Rational Developer for System z

Finding screen interactions for the current application screen

In most situations, when the currently displayed application screen changes, the host editor follows a certain procedure to make available in the list beside the Play Screen Interaction icon Play Screen Interaction the names of any already existing screen interactions that can be played back to process the new application screen.
Note: These already existing screen interactions could have been created either during flow recording or during screen operations recording.
In these situations you can provide a screen interaction for the current application screen in either of two ways:

If there are no already existing screen interactions for the current application screen, then the list is empty.

Table 1 shows the situations in which the host editor uses this procedure to find already existing screen interactions for the current application screen:
Table 1. Finding screen interactions for the current application screen
Mode of the host editor: State of the host editor: The host editor uses the procedure:
Screen operations mode Recording a screen operations file Yes
At other times No
Flow mode Recording a flow Yes
Playing back a flow No
At other times Yes

The procedure is as follows:

  1. The host editor determines the recognized screen description for the currently displayed application screen (see Recognized screen description).

  2. The host editor determines the screen operations file to be used:

  3. In the screen operations file that was selected in the preceding step, the host editor looks for a screen operation that refers to the recognized screen description.
    Note: Within the same screen operations file, there can be at most one screen operation that refers to the current recognized screen description (see The screen operations file and its subcomponents).
    • If the screen operations file contains a screen operation that refers to the recognized screen description, then the host editor goes to the next step (Step 4).

    • If the screen operations file does not contain a screen operation that refers to the screen description, then the host editor skips Step 4 and goes to step 5.

  4. If the host editor finds any screen operations that refer to the recognized screen description, then the host editor adds the names of all these screen interactions to the list beside the Play Screen Interaction icon Play Screen Interaction and enables the icon.

  5. You can do one of the following actions:

    • If the list is enabled:
      • You can play a screen interaction by selecting it from the list.
      • You can enter live input (Input actions, Extract actions, Insert actions, and an AID key).

    • If the list is not enabled:
      • You can enter live input (Input actions, Extract actions, Insert actions, and an AID key).

See the following two subtopics for more information.

If you select a screen interaction

If you select an already existing screen interaction from the list beside the Play Screen Interaction icon Play Screen Interaction in Step 5 of the procedure described in the main topic (see Finding screen interactions for the current application screen) and if you are recording a screen operations file or recording a flow (see Table 1) and if the sequence of actions is unique in the current context, then the host editor creates a screen interaction containing the sequence of actions. The details of this activity are described in the next subtopic (If you enter live input).

Also, if the screen interaction contains an incomplete Extract action or an incomplete Insert action (see Comparison of results: Flow recording and screen operations recording) then the host editor prompts you to select a variable for the Extract action or Insert action, in much the same way as when you create a new Extract action or Insert action during flow recording (see Creating Extract actions and Insert actions during flow recording).

In contrast, if you select an already existing screen interaction from the list beside the Play Screen Interaction icon Play Screen Interaction in Step 5 of the procedure described in the main topic (see Finding screen interactions for the current application screen) and if the host editor is in flow mode and you are not recording a flow (see Table 1) and if the screen interaction contains an incomplete Extract action or an incomplete Insert action (see Comparison of results: Flow recording and screen operations recording) then the host editor does the following actions:
  1. The host editor prompts you for the name of a variable to use with the Extract action or the Insert action on this occasion.
    Note: This information is not stored. The screen interaction is not updated with the message information.
  2. The host editor performs the Input action and the AID key specified in the selected screen interaction.

  3. If it is an Extract action, the host editor displays the text that was extracted from the fields of the current application screen.

If you enter live input

If you enter live input (Input actions, Extract actions, Insert actions, and an AID key) in Step 5 of the procedure described in the main topic (see Finding screen interactions for the current application screen) and if you are recording a screen operations file or recording a flow (see Table 1) and if the sequence of actions is unique in the current context, then the host editor creates a screen interaction containing the sequence of actions.

The third condition, "if the sequence of actions is unique in the current context", is true if either of the following conditions is true:
  • No screen operation in the working screen operations file references the recognized screen description.
  • A screen operation in the working screen operations file does reference the recognized screen description, but that screen operation does not already contain a screen interaction with the same sequence of events.

If the host editor creates a new screen interaction, then the host editor stores the new screen interaction in the screen operation that references the recognized screen description. If no screen operation references the recognized screen description, then the host editor creates a screen operation, makes it reference the recognized screen description, and then adds the new screen interaction to it.


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