ISPF Panel Input 1

[melimae]

I have an ISPF menu panel where the user enters a 1 character selection. Is there a way to make the cursor jump to the next input field automatically after they enter the first character?

 

[kevinf2349]

Yes. This is pretty basic stuff. Simply place an appropriate field type in the screen definition after the desired length.

ie.

{* Is the dataset a PDS?}Y{or}N{ ..... _X{" "*

In this case X is a one character response and the cursor will tab to the next field

{ is defined as

{ TYPE(TEXT) INTENS(HIGH) SKIP(ON) COLOR(GREEN)

Hope this helps

 

[melimae]

I'm not quite sure what is going on in your example. What is the * used for? Is there anyway to have a variable name that is longer than one character and still have it jump to the next field after one character is entered.

Thanks for your help

 

[rexxhead]

No.

Frank Clarke
Tampa Area REXX Programmers' Alliance
REXX Language Assn Listmaster

 

[stevexff]

Panel definitions have a thing called .ZVARS, which is effectively a list of variable names. In the panel, you can use Z as a variable as many times as you want. The first gets mapped to the first variable in the .ZVARS list, the second gets mapped to the second, and so on. This allows you to have one-character fields, but use proper variable names in your application.

It's been a while since I've used it, so my syntax may not be quite right, but if you search the manual for ZVARS you should get the idea. The only catch is that you have to have the same number in the list as you have on the panel, and if you mix up the sequencing you can get some pretty strange results.

From memory, the ISPDTLC utility that generates panels from DTL markup uses ZVARS, so you might be able to generate an example...