CONTENTS Title Page Copyright Page Preface 1 DECforms Commands 1.1 DCL Command Format for OpenVMS Systems 1.2 Error Messages on OpenVMS Systems 1.2.1 Message Format 1.2.2 Correcting Errors 1.3 DCL Command Descriptions forms back_translate forms convert fms forms convert layout forms develop forms edit forms extract appearances forms extract object forms test appearances forms translate 1.4 MS-DOS Command Format 1.5 MS-DOS Error Messages 1.6 MS-DOS Command Descriptions forms object 2 Form Development Environment 2.1 Invoking the FDE 2.1.1 Specifying an Editor for IFDL Text Editing 2.1.2 Using the Main Menu 2.1.3 Using Function Keys 2.1.4 Creating a New Form 2.1.5 Editing an Existing Form 2.2 Using Main Menu Choices at the Form Level 2.2.1 Specifying the Output Type 2.2.2 Changing the Form Name 2.2.3 Editing IFDL Source Code 2.3 Using Main Menu Choices at the Layout Level 2.3.1 Selecting a Layout 2.3.2 Creating a Layout 2.3.3 Changing Layout Attributes 2.3.4 Testing Your Form 2.3.5 Editing IFDL Source Code 2.4 Using Main Menu Choices at the Panel Level 2.4.1 Selecting a Panel 2.4.2 Creating a Panel 2.4.3 Changing Panel Attributes 2.4.4 Editing Panel Appearance 2.4.5 Editing IFDL Source Code 2.5 Exiting the FDE 2.6 Recovering an FDE Session 3 Editing Panel Appearance Using the Character-Cell Panel Editor (CCPED) 3.1 Invoking and Exiting CCPED 3.2 Recovering an Editing Session 3.3 CCPED Screen Display 3.3.1 Current Panel 3.3.2 Status Line 3.3.3 Message Panel 3.3.4 Command Line 3.3.5 Menus 3.3.6 Information Window 3.3.7 Help Windows 3.4 Using CCPED Commands and Keys 3.4.1 Entering Commands 3.4.2 Using Command Macros for Text Substitution 3.4.3 Using Expressions 3.4.4 Defining Symbols 3.4.5 Defining CCPED Function Keys 3.4.6 Executing a Series of Commands in a Command Script 3.4.7 Using the CCPED Default Keypad 3.5 Creating and Editing the Appearance of Panels 3.5.1 Moving the Cursor 3.5.2 Using the Repeat Key Function 3.5.3 Creating, Deleting, and Restoring Viewports 3.5.4 Creating, Deleting, and Restoring Panels 3.5.5 Choosing Panels 3.5.6 Setting and Modifying Attributes 3.5.6.1 Setting Video Attributes 3.5.6.2 Modifying Video Attributes 3.5.6.3 Modifying the Color of Display Attributes 3.5.6.4 Setting the Font Size 3.5.6.5 Modifying the Font Size 3.5.6.6 Setting Line Width 3.5.6.7 Modifying Line Width 3.5.6.8 Specifying Display Attributes Based on Terminal Type 3.5.6.9 Setting the Character Set 3.5.6.10 Modifying the Character Set 3.5.6.11 Setting the Text Path 3.5.6.12 Modifying the Text Path 3.5.7 Creating and Deleting Objects 3.5.7.1 Creating and Editing Text Objects 3.5.7.2 Creating Graphic Objects 3.5.7.3 Creating Icons 3.5.7.4 Creating an Icon-Based Menu 3.5.7.5 Creating Panel Fields 3.5.7.6 Modifying Panel Field Descriptions and Pictures 3.5.7.7 Creating Panel Groups 3.5.7.8 Deleting and Restoring Panel Objects 3.5.8 Manipulating Objects 3.5.8.1 Selecting and Deselecting Objects 3.5.8.2 Selecting and Deselecting Compound Objects 3.5.8.3 Moving Objects 3.5.8.4 Using the Clipboard 3.5.8.5 Changing the Order of Objects in a Panel 3.6 Checking Panel Appearance 4 Editing Panel Appearance Using the Motif-based Panel Editor (MPED) 4.1 Invoking and Exiting MPED 4.2 Recovering an Editing Session 4.3 Using Online Help 4.4 MPED Main Window 4.5 Creating and Editing the Appearance of Panels 4.5.1 Creating, Opening, and Deleting Panels 4.5.2 Using the Panel Appearance Box 4.5.3 Using the Mouse 4.5.4 Creating and Deleting Objects 4.5.4.1 Creating Text and Graphic Objects 4.5.4.2 Creating Push Buttons 4.5.4.3 Creating Panel Fields 4.5.4.4 Creating Panel Groups 4.5.4.5 Using Scroll Bars 4.5.5 Manipulating Objects 4.5.5.1 Selecting and Deselecting Objects 4.5.5.2 Moving Objects 4.5.5.3 Resizing Objects 4.5.5.4 Changing the Order of Objects in a Panel 4.5.6 Object Browser 4.5.6.1 Using the Object Browser Display Area 4.5.6.2 Selecting and Deselecting Objects 4.5.6.3 Making Objects Current 4.5.6.4 Hiding Panel Objects 4.5.6.5 Revealing Panel Objects 4.5.6.6 Deleting Panel Objects 4.5.6.7 Listing Objects in a Panel Group 4.5.6.8 Extracting Objects for Printing 4.5.7 Using a Property Box to Change Properties 4.5.7.1 Displaying a Property Box 4.5.7.2 Applying Properties 4.5.7.3 Removing Properties 4.5.7.4 Using the Comment Editor 4.5.7.5 Changing Property Values 4.5.7.6 Changing Panel Position 4.6 Associating Viewports with Panels 4.6.1 Creating and Deleting Viewports 4.6.2 Associating a Viewport 4.7 Selecting a Layout 4.8 Saving a Form File 4.9 Checking Panel Appearance 5 Testing a Form 5.1 Invoking and Exiting the Test Utility 5.2 Testing Panels 5.3 Navigating Panels 6 Translating IFDL Source Files and Form Files 6.1 Translating IFDL Source Files into Form Files 6.1.1 Invoking the IFDL Translator 6.1.2 IFDL Translator Output 6.1.2.1 Form File 6.1.2.2 Listing File 6.1.2.3 DEC LSE Diagnostics File 6.1.3 Avoiding Translation Errors 6.1.4 Correcting Translation Errors 6.2 Translating Form Files Back into IFDL Source Files 6.2.1 Invoking the Back Translator 6.2.2 Source File Differences after Back Translation 7 Converting Layouts 7.1 Invoking the Layout Converter 7.2 Conversion Results 7.2.1 IFDL Syntax Changed 7.2.2 IFDL Syntax Not Copied During Conversion 7.2.3 IFDL Syntax Ignored at Run Time 7.3 Postconversion Recommendations and Requirements 7.3.1 Text Formatting, Comments, and COPY Statements 7.3.2 Window Decorations 7.3.3 TRIGGER OBJECT Function Response 7.3.4 Functions 7.3.5 WAIT Processing 7.3.6 Use of Color 7.3.7 Fonts 7.3.8 Object Sizing 7.3.9 Private_Rule 7.4 PRINTER-Specific Considerations 7.4.1 Postconversion Editing 7.4.2 Program Changes 7.5 PC-Specific Considerations 7.5.1 Postconversion Editing 7.5.2 IFDL Syntax Ignored at Run Time 7.5.3 Program Changes 7.6 Planning for Portable Forms 8 Extracting Objects and Appearances 8.1 Extracting Objects from a Form File 8.2 Extracting Panel Appearances from a Form File A CCPED Keypad, Function Keys, and Definable Keys A.1 CCPED Default Keypad A.2 CCPED Function Keys A.3 Names of Keys Definable in CCPED B CCPED Commands CENTER SELECTED OBJECTS CHOOSE COPY FROM CLIPBOARD COPY SELECTED OBJECTS TO CLIPBOARD CREATE FIELD CREATE GROUP CREATE ICON CREATE MARKED OBJECT CREATE PANEL CREATE POINT CREATE POLYLINE CREATE RECTANGLE CREATE TEXT CREATE VIEWPORT DEFINE COLOR DEFINE KEY DEFINE SYMBOL DELETE CHARACTER DELETE NAMED DELETE PANEL DELETE SELECTED OBJECTS DELETE VIEWPORT DESELECT ALL OBJECTS DESELECT AREA DESELECT AT DESELECT LAST DESELECT MARKED AREA DESELECT NAMED DISABLE BELL DISABLE ECHO DISABLE HINTS ENABLE BELL ENABLE ECHO ENABLE HINTS EXIT GROUP SELECTED OBJECTS HELP INSERT FROM CLIPBOARD LIST PANELS LIST VIEWPORTS MARK MODIFY FIELD MODIFY GROUP MODIFY PANEL display-attribute COLOR MODIFY PANEL TERMINAL WIDTH MODIFY PANEL VIEWPORT MODIFY SELECTED display-attribute COLOR MODIFY SELECTED OBJECTS CHARACTER SET MODIFY SELECTED OBJECTS FONT SIZE MODIFY SELECTED OBJECTS LINE WIDTH MODIFY SELECTED OBJECTS TEXT PATH MODIFY SELECTED OBJECTS VIDEO MODIFY VIEWPORT display-attribute COLOR MODIFY VIEWPORT TERMINAL WIDTH MOVE CURRENT VIEWPORT MOVE SELECTED OBJECTS MOVE VIEWPORT ORDER SELECTED OBJECTS POSITION HORIZONTAL POSITION NEXT POSITION PREVIOUS POSITION TO POSITION VERTICAL QUIT RECALL MESSAGE REFRESH REMOVE SELECTED OBJECTS TO CLIPBOARD RESIZE CURRENT VIEWPORT RESIZE VIEWPORT ROTATE CLIPBOARD SELECT ALL OBJECTS SELECT AREA SELECT AT SELECT MARKED AREA SELECT NAMED SET CHARACTER SET SET display-attribute COLOR SET ENTRY MODE SET FONT SIZE SET LINE WIDTH SET ORIGIN MODE SET TEXT PATH SET VIDEO SHOW KEY SHOW KEYPAD SHOW PANEL VIEWPORT SHOW POSITION SHOW REFERENCES SHOW SYMBOL SHOW VERSION TEST TOGGLE ENTRY MODE UNDEFINE KEY UNDELETE ALL UNDELETE LAST UNDELETE PANEL UNDELETE VIEWPORT UNGROUP SELECTED OBJECTS UNMARK VIEW CLIPBOARD C Using DEC LSE with DECforms Software C.1 Invoking and Exiting DEC LSE C.2 Entering Source Code Using Tokens and Placeholders C.3 Translating Source Code C.4 Examples C.4.1 VIEWPORT Definition C.4.2 PANEL Declaration C.4.3 DATA GROUP Declaration EXAMPLES 3-1 IFDL Source for Attributes Based on Terminal Type FIGURES 2-1 FDE Main Menu 2-2 DECTPU Help in the FDE 2-3 Creating a Layout in the FDE 2-4 Specifying Screen Colors in the FDE 2-5 Testing a Form in the FDE 2-6 Creating a Panel in the FDE 3-1 CCPED Screen Display 3-2 CCPED Menus and Submenus 3-3 CCPED Information Window 4-1 MPED Main Window 4-2 MPED Panel Appearance Box 4-3 Creation Pointer and Pointer Coordinates 4-4 Object Browser 4-5 MPED Property Box 5-1 Panel Displayed by the Test Utility 6-1 Translating IFDL Source File to Binary Form File and Back 8-1 PRINTER Panel as Represented by Extract Appearances A-1 CCPED Keypad TABLES 1 Conventions Used in the Guide 2-1 FDE Function Keys 3-1 CCPED Editing Keys 3-2 CCPED Predefined Symbols 3-3 CCPED Keys for Cursor Positioning 3-4 CCPED Clipboard Operations 4-1 Mouse Operations in the Panel Appearance Box 5-1 Default Panel Navigation Functions A-1 CCPED Keypad Operations A-2 CCPED Function Keys A-3 CCPED Definable Keys C-1 DEC LSE Commands for Tokens and Placeholders C-2 DEC LSE Commands for Examining Source Code