HP Integrity NonStop H-Series - Manual (Page 290)

Creating the Variables File
Using Special TFORM Features
11–22 058060 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Creating the Variables File You store the variables for the form letter in a list file.
Within the list file are blocks of information. The first block contains a
template, which is a guide to the data. The template block tells TFORM the
order in which the variables are stored in the file. For example, the
template block for the letter in Figure 11-15 looks like this:
<address> =
<first name>
<name1>
<name2>
//
Pattern character
Variables
Variables are enclosed
in angle brackets.
Block separator
The first variable, <address>, works a little differently from the others; it is
explained in the following paragraphs.
The equal sign (=) after the address variable is a pattern character. The
pattern character tells TFORM where the address ends in each block. Enter
the pattern character on the same line as the <address> variable, exactly one
space after the right angle bracket. You can use any character you want for
a pattern character; this example uses the equal sign. All information in the
block after the pattern character is data for the other variables.
You separate the template block from the data blocks of information with a
block separator. In this example, two slashes (
// ) form the block separator,
which must be different from the pattern character. All the data blocks
must be separated by the block separator.
Figure 11-16 shows the list file for this form letter. It contains the template
block and data blocks for two letters.