TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
If you go to the client access mapping... On the keyboard map, select the key you wish to replace (ex. 'B') Now in the section in the bottom right (Change Current actions for Selected Keys) change the value in the text box for Alt to "apl 3a" (you do not need the quotes). Now in SEU, when you press Alt+B it will type the hex character for blue. The reason I prefer this method over copying from other source members is because it makes it simple to use multiple colors on a single line. Also, I have mapped my Alt+character keys to the first character of the color I wish to map, that way it is simple to remember. Any unusual hex codes I wish to use I just map a key on a case-by-case basis. Here's a list of the codes to use in conjunction with apl for your desired mapping effect: 20 Green 21 Green, reverse image 22 White 23 White, reverse image 24 Green, underscore 25 Green, underscore, reverse image 26 White, underscore 27 Nondisplay 28 Red 29 Red, reverse image 2A Red, high intensity 2B Red, high intensity, reverse image 2C Red, underscore 2D Red, underscore, reverse image 2E Red, underscore, blink 2F Nondisplay 30 Turquoise, column separator 31 Turquoise, column separator, reverse image 32 Yellow, column separator 33 White, reverse image, column separator 34 Turquoise, underscore, column separator 35 Turquoise, underscore, reverse image, column separator 36 Yellow, underscore, column separator 37 Nondisplay 38 Pink 39 Pink, reverse image 3A Blue 3B Blue, reverse image 3C Pink, underscore 3D Pink, underscore, reverse image 3E Blue, underscore 3F Nondisplay

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
"it's stupid stuff like this that has the snot-nosed microsoft geeks laughing at us" Next time any MS-Geek laughs on you, you can laugh back on his "BSoD". iSeries is designed for a different breed of users. It is for people who need to do heavy number crunching for some serious "Business Intelligence". On a parts counter a million dollar customer can run away if does not get an answer because of "BSoD". It does not matter to him if the parts clerk is using a dumb green screen or an XP with 3D graphics. He will run away!!!

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
I have read everyone's post and everyone made sense. I am not here to tell you whether to use WDSC or SEU. I am here just to bring in an additional option of what you can add within SEU. This code has been available in my website for quite some time and I thought I should share this or make it aware that it is available for download. This is a 2 part code: The first part is your driver program, SEUCOLOR. This is added into your Exit Program QIBM_QSU_LCMD. To add this, type in WRKREGINF (Work with Registration Information) command. Scroll down until you find QIBM_QSU_LCMD, and then on the exit program - add SEUCOLOR. or simply type in the command: ADDEXITPGM EXITPNT(QIBM_QSU_LCMD) FORMAT(EXTP0100) PGMNBR(*LOW) PGM(QGPL/SEUCOLOR) The second part of this routine would be the actual command and CPP you use within SEU to control your colors and attribute during edit mode. The command is CHGSEUCLR (Change SEU COLOR) and the CPP is CHGSEUCLC. To activate this changes (after you have added SEUCOLOR as your exit program), within Edit mode of SEU: 1. Press F21 (command line) - then prompt for CHGSEUCLR command. You simply select what color or attribute you want to use. 2. After you have pressed enter a *DTAARA will be created to store your preference. 3. Press F12 (to get rid of the command line). 4. Position your cursor at the beginning of the Text you want to change the attribute on. Press F7 (this will start the attribute and place the corresponding Hex-code in front of the text). 5. Position the cursor at the end of the Text, then press F8. This will place the stop code (x'20') at the cursor location. I have attached the codes in the zip file. If you wish to download the code. It is available in http://www.as400journal.com. Best Regards, Alex Nubla

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Code

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
> obviously there's a hex code placed in a certain > position in the source code... anyone know how > to just key it in (other than mapping my keys?). (tongue in cheek) Copy your source member to a diskette, put it in the 3741 and go to the HDR1 containing the source. Use upper function select hex and overpunch column 8 with the attribute byte that you want to use. Lower function select return to index, pull the diskette out and copy the source back to the source file. We _were_ talking about using old technology, right? The bottom line is that this is a silly trick to embed a colour attribute byte in the middle of the text portion of the source line. Doing this may make it impossible for you to share your source with a machine on a different code page, since they don't necessarily translate properly. --buck

[dacust]

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
JKATC: Sorry. I've been coding with our shells for so long, I don't even notice those. I won't have a chance to post new code until I get back from vacation, but below, find patched code that should at least work. I just removed the DSs. The LDA wasn't needed at all. The PSDS being gone means the display device name will not show on the screen. The INFDS gone means if there is a problem with the file, you'll get a different error than you would have (since the error handling code was not there anyway). Luckily, I wrote the COLORCOMR program from scratch, so there was no extraneous code left in there. It should be fine. -dan

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Code

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
The ones that need to exist before this will compile are: PSDS, LDA, INFDS.

[dacust]

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
gwilburn1 says "You're kidding right???" btompkins67 actually opens up the real issue. If you really want to do it right, go to WDSC. I don't think IBM SHOULD enhance SEU to do colors. This is really just a hack that people years ago figured out from how the 5250 data stream works. And so, for those of us stuck doing things the old way, we find ways to enhance things beyond their intended use.

[dacust]

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
btompkins67 said "The actual better way Start using Websphere Development Studion Client (WDSc)..." I totally agree. I started to launch into an explanation of why many shops have not done that, but for this thread, I'll just many haven't. My shop is one. I really wish we would, but it's not likely to happen soon. So, for those are stuck like me (and there are many) hopefully this little program will help. -dan

[dacust]

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
wutzke said : "A better way, I think I found somewhere a while back that you can map your keys to input the hex characters." I agree. For the most part that's how I do it. However, mapping keys for all the possibilities and remembering what those mapping are is rather difficult, so I still use the member to copy from. An additional bennifit to using wutzke's method is you can insert color into member descriptions that then carry over to the compiled object descriptions. We do this for various functions, so you can scroll through PDM and certain members will jump out at you. -dan

[roryhewitt]

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
If you're using Client Access, you can edit the .kmp file that is in the same directory as your .ws files (by default you will be using sample.kmp, I think). You can specify EBCDIC hex codes to be entered by entering line(s) as follows: C-KEY18=ebcdic 22 which means Ctrl+W will insert x'22' (a white attribute character) at the cursor position. The hassle is working out that 'W' is KEY18. Basically the key numbering in Client Access goes top-to-bottom, left-to-right (so KEY19 is E, KEY20 is R etc. I don't think you can specify these if you try to use the 'official' way to customize your keyboard file. Also, older versions of Client Access would delete these 'hacked' entries if you subsequently use the 'official method'... Rory

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
WDSC isn't just a nicely colored editor. It also changes everything you need to do most programming jobs on the iSeries. Some of the more important, are the ability to undo/redo changes you made but didn't want to. It also displays errors as you make them. It is much more sophisticated about the errors it catches. Compiling a program can be done by a toolbar option, or rightclicking the program name in a list. By clicking an option in a dropdown menu, you can add a whole procedure to your program, leaving you to type the code to be executed. The list goes on and on. It is like walking out of the dark ages.

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
The hex code can be used starting in position 6 of a source line. I have a little source file with all of the colors and their corresponding hex codes. When I need a line, I can copy it into my source. In practice, though, I'm usually copying the non-code stuff (which is usually the colored stuff) in my programs from a shell or existing program. A colored code line example from DBU, showing the hex, is below. is the hex displayed in DBU, with the 22 hex code below it (which is where the color of the line is changed from the standard green to white). Later in the line, another marks the 3A hex used to change the line color to blue. As I said, I "import" these into my programs by copying a shell so it's not all that much work to get the colored lines. Regarding previous comments about using WDSC instead of the old technology - wouldn't that be nice. Not all of us work for companies willing to go that route.

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Code

[David Abramowitz]

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
What would be helpful is for IBM to supply more colors. The seven available have been static since the first 5250 color terminals were introduced nearly a quarter century ago. Now this is not in the realm of the impossible. By using Display management APIs (an old Midrange Computing article shows how to do this) there are more colors available, so it should be a simple matter to make the colors readily available. While I haven't dismounted yet (from my high horse) we could also use different size fonts within the same display. This should be achievable within the 5250 stream. The reason for this is simply to enhance the user experience. Many ubiquitous Windows, Unix, and Linux applications are not graphic based at all, but rather character based. The use of different size fonts can bring more meaning to a display, and even cut down on keying errors. O.K.,,,,I'm on the ground now. Dave

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
I've often wondered how that was done, and I still don't know.. obviously there's a hex code placed in a certain position in the source code... anyone know how to just key it in (other than mapping my keys?). You know the AS/400 (excuse me, iSeries) is one of the best platforms out there, and RPG is one of the more powerful pgming languages, but it's stupid stuff like this that has the snot-nosed microsoft geeks laughing at us. Shouldn't this just be an option in SEU????

TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session

** This thread discusses the article: TechTip: Display Colors in a 5250 Session **
Start using Websphere Development Studion Client (WDSc) to edit your source files instead of worring about color coding your source members for use in SEU. SEU is the old technology that IBM is no longer enhancing. I have been using WDSc for over a year now and there would be no way I could go back to green screen SEU. With WDSc individual columns are color coded and you can make the colors whatevery you want. Another plus is that the tab key works like it should between stuff like factor 1, op code, factor 2, etc. And if you are wanting to get really crazy and start using free form RPG, it automatically indents it for you and puts your ends in also.