Documentation Conventions
This manual uses several methods to highlight different aspects of
the material.
Various symbols are used throughout the documentation to alert the
reader to special information:
- NOTE / REF: Used to inform the reader of general
information including references to additional reading material.
- CAUTION / RECOMMENDATION / DISCLAIMER: Used to caution
the reader to take special notice of critical information.
Descriptive text is presented in a proportional font (as represented
by this font).
Conventions for displaying TEST data in this manual are as
follows:
- The first three digits (prefix) of any Social Security Numbers
(SSN) begin with either "000" or "666".
- Patient and user names are formatted as
<Application Name/Abbreviation/Namespace>PATIENT,<N>
and
<Application Name/Abbreviation/Namespace>USER,<N>,
where <N> is the first name as a number spelled out and incremented with
each new entry. For example, in VA FileMan (FM) test patient and user names
would be FMPATIENT,ONE; FMPATIENT,TWO; FMPATIENT,THREE; …
FMPATIENT,14; etc.
"Snapshots" of computer online displays (i.e., screen
captures/dialogs) and computer source code are shown in a non-proportional font
and enclosed within a box. In order to distinguish computer-supplied prompts
from user responses, responses are in bold type:
COMPUTER'S PROMPT: USER'S RESPONSE <Enter>
References to "<Enter>" within these snapshots
indicate that the user should press the Enter key on the keyboard. Other
special keys are sometimes represented within < > angle brackets. For
example, pressing the PF1 key can be represented as <PF1>.
This manual refers in many places to the MUMPS (M) programming
language. Under the 1995 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard,
M is the primary name of the MUMPS programming language, and MUMPS is
considered an alternate name. This manual uses the name M.
Descriptions of direct mode utilities are prefaced with the standard
M ">" prompt to emphasize that the call is to be used only in
direct mode. They also include the M command used to invoke the utility:
>D P^DI
The following conventions are used with regards to APIs:
- Headings for developer API descriptions (e.g., supported for
use in applications and on the Database Integration Committee [DBIC] list)
include the routine tag (if any), the caret (^) used when calling the routine,
and the routine name. For example: EN^DIB.
- For APIs that take input parameters, each input parameter is
labeled "required" when it is a required input parameter and
labeled "optional" when it is an optional input parameter.
- For APIs that take parameters, parameters are shown in
lowercase and variables are shown in uppercase. This is to convey that the
parameter name is merely a placeholder; M allows you to pass a variable of any
name as the parameter or even a string literal (if the parameter is not being
passed by reference). For example:
HELP^DIE(file,iens,field,flags,msg_root)
- Rectangular brackets [ ] around a parameter indicate that
passing the parameter is optional. Rectangular brackets around a leading period
[.] in front of a parameter indicate that you can optionally pass that
parameter by reference.
- All APIs are categorized by function. APIs within a category
are first sorted alphabetically by Routine name and then within routine name
are sorted alphabetically by Tag reference. The $$, ^, or ^% prefixes on APIs
are ignored when alphabetizing.
All uppercase is reserved for the representation of M code, variable
names, or the formal name of options, field/file names, and security keys
(e.g., DIEXTRACT).
Reviewed/Updated: May 2026