Working with Maps

When you have a map open in the BMS Painter, you can:

• Define individual fields

  Fields can be single or repeating and you define them by specifying text or by marking the relevant area on the map in the painter window.

  Any string of characters that you specify on a map is automatically generated by the painter as an autoskip BMS field. You must explicitly define any field you intend to use for displaying or accepting variable data; see the section Defining Field Properties.

• Define groups of fields: standard BMS groups and SDF groups

  You can define groups of fields, for which you can specify common attributes for all the fields in the group. When you define a standard BMS group, you generate both a value for the BMS GRPNAME operand and a group item in the copybook.

• Define SDF arrays

  You can define an SDF array by creating additional occurrences of a single field that you have already defined. The field must have a name defined for it on the Field Properties dialog box either in Field Name on the General page or in Name in the Field section on the SDF page. In the latter case the painter generates a field name on the General page.

  To create an SDF group or an SDF array you must have enabled the SDF option in the BMS file properties. See Build Settings for the BMS Painter.

• Move fields

  You can move fields within a map either as single fields or in groups of fields. You can move fields between maps using the clipboard

• Copy fields and groups

  You can copy fields within a map either as single fields or in groups of fields. When a field is copied, its properties are copied as well, except for any SDF array or SDF group information.

• Delete fields

  You can delete fields and groups of fields.