Entry Assist Scale Line

The Entry Assist Scale Line allows you to visually set tab stops, margins, bell margin, and the margin type.  The scale line will be displayed instead of the QWS3270 Secure status bar at the bottom of the main window.

Accessing Change Format Mode

To display the scale line (enter change format mode), you must define a key in the keyboard remapping dialog.  Activate the keyboard remapping dialog by clicking on the corresponding toolbar button, or click on the Options/Keyboard menu item.  Select the key you wish to use to display and hide the scale line, then click on the modifier (none, shift, control or alt) you wish to use.  From the list select "Change Format", click OK, then click Done.  Pressing the key you just defined will display the scale line in place of the status bar. Pressing the key again will hide the scale line and redisplay the status bar.

While in Change Format mode you are not able enter text on the screen or send commands to the host.  The only keys active are the cursor movement keys and the keys for modifying tabs and margins.

The Scale Line Cursor

The scale line cursor is the opaque box on the scale line.

The Normal Cursor

The normal cursor and the scale line cursor move together in the horizontal direction.  The normal cursor moves independently in the vertical direction.  If you look at the normal cursor and the scale line cursor, you can see the relationship of a position on the scale line with a position on the page.

You can use the "Move Cursor to Next Word" and "Move Cursor to Previous Word" keys for rapid positioning of the cursor while in change format mode.

Setting the margins

Move the cursor (using the left and right arrow keys) to the desired locations on the column.  Press the Less Than ( < ) key to set the left margin, or the Greater Than ( > ) key for the right margin.

You can set only one left and one right margin for a display.  When you press the Less Than key, the previous left margin is replaced by the new one.  When you press the Greater Than key, the new right margin replaces the old one.

The Greater Than symbol ( > ) indicates the standard right margin.  To change the right margin type to the alternate margin, position the cursor on the right margin symbol and press the Cursor Select key.  Press the Cursor Select key again to reestablish the standard margin.  The alternate margin is indicated by the pipe symbol ( | ).

Setting Tab Stops

To set tab stops, move the cursor into position and press the ‘Tab’ key on the keyboard.  Tabs are indicated on the scale line by the ‘ ^ ’ character.  To remove an existing tab stop, move the cursor to the tab and press the ‘delete’ key.  To remove all current tab stops, press the ‘Clear’ key.

You can set a maximum of 20 tab stops.  If you attempt to set more than 20 tab stops, the input is ignored.

Setting the Bell Margin

Position the cursor in the desired column and press the asterisk ( * ) key.

Changing the Scale Line Origin

The scale line origin is 1 (one) by default.  To switch the origin between 0 and 1, place the cursor in the first column and press the Cursor Select key.  Only the scale line numbering will change; the tab stops and margins will not be affected.