General Information

This document covers the following topics:

• Defining Editor Defaults

• Calling an Editor in Predict

• Functional Scope of the Editors available in Predict

Defining Editor Defaults

Specify your preferred editor in the Profile > Handling screen shown below. Since not every editor can be used for every task in Predict, and not every editor is supported in every environment, the editor that is actually called will depend on the function and your current environment.

For example:

• If you have the Software AG Editor as first choice and the Natural Editor as second choice editor, the Link Editor (a modified Natural Editor) will be called for the function Link children because the Software AG Editor cannot be used to edit a link list.

• The Software AG Editor will always be called to process the result of a retrieval operation, irrespective of the preferred editors specified in the screen below.

    13:01:26             *****  P R E D I C T  *****              2007-05-31
                                    - Handling -
   
    Profile ......... HNO
   
    Display first screen (logo screen) ....... Y  (Y,N)
    Menu type ...............................* F  Function Main Menu
    Use as editor (first choice) ............* S  Software AG Editor
                  (second choice) ...........* C  Natural Editor
                  (third choice) ............*    (none)
      Additional parameters for Word for Windows
        Download PC part ..................... N
        Entire Connection task name ..........
        Predict Word for Windows directory
        (Directory must end with backslash) ..                                   -
   

Limited Checks with Word for Windows as First Choice Editor

If Word for Windows is specified as first choice editor, Predict only checks whether the connection from host to PC is active. This means that the Natural parameter PC is set to ON, either by

• specifying PC=ON when starting Natural or

• entering %+ in the command line of your Predict session.

If Word for Windows cannot be called for any other reason (for example due to an invalid task in Entire Connection or because workfiles are incorrectly defined), the function Edit description or Edit extended description skeleton will be terminated. Your second or third choice editors will not be invoked.

Effects of Editor Defaults

The preferences specified in the Profile > Handling screen affect the following maintenance functions in Predict:

Calling an Editor in Predict

The Natural Editor and the Software AG Editor must be installed in order to use Predict.

Natural Editor

The Natural Editor can be called using one of the following methods. The editor must have been given a higher priority in the Profile > Handling screen.

• Enter Y in the Additional attributes field in the bottom line of any Add, Copy or Modify screen and select, for example, Description to edit the extended description of the current object.

• Call an Edit function in a maintenance menu, for example Edit subquery of a file in the File maintenance menu to edit the subquery expression of a file.

• Enter an EDIT command, for example EDIT FILE DESCRIPTION <file-id> to edit the extended description of the specified file.

Software AG Editor

The Software AG Editor is called automatically for the following functional areas.

• Retrieval

• Active retrieval

• File implementation: Display implementation plan

• Function Display for file, database, dataspace and storagespace administration

• Online help

The Editor is called irrespective of which editor is defined as preferred editor in the Profile > Handling screen.

Word for Windows

Word for Windows is called automatically for functions Add / Modify extended description, Add / Modify extended description skeleton. The editor must have been given a higher priority in the Profile > Handling screen and the other prerequisites must be met. See Maintaining Extended Descriptions with Word for Windows.

Functional Scope of the Editors available in Predict