To play back a screen interaction, click the
Play
Screen Interaction icon

on the host editor toolbar or select a screen interaction
from the list box beside the icon. You need to be connected to a host
in the host editor to play back a screen interaction.
Playing back the screen interactions in a screen operations file
allows you to verify that the screen interactions operate as you expect
and that they have the effects that you intend.
To play back a screen interaction in the host editor:
- Verify that you have saved the contents of the screen operations
file to disk, either by clicking Ctrl-S in the screen operations editor
or by closing the screen operations editor.
- Open the host editor (see Opening a host connection).
- Connect to the host by clicking the Connect to Host icon
(see Connecting with a host system).
- Verify that the host editor is in screen operations mode (see Screen operations mode and flow mode).
- Load the screen operations file containing the screen interaction
that you want to play back.
- Click the Load Screen Operations File icon
or the list box symbol beside it
.
- Select the screen operations file that you want to load.
- The host editor loads the screen operations file.
- The loaded screen operations file becomes the working screen operations
file.
- The name of the working screen operations file is displayed on
the second line of the information area at the top right of the host
editor area (see Working screen operations file).
- Navigate the host application to the application screen corresponding
to the screen operation that contains the screen interaction that
you want to play back.
- Verify that the host editor recognizes a screen description for
the currently displayed application screen.
- In screen operations mode, the host editor evaluates only the
screen descriptions referenced by screen operations contained in the
working screen operations file (see Working screen operations file).
- The name of the currently recognized screen description is displayed
on the first line of the information area at the top right of the
host editor area (see Recognized screen description).
- If the host editor does not recognize a screen description for
the currently displayed application screen, then the host editor displays
on the first line of the information area at the top right of the
host editor area the message "The screen is unrecognized". To allow
the host editor to recognize a screen description for this application
screen:
- Capture the application screen by clicking the Capture
Screen icon
(see Creating a screen message).
- Reload the screen descriptions by clicking the Reload
Screen Descriptions icon
(see Currently loaded screen descriptions).
- The Play Screen Interaction icon
should now be enabled.
- Play back the screen interaction that you want to play back:
- Expand the list box next to the Play Screen Interaction icon
.
- In the list box, select the screen interaction that you want to
play back.
Note: This situation illustrates why it is a good idea to
rename a screen interaction to some meaningful name. A default name,
such as Screen Interaction 0, provides no clue as to the actions contained
in the screen interaction.
Note: Clicking the
Play
Screen Interaction icon

itself plays back the actions in the
first screen
interaction in the list box.
- The host editor plays back the actions (for example, the input
keys "ainq 1" followed by the Enter key) in the screen interaction
that you selected. (The actions in a screen interaction can include
input keys, an AID key, an Extract action, or an Insert action).
- When the host editor plays back the actions in the screen interaction
that you selected, the host application responds to the actions in
the same way that it would if you had generated the individual actions
yourself.
- Unless an error occurs when an action is played back, the host
application should respond by sending a new application screen to
the host editor, which the host editor now displays.
- You can now play back a screen interaction for the newly displayed
application screen.
So long as the host editor continues to recognize a screen description
for the currently displayed application screen, you can easily use
the Play Screen Interaction icon
to navigate through the host application, verifying the behavior
of your screen interactions for each application screen.
If you need to modify a screen interaction:
- Use the screen operations editor to open the screen operations
file containing the screen interaction.
- Modify the screen interaction.
- Save or close the screen operations file.
- Reload the modified screen operations file into the host editor
using the Load Screen Operations File icon
or the list box next to it.
When you play back a screen interaction containing an Insert action,
the host editor opens the Screen Field Prompt window to allow you
to specify a value. If you specified a default value, it is shown
in the input field. You can accept the default value or type over
it.
When you play back a screen interaction containing an Extract action,
the host editor opens the Extract Results window to show the text
that was extracted.