CHANGE

Class

Screen Forms

Purpose

Full screen editing of records through a form

Syntax

CHANGE

[<scope>]

[FIELDS <field list>

[FOR <condition>]

[KEY <exp>]

[NOAPPEND]

[NOCLEAR]

[NODELETE]

[NOEDIT]

[NOFOLLOW]

[NOINIT]

[NOMENU]

[NOORGANIZE]

[NOWAIT]

[WHILE <condition>]

See Also

@...GET, @...MENU, @...SAY, APPEND, BROWSE, CREATE SCREEN, EDIT, FMT(), Function Keys, MODIFY SCREEN, READ, SET FORMAT, SET LOCKWAIT, SET MENUBAR, SET MOUSE, SET NAVIGATE, SET QUERYMODE, SET UPDATE, SET VERIFY, SET WINDOW OF MEMO

Description

The CHANGE command provides the facility to edit records in the active table that match specified record selection criteria. The CHANGE command uses a default form to display and allow updating of the specified records.

When memo fields are displayed, the memo field label is in lower case if the field is empty, and upper case if the field contains text. If a memo window (SET WINDOW OF MEMO) is active, then the memo can be displayed and edited in the specified window. Otherwise, pressing the [INSERT] key or the [HELP] key on the memo field will popup a notepad editor. Pressing the [HELP] key within the notepad editor displays the memo editing keys available. These keys include facilities for reading from and writing to external files and printing on the system printer.

You can design your own forms using the Forms Designer (CREATE SCREEN). The Form Designer will automatically generate a format file that can contain @...GET, @...SAY, @...MENU and other display objects. This form will be used by the CHANGE command if it has been activated using the SET FORMAT command.

If the active table is shared, then automatic record locking will take place for each of the tables referenced on the form. The records are automatically unlocked when you skip to another record, or exit from the CHANGE command. If UPDATE is ON then 'Upd' appears in the 3rd box of the status bar at the bottom of the screen. When UPDATE is ON records are automatically locked before they are read from the database. When UPDATE is OFF, no record locking is performed. It is recommended that you toggle UPDATE mode ON when you have a record displayed on the form which you want to update, and leave UPDATE OFF while you are browsing through your records. If SET LOCKWAIT is OFF, then whenever an attempt is made to lock a record that is already locked by another user, you are given the choice of waiting for the lock or continuing in query mode.

When UPDATE is toggled ON, the form is refreshed with the most current information from the table. As only one user at a time can be in UPDATE mode on a particular record, the information displayed on the form is always current at the time of editing. The changed data on the form is written to the table and the lock released when the [EXIT/SAVE], [NEXT SCREEN], [PREVIOUS SCREEN] or [MENUBAR] keys are pressed. If the [ABANDON] key is pressed and changes have been made to the data, SET VERIFY ON causes a dialog box to be displayed asking for confirmation.

Keyword	Description
<scope>	If no <scope> is specified, CHANGE is activated on the current record and all records are accessible using the [NEXT RECORD] and [PREVIOUS RECORD] keys.
FIELDS <field list>	The active fields can be restricted to those specified in the comma separated <field list>.
FOR <condition>	Record navigation is restricted to those records that match the <condition>.
KEY <exp>	The active records can be restricted to those that match the specified <exp>. The <exp> must be based on the index key of the current master index.
NOAPPEND	The ability to append records is disabled.
NOCLEAR	Erasing of the screen on entry and exit from CHANGE is disabled.
NODELETE	The ability to delete records is disabled.
NOEDIT	The ability to edit the record is disabled. Access is read only.
NOFOLLOW	The NOFOLLOW key word determines whether the record pointer follows a record whose position has changed. A record's position may change when fields that are part of the master index expression are modified. Normally, upon update, the record pointer will be moved to the new position, NOFOLLOW disables this.
NOINIT	The work surface retains the keywords and specifications from the last CHANGE session.
NOMENU	The menu bar is disabled in the default CHANGE form.
NOORGANIZE	Language compatibility only
NOWAIT	Control is returned to the executing program without waiting for the user to exit the CHANGE worksurface.
WHILE <condition>	Record navigation is restricted to those records that match the specified <condition>. Navigation cannot continue beyond a record that does not match the <condition>.

Keys

The following keys are active in CHANGE:

Key	Action
ABANDON	Discard current changes then exit from the form
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
DELETE RECORD	Delete / Recall the record
EDIT FIELD	Enter field edit mode
EXIT/SAVE	Write current changes then exit from the form
FIND	Find record by key or condition
FIND NEXT	Find next record matching specified key or condition
HELP	Activate pop-up help
MENUBAR	Activate the CHANGE menu bar
NEXT RECORD	Write current changes then skip to next record
PREVIOUS RECORD	Write current changes then skip to next record
REFRESH	Redraw the form
TAB	Toggle function key menu on and off
UPDATE MODE	Toggle update mode 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

Menus

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

Menu Item	Action
Descriptions	Toggle the field descriptions on and off
Top	Position to the top of the table or selected records
Bottom	Position to the bottom of the table or selected records
Order	Select index order
Query	Query the table for selected records
Help	Activate on-line help system

Example

use demo
change

Products

Recital Mirage Server, Recital Terminal Developer