Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved


Chapter 3 Defining Screen Tables : Controlling Presentation

Controlling Presentation
After creating new fields by specifying data attributes, you can determine the presentation of the field. This can be done when you first define the field or at a later time. Refer to Creating New Fields for more information on creating fields with only data attributes.
Determining Uses for a Field
This section discusses the fields used to determine how a field can be used. For valid values, press PF1.
 
Enter the semantic data type of the field. The semantic data type determines how the data in the field is used. For more information on semantic data types, refer to TIBCO Object Service Broker Programming in Rules.
Specify the name of the reference table. A reference table is used to validate data after the user inserts or modifies it in the field. If the added or modified value does not exist as a primary key value in the referenced table, validation fails. The referenced table cannot be parameterized.
Type Y if you want the user to be automatically prompted for selection values when they enter an invalid value or a null value to a required field. This specification is meaningful only for a field that references another table. No prompting is allowed if the field is specified as protected.
Type Y in the UserPrompt field if you want to supply user prompting for selection values for the field that works in conjunction with the Help PF key. No prompting is allowed if the field is specified as protected.
Specify if the field is used to indicate in which direction scrolling is available on the screen. If you specify Y in the Scrollindicator field, the field must have these attributes defined as follows:
The scroll indicator field must be in either the fixed column portion or the non-scrolling header rows of the screen table so that it is always visible on the displayed screen.
When the user displays the screen, this field is filled with some combination of the characters less than (<), plus (+), minus (-), and greater than (>). These characters are automatically updated each time the user scrolls. Press PF1 for an explanation of the direction each of the characters indicate. You can define only one scroll indicator field per screen table and you cannot reference this field in a rule.
Determining Appearance
This section discusses the fields used to determine the appearance of the screen field. For valid values, press PF1.
 
Specify the character to use as a filler when there is no data for the field or when the data does not completely fill the field. When you access the field through rules, non-blank leading and trailing fill characters are removed.
For a screen field of semantic data type D or syntax P or B, specify a display mask in this field. A display mask determines how a field is formatted. For more information on display masks, refer to Appendix B, Display Masks.
When accessing fields using a rule, display mask characters are not considered part of the field, therefore, valid lengths are increased and can be anywhere from 1 to 78.
Specify the foreground color for the field. If your terminal does not support this attribute, it is ignored.
Specify the background color for the field. Background colors are not supported for 3270 terminals. If your terminal does not support this attribute, it is ignored.
Type Y if you want the field to appear in reverse video (the background and foreground colors are reversed).
Type Y if you want the field to only partially appear when it is longer than the physical screen. The remainder of the field is truncated and a horizontal scroll is necessary to view it.

Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved