APPEND

Class

Screen Forms

Purpose

Full screen append of records into the active table

Syntax

APPEND [NOCLEAR]

See Also

@...GET, @...TO, APPEND BLANK, APPEND FROM, CHANGE, CREATE, CREATE SCREEN, EDIT, FMT(), Function Keys, INDEX, INSERT, RESTORE SCREEN, SAVE SCREEN, SET CARRY, SET FORMAT, SET MENU, SET MOUSE, SET NAVIGATE, SET UNIQUE, UNIQUE(), USE

Description

The APPEND command is a full screen command used to append records to the end of the active table. A default form with blank fields will be activated on the screen.

The APPEND can be terminated using the [EXIT/SAVE] key to save the current record, or the [ABANDON] key to abandon the current record. If SET VERIFY is ON, the save or abandon must be confirmed. If SET MENU is ON and the default APPEND form is being used, a menu with details of the active keys is displayed at the top of the screen. Pressing the [TAB] key allows the menu to be toggled on or off.

You can design your own forms for appending records, with the Forms Designer (CREATE SCREEN). Once the form has been activated with SET FORMAT TO, it will be used instead of the default form when the APPEND command is issued.

Normally, all of the fields are initialized to blank. This behavior can be overridden with the SET CARRY ON command or the [CARRY MODE] key from within the append form. If SET CARRY is ON, data from the previous record will be carried over as the default for the next APPEND operation. Default information may also be automatically inserted into the form via the Applications Data Dictionary.

When memo fields are displayed, the memo field label is in lower case if the field is empty and upper case if the memo field contains a value. Memos can be edited in a popup notepad window by pressing the [INSERT] or [HELP] keys. Once in the notepad window, pressing the [HELP] key displays a menu of memo editing keys. These keys include facilities for reading from and writing to external files and printing on the system printer.

Forms may be overlaid, one on top of the other, if APPEND is used in conjunction with the FMT() function and the SAVE SCREEN and RESTORE SCREEN commands. If the topmost form is 'boxed' using the @...TO...LABEL command, the area of the screen it occupies will be cleared.

All open indexes are updated. If any of the indexes is unique, then duplicate keys will not be appended. An appropriate error message will be displayed. If the active table is shared, other users may edit existing records during an APPEND operation, as no records are locked.

Pressing the [EXIT/SAVE] or [NEXT SCREEN] keys causes the record to be written to the table and made to other users. The [MENUBAR] key does not write the record to the table.

NOCLEAR

The NOCLEAR keyword disables the erasing of the screen on entry and exit from APPEND.

Keys

The following keys are active within an APPEND form.

Key	Action
ABANDON	Discard current record then exit from the form
CARRY MODE	Toggle CARRY on and off
CURSOR DOWN	Skip to next field
CURSOR LEFT	Skip to previous field
CURSOR RIGHT	Skip to next field
CURSOR UP	Skip to previous field
DELETE FIELD	Initialize field
EDIT FIELD	Enter field edit mode
EXIT/SAVE	Write current record then exit from the form
HELP	Activate pop-up help
MENUBAR	Activate the APPEND menu bar
NEXT RECORD	Write record then skip to next record
REFRESH	Redraw the form
TAB	Toggle function key menu on and off

If SET MOUSE is ON, cursor keys will move the cursor anywhere on the screen rather than just from field to field. If SET NAVIGATE is ON, the cursor moves to fields following the direction specified by the key being pressed, rather than following the order of the GETS on the form. When the RETURN key is pressed, the cursor moves to the nearest field when SET NAVIGATE is ON.

Field edit mode keys

The following keys are active in field edit mode:

Key	Action
BACKSPACE	Delete character before cursor
CURSOR LEFT	Skip to previous character
CURSOR RIGHT	Skip to next character
DELETE CHAR	Delete character under cursor
DELETE FIELD	Delete from cursor to end of field
DELETE WORD	Delete current word
INSERT MODE	Toggle insert / overwrite mode
WORD LEFT	Skip left a word
WORD RIGHT	Skip right a word

Menu options

The following menu options are available from the APPEND menu bar in the default form:

Menu Item	Action
Descriptions	Toggle the field descriptions on and off
Help	Activate on-line help system

Example

use patrons index names
set format to patrons
append

Products

Recital Mirage Server, Recital Terminal Developer