Most users today rarely connect to IBM
Mainframe systems using actual hardware 3270
terminals but do so using emulated 3270
terminals running on a PC workstation.
Many of these 3270 terminal emulation
products contain features and functionality
that exceed that of a standard hardware 3270
terminal and keyboard. This allows tailoring
of the look and feel of the individual's
IBM Mainframe environment.
CBLi provides the user with a windowing
environment within a 3270 session (i.e. supports
multiple window display, window repositioning,
resizing, maximising, etc.) As such, CBL
has identified certain features offered
by 3270 emulator packages that facilitate
use of the CBLi environment.
The following table identifies commercially
available 3270 emulation software products
that have been tested at CBL and their
ability to support those features pertinent
to usage of CBLi. It does not, however,
reflect the vast range of other facilities
available in each product.
Large Screen Sizes
TN3270 terminals, served by the host TELNET
server, may reference VTAM LOGMODEs that
support non-standard screen sizes (i.e.
indicate that a read partition query is
to be issued by a host application to determine
the capabilities of the device.) Standard
screen size LOGMODEs are often referred
to as Model 2/3/4/5 terminals and correspond
to actual hardware 3270 terminals. Comprehensive
3270 emulator support of IBM-DYNAMIC TN3270
terminals will allow the user to specify
the desired 3270 screen size (rows x columns)
e.g. 40 x 132, 62 x 160 (maximum supported
by ISPF), 86 x 190, etc.
Starting CBLi in a 3270 terminal of larger
than standard dimensions allows the user
to view more windows concurrently and to
display more information within each window.
Note that, when using terminals with large
dimensions, it may be necessary to reduce
the font size and/or increase the resolution
of the display in order to view the entire
emulated terminal within the physical display.
To take advantage of this facility, VTAM
LOGMODEs that support non-standard screen
sizes should be made available via the host
TN3270 server. D4C32XX3
is an IBM supplied LOGMODE that matches
this criteria and should already exist in
your VTAMLIB. If not, update the VTAM source
member ISTINCLM with a new, dynamic LOGMODE
then re-assemble and Link Edit it. e.g.
MODEENT LOGMODE=DYNAMICB, X
FMPROF=X'02', X
TSPROF=X'02', X
PRIPROT=X'71', X
SECPROT=X'40', X
COMPROT=X'2000', X
RUSIZES=X'0000', X
PSERVIC=X'00C000000000000000000300'
A TELNETDEVICE statement should then be
included in the TN3270 server configuration.
e.g.
TELNETDEVICE DYNAMIC ,D4C32XX3
TELNETDEVICE DYNAMIC ,DYNAMICB
Keyboard Mapping
The 3270 keyboard may be configured so
that specific actions (keyboard functions and 3270
emulator macros) can be mapped to any
of the shift-states (Shift, Alt, Ctrl,
etc.) of an individual key.
This allows assigning actions to more
meaningful key strokes e.g. in the editor
where PF1 adds and PF13 deletes a line,
Alt-A and Alt-D could be remapped to
PF1 and PF13 respectively.
In addition, the limitation of only 24 PFKeys
can be overcome by assigning meaninful key combinations
to emulator macros that,
by simulating keystrokes,
automatically find the command line,
type in the appropriate command and hit ENTER
to issue it.
CBLi supports many functions and REXX macros
that may be utilised via keyboard shortcuts.
The Keyboard Map column
indicates the emulator's ability to assign
keyboard functions to key strokes, whereas
the Keyboard Macro column
indicates specifically its ability to
assign emulator macros to key strokes.
Mouse Mapping
Like the 3270 keyboard, the mouse buttons
may be configured so that they perform
specific actions. For example, F4 is widely
used within CBLi as a point-and-shoot
action key, so the ability to set the
mouse right-click to F4 becomes invaluable.
CBL recommends use of Left click then
Right click in quick succession to position
the cursor and hit the action key. The
Mouse Map column indicates
whether the mouse buttons may be mapped.
Particularly useful in CBLi is the ability
to use the double-left click mouse button
to position the cursor and action <Enter>.
(In the case of some 3270 emulators, this
may depend on support of a HOTSPOT facility.
e.g. IBM PCOMM.) The Mouse Enter
column indicates the emulator's ability
to assign <Enter> to the mouse button
left-double click.
A very nice feature is
the ability to map the Mouse wheel
to CBLi scrolling commands.
For example, MouseWheel-Up/Down issues
F7/F8 to scroll up/down, Ctrl-MouseWheel-Up/Down
issues F10/F11 to scroll left/right. Since
CBLi window borders and title bars also
respond to these function keys, a dragging
effect can be acheived in order to move
and resize windows. The Mouse
Wheel column indicates the emulator's
ability to map the mouse wheel.
Macros
3270 emulator macros may be written or
recorded to perform multiple functions
and keystrokes supported by the emulator.
Each macro uses a macro language that
may be unique to the particular emulator
package (though many emulators now also
support standard Visual Basic script.)
In most emulators, a macro file may be
mapped to a particular key stroke on the
3270 keyboard. The names and descriptions
of 3270 emulator macros,
generated at CBL, and their recommended key assignments
for use with CBLi, are displayed below.
| Macro
Name |
Key
Map |
Description |
| All
|
Alt-9 |
Issues
CBLe ALL command with no parameters
to display excluded lines. |
| AltL |
Alt-L |
Issues
CBLe MARK LINE command to mark the
edge of a line block. |
| Bof |
Ctrl-F8 |
Issues
CBLe BOTTOM/BACK/DOWN commands to
display bottom lines of the edited
text. |
| CcDate |
Ctrl-F3 |
Issues
CBLe Macro CCDATE to output today's
date (yyyy/mm/dd) at the cursor
position. |
| CmdLine |
Alt-NumHome |
Positions
cursors on the Command Line. |
| CmdTexte |
Alt-F4 |
Issues
CBLe CMDTEXT command to execute
a command on the focus line with
action of '<' reversed. |
| CopyBlock |
Alt-C |
Issues
CBLe COPY BLOCK command to copy
a marked line or box block to the
focus position. |
| CurAll |
Ctrl-A |
Creates
CBLe ALL command at the command
prompt with target string equal
to text at the focus position. |
| CurHome |
Ctrl-NumHome |
Issues
CBLe CURSOR HOME command to toggle
cursor between command line and
focus position. |
| CurScale |
Alt-S |
Issues
CBLe Macro CURSCALE to produce a
numeric scale at the focus position
in the edited text. |
| DelWord |
Alt-W |
Deletes
a blank delimitted token at or following
the cursor position. |
| ECmx |
Alt-0 |
Issues
CBLi EDIT command to edit the default
CMX file. (Specified on System.CmdText
in CBLIINI.) |
| EditAdd |
Alt-A |
Issues
CBLe SOS ADD command to add a blank
line following the focus line. |
| EditDel |
Alt-D |
Issues
CBLe SOS DELLINE command to delete
the focus line. |
| EditDup |
Alt-2 |
Issues
CBLe DUPLICATE command to duplicate
the focus line. |
| EditSJ |
Alt-J |
Issues
CBLe SPLITJOIN command to split
the focus line or join the focus
line with the one following. |
| Exclude |
Alt-X |
Issues
CBLe SELECT command to exclude the
focus line from the display view. |
| Fill |
Alt-F |
Creates
CBLe FILL command at the command
prompt ready to fill a marked block
with text. |
| HdSub |
Alt-8 |
Issues
CBLe Macro HD SUB to convert the
focus line into a section sub-heading. |
| HiLo |
Alt-7 |
Issues
CBLe Macro HILO to toggle highlighting
of the focus line with triple asterisk. |
| ISPFSwaL |
Ctrl-F10 |
Issues
CBLi ISPF command to open the ISPF
SWAP LIST. (Only applicable when
running under ISPF.) |
| ISPFSwap |
Ctrl-F9 |
Issues
CBLi ISPF command to SWAP to alternate
ISPF screen. (Only applicable when
running under ISPF.) |
| LDiff |
Alt-=
(equals) |
Issues
CBLe Macro LDIFF to compare the
current view with the next in the
ring. |
| MakeCurr |
Ctrl-F6 |
Issues
CBLe Macro MAKECURR to make the
focus line the current line. |
| MinorDo |
Alt-F6 |
Issues
CBLe Macro BLOCK DOWN MINOR to place
focus on the next line containing
double asterisk/equals. |
| MinorUp |
Alt-F5 |
Issues
CBLe Macro BLOCK UP MINOR to place
focus on the previous line containing
double asterisk/equals. |
| Prev |
Alt-F9 |
Issues
CBLi MDIPREV command to place focus
on the previous MDI window (e.g.
edit view) in the ring. |
| Reset |
Alt-U |
Issues
CBLe RESET command to reset a marked
line or box block. |
| RetrieveF |
Alt-F12 |
Issues
CBLe RETRIEVE + command to place
previously issued commands at the
command prompt. |
| Sv |
Ctrl-S |
Issues
CBLe Macro SV to update timestamp
and level in the header of the current
file and save it to disk. |
| TagTog |
Ctrl-H |
Toggles
highlighting of the focus line on
and off. (Sets/unsets the LINEFLAG
bit for tag.) |
| Tof |
Ctrl-F7 |
Issues
CBLe -*/DOWN commands to display
top lines of the edited text. |
| Trb |
Alt-T |
Issues
CBLe Macro TRB to insert TRACE functions
around a marked block in an edited
REXX macro. |
| TrbOff |
Ctrl-T |
Issues
CBLe Macro TRB OFF to remove TRACE
functions inserted by a previous
invocation of TRB. |
| WinMax |
Ctrl-+
(plus) |
Issues
CBLe WINDOW MAXIMISE command to
maximise the current edit view (CBLe
child window.) |
| WinMaxFr |
Ctrl-Num+ |
Issues
CBLe WINDOW MAXIMISE FRAME command
to maximise the current CBLe parent
window. |
| WinRes |
Ctrl--
(minus) |
Issues
CBLe WINDOW RESTORE command to restore
the current edit view (CBLe child
window.) |
| WinResFr |
Ctrl-Num- |
Issues
CBLe WINDOW RESTORE FRAME command
to restore the current CBLe parent
window. |
| 
