Using the SFLEND(*MORE) Keyword

It is very easy to add the "More..." or "Bottom" text to your subfiles. Just use the *MORE parameter on the subfile end (SFLEND) DDS keyword, like this: SFLEND(*MORE). Place the keyword in the subfile control record.

That's all there is to it. Now for the bad news. This lovely feature adds an additional line to your subfile. I found this out the hard way. After I had added this to my order/invoice inquiry program, I was shocked to see on some of my screens that my command key panel was gone. In its place was a blank line with the very lovely "More..." positioned all the way to the right.

Although it is a nice feature, if I wanted to add the "More..." to my programs in the old days, I would have (you guessed it) added an additional blank subfile record to every subfile page and moved in "More..." or "Bottom."

Since we tend to cram a lot of fields on a subfile line, I suppose that windowing the text "More..." or "Bottom" would have, in many instances, overlayed important information. Therefore, IBM, in its infinite wisdom, decided to burn up another line on the screen.

At any rate, the temptation is to just dive in and add SFLEND(*MORE) to all your subfiles. Don't. Make sure you have room on the display for that extra subfile line which will hold the "More..." and "Bottom" text.

Editor's Note: One possible work- around for this problem is to simply decrease the subfile page size by one when adding SFLEND(*MORE) to an existing subfile.