Running the Form

Before we get too engrossed in all the Object Navigator and canvas details, let's run the form and see what the wizard gave us. No matter which screen you see ” Object Navigator or the canvas ”select Program Run Form Client/Server :

Because the wizard built this form, you should not get any compile errors. Instead you should see the runtime screen, which is the real, active form, ready for action:

Using the icons or menu picks ( File , Edit , and so forth) at the top of the screen, let's create our first author, using the brand-new AUTHORS table. Notice that the screen defaults to "Waiver Administration" for the Author field, which came from the way you built the table. (That was the default value, remember?)

Enter "123456789" for the ID and "Test Guerrilla Author" for the name , and then click on the black diskette icon or select File Save to save your entries, and you will see the message "Record: xx/yy" in the lower left-hand corner. (These numbers show how many records are currently in the table, and which record you're working on. If you've been practicing, you probably have already loaded several records into the table.)

You have successfully entered your first data! Now enter two more test authors: Guerrilla Test Author2 and Author3.

Now carefully exit, and then run the program again.

Note

Here's a quick navigation lesson. Once you're back in the form, if you use the blue arrows, you will not see your records. You have to run a query first. Just select Query Execute , and the blue arrows will let you scroll through the records. Got it? The form defaults to Add or Insert , and if you want to look at what's already in the table, you have to change modes to Query .

If you have inserted or deleted data, or made any changes, and you have not saved those changes, Forms will ask you whether you want to save the changes when you exit:

Because at this point it is hard to remember all that you have done, I strongly recommend that you save each record as you process it.