Introduction to Form parts
An EGL Form part 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 in the same way that you would declare a Record or DataItem. To access a Form part, your program must include a use declaration that refers to the related FormGroup.
You can define a Form part outside of a FormGroup, in its own EGL source file, but an EGL program cannot access a standalone form directly. Instead, a FormGroup part must include a use declaration for the form, and the EGL program must access the form through the FormGroup.
Forms used in libraries are not global and cannot be accessed outside the library. In addition, forms cannot be passed as parameters to libraries. If a program and a library use a print form, each has its own copy of the form.
- A text form defines a layout that is displayed on a 3270 screen or in a 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 can present constant information only.
- A print form 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 fixed form has a specific starting row and column. For example, you can assign a fixed print form 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 a 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 repeatedly performs the following actions:
- Places data in the floating form
- Writes the floating form to the next line in the floating area
You can declare multiple floating areas in the FormGroup part, but they must be part of either a PrintFloatingAreas or ScreenFloatingAreas property. Each of these properties corresponds to a single, particular output device. If you try to present a floating form in the absence of a floating area, the entire screen or page is treated as a floating area.
- A partial form is smaller than the standard size of the screen or page. 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.