A TYPETERM resource defines a set of attributes that are common to a group of terminals.
The resource is a logical extension of the TERMINAL resource. If you have a number of terminals with the same properties, you would define one TYPETERM with the required values, and then name that TYPETERM in each TERMINAL definition (or in the autoinstall model definition if you are using autoinstall).
Each TERMINAL definition must name a TYPETERM definition. This single attribute represents many other characteristics, and thus can save considerable effort, and reduce the chance of making mistakes. TYPETERMs make it easier to define your terminals if you have many terminals of the same kind.
For a list of terminals supported by RDO, see Devices supported. There is also a list of valid values for the DEVICE attribute of TYPETERM in Default values for TYPETERM attributes. This shows you the other attribute values supplied for different device types. In some cases, these values depend also on your values for SESSIONTYPE and TERMMODEL, but these too have defaults that depend on the DEVICE specified.
Apart from ordinary display devices, printers, and other more specialized input and output devices, you can create a TYPETERM definition for your CICS consoles.
The use of QUERY overrides any value that is explicitly defined for any of the TYPETERM attributes listed above, except ALTSCREEN. QUERY-supplied ALTSCREEN values are used only if no ALTSCREEN value is explicitly defined in the TYPETERM.
The QUERY function is particularly useful with configurable devices, such as the IBM® Personal System/2 (PS/2) and the IBM 3290. It enables you to reconfigure the device between logging off and logging on to CICS, without having to change any resource definitions.
The QUERY function is also particularly useful when used in conjunction with autoinstall.
Note that the QUERY facility obtains only the information required by CICS. If an application program needs to determine other device characteristics, it still needs to send a QUERY structured field and analyze the reply.
To summarize, you may need only one TYPETERM definition for each device type. If the attributes that can be determined by QUERY differ among the terminals, you still need only one TYPETERM for each device type. If other attributes of your terminals vary, you may need more than one TYPETERM definition for a device type.
There are some CICS-supplied TYPETERM definitions suitable for the more frequently used terminals. These are described in TYPETERM definitions in group DFHTYPE.
When all your terminals are basically the same, you can have only one TYPETERM definition, and one TERMINAL definition with AUTINSTMODEL(YES). You might like to use QUERY to deal with different features used by your terminals.