
IBM eNetwork Communications Server for Windows NT
Host Publisher Feature, Version 6.01
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Host Access Screens
When the integration object recognizes a pre-defined screen when
playing the Data Loop macro, it pauses the Data Loop macro until it
has processed the screen. During this screen processing,
the integration object
collects data to return to the Page Server.
Screen recognition
The integration object recognizes screens by the appearance of specific text at
specific locations on the terminal. You can configure
screens
by following these steps:
- show the terminal window
- navigate to the screen of interest
- mark the text with the mouse
Choose text that is the same each time the screen appears,
and is unlikely to appear on any other screen in the
same position.
Although it is not necessary, it is extremely beneficial for your host
application screens to have unique identifiers. These are usually a
combination of characters and numbers in one of the corners of the
screen. Many mainframe programmers have placed these in their code.
If your host
screens do not contain identifiers, it is worth the effort for you to
work with your company's host application programmers to get them
added. If this is not possible, you
need to search for as many unique strings as possible to
narrow down a particular screen's identity.
Tip: It is often useful when recording macros to send
the Clear key frequently. This helps to clean
things up, making the next screen look the same, no matter what came
before it. Often this helps your macro continue when minor changes
occur in host output. It might be especially useful to begin and
end your macros with Clear.
Data Items
You can define Data Items on a screen by giving them a name and a
screen location. Use the name in the DYNA tags in the Web
page to refer to the data collected using this data item. The screen
location is the region on the screen where text is gathered to
supply the data for this data item. If your Web page uses the
DYNABLOCK tag, you can define a data item with multiple screen lines
to gather repeated instances of the same sort of data (e.g.,
multiple records).
The integration object collects data for a screen's data items as soon
as it has recognized the screen, before executing any screen macro.
Screen macros
After collecting data items on a screen, the integration object
executes the screen macro, if one is defined and its execution
criteria are met. After executing the screen macro, it collects
the same data items from the same screen locations. Screen
macros are only useful for navigating through an application
where the same kind of information is being presented at the same
place on each screen, e.g. scrolling to view additional data records.
Screen macros can be executed according to one of three criteria:
- A fixed number of times
- While a given text is at a given screen position
- Until a given text is at a given screen position
To execute the screen macro a fixed number of times, specify
how many times to execute it.
To execute the screen macro while, or until, specific text appears,
mark the text with the mouse. You can also specify
a maximum number of times to execute the macro.
Scrolling for data
Recognizing end of data
If your application always presents the same number of screens
of data, the screen macro can be defined to execute a fixed
number of times. Otherwise, it is necessary to find a way
to recognize the final screen of data.
Experiment with your application to find some text that appears only at the
last screen of data, or appears on all but the last screen of data (to
use the "execute until" or "execute while" execution criteria). In
some applications, such as FILELIST, a blank area
appears on the screen
where the last screen record is usually displayed.
Nesting
It is possible to recognize another screen during execution
of one screen macro, and collect data from that screen.
However, the second screen cannot execute another screen macro.
You can use this to handle applications in which each iteration of the
screen macro navigates through several distinct screens. You can
recognize these "secondary" screens from the currently executing
screen macro and collect data items from them, but you cannot run
screen macros from them.
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IBM eNetwork Communications Server for Windows NT
Host Publisher Feature, Version 6.01