[LINUX5250] Re: Fwd: xt5250 trace file

[Scott Klement <klemscot@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Will patch first thing in the morning which is hmmmm..
> We are in GMT+1 + daylight savings time and you, it seems, are in GMT-7 +
> daylight savings time so by your morning we should have been running for the
> better part of a working day. Will inform you of progress.

I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.  Here's time zone information if
you like:
    http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=158

I'm aware that you live in Sweden, which is (by my calculations) 7 hours
later than it is here.  So, just whenever you get time to test my patch
is fine.   Just please let me know as soon as you're able to.

> BTW, do you have a current description  of tn5250rc with regard to the
> colors. Doing it that way is MUCH better. The current man page is a trifle
> lacking :-)

Colors were just added in version 0.16.4.  The docs probably haven't been
updated since then :)

Unfortunately, with the ncurses version of tn5250 you are limited to the
colors that ncurses supports, which might be one reason to keep using the
XTerm settings for color. :)   The Windows version is not limited
in this manner, and the GTK+ version (if it's ever finished) will not be
limited, either.   But, in order to work in a text-only console, we have
to limit the curses version.

Anyway...  the 5250 protocol allows the AS/400 to send the following
colors:
         black, red, green, yellow, blue, pink turquoise, white

To change how these colors are displayed to the user, you simply
assign new values for them in your tn5250rc file.

The possible values that you can assign when using the "cursesterm"
(ncurses) component of tn5250 are as follows:
         yellow, lightmagenta, lightred, lightcyan, lightgreen,
         lightblue, lightgray, gray, brown, red, cyan, green,
         blue, black

As the system admin of your Linux box (I think you're running Linux>)
you could create a ${PREFIX}/etc/tn5250rc file containing:

black=lightgray
white=black
green=blue
turquoise=lightblue
blue=green

When you run xt5250, (or just tn5250, if you use console mode) you'd find
that you had a color scheme that's similar to the one that you posted to
the mailing list.

Now, if I were a user of your Linux box, and I didn't like that color
scheme, I could create my own ${HOME}/.tn5250rc file  (note the dot)
and put:

black=black
green=green
white=lightgray

dsp01 {
   host = as400.example.com
   env.DEVNAME=dsp01
   green=lightred
}

Now, if I typed "xt5250 as400.example.com" when the AS/400 sends black or
green they'd show up as black or green.   When the AS/400 sends white,
it'd show up as light gray.   When the AS/400 sends blue, it would fall
back to your definition of green from the global tn5250rc file.

If I typed "xt5250 dsp01" it would display as light red when the AS/400
sends green.  When the AS/400 sends black or white, tn5250 would fall back
to the settings I put at the top of my ${HOME}/.tn5250rc file, and display
as black and light gray.  When the AS/400 sends blue, it would still fall
back to your settings in ${PREFIX}/etc/tn5250rc, and display as green.
When the AS/400 sends pink, since this is not defined in any of our
config files, it falls back to tn5250's default color of magenta.

I think you get the idea....

This is especially useful when you connect to more than one AS/400.
I change the color that green is displayed as for each system, so
that the screens immediately look different to me.

Such as:

system1 {
    env.DEVNAME=dsp01
    host = as400.example.com
    green=cyan
}

system2 {
    env.DEVNAME=scott
    host = ssl:www.netshare400.com
    green=lightred
}

Then, when I want to connect to system1, I do "xt5250 system1" and it
shows up as cyan, when I do "xt5250 system2" it shows up as light red.
When both windows are displayed on my screen, it's immediately obvious
which one is which.

I'll CC: the mailing list so they also have a reference for how to
do colors.

Good Luck!