EGL Reference Guide for iSeries
A form part is a unit of presentation. It describes the
layout and characteristics of a set of fields that are shown to the user at
one time.
You do not declare a form as if you were declaring a record or data
item. To access a form part, your program must include a use
declaration that refers to the related form group.
A form part is of one of two types, text or
print:
- A form of type text defines a layout that is displayed in a
3270 screen or ina command window. With one exception, any text form
can have both constant fields and variable fields, including variable fields
that accept user input. The exception is a help form, which
is solely for presenting constant information.
- A form of type print defines a layout that is sent to a
printer. Any print form can have both constant and variable
fields.
Form properties determine the size and position of the output on a screen
or page and specify formatting characteristics of that output.
A given form can be displayed on one or more devices, each of
which is an output peripheral or is the operational equivalent of an output
peripheral:
- A screen device is a terminal, monitor, or terminal
emulator. The output surface is a screen.
- A print device is a file that can be sent to a printer or is
the printer itself. The output surface is a page.
Whether of type text or print, a form is further
categorized as follows:
- A fixed form has a specific starting row and column in relation
to the output surface of the device. You could assign a fixed print
form, for example, to start at line 10, column 1 on a page.
- A floating form has no specific starting row or column;
instead, the placement of a floating form is at the next unoccupied line in an
output surface sub-area that you declare. The declared sub-area is
called a floating area.
You might declare a floating area to be a rectangle that starts at line 10,
extends through line 20, and is the maximum width of the output device.
If you have a one-line floating form of the same width, you can construct a
loop that acts as follows for each of 20 times:
- Places data in the floating map
- Writes the floating map to the next line in the floating area
One or more floating areas are declared in the FormGroup part, but only one
can accept floating forms for a particular device. If you try to
present a floating form in the absence of a floating area, the entire output
surface is treated as a floating area.
- A partial form is smaller than the standard size of the output
surface for a particular device. You can declare and position partial
forms so that multiple forms are displayed at different horizontal
positions. Although you can specify the starting and ending columns for
a partial form, you cannot display forms that are next to one another.
Additional details are specific to the form type:
Related concepts
Print forms
Text forms
Related reference
FormGroup part in EGL source format
Form part in EGL source format
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