Rational Programming Patterns

Label definition

You must give the label its type, position and presentation attributes.

To display the contents of this section, you must click Add Label or select a label call line in the table.

The fields are available or not in this section, depending on the label type you select.

For example, if you select a L: Fixed label or a T: Screen title type, the Presentation field is unavailable because it is relevant only for a Data Element label.

Type
In this field, you specify the type of label to be inserted in the layout. There are three types of labels in a Screen:
  • L: Fixed label.
  • T: Screen title. It is often used on a menu-type Screen to allow the selection of the Screen by its title. It displays the title of the Screen whose name is displayed in the Screen field.
  • O: Data Element label. It displays the label of the Data Element whose name is displayed in the Data Element field .
Data Element
This field is available only if you have selected a O: Data Element label type. If no Data Element has been selected, this field contains Undefined Data Element. To be able to select a Data Element, click Change. A wizard opens up then with all the available Data Elements. Select one of them or create one and click OK.
Screen
This field is available only if you have selected a T: Screen title type. If no Screen has been selected, this field contains Undefined Screen. To be able to select a Screen, click Change. A wizard opens up then with all the available Screens. Select one of them or create one and click OK.

Position

Position type
In this field, you select one of the following positioning values for the Screen element:
  • Relative positioning
    The specified line and column numbers correspond to a move from the Data Element located just before in the list. The positioning of the preceding Data Element is calculated according to the nature of this field.
    • Data Element call (for an elementary or repeated Data Element, whatever its presentation): The starting point of the positioning is calculated from the top right corner of the contents (and not the label) of the preceding Data Element.
    • Screen calls: The positioning is calculated from the lower right corner of the called Screen in the calling Screen.
  • A: Absolute positioning: In this case, the line and column numbers correspond to the absolute address of the element on the Screen.
Notes on position: The position defined by the position type, the line, and column numbers, is the position of the first character of the:
  • Contents if the presentation type is: Data Element only, or Data Element with a column label
  • Label otherwise
Line
Enter two numeric characters here. You specify the line number which determines the position of the element.
  • In a relative positioning, it is the number of lines between two elements. If the presentation type corresponds to a column heading, the number of lines in the column heading is automatically added, upon generation, to the indicated number.
  • In an absolute positioning, it is the line number on the Screen.

Line overflow is automatically controlled.

If both the line and column numbers equal zero, the element is automatically moved to the next tabulation point available.

Column
Enter three numeric characters here. You specify the column number which determines the position of the element.
  • In a relative positioning, if the line number is zero, the column number corresponds to the number of spaces between two elements on the same line. If the line number is greater than zero, the column number corresponds to an absolute positioning.
  • In an absolute positioning, the column number is the address of the element on the line. A zero value corresponds by default to column 2 upon generation (column 1 being reserved for the attribute). If the value is 1, the attribute is on the preceding line.

Any line length overflow and field overlapping are automatically detected. However, the presence of a space in front of each field is not verified.

If both the line and column numbers equal zero, the element is automatically moved to the next tabulation point available.

Presentation
This field is available only if you have selected a O: Data Element label type.

Select the label associated with each Data Element on the Screen.

There are four possible labels:
  • The long label (36 positions), entered on the Data Element Definition tab
  • The short label (18 positions), entered on the Data Element -D Lines tab
  • The relational label (18 positions), entered on the Data Element -D Lines tab
  • The column heading label, entered on the Data Element -D Lines tab

The values of the field correspond to the association between the Data Element and the presentation characteristics for these labels (left-aligned...).

Table 1. Values for the display of the Data Element label
Value Comment
Default value Defaults to the value specified in the Dialog.
F: Data Element only The Data Element is displayed without any label.
L: Data Element with long label, left-aligned The Data Element is preceded by the Data Element label, left-aligned, on 36 positions.
M: Data Element with long label, right-aligned The Data Element is preceded by the Data Element label, right-aligned, on 36 positions.
N: Data Element with long label, left-aligned, trimmed right The Data Element is preceded by the Data Element label, left-aligned with the deletion of blanks on the right.
R: Data Element with long relational label, left-aligned The Data Element is preceded by the relational label, left-aligned on 18 positions.
S: Data Element with short label, left-aligned The Data Element is preceded by the short label, left-aligned, on 18 positions.
T: Data Element with short label, right-aligned The Data Element is preceded by the short label, right-aligned, on 18 positions.
U: Data Element with short label, left-aligned, trimmed right The Data Element is preceded by the short label, left-aligned, with the deletion of blanks at the end of the string.
1: Data Element topped by a single line column label The Data Element is topped by the column label on one line.
2: Data Element topped by a 2–line column label The Data Element is topped by the column label on two lines.
3: Data Element topped by a 3–line column label The Data Element is topped by the column label on three lines.
Note: The ':' character is generated for the Data Elements preceded by a long, short, or relational label. For the Data Elements topped by a column label, the greatest length of the Data Element label and content is taken into account for the relative positioning in the Screen.

Presentation

This presentation is available only if you have selected a L: Fixed label type.

You must enter:
  • the character to be repeated, and the number of repetitions,
  • or the label itself.
Label
In this field, you enter the label which is to be displayed on the screen.

The label must not exceed 30 characters and cannot be entered if you have selected the repetition of a character.

At the end of the label, you must enter a slash ('/'), which serves as the delimiter. You can however include slashes in the label; the last slash is then considered as the delimiter. If you do not enter the delimiter, errors might occur when the Screen is compiled.

Repetitions
In this field, enter the number of repetitions for the repeated character.

This field cannot be edited if the Label field for a label call or the Simulation value for a Data Element call has been given a value.

If you enter a character in this field, you must also enter the repeated character.

Repeated character
In this field, you specify the character to be repeated.

This field cannot be edited if the Label field for a label call, or the Initial value field for a Data Element call has been given a value.

Presentation attributes

Select the presentation attributes of the label.

Intensity
Select its intensity attribute among the following values:
  • Default value: defaults to the Dialog Definition
  • N: Normal: default value at the Dialog level
  • B: Bright: it is highlighted.
  • D: Dark: it is hidden.
Presentation
Select its presentation attribute among the following values:
  • Default value: defaults to the Dialog Definition
  • N: Normal: default value at the Dialog level
  • B: Blinking
  • R: Reversed video
  • U: Underlined
Color
Select its color attribute among the following values:
  • Default value: defaults to the Dialog Definition
  • W: Normal: default value at the Dialog level
  • B: Blue
  • R: Red
  • P: Pink
  • Y: Yellow
  • G: Green
  • T: Turquoise

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