Displaying long names and values in scrollable fields

Certain identifiers, such as authorization IDs and program and collection names, can be up to 128 characters long. In general, if an identifier or any applicable field value is too long for the space available in a panel, the Online Monitor displays the information in a so-called scrollable field. To view the non-visible section of a scrollable field, you can place the cursor on the field and use an assigned function key to scroll through the information.

Figure 1 shows a fictitious example of a panel with possible variations of scrollable fields. Relevant parts of the panel are in italics. The string abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz represents a hypothetical field value that is too long to fit into the available space (of whatever field).
  • Variation 1 shows that the string is left-aligned and truncated at the right side (uvwxyz is not shown). A plus sign (+) follows the string, which indicates that more of the field's content is available on the right side.
  • Variation 2 shows that the string is right-aligned and truncated at the left side (abcdef is not shown). A minus sign (-) follows the string, which indicates that more of the field's content is available on the left side.
  • Variation 3 shows that the string is centered and truncated at the left and right sides (abc and xyz are not shown). A plus sign and a minus sign (-+) follow the string, which indicates that more of the field's content is available on both sides.
Figure 1. Fictitious panel with scrollable field variations
 DGOMTWPK                    Current Package

                                                           More:     +
 Location  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PMO1D711
 Collection ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : abcdefghijklmnopqrst  +
 Program name  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz -
 Consistency token . . . . . . . . . . . . . : defghijklmnopqrstuvw -+
 ----------------------------- QPACPKID+0 -------------------------------
 | ISPEXPND                                          Line   1 of      1 |
 |                                                                      |
 | abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxz                                            |
 |                                                                      |
 |                                                                      |
 |                                                                      |
 | Command ===>                                      Scroll ===> CSR    |
 |  F1=Help     F2=Split    F3=Exit     F5=Rfind    F6=Rchange  F7=Up   |
 |  F8=Down     F9=Swap    F10=Left    F11=Right   F12=Cancel           |
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  F7=Up         F8=Down       F9=Swap      F12=Cancel    F14=Purge
 F16=Look      F17=Collect   F21=Expand    F22=Left      F23=Right
The plus and minus signs next to fields act as scroll indicators.
  • If shown, they indicate that the content of a field is shown in part. No scroll indicator is shown if the complete field content can be presented.
  • Whether more of a field's content is available on the left, on the right, or on both sides. Minus (-) associates the left side, plus (+) associates the right side.

    Initially, all field values are shown left-aligned, which means that only the plus sign is shown. The minus sign is shown after you scrolled through a field by means of the function keys described next.

To view non-visible sections of an appropriate field, you need to position the cursor on the field and use the following function keys (the default function key settings are assumed).
  • F21 (Expand) shows the field's content in a separate window, which is overlaid on the current panel. If the content exceeds the available width of this window, it continues on the next line. Pressing F3 (Exit) or F12 (Cancel) closes the window.
  • F22 (Left) moves the begin of the shown field content toward the start of the actual content. The increment is the length of the available space, until the shown field content is left-aligned in the available space.
  • F23 (Right) moves the end of the shown field content toward the end of the actual content. The increment is the length of the available space, until the shown field content is right-aligned in the available space.

These keys can be used in any meaningful order, provided the cursor is positioned on a scrollable field. Otherwise, pressing a key has no effect.

The mechanism described so far is applicable to input fields and output fields. When you type information in a field, you can use the same function keys to position the content of a field. However, a subtle distinction should be noted: In output fields potentially existing trailing space characters are treated as nonexistent. This means, you cannot accidentally scroll to a non-visible section of the field content. In input fields trailing space characters are considered valid. This means, when you scroll through an input field with a long sequence of space characters, the field might appear empty but in fact is not.

Finally, you can get help about the use of scrollable fields by positioning the cursor on the scroll indicator area (reserved for the -+ indicators) and pressing F1 (Help).