DY - Dynamic Attributes

This session parameter is used to assign attributes for dynamic attribute field display.

Possible settings See DY Parameter Syntax.
Default setting none  
Applicable statements

DISPLAY
INPUT
PRINT
WRITE

Parameter may be specified at statement level and/or at element level.
Applicable command none  

Special identification characters (escape characters) are used to indicate the beginning and end of attribute definitions.

An alphanumeric field which is processed with an INPUT, DISPLAY, WRITE or PRINT statement, and which contains escape characters, is split into subfields at the escape character position. The corresponding attribute is then assigned to the subfield. A blank is substituted for the escape character.

For a part of a field for which a DY specification applies, the current field presentation and color is changed to what is newly defined in the DY entry. If the DY segment does not contain a new setting for the

  • field presentation

    (means no B, C, D, I, N, U, V), the attribute active for the complete field remains in effect, regardless of whether originally derived from a static setting (for example, AD=I) or from a control variable (for example, CV=#C).

  • field color

    (means no BL, GR, NE, PI, RE, TU, YE), the color is set to what is statically assigned to the field (with CD=..), without considering a color which was possibly set via a control variable (CV=..). If the field has no static (CD=..) assignment, the color information is completely removed from the field segment affected by the DY manipulation.

The following topics are covered below:

DY Parameter Syntax

DY={{escape-character1} [color-attribute] [i/o-characteristics] [field-representation-attribute] } ... {escape-character2}

The possible settings are explained below.

escape-character1

An escape character which denotes the beginning of the attribute definition. Any special character or a hexadecimal number preceded by an apostrophe ('xx) may be used.

color-attribute

The color attribute to be assigned. See also the session parameter CD (color definition).

BL blue
GR green
NE neutral
PI pink
RE red
TU turquoise
YE yellow

i/o-characteristics

Value Meaning
P Subfield is to be write-protected.

A P may be specified to make the subfield write-protected. See also the session parameter AD (attribute definition).

field-representation-attribute

Additional attributes to be assigned. See also the session parameter AD (attribute definition).

Value Meaning
B blinking (*)
C cursive/italic (*)
D default intensity
I intensified
N non-display
U underlined
V reverse video (*)

* The field representation attributes marked with an asterisk (*) require corresponding hardware features, and will be ignored at runtime if these features are not available.

escape-character2

An escape character which denotes the end of the attribute definition. Any special character (c) or a hexadecimal number preceded by an apostrophe ('xx) may be used.

You may specify up to eight escape sequences (escape characters and attributes) before the character indicating the end of the attribute definitions.

Examples

Example 1:

DY=<U>

The text string:

THIS <is> UNDERLINED

is printed as:

THIS is UNDERLINED

Example 2:

DY=<BL|RE/GR>

Assigns:

Blue to <

Red to |

Green to /

> switches back to the initial field color.

Example 3:

DY=<P>;

The text string:

Do not overwrite <this>

is printed as:

Do not overwrite this

(where this is protected)