Rational Developer for System z

Creating reliable screen descriptions

A reliable screen description is one that matches the particular application screen that you want it to match, and that does not mistakenly match any other application screen that can occur at the same point in the host application.

In most cases, for each application screen that occurs in a terminal application (this screen is referred to in the rest of this help topic as the original application screen) only a few application screens, or frequently only one application screen, can occur next (these application screens are referred to in the rest of this help topic as possible next application screens).

In the Next Screens subcomponent of the screen interaction for the original application screen, you should verify that a screen description is included for each possible next application screen.

If more than one possible next application screen can occur following the original application screen, you should modify, if necessary, the screen description of each of the possible next application screens, so that each screen description accurately and unambiguously matches the correct possible next application screen.

For each screen description that you create, a single String descriptor or a single Field Pattern descriptor might be sufficient, depending on how similar the possible next application screens listed in the Next Screens subcomponent are to one another.

Also, during flow recording or screen operations recording, for each application screen, you should verify that the correct screen description is recognized before you enter any input.

Remember: Use screen descriptors that are supported in your target runtime environment (see Support for screen descriptors in the runtime environments).


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