Disabling the Edit/View entry panel

Does the 'edit/view entry panel' annoy you by 'popping up' whenever you try to edit/view a PS file? Have you wished you had a 'pop-up blocker' activated for the edit/view entry panel? :)

When you try to open a PS file in edit/view mode, you get the Edit/View entry panel which allows you to specify Initial Macro, Profile Name, Format Name etc. It can be annoying (if you generally don’t use the options available in the entry panel), because it presents another screen to be passed before you are taken to the edit or view session.

Is there a way to disable this panel, so that we are taken directly to the edit or view session? Of course, there is.

After entering the dataset name in option 3.4, in the DSLIST screen, select the ‘Options’ drop down and select 'DSLIST Settings', as shown below:

Deselect the ‘Display Edit/View entry panel (*)’ option. Done.

Now, whenever you try to open a PS file in edit/view mode, you will be skipping the Edit/View entry panel and will be directly taken to the file contents.
You can revert back the setting by selecting the ‘Display Edit/View entry panel (*)’ option.

Extra Bytes: The Edit/View entry panel can be used for running initial macros, for instance we can use ‘Initial Macro’ option to specify a macro that is to be executed, or to specify commands to be executed (eg. ‘F ABC’), before the data is displayed for the edit or view session. So do we not have an option to run initial macros or execute commands in 'PDS member' before the data is displayed? We can do that by providing the macro or command, in the ‘Prompt’ field next to the PDS members.

Hotspot Menu

Haven't you wished you had a menu in your Mainframe session, to invoke/ run Mainframe commands, utilities, tools, macros and even Windows applications; with just a click of the mouse?

Well, we can do just that, with the help of EPC’s Hotspots feature.

In the Extra! Client menu select View => Hotspots; in the ‘Assignments’ tab click on ‘Add’ and type in the text for which the Hotspot has to be activated. In the ‘Action’ tab select what action has to be performed when you click the Hotspot. Simple.
Now wherever the ‘Hotspot Text’ you have added appears in your session, you can invoke the action defined for the text with the click of the mouse (you can choose Single click or Double click to invoke the hotspot action in the new version of EPC 8.0; in older versions the hotspot will be activated by Double click)

So now that we have created a hotspot, why not we create a Menu with which we can invoke frequently used utilities, commands, macros, tools, Windows applications etc.?

For eg. my menu might look something like this (click to see pic at 100% zoom):

How do you assign actions to be invoked in the ‘Action’ tab?

If Hotspot text ‘3.4’ should open a new DSLIST screen with a frequently used dataset name: In the ‘Action’ tab select ‘Miscellaneous’ Category, select ‘Send Keys’ (Commands), and assign Keystrokes as “*Home* START 3.4 *Enter* *Tab* TEST.FREQUENT.PDS”

(where *Enter*, *Home* and *Tab* commands can be obtained from the 'Display Keys' list)

If Hotspot text ‘MACRO1’ should execute a Macro, select ‘Macro’ under Category and select ‘Run Macro’ Command and assign the Macro which has to be run.

If ‘ERROR ASSISTANT’ should open the Error Assist software, or if ‘CALC’ should open Calculator; select Application=> Run Application and assign the exe to be run. (For eg: to run Texpad you will assign ‘C:\Program Files\TextPad 4\TextPad.exe’)

Hotspots can be used for doing much more. You can explore the different ‘Category’ and ‘Commands’ associated with it, in the ‘Action’ tab, and add more interesting functionalities to your Menu.

SEND command

It would be interesting, if we could send messages to other mainframe users from our Mainframe Session, wouldn’t it be?

You can do just that, in the ISPF Command Shell (START 6) with the command:
SEND 'HELLO USER HOW ARE YOU?' USER(XXXXXXX)
(where XXXXXXX stands for the User id)

And Voila! The User ID XXXXXXX gets the message on his/her screen.
Alternatively, You can also give the command ‘TSO SEND 'MESSAGE' USER(USERID)’ from any ISPF panel.

What if you want to send the same message to multiple users at the same time?
The command would be: SEND 'MESSAGE' USER
And then you will be prompted to enter the IDs to which you want the message to go to – Just separate each ID by a SPACE.

What if the user is not logged on?
You get the message “USER(S) XXXXXXX NOT LOGGED ON OR TERMINAL DISCONNECTED, MESSAGE CANCELLED”
But don’t worry. You can leave a message for any user to receive when (s)he logs on, by typing: send 'MESSAGE' user(USERID) logon

Are there only Positives and no Down-sides to this command? Of course there are!
First of all, DO NOT enter the command without an user ID (send 'MESSAGE'). Why? Because the message goes to the CCN operator (and you don’t want to be sending your messages there. Believe me!)
Then there is the limitation to the length of your message in one SEND command. The text in one SEND is limited to 115 characters.

Mission & Vision

A series that aims to show you just how fun, working with Mainframes can be, while trying to:
1.) Learn shortcuts,
2.) Work Smarter and faster, and
3.) Explore interesting, fun facets of MFs

Keywords

Mainframe Tips Tricks TSO ISPF DB2 KR