I would like to know how to format my data entry screens using solid lines to
make a box around my text.

Using Pascal 3.0 I had two options to use

1. use writeln using the ASCII character number that would display solid lines
and
    corners to display a complete single or double line box.

example
{top left corner}
gotoxy(1,1);write(chr(201));

{top line}
for Wx:=1 to 78 do begin
write(chr(205));
end;

{top right corner}
{gotoxy(80,1);}write(chr(187));

{right side}
for Wx1:=1 to 23 do begin
gotoxy(80,1 + Wx1);write(chr(186));write(chr(188))end;

{right bottom corner}
gotoxy(80,24);write(chr(188));

{left side}
for Wx2:=1 to 23 do begin
gotoxy(1,1 + Wx2);write(chr(186));end;