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Menu 'Shortcuts' Unlike SPEED II, APPX allows us to put fields (modifiable or not) on the images associated with menus. We can take advantage of this to allow the user to enter something directly on the menu, instead of clicking on a choice. This 'shortcut' could refer to any process, not just the ones in the current application or menu. The approach is this: We'll create a file that contains a user defined code for the shortcut (CUST for Customer File Maintenance, for example) and the application id, process type and process name of the actual APPX process to be invoked. We'll put this field on the menu image as a modifiable field, and in the menu process, test to see if the user entered anything. If they did, we'll run the APPX process indicated by the information in the file. Let's start with a file to contain our shortcuts: File Descriptive Name Org File Type T DP AA RP ======== =================== ======= ============== ========== SHORTCUT Menu Shortcuts INDEXED PERMANENT T DPThis file contains Mnemonics and their associated APPX process. Used in MENUs to allow the user to directly execute a process by entering the Mnemonic. Seq Fld D --Stored--- -Options-- No Field Name Typ Format S Start Len T DL AA KC --- --------------------- --- --------------- - ----- ----- ---------- 100 SHORTCUT CODE Alp X(6) 1 1 6 T P 200 SHORTCUT DESCRIPTION Alp X(20) 1 7 20 T 300 SHORTCUT APPLICATION Alp X(3) 1 27 3 T 400 SHORTCUT PROC TYPE Alp X(10), Tbl 1 30 10 500 SHORTCUT PROC NAM Alp X(30) 1 40 30 T 600 SHORTCUT ADDED BY Sys User Add 1 70 3 700 SHORTCUT DATE ADDED Sys Date Add,CC-DD 1 73 5 800 SHORTCUT CHANGED BY Sys User Chg 1 78 3 900 SHORTCUT DATE CHANGED Sys Date Chg,CC-DD 1 81 5The SHORTCUT PROC TYPE validation table just contains the normal APPX process types, MENU, JOB, INPUT, etc. Next, we'll need a process to maintain this file. This is simple enough so we won't go over it in detail here, but there are a couple of 'tricks' to validate that the application, process type and process name really exist. It would also be nice if the user could SCAN the design files. To validate the process type, put the following code in the Verify Event Point: SET --- NEXT APPLICATION = TSY SHORTCUT APPLICATION SET --- NEXT VERSION = --- VERSION OPEN 0AD PROCESS SHARE? Y FAIL 0 F ERROR No Source Files for specified Application F END IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ MENU T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = MENU IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ JOB T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = JOB IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ INPUT T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = INPUT IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ OUTPUT T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = OUTPUT IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ UPDATE T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = UPDATE IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ QUERY T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = QUERY IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ STATUS T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = STATUS IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ INQUIRY T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = INQUIRY IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ SUBROUTINE T SET 0AD PROCESS TYPE = SUBROUTINE SET 0AD PROCESS NAM = TSY SHORTCUT PROC NAM READ 0AD PROCESS HOLD 0 FAIL 0 KEY IS PROCESS KEY F ERROR Process Not Found F POSITION TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE (AT APPEARANCE # )The reason we have to move constants into the 0AD PROCESS TYPE instead of just moving the SHORTCUT PROC TYPE is that the 0AD field is a token field, and unless our tokens matched exactly, it wouldn't work. There may be more elegant ways of doing this, but this is good enough for the 9 process types we have to deal with. To let the user SCAN into the Application Design files, put the following code in the Option Intercept Event Point:
IF --- OPTION EQ SCAN
T AT FIELD TSY SHORTCUT APPLICATION (AT APPEARANCE # )
TT SCAN TSY SHORTCUT APPLICATION = 0SA APPL ID
T SET --- NEXT APPLICATION = TSY SHORTCUT APPLICATION
T SET --- NEXT VERSION = --- VERSION
T AT FIELD TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE (AT APPEARANCE # )
TT IF TSY SHORTCUT APPLICATION EQ
TTT ERROR Can't SCAN for Processes Until Application is Entered
TTT END
TT SCAN TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE = 0AD PROCESS TYPE
TT SCAN TSY SHORTCUT PROC NAM = 0AD PROCESS NAM
T AT FIELD TSY SHORTCUT PROC NAM (AT APPEARANCE # )
TT IF TSY SHORTCUT APPLICATION EQ
TTT ERROR Can't SCAN for Processes Until Application is Entered
TTT END
TT SCAN TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE = 0AD PROCESS TYPE
TT SCAN TSY SHORTCUT PROC NAM = 0AD PROCESS NAM
The way this is written, the user can scan on either the type or name, and both fields are always returned. Note that they have to fill in the application id before they can scan.Now all we have to do is put the field SHORTCUT CODE on the menu's image as a modifiable field and with DLU to the SHORTCUT file (if we want to be nice...:-). We need some code to see if the user entered anything, and if so, perform the appropriate action. The subroutine that does this is called CHECK FOR SHORTCUT, and contains the following code: IF --- OPTION EQ RETURN AND TSY SHORTCUT CODE NE T GOSUB :RUN SHORTCUT * APPX Bug (?), if RETURN pressed on a menu with a modifiable * field, then field becomes non modifiable, so throw it away IF --- OPTION EQ RETURN T SET --- OPTION = RETURN * LABEL :RUN SHORTCUT READ TSY SHORTCUT HOLD 0 FAIL 0 KEY IS SHORTCUT CODE F RETURN SET --- NEXT APPLICATION = TSY SHORTCUT APPLICATION SET --- NEXT VERSION = --- VERSION SET --- NEXT PROCESS NAME = TSY SHORTCUT PROC NAM IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ MENU T MENU DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ JOB T JOB DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ INPUT T INPUT DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ OUTPUT T OUTPUT DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ UPDATE T UPDATE DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ QUERY T QUERY DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ STATUS T STATUS DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ INQUIRY T INQUIRY DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 IF TSY SHORTCUT PROC TYPE EQ SUBROUTINE T SUBR DETACHED END? N FAIL 0 RETURNThis code is pretty self explanatory. First we check to see if the user entered anything in the shortcut field followed by pressing Return. If so, we read the SHORTCUT table to get the rest of the information we need to run the requested process, set the --- NEXT fields so APPX knows what application, version and process name we want to run, then invoke it directly via the appropriate ILF command (MENU, INPUT, etc). Note that executing these types of ILF commands (MENU, INPUT, etc) without specifying the application or process to run causes APPX to use the contents of NEXT APPLICATION and NEXT PROCESS NAME. Note the business about setting OPTION to blank if it is RETURN. We found that letting APPX process the RETURN key causes the modifiable fields on the menu to become non modifiable, so we just throw the RETURN away. Now that we have it all set up, we can go to any menu we want, add the SHORTCUT CODE field to the image and GOSUB TSY CHECK FOR SHORTCUT to the Option Intercept Event Point, and we have enabled shortcuts on that menu. Other enhancements might include restricting certain shortcuts to certain menus, making the shortcuts user specific, or making the input process that maintains the SHORTCUT table the default input process for the table so that users can add their own shortcuts on the fly. In this case, you might also want to only allow MENU, JOB, and INPUT type processes. This would prevent a user from adding a shortcut and then running some UPDATE process. This could be accomplished by modifying the SHORTCUT PROCESS TYPE so it only allows MENU, JOB, and INPUT. Do you have a tip you want to pass on? Contact Us. « Return |
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