Fixed and Variable Data in Panels

Panels contain a combination of fixed data and variable output data:

Fixed data is the screen captions, field identification text, and other static screen information defined when the panel is created. This does not change when the panel is displayed.
Variable output data is data generated by the system when the panel is displayed. It replaces variables positioned within the panel created by the editor. Data is extracted from NCL variables available at the time the panel is invoked.

Variable output data can be displayed in one of the following:

Protected output-only fields (where the data comprises either system or user variables).
Unprotected input fields, for any user variables. Once displayed, you can enter data into the unprotected input fields. Panel Services then inserts this data into the user variable for each field, so it is available for further processing by NCL procedures.