is it possible to do this with .per

I would do this with an "input array" statement instead in order to get use of the "before row" and "after row" clauses that don't, unfortunately, exist in the "display array" command. I would set up a dummy one character field down the left hand side of the form so the user can arrow thru the records in the array. The other three fields will have "noentry" indicated in the attribute section of the form. As the user leaves a row, call the "before row" function. The logic could be as follows: before getting to the next row clear the itemdesc field on the form call the arr_curr function to get the record number of the current record select the itemdesc value from the table display itemdesc in the itemdesc field on the form If you needed to stay with the "display array" statement you might want to try using the "on key" clause to trigger the selection of the itemdesc data. If you use "on key (control-m)" every time the user presses the [ENTER] key you could have Informix go and get the itemdesc data for the current record and display it (similar to the structure above except use the "on key (control -m)" command instead of "before row" The trouble with this method is that if the users use the arrow keys to move thru the array the "on key" clause will not get called. In both methods the itemdesc field is not included in the array variable or screen record. Eric M. Gordon SST Computer Systems, Inc.