PERFORM FORMS: non-table input field help

Can anyone tell me how to implement a non-table input field on a form? I know from reading both the Informix Guide to SQL: Syntax and the SQL User Guide that it has something to do with using a "displayonly" field with the "allowing input" optional keywords. But I can't find a good example in the documentation that actually does this. Has anyone done this before with PERFORM? I know how to do such things with Informix 4gl and form4gl but my client hasn't purchased that product and I'd like to know if I can do this without it. Thanks. Mike Mabin Minneapolis -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

mabin001@tc.umn.edu wrote: > Can anyone tell me how to implement a non-table input field on a > form? I know from reading both the Informix Guide to SQL: Syntax > and the SQL User Guide that it has something to do with using a > "displayonly" field with the "allowing input" optional keywords. > But I can't find a good example in the documentation that actually > does this. Has anyone done this before with PERFORM? I know how > to do such things with Informix 4gl and form4gl but my client hasn't > purchased that product and I'd like to know if I can do this > without it. Maybe you need the book - Using Informix-SQL - by yours truly. The biggest problem is deciding what you're going to do with the value once it is entered. You might copy it, or a value calculated from it, to another (probably NOENTRY) field for the table you are really working with, but that is difficult to do since you have to make the 'displaytable' into the current table to do the entry into the displayonly field. So, normally, it is used with a custom runner where most or all of the input is done via the displaytable and the actual SQL processing is done with custom C (or, in this case, ESQL/C) code built into a custom runner. You'll need a sufficiently current version of the documentation and a compatible ESQL/C compiler to be able to create a custom Perform runner. Actually, my book doesn't cover custom ACE or Perform - probably the biggest oversight. On average, it is probably as easy (and as cheap!) to buy I4GL as it is to spend the time getting this up and running. -- Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@informix.com, jleffler@earthlink.net) Guardian of DBD::Informix v0.60 -- see http://www.perl.com/CPAN #include <disclaimer.h>