Tables panel fields

The fields on the Tables panel function as follows:

Table Name

The name of the table in which you are interested. The table must be open for all, except the Display Status option (6) of the Tables option (7.4). The table can be opened using the Dialog Services option (7.6) or can be opened automatically by specifying the Open tables field WRITE/NOWRITE option.

Open tables

The table must be open for all but the Display Status option (6) of the Tables option (7.4). Specifying WRITE or NOWRITE will cause Tables option to automatically open the table in the respective mode. A blank field directs Tables to bypass the automatic open. If Tables automatically opens the table, it will be closed automatically when the Tables option is terminated. This is done with a TBCLOSE service which will cause any table changes to be preserved if the table were automatically opened with the WRITE option.

This field is ignored if the table has been opened outside of the Tables (7.4) option.

Row identification

Identify a row, either directly by row number or indirectly by specifying table variable names and their values as search operands.

Current row

The position number of the current row after you have identified a table. This field is not modifiable.

By row number

The position number of the table row that you want, or, if you are adding a row, you can use:

TOP: Makes the new row first in the table.
BOTTOM: Makes the new row last in the table.

Variable

The names of variables whose values are to be used to search the table for a row with matching contents. You insert them by typing over the underscores beneath this heading.

Value

The value to be used in the search, up to 54 characters. For an abbreviated search, type the beginning characters followed by an asterisk.

You can specify a DBCS value in the form:

¬[DBDBDB]

where:

[ and ]

Represent the SO (shift-out) and SI (shift-in) characters, respectively. For an abbreviated search, type a 2-byte asterisk (*) at the end of the DBCS value. For example:

¬[DBDB**]

where ** represents the 2-byte asterisk character.

DBCS column specification

The variable names of the values that are DBCS data. The value of the variable is displayed using the form:

¬[DBDBDB]

If you type a DBCS value in this format on the Modify Row panel or the Add Row panel, only the DBCS characters are stored, regardless of the DBCS column specification.

Option

The number of one of the functions displayed on the Tables panel.

Note: The option names (for example, Display row) are point-and-shoot fields; however, if an option is already specified at the Option prompt, it takes precedence over your point-and-shoot selection.

Once you specify a table name, it is retained until you change it or until you leave Dialog Test.

For the Display row (1), Delete row (2), Modify row (3), and Add row (4) options of the Tables option (7.4), you must identify the row you want to display, delete, modify, or add. To do this, you can specify a row number in the "By row number" field, or you can use the Variable and Value fields to specify a list of search operands. To show the current row, leave the asterisk in the "By row number" field. If you specify both a row number and a search operand, the row number is used and the search operand is ignored.

The current row pointer in the table can be changed only at your request or by your dialog.

The list of search operands consists of variable names and values that allow you to specify the values that specific variables have in a row. You can specify the complete value, abbreviate the value with an asterisk to find a row containing a variable beginning with specified characters, or leave the row blank. The search begins with the row following the current row. If a row matching the search operand is not found, the current row pointer is set to the top. You can repeat the search, if necessary.