Program Flow Diagram

The Program Flow Diagram displays the procedures in your program and shows the links between them.

The following symbols are used in the Program Flow Diagram:

?	Execution of this procedure is conditional
*	Repeated procedure
M	Procedure above M is a menu ; procedures below are menu options
>>	More procedures off the screen to the right
<<	More procedures off the screen to the left
T	Procedure is tied to this program
X	Procedure is tied to another program and should not be edited in this program
P	Procedure is a place holder

When you first enter the flow diagram, the cursor will be positioned on the first procedure in the program (the root).

You can navigate round the flow diagram in several ways:

Pressing the <←>, <→>, <↑> or <↓> keys takes you one procedure to the left, right, up or down. The <←>, <→>, and <↓> keys can also be used to create a new, empty, node in the procedure tree ready for you to insert a procedure there (they are automatically deleted again if you do not use them).
Pressing the space bar moves the cursor to each procedure in turn, following the logical order of execution
You can click on any procedure with the mouse
You can use the Find option to find a named procedure, or the next option to find the next instance of the current procedure.
You can use the Search options to find procedures meeting a specific criterion.

At the top right of the program flow diagram the editor displays the programs or procedures that would be affected by changes made at the currently highlighted part of the procedure tree. It is a good idea to keep an eye on this area, especially if you have incorporated procedures from another program in the one you are editing now, to guard against making unintentional changes to other programs.

Beneath the program flow diagram a menu bar is displayed that you use to edit your procedure tree.

Menu Bar Options

To move between the program flow diagram and the menu bar:

When focus is in the program flow diagram press <Enter> to move the cursor to the menu bar.
When focus is in the menu bar press <Esc> to move the cursor to the program flow diagram.

Alternatively you can simply click on either the program flow diagram or the menu bar, or for buttons that have a mnemonic letter underlined you can press the mnemonic key directly eevn when focus is in the program flow diagram.

The menu bar options displayed at the bottom of the Program Flow Diagram are:

Link	Use this to edit the information linked to the currently highlighted position. For further information see Inserting Procedures.
Ins	Use this to insert a new procedure to the left of the currently highlighted position. For further information see Inserting Procedures.
Del	Use this to delete the currently highlighted procedure (from this location). For further information see Deleting Procedures.
Procedure...	Use this to edit the highlighted procedure. For further information see Procedure Editing Menu
Body...	Use this to edit the highlighted procedure body. For further information see Procedure_Body_Editing_Menu.htm
Doc	Use this option to edit or create the on-line documentation for the currently highlighted procedure or procedure body in the program flow diagram.
PlaceHolder	Use this to Insert a PlaceHolder procedure to the left of the currently selected procedure
Find	Use this to find the named procedure or procedure body in the Program Flow Diagram
Next	Use this to find the next occurrence of the previously found procedure or procedure body
Search	Launches the QAB Find utility which allows you to search the current program or the database for occurrences of procedure names, field or variable names. For further information see Locating Formulas and Identifiers
Zoom+	Use this to zoom in on the highlighted procedure, that is to move it to the top left-hand corner of the display and show only its subsidiaries beneath it. This is shown as a
Zoom-	Use this to return to normal display after using zoom
View>>	Toggles the names displayed in the program flow diagram between procedure names and procedure body names. This also affects what the Doc button edits.
Affects>>	Toggles the names displayed in Affects section of the status display between procedure names and program names
Tie	If the currently selected procedure is shared with other programs, use this option to tie it to the current program to discourage users from editing it elsewhere. For further information see Sharing Program Components
Untie	Cancels the tie on the currently selected procedure so that it can be edited elsewhere
Open+-	Toggles the currently procedure between showing its subsidiaries or not. Procedures where the subsidiaries are hidden are coloured differently from others.
Exit (X)	Returns you to the Program Editing Functions Menu.
Help	Use this to display a key to the program flow diagram.
Entry>>	Toggles the display between showing entry conditions of procedures or not as you move round the flow diagram.
Build...	Opens a menu that allows you to quickly compile or run your program.

The next few pages describe in more detail the some of the most common tasks you will need to perform when editing your procedure trees: