Rational Programming Patterns

The Design View of a Screen

The Design View displays the design of the generated instance whose code is currently displayed with the PDP COBOL editor and selected. You can modify this design in the view and generate the instance again in order to take these modifications into account.

To see the content of this view, you must have generated a program (Program, Screen, or Server). Then in the Design Explorer view, right-click the corresponding .cbl file, which contains the generated COBOL. Select Open with > PDP COBOL editor. The COBOL editor must remain open and currently selected.
Tip: You must be familiar with the concepts explained in Generating and modifying the COBOL of a Program, Screen, or Server.
The design elements are constituted of the attributes and resources of the instance. You can modify them at various levels:
  • Directly in this view. However this view does not enable you to perform all the update actions available from the editors. Only a subset of these actions is available.
    • You can overwrite the values displayed in the Value column. If you change a value here, it automatically modifies the corresponding field in the editor and the COBOL code.

      When you update an instance (a Data Structure, a Macro, and so on) called in the design, the editor of the modified instance opens up in the background of the editor area with an asterisk (the symbol which shows that the instance has been modified). An editor opens for each updated instance. You must explicitly save each instance.

      Note: If the field has a limited list of values, a drop-down list shows with all the values you can select.
    • You can also call new resources by selecting a category and then right-clicking. The contextual menu enables you to add resources adapted to the category.
  • In the corresponding tab of the editor, by right-clicking and selecting Open editor. Any modification performed in the editor is automatically reflected in the view and in the COBOL code.
  • In the COBOL code viewed through the PDP COBOL editor. Any modification in the design lines of the COBOL code is automatically taken into account in the view and the editor.

Description of the view

The Design View shows a hierarchical view of the design elements.

Note: The possible values of the fields displayed in this view are listed and explained in the help associated with the corresponding tab of the editor. Under each hierarchical level, links point to this help.

The Keywords category is shown only if at least one keyword has been indicated in the Keywords tab of the instance. In the view, you can only change the names of the keywords which have already been entered. To add keywords, you must open the editor by right-clicking anywhere in the view and selecting Open editor. You can then be able to add keywords in the Keywords tab.

The Attributes category contains the same information as the Definition tab of the instance. You can modify the values in the view, or in the editor. To open the editor, right-click anywhere in the view, except on a called instance line, and select Open editor.

The Referenced Dialog contains the same information as the tabs of the Dialog editor:
  • Attributes contains the Dialog definition (same information as the Definition tab).
  • Common area contains the name and label of the Data Structure selected as the common area (same information as the Complement tab).
  • Managed files contains the Segments and Data Elements called in the Dialog (same information as the -CS Lines tab).
  • Working data represents the internal resources called in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of the Dialog.
  • Macros displays the Macro calls of the Dialog (same information as the -CP Lines tab).
All the other resources are related to the Screen:
  • Map description displays the elements called in the Screen map (same information as the -CE Lines tab).
  • Managed files contains the Segments and Data Elements called in the Screen (same information as the -CS Lines tab).
  • Working data represents the internal resources called in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of the Screen.
  • Macros displays the Macro calls of the Screen (same information as the -CP Lines tab).

The contextual menu and toolbar

The Design View contains a contextual menu whose choices apply to the resources. Their order reflects the order of the resources in the hierarchy.

The contextual menu activates choices with which you can add or modify resources depending on the selected category and the position of the selection in the category.
Example: When you click the Input category, the choice Add one or more files is active. When you click a file called in the Input category, the choice Add Data Structures in file is active.
When you select one of these choices, a selection dialog box opens. It displays only the instances present in the project build path.
This menu always contains the following choices:
  • Open editor. This choice opens the editor of the generated instance or the editor of the instance called in the design.
    Example: If you select this choice from the first level of the hierarchy (Working data, Keywords...), the editor of the generated instance (Program or Screen) opens up. However, selecting this choice from an instance nested within a call line (a Data Structure, a Segment...) opens this instance editor.
  • Delete, which deletes the hierarchical level currently selected.

The Design View also contains a toolbar from which you can Generate the code and trigger the reconciliation (Generate code and trigger reconciliation) after you have updated the design of your Program or Screen. The newly generated code integrates the changes in the design, while keeping any specific changes entered in the code. This is called the reconciliation. This button can be activated only if the design is consistent.

The possible values of the Screen Attributes are explained in the link which points to the Screen Definition tab.
Note: The Default value displayed in the Attributes fields means that the value is inherited from the Dialog.

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