Re: Positioning cursor on a subfile record

On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 6:43 PM, Jerry Adams <midrange@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have never tried to position the cursor on an output-only field.
Primarily because to me that doesn't make any sense. Anyway, I could be
wrong, but my guess is that that's the problem.

From the display file DDS manual:

*** begin quote ***

The format of the keyword is:
SFLRCDNBR[([CURSOR] [*TOP])]

If CURSOR is specified, the cursor is placed in the subfile record
whose relative record number is identified by the contents of this
field. The cursor is positioned at the first input-capable field in
the subfile record. If there is no input-capable field, the cursor is
positioned at the first output-only or constant field.

*** end quote ***

Note the last quoted sentence.

If you read the OP's use case, it makes plenty of sense. The position
of the cursor is ITSELF a form of input. It's selecting which record
to perform an action on. (And he got this part working already.) The
position of the cursor is also relevant upon output, because it's
helpful for the user to see which record they actually selected.
Maybe they accidentally selected the wrong record. Well, having the
cursor on the selected record (i.e. leaving it where it was!) is one
more point of feedback.

I've seen (and written) this style of user interface on subfiles with
NO input-capable fields. The entire interaction could consist of
cursor positioning and function keys.

John Y.