Importing a form object

When you import a form, these fields must be in uppercase:

Record identifier for all records
The following fields in the header record:
- Product identifier (QMF)
- Type of object (F)
- Format of object (E)
- Action against object (R)
Data type values (NUMERIC, CHAR, GRAPHIC, UNKNOWN) in the R records for the COLUMNS table. If your installation supports date/time data types, data type values DATE, TIME, and TIMEST must also be in uppercase.
All the form keywords and substitution variables used in the form panels. When a form is imported, all the input in the form is left intact. If a form keyword is in lowercase, the error indicator in the form panel is turned on. To correct the error, the field must be typed over. If the data type value is not in uppercase, an error occurs, and the IMPORT ends.

The T record of the COLUMNS table (field number 1110) must immediately follow the header record, and it must include a numeric count of the number of rows in the table (an * row count is not allowed).

If the entire COLUMNS table has been read in, unspecified fields are set to their default values, and the form is displayed.

Variation panels

The variation number field (field number 2790) determines which variation panel is updated by all the variation panel information that follows the field. This V record should precede all other V, T, and R records for a given variation panel.

If a value for a particular variation appears more than once in the encoded format, the later values replace the original values. The number of variations in the form are equal to the highest variation number in the form. There is no required order for variation numbers when importing.

Translated forms

When you import an English language form into a non-English session, QMF automatically translates the reserved words in the form into your current session's language if the national language identifier in the H record is an E.

Omitting data type, edit code, and width in an imported form

In the COLUMNS table, data type (field number 1112), edit code (field number 1117), and width (field number 1116) can optionally be omitted when the following rules are observed:

Edit code must be included if data type and width are omitted. Based on the specified edit code, QMF inserts appropriate defaults for data type and width.
Data type must be included if edit code and width are omitted. QMF provides default values for edit code and width.
Width must be accompanied by either data type or edit code.

Table 12 contains information about values for the column data type field.

Table 12. Values for Column Data Type field
Data Type Value (QMF form)	Data Type Number (Database form)	Character String (Database form)	Meaning
DATE	384	DATE	Date
TIME	388	TIME	Time
TIMEST	392	TIMESTAMP	Time stamp
NUMERIC	496 500 484 480	INTEGER SMALLINT DECIMAL FLOAT	Integer Small integer Decimal Floating point
CHAR	448 452 456 904	VARCHAR CHAR LONG VARCHAR ROWID	Varying character Fixed character Long varying character Row identifier
GRAPHIC	464 468 472	VARGRAPHIC GRAPHIC LONG VARGRAPHIC	Varying graphic Fixed graphic Long varying graphic

In addition to the preceding data type values, there is an UNKNOWN data type that QMF uses in response to a U, V, or invalid edit code.

Detecting errors during import

If QMF detects an error in the format of the form file during import, the import function is ended with a message describing the error and its location in the file.

If an error is encountered in the header record and a form already exists in the temporary storage area, the existing form is displayed. If the form is successfully imported, QMF displays the form panel.

If an error is encountered after the header record is read, any existing form in the temporary storage area is discarded, and the Home panel is displayed. However, if the data object exists, QMF generates a default form for the data, but does not display it.

Certain minor errors detected by QMF do not terminate the import. In such cases, QMF issues a warning message and, where appropriate, applies defaults. Some examples are:

V records
- Zero length fields.
- Specified length field does not match the length of data actually supplied.
T records
- Zero column length.
- The number of columns specified does not match the following field number/length pairs.

You can respond to errors and warnings in either of two ways:

Fix one problem at a time.
Run the IMPORT FORM command with SET PROFILE (TRACE=L2).

Running the IMPORT FORM command with SET PROFILE (TRACE=L2) gives you a list of all the message numbers related to the IMPORT command. The command:

HELP message_number

displays the error message for that message number.

[ Previous Page | Next Page | Contents | Index ]