Introduction to Pathmaker

Operating a Pathmaker Application
Pathmaker Applications
067867 Tandem Computers Incorporated 2–7
Operating a Pathmaker
Application
When an end user operates an application created with the Pathmaker product, the
application functions in certain predictable ways. These include the way that data
entered by the end user is handled, the way default values are displayed, the way data
and messages received from the servers are processed, and the way that the end user
is allowed to navigate among screens in the application.
Entering Data The data that the end user enters will be checked for proper length, data type, and
allowable values when the end user presses a function key that activates a service or
another requester. (Lowercase alphabetic data will be upshifted, if appropriate.)
If any fields contain data that does not conform to the appropriate attributes, those
fields will be highlighted, one at a time, with an explanatory message appearing in the
message area at the bottom of the screen.
The end user can then correct the data entered and resubmit the corrected data by
pressing the appropriate function key again. The help screen can be used to obtain
more information about the legal values for each field (if the application developer has
provided this information).
If the data passes this preliminary input validation, the requester will format a
message that contains the edited data and will invoke either a service or another
requester.