Re: Command prompt parameter expansion with ampersand

Hello Peter,

You wrote:
>1) Where is this documented? I thought the obvious place would be the CL
>Programming or CL Reference manual, but if it's there I couldn't find it. I
>did find a discussion under parameter length of the discrete sizes used by
>the command prompter ("1 through 12 characters and 17, 25, 32, 50, 80, 132,
>256, and 512 characters") and that the prompter will use the next larger
>size.  But nothing that says you can use an ampersand to expand the entry
>area.

Documented in "How to use this display" reached by pressing F13 when prompting 
a 
command.

>2) How do I get the prompter to use a smaller initial size? As an example,
>the CHGDTAARA command allows you to change up to 2000 positions of a data
>area at once. On the initial  prompt, it provides space for 32 characters,
>not 512 (the most the command prompter will allow). But you can expand it up
>to 512 by using the ampersand method. How do I define a parameter to act
>this way?

AFAIK you cannot control the initial size.  The prompter chooses an appropriate 
size 
based on the data type, size of field, and the prompt environment.  Since 
CHGDTAARA can 
handle a number of different types of data on the VALUE parameter -- *CHAR, 
*LGL, *DEC 
-- it is probably defined with a type of *X and will have PASSATR(*YES) 
specified.  Also 
IBM don't use the same command compiler we have so you may not be able to 
acheive 
identical results.

>3) What manual is available to a new user that explains command prompting
>etc.? I have a vague memory of a Workstation User's Guide or some such, but
>a search of the SoftCopy Library and the Info Center found nothing. Is it my
>search technique? Is there a different manual? Or is there nothing for a new
>user to read on how to use a green screen?  I don't actually have any new
>user to point to this, but in searching for answers to 1 & 2 I got to
>wondering.

Sit them down in front of the terminal and press F13 when prompting a command.  
Leave 
them to read at their own pace.


Regards,
Simon Coulter.

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