Define Fields in a Buffer Panel

You can modify the fields of a buffer definition in the Define Fields in a Buffer panel.

Panel Layout

SXTP02F ------------------ Define Fields in a Buffer ------- Row 1 to 20 of 20
 Command ===>                                                   Scroll ==> CSR
   (Types are Str, Text, Pdec, Updec, Zdec, Uzdec, Ubin, Bin, Float, Opa)
   Buffer Id    ===> New-Buffer1
   Maximum Size ===> 0
 Sel  Type  Start  Len   Dec  Name
 -   ------ ------ ------ -   -------------------------------------------------
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
            0      0      0
******************************* Bottom of data ********************************

Field Description

The following table lists the fields in the Define Fields in a Buffer panel:

Field Description
Message Id The name of the buffer definition.
Maximum Size The maximum size of the buffer (data area) that is used for communication.

Valid values: 0 - 4194304. Default value: 0.

If the value is 0, the size of the buffer is determined by the field definitions. Otherwise, this value overrides the determination from the fields. If specified, the value must be greater than or equal to the field determination.

Sel You can modify a previously defined field in a buffer definition.

Valid selections: S(elect), D(elete), and R(epro).

Type Required. The type of mainframe data expected by the invoked application for the field.

The following are valid data types:

  • Str: the variable-length CHARACTER data string. Always contains a null terminator at the end such as ALPHANUMERIC, NUMERIC and ALPHABETIC.
  • Text: the fixed-length CHARACTER data string such as ALPHANUMERIC, NUMERIC, and ALPHABETIC.
  • Pdec: the PACKED-DECIMAL or COMP-3 data format.
  • Updec: the UNSIGNED PACKED-DECIMAL or COMP-3 data format.
  • Zdec: the EXTERNAL DECIMAL data format such as USAGE or DISPLAY.
  • Uzdec: the UNSIGNED ZONED DECIMAL data format.
  • Ubin: the UNSIGNED BINARY, COMP or COMP-5 data format.
  • Bin: the SIGNED BINARY or COMP data format.
  • Float: the FLOATING-POINT data format such as COMP-1 and COMP-2.
  • Opa: a block of unchanged characters (no ASCII/EBCDIC conversion).
Start The number of starting bytes that the field is offset in the buffer. The buffer offset positions the data at a given byte position.
Len Required. The maximum size of the field represented in storage or memory. This size must be greater than 0.

Valid values: 0 - 4194304.

Dec The implied number of digits after the decimal point. For example, for the number 345.67, implied decimal is 2. This field only applies to integers.

This field is also used to indicate a bytes type message. For more information, see Using Opaque Fields and Message Sizes.

Name Required. The user defined name of the field.