toggles all parameters in the menu.

The current values of these parameters are passed to the called method through string array MSG1$[ALL].

MSG1$[1]	Message from CONNECT directive (in this example the string D)
MSG1$[2]	(1,1)	Number of parameters
	(2,1)	The PassOn character (in this example “*”)
	(3,1)	The PassOff character (in this example “-”)
	(4,n)	The parameter values, in the order R1C1, R1C2, …. R2C1 .. to the end.

Help in Menus

OPENworkshop allows you to define the text to be displayed when a user selects Help while a menu is displayed. A help file may be defined for the entire menu, and also for individual menu lines.

To specify the help text for the entire menu, append \HELP=HELPNAME to the first line of the menu definition. To specify the help file for individual lines, insert \HELP=HELPNAME at the beginning of the line.

Note:: HELPNAME is the name of your help object.

Menus can also be added to the Help Topics subsystem index. For more information, see the Help Topic subsystem section earlier in this section.

Security in Menus

OPENworkshop security controls are different from those in Dictionary-IV. Users may be assigned to one or more security groups, and access to menu options or whole menus can be limited to members of selected groups.

Security groups are identified by a number. See the Security section of this manual for an explanation of how groups are managed.

To specify which security groups may access an entire menu add the security group list to the first line of the menu definition:

[mm,nn...]

where mm and nn are the security groups given access. No other users will be able to display the menu. Any number of groups may be specified.

To limit access to a line on a menu add the security group list to the relevant menu lines. Users who are not members of these groups will not be able to see or select these lines.

In the sample menu above, members of security groups 01 and 02 may access the menu, but only
members of group 01 will be able to see or access the Generate Test Data or Setup options.

Where security is defined on a per-line basis, OPENworkshop will not display menu lines that are not available to the current user. To avoid displaying a blank line, OPENworkshop suppresses these lines, resulting in a vertically shortened menu display. If you wish to ensure that such a menu is displayed so that the bottom line of the menu remains in the same place, append the T character to the security group list. For example:

[01,02,T]

on a menu line allows groups 01 and 02 to see the line. All other users will see only the remaining menu lines, but in this case the window will be displayed starting one line lower on the screen.

Query

A query creates a result that can be listed on the screen or printed to a file or printer. A sample query follows:

Select the Query Header view to create or maintain queries:

To edit an existing query, move to the row and select Edit (F1). To create a new query, select Line Insert, type a name and description for the menu and then select Edit to edit the new definition. To delete a query, select Line Delete.

Queries are executed using the CONNECT QUERY directive.

For more information on queries, see the Query-IV Reference Manual.

Information can be passed to Query-IV through the QUERY$ string array. See the QUERY$ section of this manual.

Report

Creates a report that can be listed on the screen or printed to a file or printer. A sample report follows:

Select the Report Header view to create or maintain reports:

To edit an existing report, move to the row and select Edit (F1). To create a new report select Line Insert, type a name and description for the menu and then select Edit to edit the new definition. To delete a report, select Line Delete.

Reports are executed using the CONNECT REPORT directive.

For more information on reports, see the Report-IV Reference Manual.

Information can be passed to Report-IV through the REPORT$ string array. See the REPORT$ section of this manual.

Screen

A screen displays data in a character or graphic format (if VIP is installed) and may also allow data to be input. A screen displays information from a single record in the underlying file, as shown in the example below.

Select the Screen Header view to maintain or add screens:

OPENworkshop maintains the following objects and attributes associated with a screen:

Column	Attribute
Link/Format Name	The link or format used by the screen to locate the required data for the screen.
Description	A text description of the screen and its purpose.
After Read Method	After data has been read from a file and before it is displayed to the user in a screen, an optional after read method can be used to prepare the data for display. This method may be used, for example, to prepare calculated fields. See the description of after read methods for more information.
Screen Help	Specifies the help file that should be used to offer context-sensitive help for this screen.
Hdr Type	Header Type. C = Centered L = Left aligned R = Right aligned space = no header OPENworkshop uses the description as the header.
Other Columns	Maintained by OPENworkshop

To edit an existing screen definition put the cursor in the row that contains the definition and select Edit (F1). To change the name of, or to copy an existing screen, type the new name and choose the options for the subsequent menus, which will display. To create a definition of a new screen, select Line Insert, type a name for the new screen, then select Edit to edit the new definition.

The following display was the result of selecting Edit for the OESCUST screen:

OPENworkshop displays the current screen definition, consisting of a template background and a number of data fields that display and collect data values.

The following table provides an overview of the functions available for changing a screen definition in character mode. For more information, see on-line help or the Dictionary-IV Reference Manual. For more information about changing a graphic screen see the VIP for Dictionary-IV Reference Manual.

Below is a list of screen editor functions:

Key	Function	Description
F1	Preview Code Characters	Displays the screen with all of the special code characters converted.
F2	Delete data field	Deletes the data field from the screen, but does not affect the underlying format definition.
F3	Move data field	Moves the field within the Screen.
F4	End	Ends the editing session, giving you the choice of saving or discarding the changes made.
F5	Data field	Creates a data field in the screen definition. The field can display data from the underlying format or may be a calculated field for display only.
F6	Help	Displays help for the help file editor.
F7	Special Functions	A menu of special functions as follows:
F8	Print window	Prints the screen definition.
F10	Display data elements	Displays a list of data elements from the current format.
F15	Edit mode options	Switches editing between editing characters and editing graphics characters.
F16	Print	Prints the screen.

View

A view displays data from one or more files in rows and columns. If the developer has allowed it, the user can edit data by selecting the required cell and typing. The following example shows the Customer File view from the sample application supplied with OPENworkshop.

Selecting Actions

As the user moves from cell to cell in the view the actions available to the user change, depending on the pre-process directives defined in the relevant data element names.

Special Prompts are used to display available selections for the column. For more information, see
Special Prompts later in this section.

On a character terminal this list is displayed on line 0 of the visual display, and options are chosen by the user pressing a function key.

On a graphical workstation, special prompts are displayed in the status bar of the GUI Server window. Press the function keys or click the right mouse button for a table view of available CONNECTS.

Moving Around The View on a Character Terminal

While in a view the user can move horizontally from cell to cell. The shaded display area to the left of the vertical bar contains fixed columns. To the right of the bar, columns can be scrolled horizontally. Pressing the Tab key when the cursor is in the right-most column, scrolls to the right. Pressing Back Tab when in the column immediately to the right of the vertical bar scrolls to the left. Using the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys moves the cursor left or right through the columns that are visible.

The Home key provides four levels of operation, depending on where you are in the view. At the first press the cursor is moved to the first column of the current line. At the second consecutive press it moves to the first cell on the current display. At the third consecutive press it moves to the first cell of the entire view. A fourth press goes to the end of the file, i.e., the last record of the view.

Vertical movement through the view can be done a line at a time using the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys. Page Up and Page Down move the display by the number of lines in the window.

Changing a View

Certain attributes of a view can be modified while the view is displayed. All of the facilities shown in this section are available to developers. Users are prevented from using facilities marked below as developers.

Change Sort Sequence

Select Sort (F5) to display a list of the sort sequences available. When you have selected a sequence, the view is redisplayed using that sequence.

Delete Column (Developers)

Press Delete to delete the current column from a view.

Insert Column (Developers)

Press Insert to insert a new column in the view, or to recover a deleted column. OPENworkshop displays a list of data element names for selection. Highlight the required name and press Enter to insert before, or press right arrow to insert after, the current column. If you wish to add a column that is not in the list provided, select a blank name (initially A, after A has been used B etc.). You will be asked to supply the link and data element name for the data to be displayed in the new column. The key to the file containing the proposed data element name must be in the current view.

Delete Row

Press Line Delete to delete the current row. The data will be removed from the data file.

Insert Row

Press Line Insert to insert a new line before the current line.

F7 Special Functions

Select F7 Special functions and the system displays the following:

Carriage return mode

Controls the direction the lightbar will move after field editing. Valid directions are right, left, up, and down.

Display datanames

Turns the data name display feature on and off. When on, the following information about the current column appears at the bottom of the view:

Data element name.
Maximum entry length of the field.
Current width of the column.
Carriage return direction mode (Enter key).

CUST-CODE Data Name
1. Current column width
2. Maximum field entry length

<CR>=D: Carriage return mode

Display descriptions

Turns the description display feature on and off. When on, the following information about the current column appears at the bottom of the view.

Data element description (defined in format).

Customer Code: Data element description.

View edit

Allows modifications to the view specifications. Each specification that can be modified will have Help available (F6). If access is denied to this function, see your system administrator for additional explanation.

Key changes Controls the ability to add, delete, and modify records and to use F8 CHANGE, DELETE, COPY, and MOVE commands in a view. Select one of the following:

Y: Allows changes to the key fields in the view.
N: Does not allow you to change the key fields.

Data changes Controls the ability to add, delete, and modify records and to use F8 CHANGE, DELETE, COPY, and MOVE commands in a view. Select one of the following:

Y: Allows changes to the non-key fields in the view.
N: Does not allow you to change the non-key fields.

Display headings
Turns on or off the view headings. Select one of the following:

Y: Displays the heading lines.
N: Does not display the heading lines.

View alterations Controls the ability to delete or insert columns or to save a view. Select one of the following:

Y: Allows view specification changes.
N: Does not allow view specification changes.

Sort seq changes Turn on or off the ability to use F5 Sort to select a different sort sequence. Select one of the following:

Y: Allows view sort changes.
N: Does not allow view sort changes.

Print zeros Display/print zeros or blanks for the numeric value zero. Select one of the following:

Y: Prints zeros (0) when the numeric data is zero (0).
N: Prints blanks when the numeric data is zero (0).

Border heading Contains view window heading specifications. The headings always display in the top border of the view window. Select one of the following:

D	The view description is centered in the top border.
V	The eight-character view name is displayed in the left-most top border.
B	Both the eight-character view name and description are displayed in the top border.
N	No headings display in the top border.

CR Action Defines the action of the Enter key while in the view. Select one of the following:

F	Enter the normal field edit mode.
S	Enter screen maintenance.
s	Enter screen maintenance and return to View after record is edited.
E	Exit the view.

Cursor type
Defines the view lightbar specifications. Select one of the following:

C	One character cursor marks the column/row intersection.
E	Full field lightbar marks the column/row intersection.
F	The full row is marked with the lightbar.

DN/Desc display Displays the data names in the bottom border of the view flag. Select one of the following:

N	Do not display the data name or description.
D	Display the data name.
d	Display the data name description.

CR direction Defines the direction of the lightbar movement after pressing the Enter key to modify a field. Select one of the following:

U	The lightbar goes up to the prior row.
D	The lightbar goes down to the next row.
L	The lightbar goes left to the previous column.
R	The lightbar goes right to the next column.

Help Contains the name of the help module, which provides the text, to use for the view under the application help option.

Sort Menu Contains the name of a menu to be used in place of the default selection pop-up menu. This menu can be more application specific than the default sort selection menu.

Example:

In a customer file you may decide to restrict usage of a sort on sales. You may create a custom sort menu that does not include this sales sort.

When defining a sort menu, you must return a valid sort number with each selection contained in the developer-supplied menu.

For example:

It also allows you to present the data in a more readable display.

View Method Contains the name of a developer supplied method that will be called each time a view row is to be displayed. The method will build all new column values that have been defined by new columns A<x> through Z<x>. The view method is specified in the view header.

Link edit

Displays the Link Definition for this View. You may edit this definition and sorts. For more information see Link Definition in the Dictionary-IV Developer Guide.

If the system denies you access to this function see your system administrator for assistance.

Format edit

Displays the Format Definition for this View. You may edit this definition. For more information see Format Definition in the Dictionary-IV Developer Guide.

If the system denies you access to this function see your system administrator for assistance.

Prompt edit

Modifies the help text containing view/screen prompts that were referenced by VP[n] or SP[n]. For more information, see Format Definition in the Dictionary-IV Developer Guide.

Headings

Activates the heading edit mode. If headings have not been defined for a view, one blank line will be inserted and the entire view is shifted down. Once in heading edit mode, the Arrow and Tab keys can be used to select the desired column. You may type the desired heading values. Use the Line Insert key to add as many heading lines as desired.

To remove a heading line press Line Delete. Press F4 to exit heading mode.

You may make the column width larger than the field length defined in the format. This does not allow you to change the length of the data entered in the column, but it does allow you to increase the width of the heading.

For example: If you have a 2-character State column, you may press F7, select Column width, and increase the size to 5. This still only allows 2-character data entry, but allows you a 5-character heading. You may now type the heading State.

Lock columns

Locks and unlocks columns to the left of and including the column on which the lightbar is located. A vertical line designates a locked column. These columns remain stationary when scrolling in the view.

If two columns were locked, the vertical line would be placed to the right of the Customer Name column. These two columns then remain stationary when scrolling in the view.

Save view

Saves the view. The save process preserves all view attributes including deleted and locked columns, reduced field sizes, sort pattern, and any view size. There is no prompt for a view name or confirmation of changes.

Source-IV

Displays the Source-IV menu and allows you to make selections. This function is only available if the environment is defined as an OPENworkshop Development environment.

For more information see the Source-IV and OPENworkshop reference manuals.

DICTIONARY

Displays the following menu:

This function is only available if the environment is defined as an OPENworkshop development environment.

For more information about the Class Definitions see the Dictionary-IV Developer Guide.

F8 View Commands

Select F8 while in a view to obtain a menu of commands that can be used on the view. These commands perform frequently required operations, saving the developer from the need to implement them.

Security

The developer can prevent access to specific commands by setting appropriate security groups in the default F8 command menu OOM2.

Custom F8 Command menus can be created in order to provide limited F8 functionality when the user mode is set to USERS. This can be done at anytime by creating an OPENworkshop startup method and setting the global format #IDSV.VIEW-USR-CMD set to the name of the F8 Command window to be displayed from a View. This is useful if you do not want your users to be able to access F8 commands like COPY, MOVE, DELETE, SUM, COUNT. If #IDSV.VIEW-USR-CMD is not set the default menu OOM2 will be used.

For convenience a modified version of OOM2 named OOM2USR is distributed with OPENworkshop. This version of the command window limits options to LIST, PRINT, QUERY, CHART, EXPORT, and EXCEL.

SELECT

Many of the F8 commands make use of the standard OPENworkshop SELECT window:

SORT: The Link sort number by which the requested command will be sequenced. F2 will allow a valid sort definition to be selected from a pop-up menu.

RANGE From: The selected command will include the data starting with the RANGE From key value.

RANGE To: The selected command will include the data ending with the RANGE To key value.

SELECT WHEN: Select conditional expression. The conditional expression may contain any relational operators allowed in the IDOL-IV Script language.

F2 will allow valid data names to be selected from a pop-up menu.

F3 will allow the select statement to be edited in the Text Editor.

Any date mask valid for NTD() is valid in the SELECT statement with date type 8 fields.

Example select statements:
#FORMAT.DN1 = “XYZ”
#FORMAT.DN2 > 10 AND #FORMAT.DN3 < 6
CDN - #FORMAT.DUE-DATE < 30
#FORMAT.DUE-DATE(dd) = “01”
#FORMAT.DUE-DATE(Mon) = “Jan”
#FORMAT.DUE-DATE(Dy)=”Fri”
#FORMAT.DUE-DATE(YYYY) = NTD(CDN,”YYYY”)

A secure SELECT WHEN clause provides the developer with the ability to control what records are displayed in the view while preventing the user from changing or seeing the secured SELECT WHEN. A secure SELECT WHEN is never displayed in the F8 Selection. The user retains the ability to enter a SELECT WHEN clause. The user defined SELECT WHEN will be appended to the “hidden” secure SELECT WHEN clause.

To hide the SELECT clause from the user, enable the Secure Select When option by setting VIEW$[13](8,1)=”Y”.

For more information on the VIEW$[ALL] array, please see the online help: CONNECT HELP, CONNECT VIEW, VIEW MSG array.

Commands

COUNT

Counts the rows in the view. This command allows the user to select a range of records and a SELECT WHEN rule to control what is counted.

LIST

Re-lists rows in the view. The command allows the user to select a new sort sequence, a range of records and a SELECT WHEN rule to control what is listed. This command is useful when you temporarily want to restrict the number of rows displayed.

The LIST option also supports text field search rules to further refine the selection results. Only those records meeting all the selection criteria including the text field search will be included in the results.
When the LIST option is selected the following SELECT window is displayed. This is only available with the LIST option.

Search Text Fields (Y/N): By default, this option is set to “N”. Enter “Y” to enter text field search criteria.

Case Sensitive (Y/N): By default, the case sensitive option is not enabled. For example, searching for the term “View” would return a result for all of the following words: “View”, “VIEW”, and “view”. Enable the Case Sensitive option to return a result only for the term “VIEW”, or only for the term “View”, or only for the term “view”.

Exact Match (Y/N): By default, the exact match option is not enabled. Results are returned if the search term is found in any form within the text. It is equivalent to the wildcard *term*. For example, searching for the term “View” will return a result for all of the following words: “View”, “VIEW$”, “view-name”, and “8VIEWF”. When the exact match option is enabled only the words “View” and “VIEW” will return a result.

Any of these terms: This search option uses the OR relational operator.

All of these terms: This search option uses the AND relational operator.

None of these terms: This search option uses the NOT relational operator.

Exact Phrase: This search option will only return a result when the exact phrase is matched. When searching for a phrase, do not specify All, Any, or Not terms

SUM

Sums values in a column. This command allows the columns to be summed to be restricted using a range and a SELECT WHEN rule.

CHANGE

Performs a bulk change on the data in a view, changing all rows that fit within the specified range and SELECT WHEN rule. As an option, the user is able to request confirmation on a row-by-row basis.

PRINT

Prints the rows in a view. The rows to be printed can be restricted using a range and SELECT WHEN rule. The sort sequence in which the rows are to be printed can be specified.

COPY

Copies data from the current view to another file. The rows to be copied can be restricted using a range and a SELECT WHEN rule. The user is able to ask to approve each row, or approve overwriting of existing rows in the file being copied to.

This command is a useful way to copy data from one file to another.

MOVE

Moves data from the current view to another file. The same controls as the Copy command are provided, but moved data is deleted from the source view. Therefore, use this command with care.

DELETE

Deletes rows from a view and its underlying file. A range and the SELECT WHEN rule can restrict what is deleted. The user can ask to approve deletion of each row.

EXPORT

This option exports the data currently displayed in the current View to a .txt file. The file is created in the default data file directory defined by #IDSV.DISK.NBR-DATAFILES.

When you have selected the range press Enter and you will see the following window. Note SORT0 is the default sort.

EXCEL

This option exports the data displayed in the current View to an Excel spreadsheet on the Windows workstation using Thoroughbred’s Gateway for Windows product. The data to be exported can be refined by specifying a SORT, RANGE From/To, and a SELECT WHEN clause.

Excel will be launched and the spreadsheet will be populated with data from the View based on the SORT, RANGE From/To, and SELECT WHEN clause.

A new Excel workbook is created each time Excel is selected for output. To switch between workbooks, select the appropriate Microsoft Excel Book in the task bar. Or from the Excel menubar select Window and then select the appropriate Book (window).

A secure SELECT WHEN clause in VIEW$[7] provides the developer with the ability to control what records are displayed in the view while preventing the user from changing or seeing the secured SELECT WHEN. A secure SELECT WHEN is never displayed in the F8 Selection.

The user retains the ability to enter a SELECT WHEN clause. The user defined SELECT WHEN will be appended to the “hidden” secure SELECT WHEN clause.

The secure select clause is enabled by setting VIEW$[13](8,1)=“Y”.

3GL Example:
     DIM VIEW$[13];
     VIEW$[1]="OEVCUST",
     VIEW$[7]="SELECT WHEN #OEFCUST.SR-CODE ="+QUO+"HP"+QUO,
     VIEW$[13]="       Y";
     CALL "OO3A",VIEW$[ALL]

4GL Example:
     DIM VIEW$[13]
     LET VIEW$[1]="OEVCUST",
         VIEW$[7]="SELECT WHEN #OEFCUST.SR-CODE ="+QUO+"HP"+QUO,
         VIEW$[13]="       Y"
     CONNECT VIEW "OEVCUST"

For more information on the VIEW$[ALL] array, please see the online help: CONNECT HELP, CONNECT VIEW, VIEW MSG array.

F8 Functionality for USERS

Create a custom F8 Command menu in order to provide limited F8 functionality when the user mode is set to USERS.

This can be done at anytime by creating an OPENworkshop startup method and setting the global format #IDSV.VIEW-USR-CMD set to the name of the F8 Command window to be displayed from a View. This is useful if you do not want your users to be able to access F8 commands like COPY, MOVE, DELETE, SUM, COUNT.

If #IDSV.VIEW-USR-CMD is not set the default menu OOM2 will be used.

For convenience a modified version of OOM2 named OOM2USR is distributed with OPENworkshop. This version of the command window limits options to LIST, PRINT, QUERY, CHART, EXPORT, and EXCEL.

Single Record Maintenance (F9)

Select Single Record Maintenance (F9) to display a screen showing the current row in more detail. The screen that will be displayed will normally be defined in the link definition. If a screen was not specified in the link definition, a default screen will be generated.

Press F9 from a screen to display a view starting with the current record. The view that will be displayed will normally be defined in the link definition. If a view was not specified in the link definition, a screen will be displayed that allows a link name to be entered. The view will be created from the link name entered.

Format Editor (F11)

The data element name definition is displayed within a text editor that can be edited using the editor. Attributes are shown in the first line of the file, and succeeding lines display directives that define Valid Values, messages, pre- and post-processing directives, and other definitions for the data element name.

Select F11 to display the following window:

This definition contains directives organized into sections. The editor assists in creating headers for these sections, and handles indentation.

Create/Maintain View

To create a new view or maintain existing views move to the View Header, as shown below:

To edit an existing View definition, position the cursor to the required row and select Edit (F1). To change the name of, or to copy an existing view, type the new name and choose the option required from the succeeding menu. To create a definition of a new view, select Line Insert, type a name for the new screen, then with the highlight on the name field select Edit (F1) to edit the new definition.

OPENworkshop maintains the following objects and attributes for a view:

Column	Attribute
Link Name	The link used by the view to locate the required data for the view.
KC	Key Change. Value Y allows the key data to be changed by the user. N prevents change.
DC	Data Change. Value Y allows non-key data in the view to be changed by the user. N prevents change.
DH	Display Headings. Value Y causes the view heading (column headings) to be displayed. N switches them off.
VC	View Changes. Value Y allows the specification of the view to be changed by the user. N prevents change.
CS	Change Sort. Value Y allows the sort used for data displayed in the view to be changed. N prevents change.
ZP	Zero Print. Where a data item is zero is can be displayed in the view as a “0” character (ZP = Y), or as a blank (ZP = N).
BH	Border Heading. An eight-character view name is displayed in the left-most top border (BH = V), the view description is centered in the top border (BH = D), Both the eight character view name and description are displayed in the top border (BH = B), or No headings display in the top border (BH = N).
CM	CR Mode. Controls the behavior of the view when the user presses Enter. Value F: enter Field Edit. S: enter associated Screen. E: exit and return the key value for the current row to the caller. See description of the VIEW$ array. See the VIEW$ section of this manual.
CT	Cursor Type. Value C displays a single-character cursor. E: highlight the current field. F: highlight to full row.
DD	Display Data Element Name. The name is displayed at the bottom left corner of the border. D: display the data element name. d: display the data element name description. N: none.
CD	CR Direction. After user presses Enter, move to the next cell D: Down, L: Left, R: Right, U: Up.
View Method	Called whenever a view has read data for a row and is preparing a row for display. The view method ensures that all required data items, including any calculated columns, are available. See the OPENworkshop Methods section of this manual for more information about view methods.
Help Name	Specifies the help file that should be used to offer context-sensitive help for this view.
Sort Menu Name	Name of a menu that may be used to help the user select a sort sequence in which to display the view.
View Password	If security requirements mean that a password should be used to be able to display the view the required password is specified in this field.

From the OPENworkshop Reference, version 8.9.1. Open this page in the PDF