Creating a Panel Definition › Defining and Changing Field Attributes › Attributes Used to Define Fields › Field Attributes

Field Attributes

The field attribute of digital separator is as follows:

Specifies whether the digit separator (comma in the United States, period in Europe) is allowed in the field. Digit separators are removed from the value before the value is passed to the application. The Panel Session option Decimal Character determines the value used as the digit separator. If the period is set as the decimal character, the comma is used as the digit separator. If the comma is used as the decimal character, the period is used as the digit separator.

Valid values are as follows:

• Y Indicates that you can enter valid digit separators in the field.
• N Indicates that you cannot enter digit separators in the field.

For example, if you specify Y, an application user can enter the value 12345 as 12,345. If you specify N, the entry 12,345 results in a validation error.

Note: If the field entry is justified in a way that changes the value, the digit separator the user entered does not determine the value sent to the application. The justification determines the value sent to the application.

The field attribute of EOF is as follows:

Allows the application user the option of using the Erase EOF key when a minimum or maximum range check is specified for the field. If you press the Erase EOF key when the cursor is positioned in a field, the input fill character is inserted from the cursor position to the end of the field. If inserting the input fill character brings the value outside the range set by the maximum or minimum values, a validation error occurs unless Allow EOF was specified.

Valid values for this field are:

• Y-Lets you use the Erase EOF key in the field, even if the value with the inserted input fill character violates the range specified for the field. If the value with the input fill character is outside the range specified for the field, a validation error does not occur.
• N-You cannot use the Erase EOF key, regardless of the value of the input fill character.

  The field attribute of minus sign is as follows:

Specifies whether you can enter the minus sign n the field. Valid values are:

• Y-You can enter a minus indicator (a minus sign, parenthesis, or the CR credit indicator) in the field. The minus indicator is removed before the value is sent to the application, but the value is sent as a negative number.

  If you specify Y, you can enter values in any of the following forms to indicate a negative number: ‑nn, nn‑, (nn), nnCR, or CRnn.

• N-You cannot enter a minus indicator in this field.

A combination of codes that set the display attributes of the field. You can use the following codes:

• P-Indicates a protected field. You cannot change or delete the value in a protected field. If you specify P alone or with A, the cursor does not skip the field during data entry. If you specify P with N or S, the cursor skips the field during data entry.
• U-Indicates an unprotected field. You can change or delete the value in an unprotected field during data entry.
• A-Indicates a field that accepts any character.
• N-Indicates a field that accepts only numeric characters (0‑9, comma, decimal point, and minus sign). The comma, decimal point, and minus sign are only allowed in the field if the Input Rules Table includes the appropriate settings for the Allow Digit Sep and Allow Minus Sign attributes.
• S-Indicates that the cursor skips the field during data entry. Due to IBM 327x bit‑mapping conventions, S and N are synonymous when you specify P.
• H-Indicates that the field displays with high intensity characters.
• L-Indicates that the field displays with regular low intensity characters.
• I-Indicates that the field is invisible and characters in the field do not display.
• E-Indicates that the field is treated as if it were entered on the current transaction, even if it was entered on a previous transaction or was a default value that the user did not enter at all.
• C-Indicates that this field contains the cursor when the panel is initially displayed.

The codes P and PA have the same effect. The codes S, PS, and PN have the same effect. The codes U, A, and UA have the same effect. The codes N and UN have the same effect.

A protected (P) field is skipped if :

• The field is defined as S, PS, or PN.
• The previous field is defined as PS.
• The previous field is defined as PA and has an End field symbol. The hardware recognizes the end field symbol as an indicator to skip to the next unprotected field.

If a protection attribute (U, P, S, A, or N) is not specified, the default value UA is used.

If a highlight attribute (H, L, or I) is not specified, the default value L is used.

If a program executes a SET ATTRIBUTE statement that does not specify both a protection and a highlight attribute, the missing attribute is set to the default, no matter how it was previously set.

Ordinarily, a panel field is defined with a beginning field character and an end of field character, for example, a plus () and a semicolon (;). The end of field character is recognized as the beginning of a new field with an attribute of AUTOSKIP. If the layout of your panel definition includes:

+    ;    +    ;

Even though it looks like two fields with null characters between and after them, CA Ideal interprets it as four fields. The semicolon (end of field) says “start a new dummy field” with an attribute of AUTOSKIP,. when the user fills the first field, skip to the next field.

To define a “stopper” field (a protected field that is not skipped), do not end the affected field with an end of field symbol. Code a one‑byte field immediately following the affected field. Give this one‑byte field an attribute of PAI.

The panel layout now looks like this:

+   + ;    +    ;

Overtyping the first field stops the cursor in the one‑byte field and locks the terminal. To get to the next field, use the Tab key.

Indicates whether entries are converted to upper case or left unconverted when they pass to the application. If you do not enter a value for this attribute, the value specified on the Panel Parameter fill‑in is used as the default. An asterisk (*) next to this value on the Extended Field Definition fill‑in indicates that the value was set on the Panel Parameter fill‑in.

Valid values are as follows:

• U-Converts all entries for this field to uppercase. The values redisplay in upper case when you press the Enter key and are sent to the application in upper case.
• M-Entries for this field remain as entered by the user, in upper case, lower case, or mixed case.

Specifies whether a check‑digit test is performed. Valid values are:

• N-The check‑digit test is not performed.
• T-The field entry is tested for Modulo 10.
• E-The field entry is tested for Modulo 11.

For more information about check‑digit tests, see Appendix B.

On the Input Rules Table, this field is located to the right of column 80. To display this field, enter the SCROLL RIGHT command.

The color of the characters displays in this field. You can select only one color for a field. The colors that you can select are:

• B-Blue
• G-Green
• N-Neutral
• P-Pink
• R-Red
• T-Turquoise
• W-White/Black
• Y-Yellow

N, neutral, is the default. Generally, you should define all text (caption) fields in neutral or cool colors, such as green, blue, or neutral. You can define data entry fields in brighter colors such as pink, turquoise, or yellow. Red is often used for error highlighting.

Explanatory comments that describe the field or its use. If you do not enter a value in this field, no default value is inserted.

On the Field Summary Table, this area contains the text that specifies the field on the panel layout until you enter a comment. Changes made in the comment area are not reflected in the text of the layout. You must make changes to the text displayed on the panel on the layout panel.

For numeric fields, indicates the pattern or format in which the field value displays. The edit pattern is a sequence of any of the symbols shown in the first column of the following table. The maximum length of the edit pattern and of the generated display is 45 characters, allowing for 31 digits plus the edit characters.

If you omit the edit pattern, the field is right justified and no decimal point is shown. A negative number is shown in zoned decimal format (the sign is shown as the characters J‑R in place of 1‑9 in the rightmost position).

The following table shows the valid edit pattern symbols, some edit patterns built with those symbols, and the resulting display values.

Note: If the edit pattern includes the minus sign, debit symbol, credit symbol, or decimal point, you must set the Allow Minus Sign or Allow Digit Sep attribute to Y.

Note: You can condense edit patterns by using multipliers. For example, you can specify the expanded pattern ZZZ,ZZZ.99 as Z(3),Z(3).9(2).

Lowercase v represents the position of an assumed decimal point.

For a complete explanation of the rules summarized in this table, see the CODASYL COBOL Journal of Development.

Specifies how the field entry is highlighted when an error is detected during panel validation. If you do not specify a value for this attribute, the value specified in the Panel Parameter fill‑in appears on the Extended Field Definition fill‑in, with an asterisk next to the value to indicate that it is the default set in the Panel Parameter fill‑in.

Valid values are:

• N-No highlighting is used for this field when an error is detected.
• *-Moves the error fill character to the field when an error is detected. If the Error fill character parameter was not defined, the field is filled with asterisks in low intensity.
• H-Displays the invalid entry in high intensity.
• B-Both high intensity and the error fill character highlight errors, depending on the type of error. If the field contains a value that does not conform to the edit rules specified on the field definition fill‑ins, the field entry displays in high intensity. If a required field is missing, the error fill character moves to the field, which then displays in high intensity.

Indicates the type of extended highlighting used for the field. You can select only one of the following extended highlighting attributes for the field:

• N-No extended highlighting is used. This is the default.
• B-The field is highlighted by blinking.
• R-The field is highlighted in reverse video.
• U-The field is highlighted with underscores.

Note: To use the extended highlighting attributes, you must specify both EH (extended highlighting) and C (color) for the FEATURE parameter of the TCT.

The name that identifies the field to an application. The field name references data contained in the panel. If the field contains a caption rather than data he user entered, no name is required.

A group field name identifies the entire repeating group to an application. This name is a level‑2 name. The fields that are part of the repeating group are level‑3 fields. The field names that an application references most usually are the level‑3 field names, which must be indexed to access the desired occurrence of the data.

The Field Name field is 1 to 32 characters long, can be composed of any alphanumeric character (letters, numerals, national characters, embedded underlines and hyphens), and must begin with a letter (A through z) or national character ($, @, #). If the field name is longer than 18 characters, you must use the semicolon at the end of the field name on the first line to continue the field name on the next line. The semicolon is not considered part of the field name.

Field names, if specified, must be unique in the panel definition. If they are not unique in the application, you must qualify the name with the panel name when it is used in the application. To qualify the field name with the panel name, type the panel name, followed by a period and the field name, in the format panel.field.

Specifies whether trailing blanks in a field are converted to nulls when the panel is transmitted. Valid values are:

• Y-Converts trailing blanks to nulls. This allows an application user to insert characters with the hardware insert key.
• N-Trailing blanks are not converted to nulls. An application user must delete characters such as trailing blanks before any characters can be inserted in the field with the hardware insert key.

Identifies a panel that can display at runtime to explain the field. The help panel is identified by a one‑ to eight‑character name and an explicit version number. The help panel must exist in the same system as the panel for which it is defined. The application user displays this help panel by pressing the PF1 or PF13 function key or by entering the command HELP on the command line. The help panel does not become the current panel when it displays.

A help panel, like any panel, is defined using CA Ideal. However, the following additional rules apply to help panel definitions:

• A help panel cannot contain a variably‑repeating group (an asterisk (*) in the Occ column of the Field Summary Table).
• A help panel should contain only text fields. If an unprotected field is defined in a help panel and if data is entered in that field when the panel displays, the data is ignored.
• You can define as many help panels as are necessary for a field. If more than one help panel is required, link the panels in a linear fashion; specify the second help panel as the help panel on the Parameter fill‑in for the first help panel, specify the third help panel on the Parameter fill‑in for the second help panel, and so on.

When more than one help panel exists, mention the existence of an additional help panel in the text of each help panel but the last.

For more information about creating help panels, see the Working in the Environment Guide.

The character that pads unused positions after a value is entered and justified in an alphanumeric field, which occurs after you press the Enter key during data entry. Valid values for this parameter are:

• S-Spaces are entered in unused positions of the entry field. This normally is specified for alphanumeric fields to prevent unused positions of the field or empty fields from being filled with unpredictable characters.
• L-Low values (the lowest value in the alphanumeric collating sequence) are entered in unused positions of the entry field. If you specify L, the application user can insert characters in this field using the Insert key.

  L is the default for this parameter.

• Z-Zeros are entered in unused positions of the entry field. This value is used automatically for numeric fields.
• U-Underscores are entered in unused positions of the entry field. The underscores are then sent to the application along with the rest of the value entered in the field.
• Other-The value specified here is entered in unused positions of the entry field. Numeric digits are not permitted for this value. An example of a value that you can use is the asterisk (*). As with the underscore, the asterisk fill characters are sent to the application with the value entered in the field.

For numeric fields only, indicates the total number of digits that can be entered in the field, in the form integer.decimal‑places, where:

• integer-Indicates the number of integer positions in the field.
• decimal‑places-Indicates the number of decimal places in the field.

The maximum number of digits allowed (integer decimal‑places) is 31. If you specified a field length of less than 45, the maximum number of digits allowed is the specified length less the number of edit characters required.

For example, if a field is defined with an edit pattern of $9,999,999.99 and an In.dp value of 7.2, the length must be at least 13 to allow all the required characters to display:

Integers + Decimal Places  +  Edit Characters  =  Length

7  +  2  +  4  =  13

If the field is defined with a length of 12 and a total of 9 digits (7 integer digits and 2 decimal places), there is only room for 3 edit characters. If you try to define an edit pattern longer than the length of the field, an error message displays.

Establishes the justification for entries in the field before they are presented to the application procedure. When a justified value does not fill all positions of the field, the input fill character fills the remaining positions.

Valid values are:

• N-No justification is applied. The value is passed to the application procedure exactly as entered. You can specify no justification when a field is defined as Must Fill, since no padding is required when the value fills the field.
• L-Left justifies the value, that is, the value is moved to the beginning of the field. This is the default for alphanumeric fields.
• R-Right justifies the value, that is, the value is moved to the right until the last character of the value is in the last position of the field. This is the default for numeric fields, but could be used for an alphanumeric field that is expected to contain numbers.
• A-Aligns the value on the decimal symbol. You can specify this option only for numeric (Type N) fields. A decimal symbol is only allowed in a numeric field entry if you specify A for this attribute. If you enter a decimal symbol, it is removed before the value is aligned and is not sent to the application.

The following chart shows how data is passed to the application based on justification specifications. The input field length is eight characters with 4 integer and 2 decimal places. A v indicates the decimal position assumed by the application.

Note: The validation errors received for the value 62.7 occur because the decimal point is not a numeric digit and is not removed before alignment when Justify is set to R, L, or N.

The length of the field as CA Ideal calculates it based on how the field was defined in the layout. The maximum alphanumeric field length is the length of the line. The maximum numeric field length is 45 characters, which allows for a number with a maximum of 31 digits. The remaining length specifies an edit pattern.

You can modify the length of a field if the new length:

• Does not overlay the next field.
• Does not extend the field beyond the panel width.

The level number of the field in the hierarchy of names in a panel. Valid values are:

• 2 The field is an elementary or group field. A group field is a named set of fields that repeats (a group field is considered a repeating group even if it occurs only once). There can be only one repeating group in a panel.
• 3 The field is part of a repeating group.

Note: You cannot change the field level while a copy or move operation is pending.

A numeric or alphabetic value that specifies the highest acceptable value that the application user can enter for this field. This value can be up to 20 characters long.

Specifies the number of digits that must be entered after the decimal point. If any value is specified for this attribute, the Type must be N and the Justify Input attribute must be set to A (align by decimal). The minimum number of required decimal places must be less than or equal to the number of decimal places specified in the In.dp attribute.

The chart below shows how data is passed to the application based on the Min Req Decimal specification. The input field length is eight characters with 4 integer and 2 decimal places. Justify input is set to A, align by decimal. The decimal position assumed by the application is indicated by a v.

A numeric or alphabetic value that specifies the lowest acceptable value that can be entered for this field by the application user. This value can be up to 20 characters long.

Specifies whether the field entry must fill every character of the field. Valid values are:

• Y If you enter data in the field, every position in the field must be filled.
• N An entry is not required to fill every position of the field.

On the Input Rules Table, this field is located to the right of column 80. To display this field, enter the SCROLL RIGHT command.

Determines whether the field can accept or return the null value. Valid values are:

• Y The field can contain a null value. The field will be NULL if:
  • The application user does not enter any data in the field
  • Press the Erase EOF key to clear the field (the cursor must be positioned at the beginning of the field to clear the entire field)
  • A NULL value is moved to the field by the application

    Panel fields with null values are treated as empty ($EMPTY is true). Null values in panel fields display as questions marks (?)

• N The field cannot contain a null value. If the application user does not enter data or uses the Erase EOF key to clear the field, the field contains the input fill character.

The number of times a repeating group field occurs. You can only change this entry on group field entries (Type G). Valid values are:

• *-During execution of the application, the number of occurrences equals the number of lines that remain in the actual region of the screen. This lets you take advantage of video monitors that display more than 24 lines. The asterisk (*) is automatically inserted for newly created repeating groups.
• 1‑99-The number of occurrences of the field. If a number is specified, the panel has a fixed size and always displays with the same number of lines, regardless of the number of lines available on the video monitor.
• D-Enter D in the Occ field to delete the group field entry and change the fields in the group to level‑2 elementary fields. You can only enter this value on the Field Summary Table.

Note: A group field is considered a repeating group, even if it occurs only one time. You cannot modify the value in this field while operations are pending in the panel layout.

The character fills blank data entry fields when the panel displays (with a TRANSMIT or REFRESH statement). The output fill character is removed when the panel is transmitted to the application.

The output fill character also fills the field when the application moves low values into the field or when the application user presses the Erase EOF key to clear a field. (The function $LOW moves low values into a field.)

Valid values for the output fill character are:

• S-Spaces display in this field when no value was moved to the field before the panel was transmitted. If spaces display as the output fill character, there is no indication that an input field is present until the cursor moves to the field.
• L-Low values display in this field when no value was moved into the field before the panel was transmitted. If you specified L, the application user can insert characters in this field using the Insert key.
• U-Underscores display in this field when no value was moved into the field before the panel was transmitted. Use this value when you want to indicate the field length to the application user. U is the default for this parameter.
• Other-The value specified here displays in this field when no value was entered before the panel is transmitted. An example of a value that you can use is the period (.).

Specifies whether the application user must supply a value or can omit it. If you do not enter a value for this attribute, the value set on the Panel Parameter fill‑in appears, with an asterisk next to the value on the Extended Field Definition fill‑in to indicate that it was set on the Panel Parameter fill‑in.

Valid values are:

• Y-The application user must supply a field value. If the application user does not supply a value, a validation error occurs.
• C-For a level‑3 field (a field in a repeating group), a value is required only if you entered another level‑3 field in the same occurrence of the repeating group.
• N-The application user can omit a field value without causing a validation error. If the application user does not supply a value, the field contains the input fill character. If an initial value was specified for the field on the Field Definition fill‑in, the field contains the initial value.

A sequence number assigned by CA Ideal. These numbers appear in the first column of the Field Summary, Input Rules, and Output Rules Tables, and below the start field symbol for each corresponding field in the panel layout. You cannot change the value in the Seq field.

The Field Summary, Input Rules, and Output Rules Tables only show the fields displayed in the layout area of the screen. However, all the fields are numbered regardless of whether they are currently displayed.

The field type. Valid values are:

• X-The field is alphanumeric and can contain any character.
• N-The field is numeric and can contain only numeric characters (0‑9, comma, decimal point, and minus sign). The comma, decimal point, and minus sign are only allowed in the field if the Input Rules Table includes the appropriate settings for the Allow Digit Sep and Allow Minus Sign attributes.
• G-The field is a group field composed of more than one elementary field.

You can change an X field to an N field or an N field to an X field, but you cannot change a G field to either an X or an N field or change an X or an N field to a G field. See the section titled Defining Repeating Fields and Groups for information on defining G type fields.

If the Extended Field Definition fill‑in contains settings that require a field to be a specific type, you cannot change those settings on the Field Summary Table. You must use the Extended Field Definition, Input Rules, or Output Rules Table to change both the type and the type‑dependent settings. Field attributes affected by a change in the type include Edit Pattern, In.dp, Min Req Decimals, Allow Digit Sep, Allow Minus Sign, Allow Currency, and Check Digit.