Key Definitions

KEY DEFINITIONS AND FIELD FORMATS

The following conventions are used throughout the programs unless other wise stated. Except for the arrow keys, any special keys that are valid are displayed on the last line of the screen in an area called the status bar.

The following are general definitions of the commonly used function keys. Note that the specific functioning of these keys can change from one program to another. The default keyboard mapping for Reflection on a PC is shown in paren thesis.

Help (Shift F5)-Displays one or more pages of help about the current field.

F10 (F10)-Causes the program to exit the current section or screen. If this is the first section or screen, the program will exit back to the menu that called it. Changes made will be discarded if this key is pressed.

Do (Shift F6)-Causes the current changes or addition to be saved in the database.

Select (End)-Causes a window to appear that displays the valid se lections for a particular field.

Find (Home)-Usually activates a scan or search screen.

Remove (Delete)-Deletes the currently selected record.

Next Screen (Pg Dwn)-Moves from the current screen to the next screen in a multi-screen program or window.

Prev Screen (Pg Up)-Moves from the current screen to previous screen in a multi-screen program or window.

Up Arrow-Moves to the previous field within the same screen.

F12, Delete-Erases the last character in the current field.

F13 (Shift F3)-Loads the current default into the current field.

F14 (Shift F4)-Toggles between insert and overstrike editing.

Another method to enter the special functions is to use the following three character sequences and then press RETURN


Sequence Action
/EX F10 (Exit)
/BA Up Arrow
/DO Do
/FI Find
/IN Insert
/RE Remove
/SE Select
/PS Prev Screen
/NS Next Screen
/HE Help

This is used primarily when a PC communications program does not map all the keys normally available on a DEC VT series keyboard.

In addition to the function keys, there are also special actions taken on certain control characters. A control character is entered by holding down the Ctrl key and then pressing the other key. The following are definitions of control characters that perform special actions.

Ctrl A-Toggles between insert and overstrike and turns on field editing if disabled.

Ctrl B-Erases from the current cursor position to the end of the field.

Ctrl D-Moves cursor one character to the left.

Ctrl E-Moves cursor to the end of the field.

Ctrl F-Moves cursor one character to the right.

Ctrl H-Moves cursor to start of field.

Ctrl J (Linefeed)-Loads the current default into the current field. (Same as F13).

Ctrl U-Erases from the current cursor position to the beginning of the field.

Ctrl R, Ctrl W-Repaints the entire screen. This allows a screen to be redisplayed after changing sessions on a terminal server or if noise on a dial up line alters a display.

Ctrl Z-Same as an F10 (Exit).

Each program determines if the right and left arrow keys can be used for moving within a field or moving between fields. If the program normally uses the right and left arrow keys to move between fields and either F14 or Ctrl A is entered, then the right and left arrow keys will change to move within the field until the field is exited.

Field Formats

There are a number of entry fields that have special checks on the validity of the input based on the type of data the field represents. The following section explains what format of input data is valid for each data type. Date (6 character format)

Only valid Julian dates may be entered in the format MMDDYY. The range of valid dates is January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1999. After a valid date is entered, it is redisplayed in the format DD-MON-YY. If the date is blank the field will show "* NONE *". Date (8 character format)

Only valid Julian dates may be entered in the format MMDDYY or MMDDY YYY. If a date is entered in the 6 character format then it is converted to the 8 character format by the following rule. If the year is less than 20 the century is set to 20, otherwise the century is set to 19. Therefor 010120 is January 1, 1920 but 010119 is January 1, 2019. In order to enter January 1, 1919 you must use the 8 character format as 01011919.

The range of valid dates is January 1, 1990 to December 31, 2099. After a valid date is entered it is redisplayed in DD-MON-YYYY format. Phone Number

All 10 digits of a phone number, including the area code, must be entered. No alpha characters are allowed. Social Security Number

All 9 digits of a social security number must be entered. No alpha characters are allowed. Submit Time

This is used to specify the time that a batch job will run. The default is now. The time is specified in a 23 character format of DD-MON-YYYY HH:MM:SS.CC. If any of the hours, minutes or seconds is left out, they will default to zeros. If all are left out the default time is midnight.

You can also change the batch options by pressing SELECT. This creates a window that allows you to alter the default options of if you want the log file to print, if you want the report to print, and whether you want to be notified when the batch job is finished or when the printing is complete.