Rational Developer for System z

Creating a screen message

You can create a screen message manually by capturing an application screen in the host editor, by importing a BMS map, or by importing a HATS screen. You can create screen messages automatically during flow recording or during screen operations recording by setting a preference in the Service Flow Projects preferences.

Capturing a screen in the host editor

When you capture a screen in the host editor, the data that the host editor records is not, as you might expect, a bitmapped image of the application screen.

Instead, the host editor creates a new screen message (see Screen message, screen description, descriptor), a resource that contains:

To capture a screen (that is, create a new screen message) in the host editor:
  1. In the host editor (see Host editor) navigate through the host application to the application screen from which you want to create a screen message.
  2. Click the Capture Screen icon Capture Screen Description on the host editor's toolbar. The Capture Screen window opens.
  3. In the Capture Screen window, in the Screen name field, type the name of that you want to use for this screen message.
    Restriction: Only the following characters are valid for the screen message name:
    • Alphabetic characters, either lowercase a-z or uppercase A-Z
    • Numeric characters (0-9)
    • Underscore character (_)

    The following name is valid: MyScreenMessage_0234

  4. Click OK.
    • The Capture Screen window closes.
    • The new screen message file is created and added to the Messages subfolder of the terminal applications subproject in your project.

Importing a BMS map

When you import a BMS map, the importer creates a new screen message from the information stored in the BMS map (see Importing a BMS map).

Assigning BMS field names

When you use the Assign BMS Field Names function, the BMS Assign Field Names wizard adds BMS information from a BMS map to an existing screen message that was originally created by capturing in the host editor the same application screen that is described in the BMS map.

The resulting screen message is functionally equivalent to a screen message created directly from the BMS map (see Assigning BMS field names), except that the descriptors in the screen description might be different.

Importing a HATS screen

When you import a HATS screen, the importer creates a new screen message from the information stored in the HATS screen (see Importing a HATS Screen).

Having the host editor automatically create screen messages during flow recording

You can set a Service Flow Projects preference that causes the host editor to automatically create a screen message for an application screen during flow recording or screen operations recording if the host editor does not recognize the application screen (see Setting overall preferences for service flow projects and Providing screen descriptions for recording).


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