CICS - Tab Order Change Possible?

[mfereday]

I have a need to change the native Tab order from going to the next unprotected field on line 1 of a map, to an unprotected field on line 2 - then back to line 1, and back to line two, etc. Is there a way in CICS or BMS mapping to do this without changing the map layout?
e.g.Map layout - desired flow

1 name 2 range from 4 range from
3 range to 5 range to
6 name 7 range from 9 range from
8 range to 10 range to
etc..

 

[stevexff]

No.

The action of the tab key is 'go to next unprotected field' in the 3270 buffer. It's not a BMS or CICS thing, it's 3270.

Steve

 

[muralidpu]

U can acheive this by attention identifiers
i.e. Handle AID
i.e.
u can check the cursor position using eibcposn and if that is in the field which u want to send from then send to appropriate field and repeat this for next filed too by using dynamic cursor position.

murali

 

[stevexff]

Sorry, but I disagree.

The tab key on a 3270 (or 3270 emulator) does not cause an interrupt i.e. it doesn't send the map back to CICS. It just tabs the cursor to the next unprotected field on the screen. So your program doesn't get called, and you can't do any of the things that muralidpu suggests...

I'm not sure that you can influence the tab order in any way, but if you can it Will be in the 3270 Data Stream Programmmers Guide, and you may end up having to write your own 3270 data stream. You really don't want to do this, as different devices support different attributes. 3270 data streams date from a time when 2400 baud was considered to be high bandwith, so they use every single bit to maximum effect. That's why CICS terminal control was invented in the first, simply because 3270 data streams are such a nightmare.