INTOUCH^® 4GL
A Guide to the INTOUCH Language

Table of Contents (summary)

• Chapter 1 Working in the INTOUCH Environment
• Chapter 2 INTOUCH Commands
• Chapter 3 Program Elements and Data in INTOUCH
• Chapter 4 Writing and Debugging INTOUCH Programs
• Chapter 5 Inputting and Storing Terminal Data
• Chapter 6 Printing and Displaying Data
• Chapter 7 Program Directives
• Chapter 8 Assigning Variables
• Chapter 9 Set and Ask Statements
• Chapter 10 Defining Arrays
• Chapter 11 Loops, Conditionals, Chaining and Branching
• Chapter 12 Exception Handling
• Chapter 13 Calling Routines Written In Other Languages
• Chapter 14 Data Structure Statements
• Chapter 15 File Handling
• Chapter 16 Creating Structures, Field Definitions with SETUP
• Chapter 17 INTOUCH Running Under VMS
• Appendix A Built-in Functions
• Appendix B Reserved Words
• Appendix C INTOUCH's Error and Exception Messages
• Appendix D ASCII Character Set
• Appendix E Creating Libraries for Use with INTOUCH
• Appendix F INTOUCH Database Interfaces
• Index
• Figures
• Examples
• Tables

Table of Contents

• ---

  Chapter 1 Working in the INTOUCH Environment
  • 1.1 Getting Started
  • 1.2 Accessing the VMS System Utilities
  • 1.3 Recalling Previous Commands
  • 1.4 Getting Help when in INTOUCH
  • 1.5 Using INTOUCH--Some Examples
    • 1.5.1 Writing an INTOUCH program
    • 1.5.2 Running an INTOUCH program
    • 1.5.3 Interrupting and Changing an INTOUCH program
  • 1.6 Using EXIT and Back
  • 1.7 Messages in INTOUCH
  • 1.8 Using the Tab Key Features
    • 1.8.1 Tab Key Indenting
    • 1.8.2 Command Completion
    • 1.8.3 Spelling Correction
    • 1.8.4 Expanding Abbreviations
  • 1.9 Other INTOUCH Features

• ---

  Chapter 2 INTOUCH Commands
  • 2.1 Presentation of Command and Statement Information
  • 2.2 About INTOUCH Commands
  • 2.3 INTOUCH Commands
    • 2.3.1 NEW
    • 2.3.2 SAVE
    • 2.3.3 REPLACE
    • 2.3.4 ABORT
    • 2.3.5 RUN and RNH
    • 2.3.6 OLD
    • 2.3.7 LIST
    • 2.3.8 LIST ERROR
    • 2.3.9 EDIT
    • 2.3.10 RENUMBER
    • 2.3.11 FRAME ON | OFF
    • 2.3.12 REFRESH
    • 2.3.13 IDE
    • 2.3.14 COMPILE
      • 2.3.14.1 Compiled Images
      • 2.3.14.2 Running Compiled Images
    • 2.3.15 Developing INTOUCH Programs
    • 2.3.16 GO
    • 2.3.17 UNSAVE

• ---

  Chapter 3 Program Elements and Data in INTOUCH
  • 3.1 INTOUCH Program Elements
    • 3.1.1 Continuing Program Lines
    • 3.1.2 Labels
    • 3.1.3 Storing INTOUCH Programs
  • 3.2 Data in INTOUCH
    • 3.2.1 Data Types
      • 3.2.1.1 Integers
      • 3.2.1.2 Real Numbers
      • 3.2.1.3 String Data
    • 3.2.2 BOOLEAN
    • 3.2.3 Expressions
    • 3.2.4 Constants
      • 3.2.4.1 Numeric constants
      • 3.2.4.2 E Notation
      • 3.2.4.3 String Constants
    • 3.2.5 Variables
      • 3.2.5.1 Arrays
      • 3.2.5.2 Substrings
    • 3.2.6 Structure References
    • 3.2.7 Multiple Occurrence Fields
    • 3.2.8 Compound Expressions
      • 3.2.8.1 Numeric Expressions
      • 3.2.8.2 String Expressions
      • 3.2.8.3 Conditional Expressions
    • 3.2.9 Order of Evaluation

• ---

  Chapter 4 Writing and Debugging INTOUCH Programs
  • 4.1 Comments
    • 4.1.1 REM
    • 4.1.2 ! comment_text
    • 4.1.3 ~ Used to Border Part of a Program
  • 4.2 PROGRAM, END, STOP and HALT Statements
    • 4.2.1 PROGRAM
    • 4.2.2 END
    • 4.2.3 STOP
    • 4.2.4 HALT
    • 4.2.5 RANDOMIZE
  • 4.3 Debug Facilities
  • 4.4 DEBUG ON/OFF
    • 4.4.1 DEBUG ON
    • 4.4.2 DEBUG OFF
  • 4.5 Monitoring Program Execution
  • 4.6 The TRACE and STATISTICS Features
    • 4.6.1 TRACE ON
    • 4.6.2 TRACE OFF
    • 4.6.3 STATS ON
    • 4.6.4 STATS OFF
    • 4.6.5 LIST STATS
  • 4.7 BREAK and STEP
    • 4.7.1 BREAK
    • 4.7.2 STEP
  • 4.8 GO--Continuing Program Execution
    • 4.8.1 GO

• ---

  Chapter 5 Inputting and Storing Terminal Data
  • 5.1 INPUT Statement
    • 5.1.1 Types of INPUT Statements
    • 5.1.2 INPUT Styles
  • 5.2 INPUT Options
  • 5.3 INPUT Commands and Keystrokes Available to the User
    • 5.3.1 Editing Input
  • 5.4 Inputting Strings
  • 5.5 Inputting Multiple Variables
    • 5.5.1 Simple Input Statement
    • 5.5.2 LINE INPUT Statement
  • 5.6 INPUT Default Prompt and Text
  • 5.7 PROMPT Option
  • 5.8 AT Option
  • 5.9 ATTRIBUTES Option
  • 5.10 LENGTH Option
  • 5.11 DEFAULT Option
    • 5.11.1 Pre-positioning to a DEFAULT Menu Item
  • 5.12 ERASE Option
  • 5.13 VALID Option
  • 5.14 TIMEOUT Option
  • 5.15 AREA Option
  • 5.16 SCREEN Option
    • 5.16.1 Screen Format Characters
    • 5.16.2 Screen Format Options
    • 5.16.3 The User's Response to the SCREEN Option
  • 5.17 MENU Option
    • 5.17.1 Items
      • 5.17.1.1 Descriptions
      • 5.17.1.2 Data Value
    • 5.17.2 Submenu Indicator
    • 5.17.3 Menu DIRECTIVES:
    • 5.17.4 User Interface
  • 5.18 KEY INPUT

• ---

  Chapter 6 Printing and Displaying Data
  • 6.1 PRINT
    • 6.1.1 Printing Multiple Expressions
    • 6.1.2 TAB Function
    • 6.1.3 AT Option
    • 6.1.4 ERASE Option
    • 6.1.5 WIDE Option
    • 6.1.6 Printing Numbers
    • 6.1.7 Positioning the Cursor for the Next Print Statement
    • 6.1.8 Printing Attributes--Highlighting Options
    • 6.1.9 USING Option
    • 6.1.10 Fields
      • 6.1.10.1 String Format Characters
      • 6.1.10.2 Numeric Format Characters
    • 6.1.11 Directives
      • 6.1.11.1 {UCASE}?
      • 6.1.11.2 {LCASE}?
      • 6.1.11.3 {HYPHEN}
      • 6.1.11.4 {DATE [argument]}?
      • 6.1.11.5 {ROTATE n}?
      • 6.1.11.6 {TIME}?
      • 6.1.11.7 {ZIPCODE}?
  • 6.2 Using the INTOUCH Screen
  • 6.3 MESSAGE
  • 6.4 DELAY
  • 6.5 CLEAR
  • 6.6 OPTION COMMUNICATE ON | OFF

• ---

  Chapter 7 Program Directives
  • 7.1 Compile Directives
    • 7.1.1 %MESSAGE
    • 7.1.2 %MESSAGE ERROR
    • 7.1.3 %INCLUDE
    • 7.1.4 %INCLUDE CONDITIONAL
    • 7.1.5 %DEBUG

• ---

  Chapter 8 Assigning Variables
  • 8.1 DECLARE
    • 8.1.1 DECLARE STRUCTURE
    • 8.1.2 DECLARE PREFIX
  • 8.2 OPTION Statements
    • 8.2.1 OPTION REQUIRE DECLARE
    • 8.2.2 OPTION BASE
  • 8.3 LET
  • 8.4 LSET, RSET and CSET
    • 8.4.1 LSET
    • 8.4.2 RSET
    • 8.4.3 CSET
  • 8.5 LSET, RSET, CSET FILL
  • 8.6 DATA, READ, RESTORE Statements
    • 8.6.1 READ
    • 8.6.2 RESTORE

• ---

  Chapter 9 Set and Ask Statements
  • 9.1 SET AUTOEXIT
  • 9.2 SET BACK ON | OFF
    • 9.2.1 SET BACK ON
    • 9.2.2 SET BACK OFF
  • 9.3 SET ERROR ON | OFF
    • 9.3.1 SET ERROR ON
    • 9.3.2 SET ERROR OFF
  • 9.4 ASK ERRORS
  • 9.5 SET EXIT ON | OFF
    • 9.5.1 SET EXIT ON
    • 9.5.2 SET EXIT OFF
  • 9.6 SET HELP ON | OFF
    • 9.6.1 SET HELP ON
    • 9.6.2 SET HELP OFF
  • 9.7 ASK KEYSTROKES
  • 9.8 ASK | SET MARGIN
    • 9.8.1 ASK MARGIN
    • 9.8.2 SET MARGIN
  • 9.9 ASK | SET MESSAGELINE
    • 9.9.1 ASK MESSAGELINE
    • 9.9.2 SET MESSAGELINE
  • 9.10 ASK PAGESIZE
  • 9.11 SET PORT ON | OFF
    • 9.11.1 SET PORT ON
    • 9.11.2 SET PORT OFF
  • 9.12 ASK RESPONSES
  • 9.13 SET SCROLL
  • 9.14 ASK | SET SEED
  • 9.15 ASK | SET SYSTEM
    • 9.15.1 ASK SYSTEM: COMMENT
    • 9.15.2 SET SYSTEM: COMMENT
    • 9.15.3 ASK SYSTEM: DIRECTORY
    • 9.15.4 SET SYSTEM: DIRECTORY
    • 9.15.5 ASK SYSTEM, LOGICAL: VALUE
    • 9.15.6 SET SYSTEM, LOGICAL: VALUE
    • 9.15.7 ASK SYSTEM: MODE
    • 9.15.8 ASK SYSTEM: PARAMETER
    • 9.15.9 ASK SYSTEM, PASS: SUCCESS
    • 9.15.10 ASK SYSTEM: PROCESS
    • 9.15.11 SET SYSTEM: PROCESS
    • 9.15.12 ASK SYSTEM: RIGHTS
    • 9.15.13 ASK SYSTEM, SYMBOL: VALUE
    • 9.15.14 SET SYSTEM, SYMBOL: VALUE
    • 9.15.15 ASK SYSTEM: USER
  • 9.16 ASK | SET WINDOW
    • 9.16.1 ASK WINDOW AREA
    • 9.16.2 SET WINDOW AREA
    • 9.16.3 ASK WINDOW: COLUMN
    • 9.16.4 SET WINDOW: COLUMN
    • 9.16.5 ASK | SET WINDOW: CURRENT
    • 9.16.6 ASK WINDOW: DATA
    • 9.16.7 SET WINDOW: DATA
    • 9.16.8 ASK | SET WINDOW: KEYMAP
    • 9.16.9 SET WINDOW KEYSTROKE: VALUE
    • 9.16.10 ASK WINDOW: ROW
    • 9.16.11 SET WINDOW: ROW
    • 9.16.12 ASK WINDOW: TYPEAHEAD
    • 9.16.13 SET WINDOW: TYPEAHEAD
  • 9.17 ASK | SET ZONEWIDTH
    • 9.17.1 ASK ZONEWIDTH
    • 9.17.2 SET ZONEWIDTH

• ---

  Chapter 10 Defining Arrays
  • 10.1 Dimensioning Arrays
    • 10.1.1 DIM
    • 10.1.2 REDIM
    • 10.1.3 OPTION BASE

• ---

  Chapter 11 Loops, Conditionals, Chaining and Branching
  • 11.1 FOR/NEXT Loop
    • 11.1.1 The STEP Option
    • 11.1.2 Nesting Loops
    • 11.1.3 EXIT FOR
    • 11.1.4 REPEAT FOR
    • 11.1.5 ITERATE FOR
  • 11.2 DO LOOP
    • 11.2.1 WHILE and UNTIL Options
    • 11.2.2 EXIT DO
    • 11.2.3 REPEAT DO
    • 11.2.4 ITERATE DO
  • 11.3 EXECUTE
  • 11.4 Conditionals
  • 11.5 IF/THEN ... END IF
    • 11.5.1 ELSE Option
    • 11.5.2 ELSEIF Option
  • 11.6 SELECT CASE/END SELECT
    • 11.6.1 CASE expr, expr, expr...
    • 11.6.2 CASE ELSE Option
    • 11.6.3 CASE IS Option
  • 11.7 CHAIN Programs
  • 11.8 Pass Commands to the Operating System
    • 11.8.1 PASS [NOWAIT: | NORETURN:]
  • 11.9 Branching
    • 11.9.1 Branching and Code Blocks
  • 11.10 GOTO
    • 11.10.1 ON...GOTO...[ELSE]
      • 11.10.1.1 ELSE Option
  • 11.11 GOSUB/RETURN
    • 11.11.1 GOSUB
    • 11.11.2 ON...GOSUB
      • 11.11.2.1 ELSE Option
  • 11.12 DISPATCH
  • 11.13 ROUTINE/END ROUTINE
    • 11.13.1 EXIT ROUTINE
    • 11.13.2 REPEAT ROUTINE

• ---

  Chapter 12 Exception Handling
  • 12.1 CAUSE EXCEPTION
  • 12.2 WHEN EXCEPTION IN
  • 12.3 WHEN EXCEPTION USE
  • 12.4 HANDLER Routine Actions
    • 12.4.1 RETRY
    • 12.4.2 CONTINUE
    • 12.4.3 RESUME
    • 12.4.4 EXIT HANDLER

• ---

  Chapter 13 Calling Routines Written In Other Languages
  • 13.1 LIBRARY
  • 13.2 CALL
    • 13.2.1 Optional Arguments
    • 13.2.2 Passing Mechanisms

• ---

  Chapter 14 Data Structure Statements
  • 14.1 General Information
  • 14.2 OPEN STRUCTURE
    • 14.2.1 ACCESS Option
    • 14.2.2 LOCK Option
    • 14.2.3 DATAFILE Option
  • 14.3 CLOSE STRUCTURE struc_name
  • 14.4 ADD STRUCTURE
    • 14.4.1 CANCEL ADD
    • 14.4.2 EXIT ADD
  • 14.5 DELETE STRUCTURE
  • 14.6 LOCK | UNLOCK STRUCTURE
  • 14.7 EXTRACT STRUCTURE
    • 14.7.1 INCLUDE Statement
    • 14.7.2 EXCLUDE Statement
    • 14.7.3 SORT Statement
    • 14.7.4 FOR EACH/NEXT
    • 14.7.5 EXTRACT STRUCTURE: KEY
    • 14.7.6 EXTRACT STRUCTURE, FIELD: PARTIAL KEY
    • 14.7.7 CANCEL EXTRACT
    • 14.7.8 EXIT EXTRACT
    • 14.7.9 REEXTRACT STRUCTURE
    • 14.7.10 EXTRACT STRUCTURE: APPEND
    • 14.7.11 EXTRACT STRUCTURE, SET, USING
    • 14.7.12 EXTRACT STRUCTURE, SET, FIELD: KEY
  • 14.8 ASK STRUCTURE
    • 14.8.1 ASK STRUCTURE FIELD: item
      • 14.8.1.1 FIELD Expressions
      • 14.8.1.2 Item: ACCESS
      • 14.8.1.3 Item: APPLICATION
      • 14.8.1.4 Item: ATTRIBUTES
      • 14.8.1.5 Item: CHANGEABLE
      • 14.8.1.6 Item: CLASSIFICATION
      • 14.8.1.7 Item: DATATYPE
      • 14.8.1.8 Item: DESCRIPTION
      • 14.8.1.9 Item: HEADING
      • 14.8.1.10 Item: HELP
      • 14.8.1.11 Item: KEYED
      • 14.8.1.12 Item: LENGTH
      • 14.8.1.13 Item: NAME
      • 14.8.1.14 Item: NULL
      • 14.8.1.15 Item: NUMBER
      • 14.8.1.16 Item: OPTIMIZED
      • 14.8.1.17 Item: POSITION
      • 14.8.1.18 Item: PRINTMASK
      • 14.8.1.19 Item: PROMPT
      • 14.8.1.20 Item: SCREENMASK
      • 14.8.1.21 Item: VRULES
    • 14.8.2 ASK STRUCTURE: CURRENT
    • 14.8.3 ASK STRUCTURE: FIELDS
    • 14.8.4 ASK STRUCTURE: KEYS
    • 14.8.5 ASK STRUCTURE: CAPABILITY
    • 14.8.6 ASK STRUCTURE: EXTRACTED
    • 14.8.7 ASK STRUCTURE: ID
    • 14.8.8 ASK STRUCTURE: POINTER
    • 14.8.9 ASK STRUCTURE: RECORD
    • 14.8.10 ASK STRUCTURE: RECORDSIZE
    • 14.8.11 ASK STRUCTURE: ACCESS
    • 14.8.12 ASK |SET STRUCTURE: TIMEOUT
    • 14.8.13 ASK | SET STRUCTURE #string_expr . . .
    • 14.8.14 ASK STRUCTURE: ENGINE
  • 14.9 SET STRUCTURE
    • 14.9.1 SET STRUCTURE: CURRENT
    • 14.9.2 SET STRUCTURE, FIELD: KEY
    • 14.9.3 SET STRUCTURE, FIELD: PARTIAL KEY
    • 14.9.4 SET STRUCTURE: ID
    • 14.9.5 SET STRUCTURE: POINTER
    • 14.9.6 SET STRUCTURE: RECORD
    • 14.9.7 SET STRUCTURE: EXTRACTED 0
    • 14.9.8 SET STRUCTURE, SET, USING: EXPRESSION 'owner'
    • 14.9.9 SET STRUCTURE, SET: EXPRESSION 'owner'
    • 14.9.10 SET STRUCTURE, SET, USING, FIELD: KEY
    • 14.9.11 SET STRUCTURE, SET, USING

• ---

  Chapter 15 File Handling
  • 15.1 OPEN #chnl_num: NAME ...
    • 15.1.1 OPEN Options
      • 15.1.1.1 ACCESS Option
      • 15.1.1.2 UNFORMATTED Option
      • 15.1.1.3 OPTIMIZE OFF Option
      • 15.1.1.4 UNIQUE Option
  • 15.2 CLOSE #chnl_num
  • 15.3 PRINT #chnl_num
  • 15.4 INPUT #chnl_num: var, var...
    • 15.4.1 Inputting Multiple Variables
  • 15.5 LINE INPUT #chnl_num: str_var, str_var...
    • 15.5.1 EOF Option
    • 15.5.2 Multiple Variables
  • 15.6 ASK #chnl_num:
    • 15.6.1 ASK Options
  • 15.7 SET #chnl_num: expr
    • 15.7.1 SET #chnl_num: Options
  • 15.8 Deleting Files
    • 15.8.1 KILL

• ---

  Chapter 16 Creating Structures, Field Definitions with SETUP
  • 16.1 SETUP--Overview
    • 16.1.1 Entering SETUP
  • 16.2 SETUP Prompts
    • 16.2.1 Structure Name
    • 16.2.2 Database engine
    • 16.2.3 Dataset
    • 16.2.4 Data dictionary
  • 16.3 SETUP Procedures
  • 16.4 DEFINE Procedure
    • 16.4.1 Field name
    • 16.4.2 Classification
    • 16.4.3 Description
    • 16.4.4 Data type
    • 16.4.5 First position
    • 16.4.6 Field length
    • 16.4.7 Number of occurrences
    • 16.4.8 Semantics
    • 16.4.9 Prompt text
    • 16.4.10 Report heading
    • 16.4.11 Print mask
    • 16.4.12 Screen mask
    • 16.4.13 Help text
    • 16.4.14 Access rules
    • 16.4.15 Validation rules
    • 16.4.16 Field Definitions and Key Fields --- General Information
  • 16.5 SHOW Procedure
    • 16.5.1 Brief Field Display
    • 16.5.2 Full Field Display
    • 16.5.3 List Fields Display
    • 16.5.4 Structure Display
  • 16.6 MODIFY STRUCTURE Procedure
    • 16.6.1 Modify Structure General Information
    • 16.6.2 Modify Structure Security Information
  • 16.7 CREATE Procedure
  • 16.8 Defining COBOL Record Fields
    • 16.8.1 Define Example

• ---

  Chapter 17 INTOUCH Running Under VMS
  • 17.1 File Specifications

• ---

  Appendix A Built-in Functions
  • A.1 System Functions
  • A.2 Other Functions

• ---

  Appendix B Reserved Words

• ---

  Appendix C INTOUCH's Error and Exception Messages
  • C.1 Compile Errors
  • C.2 Exceptions

• ---

  Appendix D ASCII Character Set

• ---

  Appendix E Creating Libraries for Use with INTOUCH

• ---

  Appendix F INTOUCH Database Interfaces
  • F.1 Supported Database Engines

• ---

  Index

• ---

  Examples
  • 1-1 The INTOUCH Screen Frame
  • 1-2 Running a VMS System Utility Program
  • 1-3 The INTOUCH HELP Facility
  • 1-4 Writing a Sample Program
  • 1-5 INTOUCH Program Error Message
  • 1-6 Running an INTOUCH Program
  • 1-7 Interrupting an INTOUCH Program
  • 1-8 Listing Program Lines
  • 1-9 Resuming INTOUCH Program Execution
  • 3-1 Executing an INTOUCH program
  • 3-2 Structures
  • 4-1 Debug TRACE ON Example
  • 4-2 Listing Statistics in DEBUG System
  • 4-3 Using BREAK in DEBUG System
  • 4-4 Using STEP in DEBUG System
  • 4-5 Using GO in DEBUG System
  • 16-1 To Use SETUP
  • 16-2 SETUP Prompts
  • 16-3 SETUP Procedures
  • 16-4 Field Definition Input Screen
  • 16-5 DEFINE Screen showing field class generated defaults
  • 16-6 DEFINE Screen showing SETUP generated defaults
  • 16-7 SHOW - Brief Field Display Example
  • 16-8 SHOW - Full Field Display Example
  • 16-9 SHOW - Fields List Display Example
  • 16-10 SHOW - Structure Display Example
  • 16-11 CREATE Procedure RMS Input Screen

• ---

  Figures
  • 16-1 Character Positions

• ---

  Tables
  • 3-1 E Notation
  • 9-1 Supported Keystroke Concepts
  • 14-1 Structure Types
  • A-1 CONVERT$ Function - Supported Data Types
  • A-2 DATE$ Function - Integer Values
  • A-3 DAYS Function - Integer Values
  • A-4 EDIT$ Function - Operation Values
  • A-5 FORMAT$ Function - Date Arguments
  • A-6 FULLTIME$ Function - Integer Values
  • D-1 ASCII Character Set