Configuring group field properties

Both groups and masks serve as templates for defining the data fields in a record layout. A mask defines only a single data field. A group defines many related fields.

A group is a set of logically related data fields. It is used to define a multiple field format in multiple places, such as full addresses or insurance data.

After defining a group, you can use it as a template for declaring groups of data fields in the record layout.

  1. Select Define > Define Groups and specify a group name.
  2. Select New Field from the toolbar and specify the field name.
  3. For Fill Char, click the arrow to select the fill, or pad, character to use when creating or parsing the data in this field.
    The field justification determines which end of the data is padded with the fill character.
  4. For Width, specify the total width of the field. If left blank, then field width is automatically calculated from the total width of the subfields when Auto-Recalc is enabled on the Control menu. For special requirements, such as pad characters, specify a total field width that is greater or smaller than the sum of the subfield widths.
  5. For Relative Start, specify the number of spaces to add before the data in this field.
  6. Click Recalculate Field Width to recalculate the field width from its subfields.
  7. For Justification, select Left Justify or Right Justify justification for the field.
    The parser strips all padding characters on the non-justified side. For example, a field is right-justified and "0" is the padding character. The field before parsing is "00123" and the field after parsing is "123."
  8. Select the validation:
    • Validate at Fetch. Click to validate the field whenever this record layout is retrieved or used for an input or output operation. With this selected, messages with an invalid field are parsed, but a warning is given.
    • Validate at Parse. Click to validate the field when the data is parsed. This option forces validation even when the field is not used. With this selected, messages with an invalid field fail when parsed.
  9. Select a field type:
    • Select Normal to define the field format by the current field entries, instead of a mask or group. This is the default setting.
    • Select Mask to define the current field with a mask. Click the arrow to open a menu listing available masks.