Designing Interactive Panels (Panel Services) › Control Cursor Positioning

Control Cursor Positioning

The cursor position on a panel is controlled either implicitly by Panel Services (for example, to identify a field in error), or by an explicit request from the procedure issuing the panel.

For explicit cursor positioning, use the #OPT statement CURSOR operand. Either specify the name of an input field defined on the panel, or supply screen coordinates as a row and column number.

• If using the name of an input field, enter the name of the variable minus the ampersand, as defined in the panel to receive any data entered in that field. Define the CURSOR operand as:

  #OPT CURSOR=&CURSOR
  

  Then assign the required field name into the &CURSOR variable before displaying the panel. For example:

  &CURSOR = FIELD2          -* note omission of ampersand
  &PANEL MYPANEL
  

• Alternatively, specify explicit cursor positioning by supplying the row and column where the cursor is to be positioned. The CURSOR operand of the #OPT statement can also be used, but then the row and column coordinates must be specified. For example:

  #OPT CURSOR=&ROW,&COL
  

  Row and column coordinates are then set from the procedure before displaying the panel. For example:

  &ROW = 10
  &COL = 30
  &PANEL MYPANEL
  

Note: If the row and column coordinates that you specify lie outside the boundaries of the current operating window, the cursor is positioned on row 1, column 1 of the window.

A procedure can also influence the implicit positioning of the cursor by Panel Services. Use the &ASSIGN SETERR operand to let the procedure identify one or more fields which can be classified as being in error.

Alternatively, a procedure can use the #OPT panel statement ERRFLD operand to identify a particular field which is in error.