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Reviewing the Process

When the dialog is executed, panels appear to prompt the user to take appropriate actions. First, a panel appears that describes the dialog. Next panels appear for each variable that prompt the user to use the variable default or to enter a new variable. When you define the dialog, you define these panels.

The panels for defining the prompts appear automatically after you define the type, insert variables, and press <PF5> DIALOG DEF.

The remainder of this section describes the process of setting dialog specifications.

Rules

Dialogs must:

Any item that is to be a variable must have a one or two digit number and a variable symbol preceding it. You can use any number between 1 and 99, but you can only use 25 variables.

The default variable symbol is a question mark (?). Your site may use a different character as a dialog variable symbol. View the SYSTEM PROFILE HELP from the General Help panel of the Main Menu to determine what character your site uses.

To create a dialog, you must create or edit an existing query. Create variables of any query part by substituting that part with a variable.

Sample

Following is a sample format for a dialog variable. See the online HELP SYSTEM PROFILE topic for symbols.

25?CUST_ID_________

The following explains each part of the preceding sample variable.

Sample

Name

Explanation

25

Variable
ID

Enter a number from 1 to 25 that is unique in this dialog.

?

Dialog symbol

The installation default symbol is a question mark. Your site may use a different character.

CUST_ID

Default

The default item to be used in processing the dialog if no replacement is entered or selected. Any query item may be made into a variable.

_______

 

Dialog fill character

Enter enough site-specific dialog fill characters to allow room for the longest variable replacement you will allow. Your site may use a different character.

Note: For details on each panel, see the CA Dataquery Reference Guide.