Rational Developer for System z

Bidirectional support

The MFS Editor supports bidirectional options for Arabic and Hebrew device format definitions. Some features apply only to Arabic format definition, as indicated in the documentation. By default, bidirectional support is not enabled.
Note: Start of changeAll bidirectional message definitions must have UTF-8 text file encoding.End of change

Enabling bidirectional support

To work with Arabic and Hebrew device formats, you must enable bidirectional support in the Preferences dialog. This step adds a bidirectional mode button to the Design page and options to the Design pop-up menu. Status bar information is given when directly editing a field.

Enable the bidirectional settings that you want before you close the Preferences window.

Bidirectional preferences

The following bidirectional settings are available:

Visual input key functions

Visual input key functions allow visual input in input fields and the initial values for labeled input fields and tables. Table 1 shows the key functions and key combinations involving the number pad that are available if you have enabled visual data ordering in the preferences.
Table 1. Visual input key functions
Key function Description Key combination
Push Starts a segment of reversed text and reverts the direction of the cursor. Text is pushed toward the end of the field, and the cursor remains stationary. Shift+NumLock
EndPush Terminates the current segment of reversed text. The cursor skips to the end of the segment, and its direction is restored. Shift+/
AutoPush Enables the Push and EndPush functions to be automatically invoked, based on the actual text entered. Alt+/
FieldReverse Reverses the typing direction and the direction of functions such as Backspace, Delete, Home, and End. However, the function does not visually invert the contents of the field. Alt+NumLock
Switch between input of Arabic/Hindi Numerals Switches numerals input between Arabic and Hindi. Alt+*

Status bar information

When you click a device format component in the design canvas, the following bidirectional information is displayed in the status bar:

Editing bidirectional text

The LPEX editor should be used for editing of bidirectional data in Smart Logical format. It is also possible to edit bidirectional data in the MFS Editor Source view, using Ctrl+NumLock key combination on the selected line.

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