RE: Is it possible to have 2 display devices in one program?

midrange-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>   4. Re: Is it possible to have 2 display devices in one program?
>      (Booth Martin)
>
>I've not had very much success with the SNDBRKMSG solution.  For example can
>Bob send a break message to Alice, or must he first find out her device
>name?

Booth:

First, SNDBRKMSG and break-handling programs aren't necessarily related. A 
break-handling program can be assigned to any given message queue; it doesn't 
have to be the device message queue -- in your vision, a better choice would be 
the user profile message queue since there'd be no need then to determine what 
device ALICE was signed-on to. I'd probably not use that msgq either, though; 
I'd probably create a specific msgq for each "enrolled" user.

The message on the queue doesn't have to be a "break" message -- it can be a 
simple *INFO message sent via SNDMSG. It's the program that's assigned to the 
queue that determines whether or not a break should occur. This might contain 
the text that you want to display; or it might simply act as the trigger that 
causes a CALL to your real TALK program.

Since the break-handling program is running within the target user's job, it 
has no need to ACQuire the device, just as PGMB doesn't need to ACQuire when 
it's called by PGMA. It already owns the device as soon as it opens a display 
file.

So, SNDMSG TALK ALICE could be the entire initial message sent from BOB to 
invite ALICE to join a chat. Your break-handler sees the "TALK" message text 
and asks ALICE what to do. If ALICE accepts, you call your TALK program and it 
displays anything you want. Otherwise, the break-handler ends and ALICE goes 
back to whatever she was doing.

Perhaps you could code your break-handler to do something like DSCJOB for 
ALICE's session, thereby making the device available for an MRT kind of TALK 
program. But taking over an active device when there's no decent predicting of 
what's going on at the time...? For me, that'd be trouble.

I gotta agree... study break-handlers in depth first.


-- 
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertech.com


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