The main purpose of a data field is to store additional information about the form, much like the memory function in pocket calculators. A form definition can have one or more data fields. Data fields are not suitable as indexed fields.
The way a data field receives a value is that you define an event handler that calls a VBA method that assigns a value to the field (SetValueStr) and sets its status (SetStatus). If the field’s status is set to Validation error, the field is displayed just like other validation errors in Verify, with a dialog in which you can type a different value for the field than the one set by SetValueStr.
When you define a data field, you specify its format, just as you would specify the format of a character field. After the data field receives its value in Verify, FORMS validates it according to the format specification.
A transaction field for a data field is generated in the transaction description by default. In order for the field to be transferred, it must have been assigned a value, and its status must be set to Complete, either by FORMS’ validation process or by the VBA code.