ui.Form.displayTo

Displays values to form fields or screen arrays.

Syntax

displayTo(
    value { base-type | RECORD },
    formFieldName STRING,
    screenLine INTEGER,
    attributes STRING
  )
  1. value is the scalar value or RECORD to be displayed, and base-type is a base data type of Genero (INTEGER, DATE, VARCHAR)
  2. formFieldName is a simple form field name, like "customer.cust_name" or the name of a SCREEN RECORD defined in the current form.
  3. screenLine is a line number in the screen array.
  4. attributes is a space-separated list of TTY attribute names (like "RED REVERSE").

Usage

The displayTo() class method is equivalent to the DISPLAY TO instruction.

Use of this method is only recommended, if the name of the form field, the name of the screen record, and/or the display attributes are not known at compile-time. With regular (static) dialogs, the DISPLAY TO or DISPLAY BY NAME instructions should be used instead.

This method is typically used in the context of dynamic dialog programming.

The displayTo() method can be used to:
  • display a simple value to a form field,
  • display a complete RECORD to all fields of a SCREEN RECORD,
  • display a complete RECORD to all cells of a screen array line of a SCREEN RECORD.
Important: When using a RECORD as value parameter, do not use the .* notation. However, in the second parameter of the ui.Form.displayTo() method, the screen record must be specified with a .* notation.

When displaying a complete RECORD to a screen array, you must specify the screen line as third parameter. Otherwise, for simple form fields or flat screen records, the screen line is ignored.

To display a simple value to a form field: 
CALL ui.Form.displayTo("foo", "f1", NULL, NULL)
-- is the same as:
DISPLAY "foo" TO f1

Assuming that in the following code examples, the rec variable is defined as a RECORD, and the "sr" name is used in the definition of the SCREEN RECORD in the current form:

To display all elements of a complete RECORD to all fields grouped in a screen record: 
CALL ui.Form.displayTo(rec, "sr.*", NULL, NULL)
-- is the same as:
DISPLAY rec.* TO sr.*
To display a complete RECORD to a specific screen array line:
CALL ui.Form.displayTo(rec, "sr.*", 2, "REVERSE, RED")
-- is the same as:
DISPLAY rec.* TO sr[2].* ATTRIBUTES(REVERSE, RED)
When passing NULL for the attributes parameter, the displayTo() method will behave as DISPLAY TO without an ATTRIBUTE clause, and the default TTY attributes at dialog, form or window level will apply. If you want to display the value without any TTY attribute, specify the string "normal" in the attributes parameter: 
CALL ui.Form.displayTo("foo", "f1", NULL, "NORMAL")
-- is the same as:
DISPLAY "foo" TO f1 ATTRIBUTES(NORMAL)