tcl.term

changes or displays the current terminal and printer output characteristics for the current line.
Any parameter may be left intact by entering a null (two consecutive commas). The only exception to this rule is the 'tt' (term type) parameter which defines the terminal name. The system recognizes terminal names, so the name may be entered first or last.

The term type parameter may be specified without any other arguments, or in any position of the argument list, since it is the only non-numeric argument.

The arguments allowed are as follows:

'tw' is the terminal width, or the number of print positions per line on the terminal. It must be between 10 and 140. Although most terminals are capable of printing 80 characters per line, the typical setting is 79 to avoid problems with carriage return/line feeds when displaying at the 80th position.

'td' is the terminal depth, in lines.

'ls' is the 'line skip'. This is the number of blank lines at the bottom of the screen. The value in 'td' is added to the value in 'ls' and must equal the actual number of lines on the terminal.

'ld' is for 'linefeed delays'. This is the number of null characters to output after each linefeed. This is typically set to 0 (zero).

'fd' is for 'formfeed delays'. This is the number of null characters to output after a top-of-form is executed. The 'fd' parameter also determines when to eject a page (or clear the screen) between output pages. The following settings are valid:

0 Suppresses page ejects between output pages on both the terminal and the printer.

1 Suppresses page ejects on the terminal only.

2 'Normal mode'. Any value of 2 or more clears the screen (or ejects a page on the printer), and sends the corresponding number of nulls.

'bs' is the 'backspace' key value. This is the decimal value of the ASCII character to echo to the terminal when the backspace key is pressed. This is typically set to 8 or 21.

'pw' is the current 'printer width', or the number of print positions per line on printer output.

'pd' is the 'printer depth', or the number of lines per page on printer output.

'tt' is the 'terminal type' code. This designates the terminal driver to use and is vital to set prior to invoking any process which attempts to perform any kind of cursor control, such as UP, Pick/BASIC, or PROC.

In Advanced Pick, the terminal driver definitions are located in the 'dm,devices,' file. To obtain a listing of the available types, enter: 'sort only dm,devices,'.

In contrast to R83 Pick, terminal types in AP use descriptive names, rather than just a single alphabetic character.