What is formax?

formax is a “no-code” development framework for forms based applications. These applications can enter, query, update and delete data in any database which has an ODBC-driver. With no programming simply by assigning form fields to database tables and columns a working form can be build within 5 minutes without any coding.

The forms run within a terminal. They are full-screen, interactive and keyboard driven. Any terminal with a terminfo (ncurses) database is supported with usable function keys and color support.

The system is enterprise-ready. Security, reliability, cost and operational excellence are fully covered and the important properties for developers - performance and sustainability are on top with C++ and open source.

Terms

Term	Explanation
Application	forms that satisfy a business function
Base table	database table a block is based on
Base table field	field that corresponds to a column in the base table of the fields block
Block	logical collection of fields in a form corresponds to table in the database
Constant text	text that appears in a running form
Context	concept that you can use to determine what parts of a form you can access
Designer	application developer or programmer
Field	area on a page that can display data and accept user input
Form	collection of blocks, fields, triggers
Form database	sqlite-database containing the form
Multirecord block	block with more than one record
Object	group of data, such as a form, block, field or trigger
Operator	administrator of an application responsible for a stable, performant and secure runtime environment
Page	collection of display information
Pop-up window	overlays an area of the current display displays in response to user action
Record	data from one row in a database table
Scope	domain in which a trigger operates determined by the level (form, block, or field) of the trigger definition
Trigger	piece of logic executed at a form event
User	end-user of a formax application
Column	“vertical” group of cells in a database
Constraint	rule or restriction concerning a piece of data that is enforced at data level, rather than the application level
Database	collection of tables
Foreign key	column that refers to a primary key
Index	optional structure of a table that is used by the database software to locate rows quickly and optionally guarantee that every row is unique
Lock	restriction that assigns control of a resource to a user - can prevent other users from changing data meanwhile
Primary key	information used to identify a row
Row	“horizontal” group of cells in database
Table	basic unit of information in database 2 dimensional grid of rows and columns
Transaction	logical unit of work

Programs

formax contains the following programs, that you can execute independently from the command line:

makeform

is a shell script which can produce a form for a table with default functionality. The input parameters are just the table and column names - the output is a sql script (.inp). This script can create the form database (.frm). In practice the produced sql script represents the source code of the form. You edit the script to change the default behaviour or to add objects to the form. The form database is all you need to run the application.

editform

is another shell script. It offers a more convenient way to change a form by three steps. First it extracts the boilerplate from the main page and loads it into your preferred editor. Edit the form layout and the field positions and lengths with a WYSIWYG concept. The edited file is inserted back to the form. The next step is running a form to modify all the fields properties, which makes up a great portion of any form development work. Last the editor is called with the .inp file to make other fine adjustments before the .frm is recreated.

runform

is the heart of the system. This single executable runs forms (.frm) interactively on a terminal. It needs only two parameters to run - the form database file and the ODBC-DSN. It is run by the end-user typically wrapped into a shell script within his ssh startup command.

Objects

A formax application is made up of objects. These objects contain all the information that is needed for an application. They have a 1:1 relationship to the tables in the form-database and to the classes in the C++ source. In the source-code there is a separate class for every object for reading the form-database and for processing.

Form

The primary object of a formax application is the form. A form is made up of additional objects. These objects link the form to database elements, such as columns and tables, and provide control over the flow of execution.

Block

Describe each section or subsection of the form, and serve as the basis of default database interaction.

Field

Represent columns or data entry areas and describe how the data should be displayed and validated and how an operator should interact with the data while it is entered.

Page

Are collections of display information, such as constant text. All fields are displayed on some page.

Trigger

Are sets of processing commands associated with event points, such as when a particular function key is pressed by the operator.

Processing

When a form is executed runform follows a pre-defined set of rules for how actions should occur. These actions include navigation whithin the application and the validation of data. Within the processing rules, you can customize the default behaviour to meet the needs of your application.

Status and mode

On top of the screen runform displays a status line. The status line indicates the current form, block, field, record and mode. The current mode determines the action that will be processed with the current data (block, field, record) by using the keyboard. There are four main modes for the four main actions and the special Edit-mode for entering data.

Mode	Action
Insert-Mode	Create -> Enter new records/data
Query-Mode	Retrieve -> Search in database
Update-Mode	Update -> Display and change data
Delete-Mode	Delete -> Delete records/data
Edit-Mode	Edit data

Events and Functions

All processing centers around events. Put simply, events are things that occur when a form is exeecuted. runform knows about events and handles them by executing functions. Note that during processing, events are usually nested. That is, the occurence of one event usually invokes functions that invoke other events. Inherent in the functions that events invoke - and that are invoked by your tiggers - are the processes of navigation and validation.

Trigger Points

Every function that an event calls might have on or more trigger point associated with it. A trigger point is temporal place in an event with a specific trigger type is associated. Trigger points and triggers are your primary tools for modifying the way that formax handles, or processes, a particular event.

Navigation is an internal function that is invoked by specific events. runform perfoms navigation primarily to move the cursor from one location to another. The main concepts of navigation are the navigation unit and the cursor. The navigation unit is always the field.

Validation

Validation is an internal function that is invoked by specific events. Validation is the process by which runform determines whether the data in an object is valid or correct.

Trigger Processing

Events invoke functions, which have trigger points. When runform processes a trigger point, it executes, or fires, the associated trigger. Every trigger pont has a specific type of trigger associated with it.

Development

In version 1.x developing with formax is kind of a rudimentary task only supported by a simple script editform. Version 1 first attention applys to user experience and documentation. Anything beyond layout editing and field properties has to be done by editing the .inp file and needs knowledge from the source code or adapted experience from Oracle Forms jobs. Since 1.x can only handle one block, table and page this is not a big deal anyway. Follow the “Getting started” instruction in the README first to get the basic idea for development quickly.

Page layout

The editform script can extract the pages boilerplate (background) into your preferred editor. The placeholder for the fields are $nn___ with nn as the field number and the _s imply the display length of the field. A trailing . means the length is only 1 character (for binary 0/1 fields). The edited text file is incorporated into the form database after writing.

Field properties

After the layout editform brings up runform itself with a form for the forms fields. The effect of the properties is as follows:

Property	Effect for runform
Id	primary key - DO NOT CHANGE
form_id	form id = 1 - DO NOT CHANGE
blkn	block id = 1 - DO NOT CHANGE
pagn	page id = 1 - DO NOT CHANGE
name	name corresponds to column name of the table
Help	help text
Seq	sequence for user navigation
Line	line position in layout (*1)
Col	column position in layout (*1)
Dlen	display length in layout (*1)
Type	column type 0:ALL 1:CHAR 2:INT 3:FLOAT 4:DATE
Length	column length
Table	0=no database column 1=database column
Pkey	primary key - DO NOT CHANGE
Default	default value in Insert-Mode
Enter	allowed to edit in Insert-Mode
Query	allowed to edit in Query-Mode
Update	allowed to edit in Update-Mode
UpdateNul	allowed to edit in Update-Mode when NULL
Mandatory	not NULL in Insert-Mode
Uppercase	convert to uppercase
Low	minimum value
High	maximum value
Pattern	regular expression (pcre)
ListOfVal	title

(*1) This property is adjusted by the editform script upon the field placeholders from the boilerplate text file.

.inp file edit

At the end editform brings up the editor with the .inp file loaded. Look into the source code and into the table schemas for informations to alter the forms behaviour.