Forms, Items, Pages, and Subpages

The relationship between forms, items, pages, and subpages should be clear prior to working with forms generation statements. A typical INFO/ACCESS report displays a group of data items in columnar format, usually one item per row. A form, on the other hand, displays individual items, one per form, in a custom-designed format.

A form can be thought of as a template for the format of a single item of data. For example, you can generate invoices from an ORDERS file, producing one invoice form for each order item. A forms generation statement allows the items selected to be output and to position the data properly on the invoice forms.

A page is a piece of paper (if the report is sent to the printer) or a screen full of data (if the report is displayed at the terminal) whose length and width is set by the TERM command. The relationship between a page and a form varies, according to whether the report includes MultiValued attributes and whether the REPT or SREPT command is used in the forms generation statement.

The FORMS and SFORMS commands position only one item on each separate page. If a report includes MultiValued attributes, all of the data for an item might not fit on one page. In this case, data spills onto the next page, creating a multipage form. Working with multipage forms involves a number of additional considerations. This is covered fully under the topic Including MultiValued Attributes on Forms.

The REPT and SREPT commands position more than one item on a page. Multiple items on a page are referred to as subpages. Subpages are equal-sized sections of a page made up of the number of lines specified. For example, a 60-line page might have six 10-line subpages. Each subpage (item) is treated as a single form. In this way a single physical page can hold multiple forms.

When a forms generation statement includes either the REPT or SREPT command, this system prompt displays:

Subpage size>

The appropriate response is to enter the desired number of lines in a subpage.