These checks are designed to determine whether a response has a value that is inside or outside the valid limits for that response as defined in the dictionary. The data entry application can be designed to allow forcing out-of-range values, to force the operator to reenter a valid value, or not to allow any input on the item.

You can write code to check the structure of the case or test the consistency within related items. These instructions can be written for any object such as a case, level, form, record, roster, or field. The instructions can be executed before the cursor moves into the object (onfocus); at the beginning of an object (preproc); after cursor moves off the object (killfocus); or at the end of the object (postproc). You can also perform Interactive Editing after you finish entering a case.

The system displays automatic error messages if the item is out-of-range, but you can also use the errmsg function to write customized messages to be displayed in the screen during data entry.

You can use skip or advance statements to control the data entry flow in a case or end data entry at any time if a particular condition occurs. Also see the endgroup and endlevel statements.

The OnStop function can be used to keep the operator from stopping data entry or to allow stopping only under certain conditions. You can also stop the application for the current case or terminate the operation. You can stop the application at any time and the system will save the partial case. Also see the ispartial function.

You can add notes to a field, which can be viewed by the operator and/or edited. These notes can be used to display instructions to the keyer or to elaborate on a particular value. See the putnote, getnote, and editnote functions.

You can write customized reports to a file. For example, you could create a report to summarize the demographic characteristics in the household.

You can use a secondary form to enter data under certain conditions.

The system displays a window with the valid values and the operator may select the correct one. See the accept or showarray functions.

The most common functions are loadcase and retrieve. The selcase Function can only be used in data entry applications.

You can examine the content of a numeric item with the visualvalue function or alphanumeric item with the highlighted function before the item has been keyed.