Selecting, displaying, and updating definitions

Overview

This section describes the handling of the ISPF interface for the following tasks:

  • Selecting, displaying and changing the existing definitions
  • Inserting new definitions

Panel sequence

This sequence of the panels basically applies to the maintenance of the definitions with the help of the ISPF interface:

  1. Selecting definitions

    You can enter your selection criteria in the fields of a selection panel which is displayed after an option is called, to display the matching definitions.

  2. Displaying definitions

    The matching definitions are displayed in a table and can be processed with the help of appropriate line commands.

  3. Updating a definition or inserting a definition

    A definition can be inserted, or an existing definition can be modified with the help of this panel.

Selecting definitions

At first, a selection panel is displayed after the respective option in the selection menu is called. You can enter your selection criteria for the display of matching definitions in the fields of this panel.

Some fields support the entry of masks. Masks can contain the following characters:

  • % (Percent sign) stands for any character
  • * (Asterisk) stands for any character (including a zero string)

The matching definitions are selected from the database when you press ENTER.

Last changed: Date and User ID

With the help of the fields under Last Changed you can limit the selection to those data records, which were changed during the given period and/or by the specified user.

Valid entries in both date fields are:

  • Date (any date format which is supported by Adabas Audit Data Retrieval)
  • The keywords TODAY and YESTERDAY
  • The week days

Valid entries in the User ID field are:

  • A user ID or mask

If no matching definition is found

The following possibilities are available if no matching definition is found:

  • The "Insert Definition" panel appears.

    You can insert a new definition with the help of the displayed panel.

  • The message "No data found" is displayed in the selection panel.

    This messages appears instead of the "Insert Definition" panel if one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

    • You have entered a mask in at least one field of the selection panel.
    • You have entered a value in at least one of the fields which is not a data field key.

    Even if the above mentioned conditions are fulfilled, some selection panels always jump to the "Insert Definition" panel.

Displaying definitions

The matching definitions will be displayed in a table (Display definitions) when you press ENTER in the selection panel.

You can update the displayed definitions or insert a new definition with the help of the line commands which are supported in the respective panels. The available line commands (or a selection of them) will be displayed in the respective panel, if you have switched-on the Extended Help Mode.

Inserting definitions

You can insert a new definition with the help of this panel. Select one of the following options to display this panel:

  • Enter a new name in the data field keys of the selection panel.
  • Enter one of the following line commands in front of a definition in the selection panel (Insert definitions):

    I

    A panel with empty entry fields is displayed.

    C

    A copy of the existing definition is displayed.

    The values in the data field keys must be changed in order to save the definition under a new name.

Enter the desired values in the fields of the displayed panel and press ENTER in order to save the new definition. The new definition is displayed in the selection table (Display definitions). The message "Insert Successful" appears in the upper right-hand corner of the panel.

If you would like to exit the "Insert Definition" panel without saving the new definition, press PF3 instead.

Updating definitions

You can display or change an existing definition with the help of this panel. Enter the line command S in front of the desired definition in the selection table (Update definitions) in order to display this definition in the panel.

In order to change existing data, enter the desired data in the respective entry fields and press ENTER to save your entries.

Press PF3 in order to exit a panel without saving the changes.

The data field keys of an existing definition are displayed as Display fields ( : ), as the corresponding values can not be changed. You can only change data field keys of an existing definition by making a copy of this definition (Line command C).

Deleting definitions

In all tables that contain database definitions, entries can be deleted with the line command D, provided the definitions are not referenced elsewhere.