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3.7 Overview of 3270 Operations

Your Solaris computer uses the 3270 emulation program to emulate a 3270 terminal, which enables you to access host computers. To operate your terminal during 3270 emulation, you need to understand the information provided by the status line and how to use the keyboard in a 3270 emulation session.

3.7.1 Using the Keyboard

Terminal emulation requires your terminal's keyboard to perform the 3270 functions normally provided by a 3278 or 3279 keyboard. The 3270 emulation program lets your terminal perform these functions by assigning them to specific keystrokes on your terminal's keyboard. Default Keyboard Mappings, describes the default key definitions for emulating the 3270 keyboard.

Customizing Key Definitions, contains instructions for viewing and changing these defaults. Ensure that you are using the correct entry for your terminal in the terminfo database on your Solaris computer (this is specified using the TERM environment variable), and that this entry contains definitions for all the keys you need to use. Contact your System Administrator if necessary.

The keystrokes shown on the File, Customize, and Control menus, which enable you to jump straight to specific dialogs from the main screen, cannot be remapped to different keys. Key remapping applies only to 3270 emulation.

If you are using a host language that does not match your keyboard type, you may need to use some character keys that do not appear on your keyboard. You can remap these 3270 keys to suitable keystrokes, or you can use the escape sequences provided by the Solaris operating system to generate them (refer to your operating system documentation).

Default Keyboard Mappings, describes the use of the following special keys:

Cursor control keys

The following keys control the cursor:

  • Up

  • Down

  • Left

  • Right

  • Tab

  • Home

During 3270 emulation, the default operations of these keys are similar to their functions during normal Solaris terminal operation, with some exceptions. For example, in a formatted 3270 display (one with fields on the screen), pressing the Home key causes the cursor to move to the start of the first field on the screen and pressing the Tab key causes the cursor to go to the next field, rather than to move a set number of spaces.

Edit keys

The following keys are used to enter special characters or to delete whole fields or displays:

  • Program access keys

  • Program function keys

  • 3270 system keys

  • Printer control keys

3.7.2 Understanding the 3270 Status Line

When you are in 3270 emulation, the last line of your screen shows status information about the current session. The way in which this status line is displayed on the screen depends on your 3270 customization and on your terminal's hardware and software. The status line can be written to the terminal's status line (if the terminal supports this) or to a spare line at the bottom of the screen (if the screen has more lines than your 3270 screen model requires), or it can be shared with the last line of the 3270 display. For more information, see Status Line Information.

You have a choice between the following display modes for the status line:

Always on

The status line appears all the time.

On when required

The status line is blank unless there is a Do Not Enter or Communications Check message to be displayed. It appears when a condition occurs that causes one of these messages, and returns to blank when the condition is cleared.

The Status line displayed at startup option in the Customize Miscellaneous Options dialog box (for more information, see Customizing 3270 Emulation) specifies which mode the program uses when it first starts up.

While the program is running, you can switch between the two modes using the STAT TOG (Status Line Toggle) key (default keystroke Ctrl + W ). If you press STAT TOG while the status line is shown, the status line disappears, and the status line display mode switches to on when required; that is, it will reappear when there is a new Do Not Enter or Communications Check message to be displayed. If you press STAT TOG while the status line is not shown, the status line reappears, and the status line display mode switches to always on.

If the status line is shared with the last line of the 3270 emulation display, the STAT TOG key also switches between showing the status line and showing the last line of the 3270 emulation display. If you press STAT TOG while the status line is shown, to switch to on when required mode, the last line of the 3270 emulation display appears instead. If you press STAT TOG while the last line of the 3270 emulation display is shown, the status line appears instead, as shown in Status Line Format for 3270 Emulation.

Status Line Format for 3270 Emulation

The Motif 3270 emulation program uses graphical symbols for some of the messages on the status line (similar to the symbols used on an IBM terminal), instead of the character symbols shown in Status Line Format for 3270 Emulation. The overall format of the status line and the meaning of individual messages is the same for both character-based and Motif versions.

The Motif program's status line is always on a separate line (not shared with the last line of the 3270 display). It is always displayed; the STAT TOG key has no effect.

The 3179G status line is shown in Status Line Format for 3179G Emulation. This status line includes the same symbols as the Motif 3270 status line, and some additional symbols specific to 3179G.

Status Line Format for 3179G Emulation

Types of Status Line Information

The following list summarizes the different types of information that appear on the status line. Status Line Information, describes all the individual status line messages and symbols.

Session Status messages

The Session Status messages indicate whether the Solaris computer and the host system are already communicating on this session, are ready to communicate, or are not ready to communicate.

Do Not Enter messages

The Do Not Enter messages indicate the current state of the 3270 session. Some of these messages indicate normal conditions; others indicate that your 3270 keyboard is disabled temporarily and specify the reason for this.

Communications Check codes

The Communications Check codes indicate the current state of the connection to the host. Some of these messages indicate normal conditions that occur during initialization; others indicate problems with either hardware or configuration.

LTTI

The Last Transaction Time Indicator (LTTI) indicates the time taken for the most recent transaction with the host. This is displayed only if no communications check code is displayed and if your System Administrator has given you permission to view response-time information.

Numeric

The Numeric indicator appears if the cursor is in a numeric-only field.

Insert

The Insert indicator shows that your keyboard is in Insert mode. When this indicator is on, you can insert a character at the cursor location. Press the INSERT key (default keystroke Insert) to enter Insert mode; press RESET (default keystroke Esc R) to leave Insert mode.

Printer identifier

The Printer identifier message gives the name of the printer or file to which local copy print requests on the current 3270 session are directed. This is specified in the Customize Display Session dialog box; see Customizing 3270 Emulation.

Record/Replay ID

The Record/Replay ID message is shown instead of the printer identifier while you are recording a keystroke sequence or replaying a previously recorded sequence; see Keystroke Recording and Replay. This message is displayed as

RECORD nn
or
REPLAY 
nn
, where nn is a number (1-24) that identifies the PF key associated with the keystroke sequence.

The message

BUFFER LOW (mm)
can also appear in this position if you are recording a keystroke sequence and are approaching the limit of 1500 characters; mm is the number of further keystrokes you can enter before reaching the limit.

LU Name

This message gives the name of the 3270 LU being used by this session. The LU name is normally specified in the configuration file. You can change it if your System Administrator has given you permission to remap sessions. For information about specifying LUs from the command line when starting the 3270 emulation program, see Starting the 3270 Emulation Program, or Remapping a Display Session.

Cursor Position

The Cursor Position message gives the current position of the cursor on the screen.

Session ID

The Session ID message gives the ID of this session, if a session is assigned. For more information about assigning session IDs, see Customizing Display Sessions, and Starting the 3270 Emulation Program.

A session ID taken from the style file is always in the range A-Z, but a session ID specified on the command line may not be in this range. Any session ID not in the range A-Z is displayed as an asterisk ( * ).

Background Transparency

The Background Transparency indicator shows whether the screen background is transparent or nontransparent, and whether the transparency attribute was specified by you or by the host. For more information, see 3179G Screen Display.

Program Symbol Set

The Program Symbol Set indicator shows whether the host program is using the standard symbol set or one of the two program symbol sets A and B, and whether the program symbol set was specified by you or by the host. The PSA, PSB, and PSS FLD INH keystrokes switch between these symbol sets.

Character Set

The Character Set indicator shows whether the keyboard is in APL mode (keys are interpreted as APL characters) or normal mode. The APL TOGGLE keystroke switches between these two modes.

Extended Highlight

The Extended Highlight indicator shows whether the text at the current screen position is normal, blinking, reverse video, or underlined, and whether the attribute was specified by you or by the host. For more information, see 3179G Screen Display.

Extended Color

The Extended Color indicator shows the color of the text at the current screen position, and whether the color was specified by you or by the host. For more information, see 3179G Screen Display.

Status Line Help

To obtain more information about the contents of the current session's status line, you can use the key STAT HELP (default keystroke Ctrl + O) to display a screen of help information. This screen displays text strings that interpret the status line information for the current session. The help screen displays information about the following:

  • Session state

  • 3270 emulation program state (for example, a communications check code or a Do Not Enter message)

  • Input state (Insert/Replace, numeric)

  • LU name

  • Session ID (if one is assigned)

  • Last host response time

  • Name of the printer or file to which local copy printing is directed

After you have finished viewing this information, use the STAT HELP keystroke again to remove the help screen.

Status Line Display for Keystroke Recording and Replay

When you use the RECORD or REPLAY keys (see Keystroke Recording and Replay), the status line display is temporarily replaced by a list of the identifiers assigned to recorded keystroke sequences. (However, you can use the STAT HELP key, described in Status Line Help, to find out status information.) The normal status line display is restored when you select an identifier for the keystroke sequence to record or replay.

3.7.3 Switching between 3270 Sessions

To switch from one 3270 session to another, use 3270 system keys. Press NEXTSESS (default keystroke Ctrl + V) to move to the next display session, or enter the correct SESS n key combination (default keystrokes Esc 1-Esc 0 for sessions 1-10) for the session you want to move to.

If you are using the Motif 3270 emulation program, the NEXTSESS and SESS n keystrokes are not supported. Instead, you can move to a new terminal window using the mouse as usual.

3.7.4 Temporary Exit from 3270 Emulation

While using the 3270 emulation program, you can perform a temporary exit to the Solaris shell while leaving the 3270 emulation program running. This starts a new Solaris shell of the type specified by the SHELL environment variable (the default is /bin/sh ). Use the shell, for example, to list the contents of a directory or to run a HLLAPI application or a command-line file transfer process. To end this temporary shell and return to the 3270 emulation program, use the end-of-file (EOF) sequence for your terminal, typically Ctrl + D.

The TEMPEXIT keystroke is not supported in the Motif 3270 emulation program. Instead, you move to a new terminal window using the mouse as usual.

3.7.5 Type-Ahead during 3270 Emulation

While waiting for the host to respond during 3270 emulation, you can enter the keystrokes that will be required after the host has responded. These can be data characters, cursor control keys, or keys such as ENTER that send information to the host. You can use type-ahead for a maximum of 16 keystrokes. If you exceed the maximum, the Keystroke Lost message X ?+ appears on the status line, and the keyboard is locked until you press RESET.

Do not attempt to use this feature during the logon sequence, particularly while waiting for a password prompt from the host, as it can cause problems with some hosts. After you have supplied a password and received an indication from the host that you are successfully logged on, you can then use the type-ahead.

3.7.6 3179G Screen Display

The 3179G screen display contains both alphanumeric text (similar to a standard 3270 display) and graphical data. You can think of the screen display as consisting of two layers, an alphanumeric layer and a graphical layer. The alphanumeric layer appears above the graphical layer; that is, if a particular area of the screen contains both text and graphics, the text appears on top of the graphics.

The host application can define the screen background to be either transparent or nontransparent. If the background is transparent and a particular area of the screen contains both text and graphics, the graphics are visible behind the text. If the background is nontransparent, only the text is visible. The host application may allow you to control the background transparency using the NON TRANS (nontransparent) keystroke.

The host application can also define the extended color and extended highlighting attributes (normal, blinking, reverse video, or underline) for a particular area of the screen. As for background transparency, the host application may allow you to control these features using 3179G system keystrokes.

3.7.7 Using the Mouse with 3270 Emulation

When a cursor that can be used for text input appears on the screen, you can use the mouse to move the cursor with the following limitations:

Moving the cursor

The left mouse button is used to move the cursor. Click with the left mouse button in the new position where you want to place the cursor. You cannot change the mouse button used for this feature.

Protected fields

You can use the mouse to move the cursor into a protected field, but you cannot enter typed data while the cursor is in a protected field.

Cut-and-paste

By default, the left mouse button is used to cut, and both buttons (on a two-button mouse) are used together to paste. If you press the left button and drag the mouse, the area over which you drag the mouse is highlighted. When you release the left button, the highlighted area is cut.

You can change these defaults by using the Motif resources *cutButton and *pasteButton. For more information, refer to the SNAP-IX Installation.

3.7.8 Using the Mouse with 3179G Emulation

The host can choose to display or hide a graphics cursor. The host application may allow you to control the graphics cursor using the mouse. If so, a cross-hair cursor appears on the screen instead of the normal X Window cursor. The host application may also define graphics input functions to be accessed using the left and middle mouse buttons. If the graphics cursor is not displayed, you can use the mouse in the same way as described in Using the Mouse with 3270 Emulation.

Because the 3179G emulation program uses the mouse to control both the text and graphic cursor, the mouse operation differs in the following ways between the 3179G and 3270 programs, and between this 3179G program and an IBM 3179G terminal:

Mouse buttons

The mouse normally used with an IBM 3179G terminal has three buttons; the use of each of these buttons is determined by the host application. If your mouse has only two buttons, and the host application assigns a function to the middle mouse button, press both the left and right buttons at the same time to access this function.

Motif cut-and-paste operations

The main function of the mouse with this 3179G emulation program is to control the graphics cursor, as on an IBM 3179G terminal. The presence of the graphics cursor is indicated by a cross-hair cursor instead of the normal X Window cursor.

If the normal X Window cursor is displayed, you can cut and paste alphanumeric text in a similar way to the Motif 3270 emulation program, as described in Using the Mouse with 3270 Emulation, except that for 3179G you need to hold down the SHIFT key as well as using the mouse buttons.

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