Coding device control options

In addition to transmitting application data to a display, BMS can relay device control commands. An application program uses options of the EXEC CICS® SEND command to specify which controls are to be activated. Alternatively, it can use the BMS EXEC CICS SEND CONTROL command, which transmits device control commands without also sending application data. For example, 
SEND MAP('ERROR') MAPSET('DISPLAY')
ERASE

erases the screen before data is displayed.

To specify which controls are to be activated, you code one or more of the device control options, which are shown in Table 1, in an EXEC CICS SEND MAP command.
Table 1. EXEC CICS SEND MAP options
Device control option To do the following
ALARM Sound audible alarm on displaying data.
CURSOR Specify position of cursor after output. The cursor position is a 16-bit binary value that represents the absolute screen address of the cursor. However, you need not always specify a value.
ERASE Erase screen and place cursor in top left corner of screen before output. The first EXEC CICS SEND MAP command of any CICS application program must specify ERASE. This ensures that the size of the screen is set to default.
ERASEAUP Erase all unprotected fields before output.
FORMFEED Send a form feed character as the first character in the device-dependent datastream.
FREEKB Unlock the keyboard for data input.
FRSET Reset all modified data tags (to not modified state) before output.
PRINT Start printing (when emulator is a printer).

The CICS local terminals, cicslterm, the CICS 3270 Terminal Emulator, and cicslterm support the following screen sizes:

  • Eigthy columns by 24 rows
  • 80 columns by 32 rows
  • 80 columns by 43 rows
  • 132 columns by 27 rows