Overview

Each type of descriptor is stored as an individual XML element situated within the <description> element of one macro screen.

You do not have to understand all the types of descriptors at first. Instead you should begin by becoming familiar with just two types:

The Fields Counts and OIA descriptor (actually contains 3 individual descriptors)
The String descriptor

These types of descriptors are sufficient to reliably describe many and perhaps even most application screens. However, if these types are not sufficient, then you should turn for help to one of the other types of descriptors.

Table 1 lists all the types of descriptors and shows the number of descriptors of each type that are allowed to exist in one macro screen (more specifically, in one <description> element belonging to one <screen> element):

Table 1. Types of descriptors, how many of each type allowed
Type of descriptor:	Number of this type of descriptor allowed per macro screen:
Field Counts and OIA	1 (required)
String descriptor	0 or more
Cursor descriptor	0 or 1
Attribute descriptor	0 or more
Condition descriptor	0 or more

The following subsections describe each type of descriptor in detail.