Customizing IOA Display Format Members

In certain INCONTROL product screens, it is possible to specify the display type (or format) of the screen. A wide selection of predefined display types is provided. For example, in the Control‑D User Report list, display type S is similar to IBM’s SDSF, while display type J can be used for production control and by programmers. For details, see the appropriate user guide.

If the predefined display types are not adequate, users can define their own display types using the Display Type Editing facility. This section describes parameters that define new display types or modify existing display types.

Another method for customizing display types is described in Concept.

All display formats are defined in members in the IOA MSGENG library. For a list of these members, see Concept, which contains a list of all the options of IOA, and the screen member and/or format members that are used to build the IOA panels. For example, in Control‑D, the display formats of option U are defined in members $$FRM and $$USR in the IOA MSGENG library. These members contain sets of predefined display formats. When a display type is activated, it first checks for any errors, which are displayed in an appropriate screen.

When the user needs to add new formats or modify existing formats, it is highly recommended that the corrections be made in the $Lfrm member (instead of the $$frm member), where frm is the member name. The $Lfrm members are for localization purposes, and are not overwritten during product maintenance.

Each line in a format member is one of the line types listed below. The line type must be written in positions 1 through 10 of the line. The permitted line types are

• @HEADER
• @LINE
• @LINE
• @FIELD
• @VAL
• @END
• @DLM
• @INCLUDE
• @DELETE

A line starting with an asterisk (*) is a comment line.

The parameters on the line characterize the line’s attributes. Parameters can be written in positions 11 through 72 of the line. A continuation line is created by leaving the "line type" area blank and using positions 11 through 72 for parameters that describe the line’s attributes.

In order to modify or replace an existing display type the following line must exist in the $Lfrm member before defining the replacement display type:

where id, n , type, and class are defined as they appear in the @STYLE statement in the original $$frm member which is to be modified or replaced. If this is not done, the following messages are displayed:

The preceding message may also be displayed as
IOAB1CI – THIS FORMAT ALREADY EXISTS

The following sections describe each line type and its parameters.