Bidirectional support for MFS visual editing

This topic contains additional information about bidirectional support for the MFS editor.

MFS files are stored on the remote system in visual format. The default bidirectional format is Smart Logical. You must associate the correct bidirectional conversion tables in the file system mapping for .mfs files because the default setting does not assume bidirectional conversion.

Visual editing of bidirectional data is enabled after Bidirectional options enabled is selected in Preference. To enable this option, in the left pane of the Preferences window, select MFS Map Editor > Design Page > Bidirectional Settings.

Even after visual editing is enabled, bidirectional data is saved in .mfs files in Smart Logical format. This format is similar to standard Windows logical format, but is based on extensive use of bidirectional LRM markers. For more information about Smart Logical support, see the information about the zIDE tool.

To edit bidirectional data in the Smart Logical format, use the z Systems® LPEX editor. The LPEX editor provides a special visual line for this purpose. To access the visual line in LPEX, use the pop-up menu to select Source > Visual edit line, or use the Alt+= key combination. For more information about z Systems LPEX bidirectional support, see the LPEX documentation.

To edit bidirectional data in the MFS editor Source view, use the Ctrl+NumLock key combination on the selected line.

Settings

To activate bidirectional support, in the left pane of the Preferences window, click MFS Map Editor > Design Page > Bidirectional Settings and select Bidirectional options enabled.

Under the Bidirectional options enabled checkbox are the following check boxes:

  • Enable visual data ordering Sets the visual ordering of text, instead of the default logical ordering.
  • Enable bidirectional settings button Places a Toggle bidirectional mode button on the Design page toolbar.
  • Default RTL orientation Sets a right-to-left text flow in the display. This preference simulates how data is displayed on a 3270 terminal when the screen is reversed. This option enables the design of reversed (right-to-left) screens.
  • Default right alignment Causes fields added in the Design page to be right-aligned. In the source file right-aligned fields are padded with leading spaces.
  • Enable symmetric swapping Resets swappable characters automatically. In a right-to-left string, for example, the parentheses characters ( and ) are reversed.
  • Enable numeric swapping Automatically sets an inversion of the screen, which causes Hindi numerals to be replaced by their Arabic counterparts and Arabic numerals to be replaced by their Hindi counterparts.

When Enable bidirectional settings button is selected, the same set of bidirectional settings is made available in the MFS Editor toolbar. When a bidirectional settings button is enabled, you can dynamically set the bidirectional options described in this topic.