OUTPUT FORM

version 2004 (Modified)

OUTPUT FORM ({table; }form{; userForm})

The OUTPUT FORM command sets the current output form for table to form or userForm. The form must belong to table.

The scope of this command is the current process. Each table has its own output form in each process.

OUTPUT FORM does not display the form; it just designates which form is printed, displayed, or used by another command. For information about creating forms, see the 4th Dimension Design Reference.

The default output form is defined in the Design environment Explorer window for each table. This default output form is used if the OUTPUT FORM command is not used to specify an output form, or if you specify a form that does not exist.

The optional userForm parameter lets you specify a user form (coming from form) as the default output form. If you pass a valid user form name, this form will be used by default instead of the output form in the current process. This allows you to have several different custom user forms simultaneously (generated using the CREATE USER FORM command) and to use the one that suits according to the context.

For more information about user forms, refer to the Overview of user forms section.

Output forms are used by three groups of commands. One group displays a list of records on screen, another group generates reports, and the third group exports data. The DISPLAY SELECTION and MODIFY SELECTION commands display a list of records using an output form. You use the output form when creating reports with the PRINT LABEL and PRINT SELECTION commands. Each of the export commands (EXPORT DIF, EXPORT SYLK and EXPORT TEXT) also uses the output form.

The following example shows a typical use of OUTPUT FORM. Note that although the OUTPUT FORM command appears immediately before the output form is used, this is not required. In fact, the command may be executed in a completely different method, as long as it is executed prior to this method:

   INPUT FORM ([Parts]; "Parts In")  ` Select the input form 
   OUTPUT FORM ([Parts]; "Parts List")  ` Select the output form 
   MODIFY SELECTION ([Parts])  ` This command uses both forms 

CREATE USER FORM, DISPLAY SELECTION, EXPORT DIF, EXPORT SYLK, EXPORT TEXT, INPUT FORM, MODIFY SELECTION, PRINT LABEL, PRINT SELECTION.