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rrv · Beginner Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 19 Topics: 6

Hi There

I would like to know the key stroke attached to a CICS 3270 terminal that appears as X'05' when a map is received by an application program. My understanding is that this is an unprintable character as only characters between X'40' and X'FF' are valid values associated with key strokes. It may be that one of the escape sequence characters is translated into X'05' in the symbolic map.

Please let me know which key stroke corresponds to this special character. Many thanks in advance.

Regards
Ram

kolusu · Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 2:18 pm Post subject:

Ram,

X'05' is not a special character but is the TAB key.

Hope this helps...

Cheers

Kolusu
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rrv · Beginner Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 19 Topics: 6

Kolusu

Thanks for your response. I have another question in this regard, though.

When a user enters data in a field defined as X(40) and de-presses the TAB key, cursor will be placed at the next unprotected field. In such a case, why/how is the TAB key stored in symbolic map when it's not part of user input?

Many Thanks
Ram

Mike Chantrey · Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:03 am Post subject:

rrv · Beginner Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 19 Topics: 6

Mike

While I understand your perfectly valid point, I can assure you that it's not a case of length field being used instead of input field. Though these special characters appear rarely, they are embeded in valid user input. Consider the following user input, for instance (similar to a live scenario):

MR MIKE S:\CHANTREY

When these 19 characters are received in the symbolic map, one of the spaces at position 3 (between MR & MIKE) or 8 (bet. MIKE & S) or the first trailing space appears as X'05' instead of X'40'. We've had about 10 such instances in the last 6 months. Please note that this transaction (and the field in question) is used quite often, about 160-180 times per business day.

Could you explain this odd bit of COBOL, which is beyond me? Thank you !!

Regards
Ram

Mickeyd · Beginner Joined: 02 Jan 2003 Posts: 27 Topics: 0

I would like to see the map defition for this field

Mike Chantrey · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:41 am Post subject:

Maybe it's a problem with the 3270 emulator? The exact keyboard setup in terms of which key generates which value is going to vary depending on which emulator is used and how it's configured, so if this is the issue, I don't think it's going to be possible to diagnose this from a mainframe perspective.
Maybe if you are running a commercially supplied 3270 emulator you need to ask the supplier 'how can this value get generated?'
I've looked at my emulator (Rumba) and I can't see any way to get it to actually send a x'05' to the mainframe in a data field.

rrv · Beginner Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 19 Topics: 6

Mike

Even my sys admin believes that this issue lies with the 3270 emulator package. We, too, attempted to generate this type of data using Extra! Attachemate without any success. Apparently, this data was keyed in from a call centre in India, where the emulator may be a different package altogether.