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(Required) The Form Name property is the .01 field of the FORM (#.403) file. Form Names should be namespaced.
The Title property can be used by the form designer to help identify a form. It is cross-referenced and need not be unique. ScreenMan does not automatically display the Title to the user, but the form designer can choose to create a caption-only field that displays the Title to the user.
The Pre Action property is M code that is executed when the form is first invoked; before any of the pages are loaded and displayed.
The Post Action property is M code that is executed before ScreenMan returns to the calling application.
The Data Validation property is M code that is executed when the user attempts to save changes to the form. If the code sets DDSERROR, the user is unable to save changes. If the code sets DDSBR, the user is taken to the specified field.
In addition to the $$GET^DDSVAL, PUT^DDSVAL, $$GET^DDSVALF, PUT^DDSVALF, and HLP^DDSUTL APIs, you can use the MSG^DDSUTL API to print on a separate screen messages to the user about the validity of the data.
The Post Save property is M code that is executed when the user saves changes. It is executed only if all data is valid, and after all data has been filed.
If you define a Record Selection Page property, the user can select another entry in the file, and, if LAYGO is allowed, add another entry into the file without exiting the form. The Record Selection Page should be a popup page, and the first field on that page is a POINTER-type Form-only field. The file specified in the Qualifiers property of the Form-only field should be the Primary file of the form. The Record Selection Page property should be set equal to the Page Number of the Record Selection Page.
The user can open the Record Selection Page by pressing <PF1>L. After the user selects a record and closes the Record Selection Page, the data for the selected record is displayed.
22.2 The ScreenMan Record Selection Page can now be a full ScreenMan page using a COMPUTED Multiple POINTER, so that the user can select an entry by scrolling up or down. This new feature lets forms contain embedded lookups.
You can set this up automatically, at the time you are creating a form, answering Yes at the following prompt:
Do you want your form to begin with a display of
all entries, for selection?
The initial position can be set to be the user's last selection, rather than first, last, or new.
Reviewed/Updated: May 2026