Re: Field + and Field - keyboard mapping

[Scott Klement <tn5250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The + and - keys that are above the alphabetic keys on my keyboard will 
only act as field+ and field- in a signed numeric field.  If they didn't 
do that, you wouldn't be able to ever type + or -.

However, the + and - keys that are on the numeric keypad on the 
right-hand side of my keyboard always function as field- and field+, no 
matter what sort of field I'm in.

For example, let's say you're an RPG programmer trying to key the 
following in:

            EVAL  X = Y + 5

If the + key always acted as field+, when you hit the + (after the Y) 
it'd clear the rest of the line and put the cursor on the next line. 
That's not what you want!!

Note that most emulation software I've used (such as iSeries Access or 
Rumba) never treats these keys as field+ or field- -- but we thought it 
would be helpful, especially on a laptop where you might not have a 
numeric keypad.

Having said all of this -- there are many, many ways to set up the 
keyboard, so just because mine works this way doesn't mean that yours 
will.  Since I don't even know what platform you're running (Linux, 
Unix, Mac, Windows?) or which of the terminals you're using (console, 
xterm, gtk, x5250, win32) it's very hard to know how your environment is 
set up relative to mine.


Brian McKee wrote:
> man tn5250 says that
> '+ and - only work as Field+ and Field- in signed numeric fields'
>
> Is that a design choice or a bug?    In other words - can I change it  
> so that they work as Field+ and Field- all the time?
>
> And do you have any suggestions how to get back-tab to be shift+tab?
>
> If I can get those two nailed I'll be able to roll this out to about  
> 50 users....
>
> Brian McKee