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## 9 Error Messages

This section describes all error messages which can be generated by forms mode. Error messages that result from parsing the control file all start with the text ‘`Forms control file error`’. Messages generated while analyzing the definition of `forms-format-list` start with ‘`Forms format error`’.

`Forms control file error: `forms-file' has not been set`
  The variable `forms-file` was not set by the control file.
`Forms control file error: `forms-number-of-fields' has not been set`
  The variable `forms-number-of-fields` was not set by the control file.
`Forms control file error: `forms-number-of-fields' must be a number > 0`
  The variable `forms-number-of-fields` did not contain a positive number.
`Forms control file error: `forms-field-sep' is not a string`
`Forms control file error: `forms-multi-line' must be nil or a one-character string`
  The variable `forms-multi-line` was set to something other than `nil` or a single-character string.
`Forms control file error: `forms-multi-line' is equal to 'forms-field-sep'`
  The variable `forms-multi-line` may not be equal to `forms-field-sep` for this would make it impossible to distinguish fields and the lines in the fields.
`Forms control file error: `forms-new-record-filter' is not a function`
`Forms control file error: `forms-modified-record-filter' is not a function`
  The variable has been set to something else than a function.
`Forms control file error: `forms-format-list' is not a list`
  The variable `forms-format-list` was not set to a Lisp list by the control file.
`Forms format error: field number` xx `out of range 1..`nn
  A field number was supplied in `forms-format-list` with a value of xx, which was not greater than zero and smaller than or equal to the number of fields in the forms, nn.
`Forms format error:` fun `is not a function`
  The first element of a list which is an element of `forms-format-list` was not a valid Lisp function.
`Forms format error: invalid element` xx
  A list element was supplied in `forms-format-list` which was not a string, number or list.
`Warning: this record has` xx `fields instead of` yy
  The number of fields in this record in the data file did not match `forms-number-of-fields`. Missing fields will be made empty.
`Multi-line fields in this record - update refused!`
  The current record contains newline characters, hence can not be written back to the data file, for it would corrupt it. Probably you inserted a newline in a field, while `forms-multi-line` was `nil`.
`Field separator occurs in record - update refused!`
  The current record contains the field separator string inside one of the fields. It can not be written back to the data file, for it would corrupt it. Probably you inserted the field separator string in a field.
`Record number` xx `out of range 1..`yy
  A jump was made to non-existing record xx. yy denotes the number of records in the file.
`Stuck at record` xx
  An internal error prevented a specific record from being retrieved.
`No write access to "`file`"`
  An attempt was made to enable edit mode on a file that has been write protected.
`Search failed:` regexp
  The regexp could not be found in the data file. Forward searching is done from the current location until the end of the file, then retrying from the beginning of the file until the current location. Backward searching is done from the current location until the beginning of the file, then retrying from the end of the file until the current location.
`Wrapped`
  A search completed successfully after wrapping around.
`Warning: number of records changed to` nn
  Forms mode's idea of the number of records has been adjusted to the number of records actually present in the data file.
`Problem saving buffers?`
  An error occurred while saving the data file buffer. Most likely, Emacs did ask to confirm deleting the buffer because it had been modified, and you said `no'.