Lesson 2 - Using Attributes
Steps for building a form:
1.  Design your form on paper.
2.  Enter text onto blank form (Lesson 1)
3.  Add input fields to form (Lesson 2)
 You are here  
4.  Add borders to your form (Lesson 3)
5.  Add special printer control functions (Lesson 4)
You should proceed through these lessons in order.  If you make any mistakes  
just reload the form and begin editing again.
What is an Attribute
An attribute defines how a character is seen on your monitor.  It defines 
the color and background (if you have a color monitor), or intensity,
inverse video, and underlining (if you have a monochrome monitor) of each 
character on your display.  It also controls blinking which is supported  
by both monitors.  Each character has its own attribute.
Note that the top line of your display has black text with a white
background.  Its attribute is different than the rest of the screen.
  Press PgDn
Attributes
The following line shows examples of text with different attributes:
xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx
Try moving the cursor across this line of "xx's".  On the top line, the
attribute for the cursor changes to reflect the character the cursor is
below.
Cursor: 24,  1 | 07 
row, col| attribute
There are 256 different possibilities, but some of these are invisible
in that the character will be the same color as the background and some
are not supported by the monochrome display adaptor.
To see some of the possible attributes available, press F2 to view the
'Special Characters, Attributes' menu, then press ESC to get back here.
  Press PgDn
Special Characters, Attributes Menu (F2)
This menu allows you to do two things:
 	o  Select any character in the IBM character set.  You can enter it  
on your form using F10.
 	o  Define a new attribute to use when entering text on your form.
This menu has three functions.  Switch functions by pressing ENTER:
 	o  Select special character (special character in big box will blink)
 	o  Select foreground character attribute
 	o  Select background character attribute
All selections are made using the cursor control keys.
Now try it out.  Press F2, followed by various ENTERs and cursor
arrow keys.  Then press ESC to return here.
  Press PgDn
Use Of Fields
Fields are normally used for data entry on a form.  FORM MASTER requires  
that text input fields be a different attribute so it knows where they
are.  You can have up to 500 input fields on your form but you are
limited to a maximum of four different attributes.  These attributes
must be specified on the editor pop-up menu so FORM MASTER knows what
they are.  To see the pop-up menu press ESC, then F3 to return.
Example:
The following 4 character field has an attribute of 70:
The following 3 character field has an attribute of 0F:  
Note the first field is blank filled and the second has "
  Press PgDn
Practice
Move the cursor to the '*' below, press F8, then press the space bar
4 times:
Now press Tab and type 'abcd'.  You have just defined an inverse field
filled with blanks and another one filled with 'abcd'.  The attribute is  
'70' (the current attribute is always changed to '70' when you press F8). 
If you place a '70' in one of the 'Input Field Attributes' fields on the  
editor pop-up menu, the above fields would become input fields.  The
first one is blank and the second one has a default value of 'abcd' which 
can be typed over when you're executing the form.
Important keys to remember:  F7 to switch to '07' (normal white on black  
background).  F8 to switch to '70' (inverse video - black on white).
F2 to define any attribute.  F9 to switch to any attribute.  The top
line will show what the current attribute is:
 +Current Attr: 70
Move to right side of this form and practice use of many different attributes.
  End of Lesson 2