Popup screen using CICS

pjnithin · Active User Joined: 22 Dec 2005 Posts: 116

Hi,

Please let me know whether there is an option to open a screen from another screen in the latest vresion of CICS. Basically is there any pop-up window option in CICS 4.1

We want to open a new window over an opened-window. Is there any way to do this with CICS utilities?

thanks,
Nithin.

CICS Guy · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:36 am

pjnithin · Active User Joined: 22 Dec 2005 Posts: 116

Thanks for the info. I would like to know how this can be achieved. Please let me know which would be the best way to achieve this.

CICS Guy · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:16 pm

pjnithin · Active User Joined: 22 Dec 2005 Posts: 116

No I don't have any idea about the protocols you have mentioned above.

pjnithin · Active User Joined: 22 Dec 2005 Posts: 116

Please give me some basic idea about. Currently in our system we use CTG to pass data between mainframes and we base systems. We need to know how a pop window kind of screen can be achieved using CICS.

CICS Guy · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:17 pm

Ok, try this on for size.....

In the 3270 world, the translation of a keystroke to the proper character on the screen is handled locally by the terminal/controller. The only time that the computer sees what has been entered is when the enter key (PFs too) has been hit so the only time the MF has the opportunity to send a popup is when that enter key is pressed.

In the small box world, a keystroke is transmitted all the way back to the computer where it is translated to the correct screen character and that character is then transmitted all the way back to the display attached to the keyboard. That is why windows and unix can anticipate what you are typing and provide suggestions in advance of completion of what you are typing.

Generally, once the enter has been hit, the current screen is sent back to your program. If your program determines that a popup is needed (say if one screen field needs additional verification or correction), your program needs to save all returned information and send the popup back to the user.
Normally, screen are sent with an erase to clear the previous screen but a popup is sent without that erase thus making it look like the popup is displaying in front of the prior screen. The popup, smaller than the full screen, can be positioned somewhere other than the upper left corner of the screen for a more dramatic effect.
Once the user has responded to the popup and hit enter, your program gets the smaller map back and processes it. Now your program continues processing with the original screen's data and the information from the popup and the next screen to the user will erase both the original screen and the popup.

Done right, the time from the original screen enter key and the display of the popup is (almost) instantaneous. The same for the popup enter key and the subsequent screen, almost like a windows popup.

MBabu · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:45 pm

It's been many years since I wrote a popup using BMS. Isn't there something you also have to do to insure that the input fields on the underlying screen are made output before displaying the popup? In other words, does the popup logic have to be cognizant of the screen on which it was being displayed (eg, change attributes in underlying screen, redisplay underlying screen, show popup, redisplay original underlying screen) and if so, can that be done generically or does the popup have to know the exact screen name, fields, etc?

To answer the original question though, V4.1 does not have anything new specific to creating popup panels.

CICS Guy · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:28 pm

MBabu · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 4:05 am

That is what I remember. If there were input fields outside the bounds of the popup, they remain as input fields which gets confusing. I think the expectation would be something like ISPF which changes those fields to output. I seem to recall that you can read a 3270 buffer from CICS without an aid key but I don't think I ever tried an unsolicitited read (or if such a thing even exists). But then all the modifications would require some fancy 3270 data stream programming and I don't think any sane person would want to do that. I think when I did popups, the application knew and used the underlying BMS map to set the attributes off and back on (I didn't need to worry about modified data tags).

Earl Haigh · Active User Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 475

CICS Guy · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 6:27 am

[quote="Earl Haigh"]