Pathmaker Programming Guide

Basic Screen Painter Editing Functions
Using the Screen Painter
067868 Tandem Computers Incorporated 6–7
If a reference object has more than one repetition, follow the name with a subscript
to show to which repetition the data field refers. A subscript is an unsigned
number in square brackets ([]) between one and the number of repetitions of the
object.
Occurs. The Columns, Row Offset, and Column Separation fields determine the
dimensions of the data field if it is subject to an occurs clause:
Columns The columns field determines the number of columns in the
data field.
Row Offset The row offset field determines the number of rows separating
occurrences of the data field. If you want the data fields to be
on adjacent rows, the row offset is one.
Column Separation The column separation field is the number of spaces between
occurrences of the data field. For example, if you want two
spaces between data fields, the column separation would be 2.
Aligning Data-Field Segments. If you define an alphanumeric data field that cannot
completely fit on one line in the paging area, the Screen Painter continues the data
field on the following line, creating a segmented data field. You can control where the
subsequent segments of the data field fall on the screen by using decorations to mark
each beginning or ending location. For example, suppose you want to add a 30-
character data field and segment it so that it is displayed as two 15-character segments.
You can use decorations to line up the segmented portions of the data field vertically
on the screen, following these steps:
1. Mark the beginning and ending positions with a decoration. Allow one space each
at the beginning and at the end of each segment for the data field video attribute
column, a hidden area that the Pathmaker product reserves for each data field:
\<-----15------> \
\ \
2. Position the cursor one space to the right of the beginning decoration. X shows the
cursor position in the following drawing:
\X \
\ \
3. Press F4 to define the data field. The data field will be segmented into two 15-
character portions. You can now remove the decorations you used to create the
data segment boundaries:
_______________
_______________
See “Creating a NonStop SQL Pathmaker Application” in Section 10 for another
example of aligning data-field segments.
If you want to redefine an existing data field so that it is segmented, you must use F8
to delete the field and then redefine it using F4. To convert a segmented field back to
an unsegmented field, you must also use F8 to delete the field and F4 to redefine it.