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FFFFFFFFFFF OOOOOOOOO RRRRRRRRRR GGGGGGGGGG EEEEEEEEEEE FFFFFFFFFFF OOOOOOOOOOO RRRRRRRRRRRR GGGGGGGGGGGG EEEEEEEEEEE FFF F OOO OOO RRR RRR GGG GGG EEE E FFF OOO OOO RRR RRR GGG GGG EEE FFFFFFFF OOO OOO RRRRRRRRRRRR GGG EEEEEEEE FFFFFFFF OOO OOO RRRRRRRRRR GGG GGGGG EEEEEEEE FFF OOO OOO RRR RRR GGG GGGGG EEE FFF OOO OOO RRR RRR GGG GGG EEE E FFF OOOOOOOOOOO RRR RRR GGGGGGGGGGGG EEEEEEEEEEE FFF OOOOOOOOO RRR RRR GGGGGGGGGG EEEEEEEEEEE USER'S MANUAL USER'S MANUAL FOR FORGE (FORm GEnerator) rev. 2.0 from DEADALIAN Software P.O. BOX 553 Grandville, MI 49418-0553 FORGE software (c) Copyright 1986 David Remelts All Rights Reserved FORGE manual (c) Copyright 1986 David Remelts All Rights Reserved TURBO Pascal is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. dBASE III is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WAR- RANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY. THE SELLER'S SALESPERSONS MAY HAVE MADE STATEMENTS ABOUT THIS SOFTWARE. ANY SUCH STATEMENTS DO NOT CONSTITUTE WARRANTIES AND SHALL NOT BE RELIED ON BY THE BUYER IN DECIDING WHETHER TO PUR- CHASE THIS PROGRAM THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRAN- TIES WHATSOEVER. BECAUSE OF THE DIVERSITY OF CONDITIONS AND HARDWARE UNDER WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE USED, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. THE USER IS ADVISED TO TEST THE PROGRAM THOROUGHLY BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF SELLER OR MANUFACTURER WILL BE LIMITED EX- CLUSEVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF THE PURCHASE PRICE. This software product and manual are being distributed under the USER SUPPORTED SOFT- WARE concept. The software and manual are copyrighted material; they are NOT in the public domain. However, you are encouraged to help distribute this product by sharing it with friends and associates, subject to the following rules: 1) You may not SELL copies of the diskette containing the software and manual for more than your cost of reproduction. 2) Copies of the PRINTED manual may not be distributed. 3) The software and documentation may not be altered. 4) The entire contents of the distribution diskette must be included on any copies. This includes: FORGE.COM, FORGE2.COM, FORGE2.000, FORGE.DOC, EXTPROC1.PAS thru EXTPROC4.PAS, DEMO.DTA, DEMO.PAS, DEMO.FMT, and README.TXT. If this product is useful to you, please send $20.00 to: DAEDALIAN Software P.O. Box 553 Grandville, MI 49418-0553 FOREWORD Like so many programs available through the user supported concept, FORGE was originally conceived and developed to meet the personal needs of the author. Consequently, the program has taken on the characteristics that I felt were important for a form generator to have. As the program began to take shape, and I began to realize that this might be something others would need, I spent more time on the user interface and on error trapping, to make it easier to use. When first released (Rev. 1.0), the program was somewhat slow (to put it kindly) because it used the Turbo Pascal WRITELN command to create all of the menu screens and to redraw the user's screen after the user selected from the color menu. It also used the WRITELN command when the user inserted or deleted characters on the screen. The next release, Rev. 2.0, was a major improvement in the screen handling routines. Now, the program has three 4K buf- fers; one each for the two main menu screens and one for the screen being designed by the user, and the program uses the Turbo Pascal MOVE command to instantaneously move the buffers into and out of the physical screen memory area. Inserting and deleting characters on the user's screen is also done with the MOVE command. The difference is dramatic. I have some ideas for future releases, but the future direct- ion of this software will really be determined to a large degree by you, the user. If you have ideas for features you would like to see included, or if you have comments on the program, its operation, or this manual, or if you find any bugs, please send them to me. I will do all that I can to live up to my responsibility as author of the program. Let's work together to prove that good software doesn't have to be expensive or supported by megabuck advertising campaigns to be successful. Thank you for your support, David Remelts TABLE OF CONTENTS ***************** INTRODUCTION 1 GENERAL OVERVIEW 2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 3 DISTRIBUTION DISKETTE CONTENTS 3 GETTING STARTED 4 CREATE A FORM 4 FUNCTION KEY COMMANDS 6 ALT-KEY COMMANDS 9 COLOR MENU COMMAND <alt>C 9 DATA FIELD COMMAND <alt>D 11 GRAPHICS CHARACTERS <alt>G 14 FILL AREA <alt>F 15 REPEAT AREA FILL <alt>R 18 HIGHLIGHT DATA FIELDS <alt>H 19 EDIT A FORM 20 SAVE FORM 21 GENERATE CODE 22 TURBO PASCAL 22 dBASE III 25 COMPILING THE CODE (TURBO) 27 USING YOUR TURBO FORM 28 MOVING AROUND ON THE FORM 28 f1=Quit 29 f2=Prev 29 f3=Next 29 f4=Del 30 f5=Rec# 30 f8=Backup 31 f0=Accept 31 Record # 32 USING YOUR dBASE FORM 32 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator INTRODUCTION: FORGE is a TURBO Pascal and dBASE III programmer's aid. It allows the programmer to design data input forms or help screens, then generate TURBO Pascal or dBASE III source code for those forms. This source code can then be compiled and used as is for data entry, or it can be included as a procedure within a larger more comprehensive program. Since this is a utility for TURBO Pascal and dBASE III, a working knowledge of these programming languages is assumed. This manual will not explain topics that are already covered in the TURBO Pascal, dBASE III, or the DOS manuals. The concept of FORGE is somewhat analogous to word processing. With a word processor you can write, review, change, insert, delete and otherwise perfect your text before committing it to its final form. FORGE allows you to do the same thing with a data input form or information screen. Some of the outstanding features of FORGE are that you can: fill an area on the screen with color, without affecting the char- acters that are already on the screen, insert or delete lines from the screen, define areas on the form for entering data, define data entry areas as "String", "Integer", or "Real" data types, use IBM graphics characters to "draw" boxes etc., and use blinking characters. Although it is possible to create very colorful and "slick" looking screens with FORGE, dBASE III will not be able to reproduce a multicolored form. PAGE 1 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator GENERAL: Creating a data entry form for TURBO Pascal is a three- step process. First use FORGE to design a form, or to edit an existing form. Then use FORGE to generate the TURBO Pascal source code. Finally, use TURBO Pascal to compile the source code into executable code. When FORGE generates the source code for the form it creates two files on the disc. Both files have the same name but different extensions. The name is supplied by you, and the extensions are supplied by FORGE. One file has a ".PAS" extension and the other has a ".DTA" extension. The .PAS file is the source code generated by FORGE, and the .DTA file contains all the information about the form that you designed. This file should not be destroyed because FORGE needs this file if you want to edit the form later. Creating a data entry form for dBASE III is a two-step process. First use FORGE to design a form, or to edit an existing form. Then use FORGE to generate the dBASE III source code. When FORGE generates the source code for the form it creates two files on the disc. Both files have the same name but different extensions. The name is supplied by you, and the extensions are supplied by FORGE. One file has a ".FMT" extension and the other has a ".DTA" extension. The .FMT file is the source code generated by FORGE, and the .DTA file contains all the information about the form that you designed. This file should not be destroyed because FORGE needs this file if you want to edit the form later. PAGE 2 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator The .DTA files for forms created for TURBO Pascal are identical to those created for forms for dBASE III. You can use the same .DTA file to generate TURBO Pascal code and dBASE III code. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: FORGE requires an IBM PC, PC XT, PCjr, or true compat- ible, with 128k of memory, one disk drive, and TURBO Pascal 2.0 or higher. A color graphics card and color monitor are highly recommended to get the full benefit of the features built into FORGE, however color is not required in order to use FORGE. It is possible to use a color system to design forms for a monochrome system, and vice versa. Some of the differences between the two systems will be explained in this manual as each of the features of FORGE are explained. CONTENTS OF DISTRIBUTION DISKETTE The FORGE distribution diskette contains several files when you receive it. It is recommended that you make a work- ing copy of the distribution diskette and keep the original in a safe place; FORGE is not copy protected. The files supplied on the distribution diskette are: FORGE.COM, the main program, FORGE2.COM and FORGE2.000, a version of the main program that uses overlays, and EXTPROC1.PAS thru EXTPROC4.PAS. These four files are TURBO Pascal Include files, they must be present in the default drive when you compile the TURBO source code for your form. There is also a file called DEMO.DTA on the diskette. This file is a form that you can use to practice PAGE 3 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator the concepts discussed in this manual. There are also two files, DEMO.PAS and DEMO.FMT, that show what the code generated by FORGE will look like for TURBO Pascal and dBASE III. GETTING STARTED FORGE is a .COM file, and can be started by simply typing "FORGE" and pressing <enter>. If you are using FORGE on a PCjr, or if you get an insufficient memory error, try using the FORGE2 version by typing "FORGE2" and pressing <enter>. This is essentially the same program but parts of it are loaded from an overlay file (FORGE2.000) when required. This makes the main program smaller, but requires that the overlay file, FORGE2.000, be present on the default drive whenever option #3 or #4 are selected from the main menu. When FORGE starts you are presented with the main menu. There are five items from which to select on this menu: 1. Create a form, 2. Edit a form, 3. Save form, 4. Generate Code, and 5. Exit program. Select the desired procedure by pressing the number key assoc- iated with it. CREATE A FORM If you select the "Create a Form" option from the main menu by pressing "1", FORGE presents the color selection menu. You tell FORGE what color to use for the foreground (text) and background colors by selecting from the color menu. PAGE 4 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator First you select from the background menu. The menu con- sists of a color bar with 8 colors displayed. Each color has its name written across it in white, except the bottom one which is the white background. This one has its name written in black. On a monochrome system you do not have the ability to display all the different background colors. You will notice that the first seven background colors are all displayed as black, the last one is displayed as a reverse video background with black characters on it. Selecting the Lt Gray background will not automatically give you a reverse video field though, unless you also select the Black or Dk Gray option from the foreground color menu. There is an arrow on the left side of the color bar that looks like this: NoBlink==>>. The "NoBlink" has no signif- icance during selection of the background color, but will come into play when you select the text color. Use the UP and DOWN cursor keys to move the arrow so that it points to the color that you want for the background, and select it by pressing <enter>. You are then presented with the foreground color selec- tion menu. There are 16 colors available for the text color. The menu background is all one color, (the color that you have just chosen as your background color) with the name of each text color spelled out in its own color. This gives the user a good representation of what the screen will look like when text is placed on the form in that color combination (What you see is what you get). Again, move the arrow up and down to PAGE 5 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator point to the color combination that looks right to you. On a monochrome system your options are again somewhat limited. If you selected the Black background then you have the option of having underlined text by selecting the Blue or Lt Blue foreground colors. If you selected the Lt Gray back- ground color then you have the option of having text displayed in reverse video by selecting the Black or Dk Gray foreground colors. Other than that, text will be displayed in regular video (character pixels on, background black) with most other combinations, except Black or Dk Gray on Black, which will not display any text. You also have the option at this point of selecting the "Blink" feature. If you select this option then all the text that you place on the form will blink on and off. To select this option use the RIGHT cursor key. The "NoBlink==>>" arrow will disappear and the "<<==Blink" arrow will appear on the other side of the menu pointing to the same color combination as before. You can switch back and forth between NoBlink/- Blink by pressing the RIGHT and LEFT cursor keys. Make your final selection by pressing <enter>, this will also select the blink option in effect at the time the <enter> key is pressed. You are now presented with a black screen with a white status line across the bottom (reverse video on a monochrome system). Now you can place text on the form in the text/back- ground color combination that you selected; the black back- ground will be overwritten with your color combination. PAGE 6 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator FUNCTION KEY COMMANDS The white status line across the bottom of the screen describes the purpose of the function keys, and also tells which funtion key is in effect at any given time. On a color monitor the function key that is in effect will be displayed in blue on the white background. On a monochrome monitor the function key that is in effect will switch from a being dis- played in reverse video to regular video (character pixels will be on). f1: REPEAT DOWN. This function key causes the autorepeat operation to repeat in the DOWN direction. This is useful for making boxes and borders. When this key is in effect it is highlighted in blue on the status line (on a monochrome system this key will be highlighted in regular video). This function can be turned off by pressing the f1 key again, or by pressing f2 or f3. f2: REPEAT LEFT. This function key causes the autorepeat operation to repeat in the LEFT direction. Turn it off by pressing f2 again, or by pressing f3 or f1. f3: REPEAT UP. This function key causes the autorepeat operation to repeat in the UP direction. Turn it off by pressing f3 again, or by pressing f1 or f2. f8: INSERT LINE. This function key causes the line that the cursor is presently on, and all subsequent lines, to be pushed PAGE 7 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator down one line. The last line of your form will be pushed off the screen and cannot be retrieved. Pressing f8 is a one-time operation; it does not need to be turned off after being used. f9: DELETE LINE. This function key causes the line that the cursor is presently on to be deleted. All subsequent lines will move up one line, and there will be a blank line at the bottom of the form. The line that has been deleted cannot be retrieved. Pressing f9 is a one-time operation; it does not need to be turned off after being used. f10: MAIN MENU. This function key will bring you back to the main menu. At the extreme right of the status line is the cursor location indicator. This indicator uses standard TURBO cursor location notation, that is: the upper left corner of the screen is location 1,1, the X coordinate is given first, and the Y coordinate is given second. This differs from dBASE III cursor notation in which the upper left corner of the dBASE screen is location 0,0, with the Y coordinate given first, and the X coordinate given second. If you are using FORGE to design a screen for dBASE you will have to learn to mentally convert these coordinates. Perhaps a later version will allow the coordinates to be displayed in either format at the user's discretion. At any rate, the dBASE .FMT file produced by FORGE will have the @... SAY coordinates correctly converted to dBASE syntax. PAGE 8 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator ALT-KEY COMMANDS Besides the function key commands FORGE has six <alt> key commands: <alt>C: Color Menu <alt>D: Data Field <alt>G: Graphics Characters <alt>F: Fill Area <alt>R: Repeat Fill <alt>H: Highlight Data Fields. COLOR MENU COMMAND <alt>C This command will allow you to change the text/background color combination. Pressing <Alt>C will invoke the color menu. The form that you were working on will dissappear to make way for the color menu screen, but it will be restored after you make your color menu selection. First you select from the background menu. The menu con- sists of a color bar with 8 colors displayed. Each color has its name written across it in white, except the bottom one which is the white background. This one has its name written in black. On a monochrome system you do not have the ability to display all the different background colors. You will notice that the first seven background colors are all displayed as black, the last one is displayed as a reverse video background with black characters on it. Selecting the Lt Gray background will not automatically give you a reverse video field though, unless you also select the Black or Dk Gray option from the foreground color menu. There is an arrow on the left side of the color bar that PAGE 9 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator looks like this: NoBlink==>>. The "NoBlink" has no signif- icance during selection of the background color, but will come into play when you select the text color. Use the UP and DOWN cursor keys to move the arrow so that it points to the color that you want for the background, and select it by pressing <enter>. You are then presented with the foreground color selec- tion menu. There are 16 colors available for the text color. The menu background is all one color, (the color that you have just chosen as your background color) with the name of each text color spelled out in its own color. This gives the user a good representation of what the screen will look like when text is placed on the form in that color combination (What you see is what you get). Again, move the arrow up and down to point to the color combination that looks right to you. On a monochrome system your options are again somewhat limited. If you selected the Black background then you have the option of having underlined text by selecting the Blue or Lt Blue foreground colors. If you selected the Lt Gray back- ground color then you have the option of having text displayed in reverse video by selecting the Black or Dk Gray foreground colors. Other than that, text will be displayed in regular video (character pixels on, background black) with most other combinations, except Black or Dk Gray on Black, which will not display any text. You also have the option at this point of selecting the "Blink" feature. If you select this option then all the text that you place on the form will blink on and off. To select PAGE 10 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator this option use the RIGHT cursor key. The "NoBlink==>>" arrow will disappear and the "<<==Blink" arrow will appear on the other side of the menu pointing to the same color combination as before. You can switch back and forth between NoBlink/- Blink by pressing the RIGHT and LEFT cursor keys. Make your final selection by pressing <enter>, this will also select the blink option in effect at the time the <enter> key is pressed. After you have made your selection, the form that you were designing will reappear on the screen with the cursor positioned where it was before. You can continue to design your form and all the text that you enter now will be in the new color combination that you selected. DATA FIELD COMMAND <alt>D This command allows you to define data input fields on your form. Data fields are areas on the form that you wish to desig- nate as user input fields. They act as tab stops when the user is entering data with your form. What you are really doing is designating a record variable. The <alt>D command acts as a toggle; press it at the beginning of your data input field, then press it again at the end of the data input field. When the toggle is "on" the word "Data" will be highlighted in blue in the status line at the bottom of the screen (on a monochrome system the word "Data" will be highlighted in regular video on the status line). This is your first indi- cation that the Data Field Command is in effect, the second indication is that the text and background colors that were in PAGE 11 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator effect will be reversed. This gives you a very clear indicat- ion of how your data input fields are arranged. Because most fore/background color combinations display in regular video on a monochrome system (regardless if they are reversed or not), we strongly suggest that monochrome sys- tem users design their forms with the Black background and the Lt Gray or White foreground colors. Then, when you turn the Data Field toggle "on", the fore/background colors will be reversed (Black on Lt Gray) which will yield a reverse video data input field. If the data field color combination is not to your liking you can change it. There are several ways to do this. You can invoke the color menu (<alt>C) immediately after the <alt>D command, in which case the data field will be created with the exact text/background combination that you select, but then the text and background colors will be the reverse of the data field colors when you toggle the <alt>D command "off." Another method is to use the Fill Area command (<alt>F), which is discussed in more detail under its own heading. This command can be used in two ways to change the data field colors. It can be used by itself to change the background color of the entire form, including data fields, or it can be used with the Repeat Area Fill command (<alt>R), also discus- sed in more detail under its own heading, to fill just the data input fields with a different coLor. The best method, though, is to use the <alt>H command. This command is specifically designed to highlight just the PAGE 12 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator data input fields. The command is described in more detail under its own heading. Do NOT change the data input field background color by using the <alt>C command to select a background/text comb- ination, and using that color combination to "paint over" the data input fields AFTER you have toggled the <alt>D command "off". If you do you will destroy its identity as a data input field because the <alt>D command is "off", and FORGE will consider the characters you are typing as any other normal text on the form. When you initialize a data input field with the <alt>D command, type the name of the field in the data field. Remem- ber, what you are really doing with the <alt>D command is def- ining a record variable for FORGE, and a record variable needs a variable name. Any name will do for now; you will be given a chance to rename the field later when FORGE gener- ates the TURBO Pascal or dBASE III source code for your form. So, if you are defining a data input field for an item called CATEGORY, and the field is only three characters, obviously, the full name of the field will not fit. Just type "CAT" in the field and later you can rename it if you want to. You don't have to rename it of course; "CAT" is a perfectly legitimate variable name, or even just "C" for that matter. The name only has to be meaningful to you. It's also important to remember that whatever you type in the data input field area while you are creating or editing a form will NOT appear on the form after the source code is gen- erated. What you type in the data input field while creating PAGE 13 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator or editing a form is only a label used to identify that field, and to distiguish that field from the others. Therefore, each field must be identified with a unique label. Data input fields cannot be run together. If you try to define two data input fields contiguously, without a non-data- input-field character between them, FORGE will interpret them as one large data input field when it generates the source code for your form. Therefore, this also means that you cannot have one data input field end at the end of a line (column 80) and have another data input field begin at the beginning of the next line (column 1); this would also be interpreted as one large data input field. If you want large data input fields then you can have your data input field "wrap around" from one line to the next. The maximum length that a data input field can be is 255 char- acters. When the <alt>D command is toggled "on" typing any char- acter or space will increment the size of the data field you are creating, as witnessed by the reverse color combination appearing on the form. Using the cursor keys you can move to another location on the form, effectively ending the first data input field that you were creating, and start another data input field at that new location. GRAPHICS CHARACTERS <alt>G This command will allow you to use the extended character set of your computer to draw boxes, borders and greek symbols on your form. PAGE 14 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator This is another toggle command. Press it once and it is "on", press it again and it is "off". When it is "on" the word "Graphics" will be highlighted in blue in the status line (regular video on a monochrome system) to indicate that the characters that you put on your form will not be the char- acters that you see on your keyboard. To make it easier to use the graphics character set you should construct a table that will show you what graphic char- acter will appear on your form for each of the keys on your keyboard. To do this use the ASCII code table supplied with your computer. For each of the characters from ASCII 32 to 127 add 127 to the ASCII value and look up the new ASCII value to see what character will be generated. For example: the letter "d" is ASCII 100. Add 127 to it to get 227. Look up ASCII 227 and you will see that it is the pi symbol. Therefore, if you have "Graphics" toggled "on" and you type a letter "d" the pi symbol will appear on your form. FILL AREA <alt>F The Fill Area command will allow you to fill an area on your form with the background color of your choice. This is a one-time command; it does not have to be toggled off after using it. Using this command on a monochrome system could have unpredictable results. It won't harm anything, but generally the background color selection has no effect on the display; it will almost always remain a black background. The only exception to this is if there happens to be text already on PAGE 15 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator the form that was put there in black-text-on-some-color- background. If you now select a fill color of Lt Gray that text will be displayed in reverse video. However, selecting Lt Gray as a fill color will not result in reverse video if the text is some color other than black, even though it is displayed as reverse video on the color selection menu. It is shown as reverse video on the color selection menu to indicate that that is the ONLY background color that is able to produce reverse video on a monochrome system. Filling an area on the form with color will have no effect on what has already been put on the form (unless you select a color for the background that is the same as the color of the letters in the area you are going to fill, in which case the letters will become invisible). If you have defined data input fields on your form, or if you have placed text on your form (blinking or nonblinking), or if you have placed graphics characters on your form, they will still be there after you fill that area with color. However, if you fill an area that contains data input fields you will no longer be able to tell exactly where your data fields are because the foreground and background color of the data field will no longer be reversed. To rehighlight the data input fields see the <alt>H command. When you press the <alt>F key you will be presented with a color menu. This is the same color menu that you see when using the <alt>C command, except that this time you only have to select a background color. The menu consists of a color bar with 8 colors displayed. Each color has its name written PAGE 16 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator across it in white, except the bottom one which is the white background. This one has its name written in black. On a monochrome system you will notice that the first seven colors are all displayed as black, the last one is displayed as a reverse video background with black characters on it. There is an arrow on the left side of the color bar that looks like this: NoBlink==>>. The "NoBlink" has no signif- icance during selection of the background color, but does come into effect when this same menu is used to select background and text color combinations, as explained in the <alt>C com- mand description. Use the UP and DOWN cursor keys to move the arrow so that it points to the color that you want to use for filling the area on your form, and select it by pressing <enter>. Your form is then redisplayed on the screen and a message appears in the status line at the bottom of the screen telling you to move the cursor to the upper left corner of the area that you want to fill. At this point the only keys that are active are the cursor keys and the <enter> key. Using the cursor keys, move the cursor to the upper left corner of the area you want to fill and press <enter>. FORGE will put a marker on the screen at the spot you selected. This marker may appear to obliterate a character on your form, but the effect is only temporary; the character will reappear after the fill operation is completed. The marker is put there so that you have a reference point to use if you are trying to visualize your color filled area. PAGE 17 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator Next, the status line at the bottom of your screen will tell you to move the cursor to the bottom right corner of the area you want to fill. Use the cursor keys again to position the cursor where you want the bottom right corner of your filled area, and press <enter>. The rectangular area that you have defined by its upper left and lower right corners will be filled with the color that you have chosen from the color menu, and the cursor will be positioned where it was before the <alt>F command was invoked. REPEAT AREA FILL <alt>R The <alt>R command is used to repeat the Fill Area command with the last color selected from the color menu. For instance, suppose you wanted to change the background color of all the data entry fields on your form. You could use the <alt>F command (Fill Area) to select a color from the menu and then change the first data entry field as described above. Then instead of using the <alt>F command again, which would require selecting from the color menu again, you would use the <alt>R command. The <alt>R command skips the color menu selection part of the <alt>F command and goes right to the prompt in the status line telling you to move the cursor to the upper left corner of the area you want to fill. FORGE will use the color that you selected from the color menu in the most recent <alt>F command. If you use the <alt>R command without first having used the <alt>F command, FORGE will default to a BLACK background for the fill color. PAGE 18 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator HIGHLIGHT DATA FIELDS <alt>H The Highlight command will allow you to select a color from the menu and will fill the data input fields on your form with the background color that you choose. When you press the <alt>H key you will be presented with a color menu. This is the same color menu that you see when using the <alt>C command, except that this time you only have to select a background color. The menu consists of a color bar with 8 colors displayed. Each color has its name written across it in white, except the bottom one which is the white background. This one has its name written in black. On a monochrome system you will notice that the first seven colors are all displayed as black, the last one is displayed as a reverse video background with black characters on it. However, selecting Lt Gray as a fill color will not result in reverse video if the foreground color in the data input fields is some color other than black, even though it is displayed as reverse video on the color selection menu. It is shown as reverse video on the color selection menu to indicate that that is the ONLY background color that is able to produce reverse video on a monochrome system. There is an arrow on the left side of the color bar that looks like this: NoBlink==>>. The "NoBlink" has no signif- icance during selection of the background color, but does come into effect when this same menu is used to select background and text color combinations, as explained in the <alt>C com- mand description. Use the UP and DOWN cursor keys to move the PAGE 19 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator arrow so that it points to the color that you want to use for highlighting the data input fields on your form, and select it by pressing <enter>. Your form is then redisplayed and the data input fields are changed to the background color that you chose from the menu. EDIT A FORM The "Edit a Form" option will allow you to make revisions to a form that you have already created. If you select the "Edit a Form" option from the main menu by pressing "2", FORGE will ask you for the name of the form you wish to edit. Enter the name of a form that you have previously created with FORGE. Do not add an extension to the name, FORGE will be looking for the <filename>.DTA file that was saved on disk when the form was originally created. The .DTA file must be present on the default drive in order to edit a form. Once the .DTA file is loaded into memory FORGE will display the form on the screen. At this time you should use the <alt>C command to select a text/background color combin- ation. From this point on the procedure for editing, or mod- ifying, a form is just like creating a form; refer to the previous discussion about creating a form. All the commands that are available for creating a form are also available for editing a form. PAGE 20 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator SAVE FORM If you select the "Save Form" option from the main menu by pressing "3", FORGE will save the form that you were working on. This option allows you to save a form that is not yet complete and ready for TURBO Pascal or dBASE III source code to be generated from it. First FORGE will ask you for the name of the form that you are generating. Enter the name of the form without an extension. FORGE will open the <filename>.DTA file for the information about your form: information about where the data fields are, what colors you used, whether or not any char- acters blink, and what characters are on the form. This .DTA file is necessary for you to be able to edit your form later. If the form name that you supply is the name of an existing file, FORGE will let you know that the form already exists and will ask if you want to overwrite it. If you respond with a "Y" or "y", FORGE will write your new form over the old one of the same name, and the old one will be lost. If you respond "N" or "n", FORGE will allow you to supply a different name for your form. FORGE will also check to make sure that the name you supply is a proper DOS file name, and will tell you the position of the illegal character if it is not a legal DOS file name. File names may include any of the following char- acters: A..Z a..z 0..9 _ . $ & # @ ! % ( ) - { } / \. FORGE will now begin to write the <filename>.DTA file. You will notice a lot of disk activity for a few moments while PAGE 21 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator this file is created. Later, when you wish to continue working on this form design, select the "Edit a Form" option from the main menu, by pressing "2", and supplying this file name (without an exten- sion). GENERATE CODE If you select the "Generate Code" option by pressing "4", FORGE will generate TURBO Pascal or dBASE III source code for your form. In the case of TURBO Pascal this code can be used as is; it is a complete TURBO Pascal program, just compile it and run it. You could also make this code into a subroutine by changing the first word to "Procedure" and by changing the last period to a semicolon, and then include this subroutine in another program. In the case of dBASE III this code becomes a .FMT file. Somewhere in your main dBASE III program you must put a comm- and statement: SET FORMAT TO <filename>. When you select this option from the main menu you will be presented with a second menu. From this menu you must sel- ect whether you want to generate TURBO Pascal or dBASE III source code. You also have the option of returning to the main menu by pressing "Q" if you decide that you do not want to generate code at this time. TURBO PASCAL First FORGE will ask you for the name of the form that PAGE 22 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator you are generating. Enter the name of the form without an extension. FORGE will open two files, <filename>.PAS for the source code, and <filename>.DTA for the information about your form: information about where the data fields are, what colors you used, whether or not any characters blink, and what characters are on the form. This .DTA file is necessary for you to be able to edit your form later. If the form name that you supply is the name of an existing file, FORGE will let you know that the form already exists and will ask if you want to overwrite it. If you respond with a "Y" or "y" FORGE will write your new form over the old one of the same name and the old one will be lost. If you respond "N" or "n" FORGE will allow you to supply a different name for your form. FORGE will also check to make sure that the name you supply is a proper DOS file name, and will tell you the position of the illegal character if it is not a legal DOS file name. File names may include any of the following char- acters: A..Z a..z 0..9 _ . $ & # @ ! % ( ) - { } / \. FORGE will now begin to write the <filename>.DTA file. You will notice a lot of disk activity for a few moments while this file is created. FORGE then begins to construct the <filename>.PAS file. One of the first things it does is go through your form to see if there are any data input fields. If there are none then your form must be an information or help screen, in which case the <filename>.PAS file will not contain much more than a series of WRITELN statements to duplicate your form on the PAGE 23 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator screen. However, if your form does contain data input fields then the <filename>.PAS file gets considerably more complicated. For each data input field FORGE will now ask you if you want to rename the data field. Remember, the data input field name is really just a file variable, it really doesn't matter what name you use as long as it's a legal TURBO Pascal variable name. FORGE will check the variable name that you give the data input field to see if it is a legal variable name. The TURBO Pascal restrictions on variable names are a little more stringent than the DOS requirements for file names. Variable names must start with a letter (upper or lower case) or under- score, and can be followed by any combination of letters, numbers, or underscore. Standard TURBO Pascal variables can be 127 characters long, however, FORGE limits the length of variables to 30 characters. FORGE will then ask what type of field this is. Respond by pressing "I" if it is an integer input field, "R" if it is a real input field and "S" if it is a string input field. You may press either the upper or lower case letter. If you are defining a real type data input field FORGE will then ask how many decimal places you have in the field. Resp- ond with a number from 0 to one less than the length of the data input field. When you are defining integer data fields remember that the maximum integer that TURBO Pascal can handle is 32767. If you have an integer data input field whose length is 5 or more, there is a possibility that the user who is using this PAGE 24 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator form to put information into a file could enter an integer that is out of range. For instance, if you were designing a form to enter names and addresses, and the five number zip code field was defined as an integer field, it is certain that someone's zip code would be above 32767. This will cause a fatal run-time error. The way to get around this is to define the field as a real type data input field with zero decimal places. After you have finished defining all of your data input fields, FORGE will generate the source code for the form that you have designed. The source code will be written to a disk in the the default drive; be sure that there is a format- ted disk in the default drive that has at least 30k free space left. FORGE will write two files to the disk, they will both have the same name but different extensions. One file will have a .DTA extension. This file contains all the information about the form that you have created, as mentioned above. The other file will be the .PAS file. This is the source code for your form. This is the file that you will compile with your TURBO Pascal compiler to produce an executable .COM file. dBASE III First FORGE will ask you for the name of the form that you are generating. Enter the name of the form without an extension. FORGE will open two files, <filename>.FMT for the source code, and <filename>.DTA for the information about PAGE 25 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator your form: information about where the data fields are, what colors you used, whether or not any characters blink (dBASE III generally does not support these features though), and what characters are on the form. This .DTA file is necessary for you to be able to edit your form later. If the form name that you supply is the name of an existing file, FORGE will let you know that the form already exists and will ask if you want to overwrite it. If you respond with a "Y" or "y" FORGE will write your new form over the old one of the same name and the old one will be lost. If you respond "N" or "n" FORGE will allow you to supply a different name for your form. FORGE will also check to make sure that the name you supply is a proper DOS file name, and will tell you the position of the illegal character if it is not a legal DOS file name. File names may include any of the following char- acters: A..Z a..z 0..9 _ . $ & # @ ! % ( ) - { } / \. FORGE will now begin to write the <filename>.DTA file. You will notice a lot of disk activity for a few moments while this file is created. FORGE then begins to construct the <filename>.FMT file. One of the first things it does is go through your form to see if there are any data input fields. If there are none then your form must be an information or help screen, in which case the <filename>.FMT file will not contain much more than a series of @ Y,X SAY... statements to duplicate your form on the screen. PAGE 26 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator However, if your form does contain data input fields then the <filename>.FMT file will also contain the GET statements with PICTURE and RANGE options. For each data input field FORGE will now ask you if you want to rename the data field. The data input field name must match exactly the field name as it is defined in your .DBF file. If there was not enough room to put the whole field name in the field when you designed the form, now is the time to change the name so that it matches the .DBF field name. FORGE will check the variable name that you give the data input field to see if it is a legal variable name. The dBASE III restrictions on variable names are a little more stringent than the DOS requirements for file names. Variable names must start with a letter (upper or lower case) or underscore, and can be followed by any combination of letters, numbers, or underscore. Next, FORGE will give you the opportunity to specify function and template symbols for the PICTURE clause, and a range for the RANGE clause. Refer to the dBASE III manual for the proper use of these clauses. COMPILING THE CODE (TURBO) Make sure that your <filename>.PAS file and EXTPROC1.PAS through EXTPROC4.PAS are all on the same disk in the default drive. Also, make sure there is at least 30K free space on the disk in the default drive. Start TURBO Pascal. Select your <filename>.PAS file as the MAIN file. Select the Com-file option from the Compiler PAGE 27 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator Options menu. Compile the program as you would any other TURBO Pascal source code. After compiling, the <filename>.COM file will be on the disk in the default drive. USING YOUR TURBO FORM Start your form program from the DOS prompt by typing the name of your compiled source code file (without an extension), then press <enter>. The screen will go blank, and your form will ask "Data File Name". Respond by entering the name of the file that contains, or will contain, the data that is entered through this form. Your form will open the data input file with the name that you supplied. If the file already exists, it will be opened for append. If it does not exist, then it will be opened as a new file. Next, your form will appear on the screen, just as you designed it except that the variable names will not appear in the data input fields. There is also a status line across the bottom of the screen showing the meaning of the function keys. MOVING AROUND ON THE FORM While you are using your form to enter data the data input fields act as tab stops. If you press the <tab> key the cursor will jump to the beginning of the next data input field. If you are currently on the last data input field, and you press the <tab> key, you will jump to the beginning of the first data input field on your form. PAGE 28 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator The <enter> key also acts as a tab stop key. Pressing <enter> at any time will simply move the cursor to the next data input field. While you are using your form the function keys f1 through f5, f8, and f10 are active, and perform special oper- ations. f1=Quit This function key will allow you to exit your form prog- ram. It will close the data file that you were entering data into. f2=Prev This function key will allow you to review records that have already been entered into your data file. You can go all the way back to the beginning of the data file this way, reviewing the records that you have entered. When you reach the first record of the file and press f2, your form will beep at you, and just redisplay the first record again. f3=Next This function key will allow you to review records in a foreward direction, toward the end of the data file. When you reach the last record of the file and press f3, your form will beep at you, and display a blank form ready for data input. PAGE 29 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator f4=Del This function key will delete a record from the data file. Actually, it puts a special marker on that record to indicate that it is not to be displayed; the data is still in the data file. When you are reviewing records with f2 or f3, and you come to a record that has been deleted, the form will be blank, and the status line will inform you that that record has been deleted. You can press f4 again to undelete the record. f5=Rec# This function key will allow you to go to any record in the data file. If you know which record you want to review, it is more convenient to use f5, and jump directly to that record, than to use f2 or f3, and go through the file sequent- ially. When you press f5 the cursor will jump down to the status line to allow you to enter the record number that you want to review. When the cursor is on the status line the only keys that are active are the numeric keys 0..9. Enter the number of the record that you want to review, then press <enter>. If you enter a zero, or a number that is greater than the number of records in your data file, your form will simply position you at the last record of your data file. This is a convenient way to return from reviewing records; if you don't remember the number of the last record in your data file, just enter zero or a very large number to get to the last record, then press f3 to get a blank form for entering PAGE 30 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator new data. f8=Backup This function key will create a backup file of the data you have entered. When you use this function, your form will first check to see if there is already a <filename>.BAK file on the disk. If there is it will be deleted, and the original file will be renamed <filename>.BAK. Then a new file will be created with the exact same name as the original file. The records from the <filename>.BAK file will be copied to the new file, with the exception of the records that have been deleted. So, your new file may or may not be slightly smaller than the original file, depending on whether or not there were any deleted records in it. After the backup procedure is completed, you will be working with the new file, therefore, you will no longer be able to undelete any records. If for any reason you want to keep the <filename>.BAK file, you should rename it with some other name, (at the DOS level after you have exited your form) or copy it to another disk. Otherwise, the next time you use the backup function, the <filename>.BAK file will be deleted and replaced by another one. f0=Accept This function key is used to accept the information on the form, and write it to the data file. PAGE 31 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator While you are entering data on the form, or reviewing records with f2, f3, or f5, you can change anything on the form, and pressing f0 will accept those changes and write it to the data file. Record # The last thing on the status line is the record number indicator. This simply keeps track of which record you are currently working on. USING YOUR dBASE FORM If you look at the <filename>.FMT file that has been created by FORGE, you will see that it is nothing more than the standard @ Y,X SAY... and @ Y,X GET... statememts. By using FORGE to design your form you avoid the pain and hassle of having to calculate all the X and Y values for your SAY and GET statements. Another big advantage of using FORGE is that you can use the IBM graphics characters in your form. The built in dBASE editor does not support the IBM graphics characters. Therefore, do NOT use the built in editor to edit your .FMT file. If you do, the editor will convert your graphics characters to nongraphics characters in the lower 128 ASCII characters. If it's necessary for you to edit the .FMT file, you will have to use an external editor that does not automatically change the graphics characters to nongraphics characters. To use this .FMT file in your dBASE application you must copy it to your application disk, and somewhere in the main PAGE 32 FORGE from DAEDALIAN Software TURBO PASCAL AND dBASE III FORm GEnerator PRG file you need to have a SET FORMAT TO <filename> state- ment. Your dBASE III manual can supply more detailed infor- mation on the proper use of .FMT files. PAGE 33 INDEX ***** Alt-Key commands 9 <alt>C: Color Menu 9 <alt>D: Data Field 9, 11 <alt>F: Fill Area 9, 15 <alt>G: Graphics Characters 9, 14 <alt>H: Highlight Data Fields. 9, 19 <alt>R: Repeat Fill 9, 18 BAK file ext. 31 Blinking text 6, 10 Color 3 Color menu 4 Color menu command <alt>C 9 Compiling the Code (TURBO) 27 Creating a new form 4 Cursor location indicator 8 Data Field Command <alt>D 11 Delete Line (f9) 8 Designing a new form 4 DTA file name ext. 2, 21, 23, 25 Edit a Form 20 Extensions for file names 2 EXTPROC files 3 f0=Accept 31 f1 (Repeat Down) 7 f1=Quit 29 f2 (Repeat Left) 7 f2=Prev 29 f3 (Repeat Up) 7 f3=Next 29 f4=Del 30 f5=Rec# 30 f8 (Insert Line) 7 f8=Backup 31 f9 (Delete Line) 8 f10 (Main Menu) 8 Features of FORGE 1 Filenames (DOS) 21 Fill Area <alt>F 15 FMT file name ext. 2, 25 Function key commands 6 General overview 2 Generate Source Code 22 Graphics Characters <alt>G 14 Highlight Data Fields <alt>H 19 Insert Line (f8) 7 Legal DOS filenames 23, 26 Legal variable names 24, 27 Length of variable names 24 Main menu 4 Main Menu (f10) 8 Maximum integer 24 Monochrome 3 Moving around on the form 28 INDEX PAS file name ext. 2, 23 Record # 32 Repeat Area Fill <alt>R 18 Repeat Down (f1) 7 Repeat Left (f2) 7 Repeat Up (f3) 7 Save Form 21 System requirements 3 Types of data fields 24 Using your dBASE form 32 Using your TURBO form 28 INDEX