Temporarily suspending the screen roll

Operators might need to suspend a rolling screen of messages to copy information from the screen or consult a messages reference book. To suspend a rolling screen of messages, you can use HOLDMODE to control how operators temporarily suspend or hold screens when in roll, roll-deletable, or wrap mode.

Use the following keyword on the DEFAULT statement of CONSOLxx:

HOLDMODE: Specifies that you want hold mode for MCS consoles in the system; if YES, your operators can temporarily hold the message screen by entering nulls on the command line or by pressing the enter key. If NO, operators cannot use this method to hold messages on the screen.

When hold mode is in effect, an operator can press enter to hold the screen and read messages. The following shows the bottom of the console screen when HOLDMODE is in effect:

IEE163I  MODE = HELD

The following shows the bottom of the console screen in HOLDMODE when messages are waiting to be displayed:

IEE163I  MODE = HELD             IEE159I MESSAGE WAITING

The following shows the bottom of the console screen in HOLDMODE when messages are overlaid by a status display:

IEE163I  MODE = HELD             IEE160I UNVIEWABLE MESSAGE

To release the screen and return to roll, roll/deletable, or wrap mode, the operator presses enter again. HOLDMODE has system scope; if you define HOLDMODE in CONSOLxx for a system in a sysplex, it applies only to the MCS, HMCS or SMCS consoles on that system. If messages are backed up on a system when a console is in hold mode, hold mode for the console is released.

Operators can also suspend the console screen using PFKs if the IBM® defaults for console PFKs are in effect:

Press PFK 5 to stop messages from rolling. (At IPL, PFK 5 is assigned the command CONTROL S,DEL=N.)
Press PFK 6 to place the screen in roll-deletable mode and prevent message backup. (At IPL, PFK 6 is defined as CONTROL S,DEL=RD.)