Chapter 15: Configuring Terminals and Printers

This chapter describes how to set up and configure terminals and printers for the CICS Option component of Mainframe Express.

Overview

The user interface to CICS Option applications from the PC is through 3270 terminal emulators. The 3270 terminal emulators enable CICS Option to display CICS application input and output screens on the PC using 3270 data streams and to receive input from the PC.

When you start a 3270 terminal emulator, it is installed into a CICS Option region. The parameters that describe the terminal are determined either by a set of default rules, or by an autoinstall control program (ACP). CICS Option uses autoinstall to install terminals; if you want to configure or control the way autoinstall behaves, you can supply an ACP.

This chapter describes the default installation parameters and the steps needed to implement user autoinstall on a region, as well as the details of the ACP interface.

You can also connect 3270 terminal emulators running on other multi-tasking Windows NT machines to CICS Option over a network.

You can also connect a third-party Telnet 3270 (TN3270) terminal emulator, by defining it on the Communications tab of the SIT Properties dialog box. For more information see the section Telnet 3270 Terminal Emulators.

Terminal Emulator Installation

CICS Option does not require a Terminal Control Table entry to be defined for each terminal. Instead, it creates an entry dynamically each time a user starts a 3270 terminal emulator.

When you start a terminal emulator, it passes a set of parameters to the autoinstall program. These can all be set from the Mainframe Express IDE, except for the screen size, which the emulator picks up automatically from its environment.

CICS Option then builds a Terminal Control Table entry from the parameters supplied in one of two ways:

Autoinstall provides you with greater flexibility in defining terminals, but requires some work to implement (see the section Implementing the Autoinstall Exit).

Example Terminal Definitions

The resource definition file supplied with CICS Option contains a group, DFHTERM, which contains example 3270 terminal definitions. The supplied group contains the following definitions:

Model Model Name Netname Termid
2 MODMOD2 NETMOD2 MOD2
3 MODMOD3 NETMOD3 MOD3
4 MODMOD4 NETMOD4 MOD4
5 MODMOD5 NETMOD5 MOD5

If you want to use one of these definitions, you must include the group DFHTERM in the startup list for the project, as follows:

  1. Click the CICS tab on the Project View.
  2. Right-click on CICS System to display the associated context menu.
  3. Click Startup List to display the Startup List Configuration dialog box.
  4. Check whether the group DFHTERM is in the left-hand list of Groups in Startup List. If not:
    1. Select the group from the right-hand list.
    2. Click << Add to move it to the left-hand list.
    3. Click OK to confirm the move.

To select one of these terminal definitions, you use the Configure Default Terminal dialog; either:

  1. Click CICS on the Tools menu of the IDE.
  2. Click Region Management.
  3. Click Configure Default Terminal.

or:

  1. Click Start Debugging on the Debug menu of the IDE.
  2. Click the CICS tab.
  3. Click Configure Default Terminal.

If you are using a multi-tasking region and would like multiple 3270 terminals connected to the same region to use the same terminal definition then you must select Model in Based on and specify the model name you require from the table above in Name. The termid and netname will be assigned automatically during auto-install.

If you require a particular termid or netname or have no requirement to share the terminal definition then you should select Netname in Based on and specify the netname you require from the table above in Name. The termid and netname you specified will be assigned during auto-install. If the netname is already in use then the the auto-install process will fail.

Terminal Installation Parameters

When a 3270 terminal emulator starts, it passes a set of parameters to CICS Option. These are either used to install the terminal directly, or passed to the autoinstall process.

The parameters passed to autoinstall are:

Parameter Setting
Screen Size (rows - 1) x columns of physical terminal device. One row is subtracted to allow for the 3270 status line. Set in the terminal control table.
TRANONLY Enabled if the Transaction IDs only option is selected for the Fold to uppercase field on the Configure Default 3270 Terminal dialog box. (TRANONLY translates only transaction identifiers to upper case).
UCTRAN Enabled if the All input option is selected for the Fold to uppercase field on the Configure Default 3270 Terminal dialog box. (UCTRAN translates all characters to upper case).
Initial transaction id This can be set in the Initial transaction id field on the Configure Default 3270 Terminal dialog box. If it is not set here, the initial transaction specified in the SIT is used.
Model name Only if the Model option is selected for the Based on field on the Configure Default 3270 Terminal dialog box. The Name field specifies the name of a model defined using terminal and typeterm definitions in the resource definition facility. If autoinstall is being used, only this terminal is passed forward to the autoinstall control program (ACP).
Netname Either set by selecting the Netname option for the Based on field on the Configure Default 3270 Termnial dialog box, or created automatically. Automatic netnames are assigned sequentially as terminals log on, running NETA000, NETB000, ..., NETZ000, NETa000, ..., NETz000, NETA001, ..., through to NETz999. Each netname in the region must be unique.

Netname can request the use of a physical terminal definition. Terminal definitions with MODEL=NO/YES are eligible for physical definitions and can be used only by one terminal at a time in a region.

Terminal id Either the terminal ID of a physical terminal definition, or a terminal ID allocated by a user autoinstall program. The default is the last four characters of the netname.

Configuring the Autoinstall Exit

The supplied autoinstall exit DFHZATDX selects the best model definition match based on screen size. If you write your own autoinstall program you can select the model and change other parameters such as the terminal ID.

Note: DFHZATDX is not a supplied program. It is a special name that drives the auto-installation behavior.

Implementing the Autoinstall Exit Program

To implement autoinstall in a region you can use the supplied autoinstall exit DFHZATDX or you can specify your own autoinstall control program (ACP).

To use your own ACP you must:

  1. Write an Autoinstall Control Program (ACP).

    The interface to ACP is fully defined below. Put the executable file for the program on the program path. The Autoinstall Processing section describes the flow of information between the ACP and a CICS Option region.

  2. Enter the ACP program name in the AI Exit field in the SIT.

    Information on updating the SIT is available in the online help; click Help Topics on the Mainframe Express Help menu, then on the Contents tab click CICS Option, Defining Resources, How to View and change the SIT. You should be aware that the autoinstall exit interface is designed to be an ASCII interface. The autoinstall exit you specify in the AI field in the SIT must be a program compiled with the CHARSET(ASCII) Compiler directive.

  3. Define one or more terminal models from which the ACP can select (see the section Terminal Models later in this chapter).

Autoinstall Interface

You should write an ACP that is supplied with:

The control program returns:

Autoinstall Control Program Call Interface

The ACP has the following call interface:

ENTRY ai-prog-name USING a-string pointer-1 pointer-2
       pointer-3 pointer-4

where:

ai-prog-name is the program name entered in the AI Exit field of the SIT.

The remaining parameters are part of DFHCOMMAREA as follows:

01  DFHCOMMAREA
    03 a-string     PIC X(4).
    03 pointer-1    POINTER.        pointing to Net-Info.
    03 pointer-2    POINTER.        pointing to Model-table.
    03 pointer-3    POINTER.        pointing to TCT-Info.
    03 pointer-4    POINTER.        pointing to Term-Info.

where:

a-string contains x'F0' in the first byte. If the autoinstall exit is to reject the install attempt, the ACP should not alter this value. If the autoinstall exit is to accept the install attempt, the ACP should set a-string to LOW-VALUES.
pointer-n is defined further in the following sections.

This data format and those for pointer-1, pointer-2, pointer-3, and pointer-4 are supplied in copybook dfhcwai.cpy.

Pointer-1

Pointer-1 points to memory block 1.

Data Format:

Memory block 1 is passed to the ACP with data in the following format:

01  Net-info.
    03 name-length      PIC X       COMP-X.
    03 netname          PIC X(8).

where:

name-length Contains the length of the netname field.
netname Contains the netname. This field is padded with spaces to eight characters.

Pointer-2

Pointer-2 points to memory block 2.

Memory block 2 is passed to the ACP containing the list of suitable autoinstall models for the physical screen.

Data Format:
01  Model-table.
    03 table-name-count     PIC X    COMP-X.
    03 autinst-name-1       PIC X(8).
        

You can include between 1 and 100 entries of autinst-name-n, depending on table-name-count.

where:

table-name-count Number of entries in the table
autinst-name-n Autoinstall model name.

The memory block contains table-name-count autoinstall entries.

Pointer-3

Pointer-3 points to memory block 3. The ACP uses memory block 3 to return information enabling CICS Option to create a TCT entry and log the terminal on to the system.

Data Format:
01 TCT-Info. 
    03 autinstname          PIC X(8). 
    03 terminal-id          PIC X(4). 
    03 printer-id           PIC X(4).
    03 altprinter-id        PIC X(4). 
    03 status-byte          PIC X(1).

where:

autinstname The name of the autoinstall model to be used to create the terminal.
terminal-id The ID with which CICS Option registers the terminal. If the ID is set to LOW-VALUES, CICS Option assigns an ID automatically. CICS Option terminal ids are assigned from A0000, B0000... to Z9999.
printer-id Printer to assign to the terminal. If set to LOW-VALUES, CICS Option assigns the printer defined for the autoinstall model.
altprinter-id Printer to assign to the terminal. If set to LOW-VALUES, CICS Option assigns the alternate printer defined for the autoinstall model.
status-byte Set this byte to LOW-VALUES to register the terminal. If set to any other value, CICS Option aborts terminal registration.

Pointer-4

Pointer-4 points to memory block 4.

Data Format:

Memory block 4 contains data in the following format:

01 Term-Info. 
    03 term-info-length     PIC X   COMP-X. 
    03 height               PIC X   COMP-X. 
    03 width                PIC X   COMP-X. 
    03 uctran-setting       PIC X.

where:

term-info-length Length of following control block. In this release, always contains 3.
height Height of physical display in rows.
width Width of physical display in columns.
uctran-setting Contains U if uppercase translation was enabled on the Configure Default 3270 Terminal dialog box.

Autoinstall Processing

This section explains the process and information flows when a user starts a 3270 terminal emulator from the Mainframe Express IDE.

Figure 15-1 illustrates the steps in the autoinstall process.

The autoinstall process

Figure 15-1: The autoinstall process

  1. The autoinstall process receives information from the terminal installation parameters.
  2. The autoinstall process builds a list of models (from resource definitions in the terminal control table), with screen sizes compatible with the physical terminal (see the section Screen Sizes).
  3. The autoinstall process calls the ACP, supplying it with the following information:
  4. The ACP returns the parameters that CICS Option needs to create a terminal control table entry dynamically. These are:

    The ACP also supplies the name of a printer and alternate printer to be associated with the terminal.

  5. CICS Option dynamically creates a terminal control table entry, using the returned parameters and the terminal model definition.

Terminal Models

A terminal model enables you to define a terminal more fully than the default parameters supplied at terminal startup (see the section Terminal Installation Parameters earlier in this chapter). A terminal model can also override some, but not all, of the defaults supplied at startup.

Defining Terminal Models

The steps to define a terminal model are outlined below. You must use the character interface to resource definition (click Resource Definition from CICS on the Tools menu) to define the terminal and typeterm entries. Within resource definition you can get help information on each field by pressing Alt+F1=help.

  1. Create a new entry in the terminal control table. (Press F7=group resources, enter group name, press F9=terminal/connection and press F2=terminal/model.)
  2. Create a matching typeterm entry (if none exists). (Press F7=group resources, enter group name and press F10=typeterm.) At a minimum, this must specify:

    Many different models can refer to the same typeterm entry.

Startup Overrides

A terminal model can override some, but not all, of the parameters defined in the section Terminal Installation Parameters.

The list below shows the scope of what a terminal model can do:

Parameter Model
Screen size Can define screen size as the same, smaller, or up to one line longer (see the section Screen Sizes).
Uppercase translation Can enable uppercase translation.
Netname Cannot change.
Initial transaction ID Can supply a transaction ID, but cannot override one set on the Configure Default 3270 Terminal dialog box.

Defining a TCT User Area (TCTUA)

You can define a TCTUA in several ways. In each case you must define the terminal and typeterm entries using the character interface to resource definition - click CICS on the Tools menu of the IDE, then click Resource Definition. From the main menu, press F7, enter the group name, press Enter. From this menu either press F9 followed by F2 to define the terminal model, or press F10 to define the typeterm.

  1. Define a terminal with the following parameters set:

    You must then define a typeterm and set the terminal type to the name you supplied in the Term Type field of the terminal definition (TCTUATYP in the example above). You should also set the User Area Size field (a value from 1 to 255). You must also enter Y in the Uppercase Translation field if you require uppercase translation.

    Either:

    Start the terminal specifying NETTCTUA as the netname and it will use this terminal definition. (This can only be used for one terminal in a multi-tasking system so is only recommended for the single-tasking system.)

    or:

    Start the terminal specifying MODTCTUA as the model name and it will use a terminal definition modelled on the TCTUATYP typeterm.

  2. Define the terminal and typeterm as above and specify an AUTOINSTALL exit name of DFHZATDX. When you start either the single-tasking system or a 3270 terminal the model which closest matches the physical screen size will be used automatically.
  3. Define the terminal and typeterm as above, but define your own autoinstall user exit. Samples of this are the supplied autoinstall exits dfhuains.cbl and dfhuain2.cbl.

    If the Model is specified as "Y" then a netname is required. However if a model is set to "O" - Model only, then no netname is required.

Screen Sizes

CICS Option supports displays of up to 132 columns by 31 lines (a maximum of 4096 characters). The standard screen sizes are:

MOD2 24 x 80
MOD3 32 x 80
MOD4 43 x 80
MOD5 27 x 132

Whenever you start a 3270 terminal emulator, it passes the physical screen size to the autoinstall process, deducting one line from the length to allow space for the status line.

The autoinstall process treats any screen size defined in the typeterm as compatible if it is no more than one line longer than the physical screen size as defined by the terminal emulator program. That is, there are enough lines for the data, but no separate line for the 3270 status line.

The terminal emulator handles the status line in different ways, depending on whether the physical screen can display it on its own separate line or not. This is covered in the next section.

The Status Line

3270 terminal emulators have four status line display modes, through which the end-user can cycle by pressing Alt-T:

ON Status line permanently displayed. Set whenever the physical screen is physically large enough.
OFF Status line permanently disabled. Terminal user selectable option.
X-SYSTEM Status line displayed briefly over bottom line of data whenever there is a system status change, message or INHIBIT INPUT. Set whenever the screen is not physically large enough.
Hot-key The terminal user can toggle the status line on or off by pressing Alt-S. When displayed, the status line overlays the bottom line of data; toggling it off restores the data line. Terminal user selectable option.

Light Pen Support

Light pen support is provided through a mouse simulation of the light pen facility.

Activating Light Pen Support

If you do not have your own autoinstall exit, use the character interface to resource definition (click Resource Definition from CICS on the Tools menu) and:

Model Y
Auto Install Model Name MODLPEN
Net name NETLPEN
Term Type LPENTYPE
Inservice Y
Connection Type TERMINAL

If you have your own autoinstall exit you should ensure that light pen is specified in the terminal model you use.

Operating Light Pen Support

Mouse button 1 (left button) positions the cursor at the indicated character

Mouse button 2 (right button) behaves as follows:

Double clicking mouse button 1 is equivalent to one click of mouse button 2.

Telnet 3270 Terminal Emulators

CICS Option includes an interface to enable use of a TN3270 terminal emulator in place of the built-in 3270 terminal emulation. This enables you to use the same terminal emulators that you use to connect to your mainframe CICS system. The TN3270 emulator session can run on the same machine as Mainframe Express or on a network machine.

You specify that you want to use a TN3270 terminal emulator on the Communications tab of the SIT Properties dialog box. Check Enable gateway in the TN3270 group to enable the use of a TN3270 terminal emulator. Then specify the TCP/IP port number used by the terminal emulator in Port number. This is usually 23.

By default CICS Option installs TN3270 terminals dynamically as basic 3270 terminals. This means that some of the more advanced features of your TN3270 terminal emulator won't be available. To make these features available, you need to enable CICS Option to associate the TN3270 device type and a CICS typeterm definition.

The TN3270 device type is specified by the emulator software and might or might not be configurable. Device types indicate the ability of the emulator to support various elements of the 3270 data stream, for example, color, extended attributes, the use of a TCTUA etc.

During the connection negotiation the TN3270 client sends a data packet indicating which device it wishes to emulate. CICS Option uses this data to identify a typeterm entry which defines this terminal type.

To make this work you need to:

  1. Define a typeterm entry that matches the capabilities of the TN3270 terminal emulator.
  2. Define a terminal model entry which points to this typeterm definition. Required fields for the terminal model entry are:
    Terminal id Unique name of this terminal model
    Auto install model O(nly) or Y(es)
    Auto install name The TN3270 device type
    Term type The name of the typeterm entry to use with this terminal

For example, suppose the TN3270 client software is configured to emulate an IBM 3279 MOD2 with support for extended attributes. At connection time CICS Option searches for a terminal model entry with the name TN32792E. The terminal type specified in this terminal entry is then used to look up the terminal's details in the termtype entry .

If you want to use a screen size other than the default, which is MOD2 (24 by 80), you also need to:

  1. Specify the screen size in the Alt screen field of the typeterm entry (screen 2).
  2. Set the environment variable TX_TN3270_FORCE_ALT=Yes before starting Mainframe Express.

Printers

You can use a printer device for 3270 printer support. Printer support is handled by 3270 printer emulators, which interpret the 3270 printer data stream and send it to a system printer.

To start a printer emulator in a CICS Option multi-tasking region, you must enable printer support. To do this update the following fields in the SIT using the character interface to resource definition (click Resource Definition from CICS on the Tools menu):

Field Contents
Printer Support Y
Printer Destination Device name for printed output

The CICS Option multi-tasking region starts a printer emulator for each entry in the terminal table which is:

The netname defined in the terminal table must be unique to the region. The terminal ID for the printer is taken from the terminal definition.

To avoid conflicts with automatically assigned netnames (see the section Terminal Installation Parameters), you should assign netnames to printers counting downwards: PRNZ999, PRNY999 ... PRNA000.


Copyright © 2006 Micro Focus (IP) Ltd. All rights reserved.