Rational Developer for System z

Bidirectional support for MFS visual editing

This topic contains additional information about bidirectional support for the MFS editor.

MFS files are stored in the host in visual format. The default bidirectional format for Rational® Developer for System z® is Smart Logical. You must associate the correct bidirectional conversion tables in the file system mapping for .mfs files because the default setting does not assume bidirectional conversion.

Visual editing of bidirectional data is enabled after Bidirectional options enabled is selected in Preference. To do this, select Window > Preferences > MFS Map Editor > Design Page > Bidirectional Settings.

Even after visual editing is enabled, bidirectional data is saved in .mfs files in Smart Logical format. This format is very similar to standard Windows logical format, but is based on extensive use of bidirectional LRM markers. For additional information about Smart Logical support, see the information about the zIDE tool.

To edit bidirectional data in the Smart Logical format, use the System z LPEX editor. The LPEX editor provides a special visual line for this purpose. To access the visual line in LPEX, use the pop-up menu to select Source > Visual edit line, or use the Alt+= key combination. For more information about System z LPEX bidirectional support, see the LPEX documentation.

To edit bidirectional data in the MFS editor Source view, use the Ctrl+NumLock key combination on the selected line.

Settings

To activate bidirectional support, click Window > Preferences > MFS Map Editor > Design Page > Bidirectional Settings and select Bidirectional options enabled.

Under the Bidirectional options enabled check box are the following check boxes:

When Enable bidirectional settings button is selected, the same set of bidirectional settings is made available in the MFS Editor toolbar. The bidirectional options are as follows:

Enable visual data ordering
Causes the display and editing of bidirectional data in the design form, the field properties dialog, and the Properties and Outline views to be based on visual ordering of bidirectional text.
Enable bi-directional settings button
Places a bidirectional settings button on the toolbar over the MFS map with the caption "Toggle bidirectional mode".
Default RTL orientation
Mirrors the orientation of map sets, simulating how the data is displayed on host terminal when the host screen is being reversed. This option allows a developer of bidirectional software to design reversed (right-to-left) screens
Default right alignment
Causes fields added in the Design view to be right-aligned. In the source file right-aligned fields are padded with leading spaces.
Enable symmetric swapping
Causes symmetric swapping for brackets and braces to be done automatically according the language that you are using at that time. This option is needed only for Arabic support.
Enable numeric swapping
Causes numeric swapping for numbers from Arabic to Hindi and vice versa to be done automatically according the language that the you are using at that time.

When a bidirectional settings button is enabled, you can set dynamically the bidirectional options described in this topic.


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