Keep Your Attention Key Active
Like most programmers, I have my interactive job set up so that when I press the Attention key, a program is called. I generally use a program which has a command line (e.g., the command entry screen [QCMD] or the command line window [QUSCMDLN]). That way, when I press the Attention key, I am able to enter a command. When I return from having entered the command and exit the command line, I end up right back where I was before I pressed the Attention key. The problem I found is that once I press my Attention key, it is deactivated until I return to where I was before I pressed it. For example, consider the following typical sequence of events:
o You press the Attention key which takes you to a command line.
o At the command line, you enter a command which takes you to some screen.
o At that point, you press the Attention key, but nothing happens.
If you find this situation as frustrating as I do, you will be glad to know that I have found a solution to this problem. Write the CL program CMDLINE as shown in 1 and make it your Attention key program.
If you find this situation as frustrating as I do, you will be glad to know that I have found a solution to this problem. Write the CL program CMDLINE as shown in Figure 1 and make it your Attention key program.
Here's how the program works. The first thing it does is to set the Attention program to itself. It then calls the command line window. You can replace the highlighted line with whatever program you would like to have your Attention key call. After you have compiled this program, use the Set Attention Program (SETATNPGM) command to set your Attention key to it. At this point, you can press the Attention key repeatedly; each time, it will give you a new command line. Now the sequence of events might look something like this:
o You press the Attention key which takes you to a command line.
o At the command line, you enter a command which takes you to some screen.
o At that point, you press the Attention key, which takes you to another command line.
o At that command line, you enter a command which takes you to some other screen.
o Etc., etc., etc.
This sequence of events can continue as long as you want. Each time, it will take you deeper into your invocation stack. Using this technique allows you to repeatedly use your Attention key even when your Attention program is already active. The only drawback is that eventually you will want to go back to where you started from. To do this, you will have to back out of every one of the command lines, and any programs you have called from those command lines, until you get back to where you were before you pressed the Attention key for the first time.
Keep Your Attention Key Active
Figure 1 CL Program CMDLINE
/*==================================================================*/ /* To compile: */ /* */ /* CRTCLPGM PGM(XXX/CMDLINE) SRCFILE(XXX/QCLSRC) */ /* */ /*==================================================================*/ CMDLINE: PGM SETATNPGM PGM(CMDLINE) CALL PGM(QUSCMDLN) ENDPGM
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