X3270-SCRIPT(1)X3270-SCRIPT(1)NAME
Scripting Facilities for x3270, s3270 and c3270
SYNOPSIS
x3270 -script [ x3270-options ]
s3270 [ x3270-options ]
Script ( command [ ,arg... ] )
DESCRIPTION
The x3270 scripting facilities allow the interactive 3270
emulators x3270 and c3270 to be operated under the control
of another program, and form the basis for the script-only
emulator s3270.
There are two basic scripting methods. The first is the
peer script facility, invoked by the x3270 -script switch,
and the default mode for s3270. This runs x3270 or s3270
as a child of another process. Typically this would be a
script using expect(1), perl(1), or the co-process facil
ity of the Korn Shell ksh(1). Inthis mode, the emulator
process looks for commands on its standard input, and
places the responses on standard output and standard error
output.
The second method is the child script facility, invoked by
the Script action in x3270, c3270, or s3270. This runs a
script as a child process of the emulator. The child has
access to pipes connected to the emulator; the emulator
look for commands on one pipe, and places the responses on
the other. (The file descriptor of the pipe for commands
to the emulator is passed in the environment variable
X3270INPUT; the file descriptor of the pipe for responses
from the emulator is passed in the environment variable
X3270OUTPUT.)
It is possible to mix the two methods. A script can
invoke another script with the Script action, and may also
be implicitly nested when a script invokes the Connect
action, and the ibm_hosts file specifies a login script
for that host name.
Commands are emulator actions; the syntax is the same as
for the right-hand side of an Xt translation table entry
(an x3270 or c3270 keymap). Unlike translation tables,
action names are case-insensitive, can be uniquely abbre
viated, and the parentheses may be omitted if there are no
parameters.
Any emulator action may be specified. Several specific
actions have been defined for use by scripts, and the
behavior of certain other actions (and of the emulators in
general) is different when an action is initiated by a
script.
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Some actions generate output; some may delay completion
until the certain external events occur, such as the host
unlocking the keyboard. The completion of every command
is marked by a two-line message. The first line is the
current status of the emulator, documented below. If the
command is successful, the second line is the string "ok";
otherwise it is the string "error".
STATUS FORMAT
The status message consists of 11 blank-separated fields:
1 Keyboard State
If the keyboard is unlocked, the letter U. If the
keyboard is locked waiting for a response from the
host, or if not connected to a host, the letter L.
If the keyboard is locked because of an operator
error (field overflow, protected field, etc.), the
letter E.
2 Screen Formatting
If the screen is formatted, the letter F. If
unformatted or in NVT mode, the letter U.
3 Field Protection
If the field containing the cursor is protected,
the letter P. If unprotected or unformatted, the
letter U.
4 Connection State
If connected to a host, the string C(hostname).
Otherwise, the letter N.
5 Emulator Mode
If connected in 3270 mode, the letter I. If con
nected in NVT line mode, the letter L. If con
nected in NVT character mode, the letter C. If not
connected, the letter N.
6 Model Number (2-5)
7 Number of Rows
The current number of rows defined on the screen.
The host can request that the emulator use a 24x80
screen, so this number may be smaller than the max
imum number of rows possible with the current
model.
8 Number of Columns
The current number of columns defined on the
screen, subject to the same difference for rows,
above.
9 Cursor Row
The current cursor row (zero-origin).
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10 Cursor Column
The current cursor column (zero-origin).
11 Window ID
The X window identifier for the main x3270 window,
in hexadecimal preceded by 0x. For s3270 and
c3270, this is zero.
DIFFERENCES
When an action is initiated by a script, the emulators
behave in several different ways:
If an error occurs in processing an ection, the usual pop-
up window does not appear. Instead, the text is written
to standard error output.
If end-of-file is detected on standard input, the emulator
exits. (A script can exit without killing the emulator by
using the CloseScript action, below.) Note that this
applies to peer scripts only; end-of-file on the pipe con
nected to a child script simply causes the pipes to be
closed and the Script action to complete.
The Quit action always causes the emulator to exit. (When
called from the keyboard, it will exit only if not con
nected to a host.)
The Clear, Enter, PF, and PA actions will not complete
until the host unlocks the keyboard. If the parameter to
a String action includes a code for one these actions, it
will also wait for the keyboard to unlock before complet
ing. Similarly, the Script action does not complete until
end-of-file is detected on the pipe or the CloseScript
action is called by the child process.
SCRIPT-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
The following actions have been defined or modified for
use with scripts. (Note that unlike the display on the
status line, row and col coordinates used in these actions
use [0,0] as their origin, not [1,1]).
AnsiText
Outputs whatever data that has been output by the
host in NVT mode since the last time that AnsiText
was called. The data is preceded by the string
"data: ", and has had all control characters
expanded into C backslash sequences.
This is a convenient way to capture NVT mode output
in a synchronous manner without trying to decode
the screen contents.
Ascii(row,col,rows,cols)
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Ascii(row,col,length)
Ascii(length)
Ascii Outputs an ASCII text representation of the screen
contents. Each line is preceded by the string
"data: ", and there are no control characters.
If four parameters are given, a rectangular region
of the screen is output.
If three parameters are given, length characters
are output, starting at the specified row and col
umn.
If only the length parameter is given, that many
characters are output, starting at the cursor posi
tion.
If no parameters are given, the entire screen is
output.
AsciiField
Outputs an ASCII text representation of the field
containing the cursor. The text is preceded by the
string "data: ".
Connect(hostname)
Connects to a host. The command does not return
until the emulator is successfully connected in the
proper mode, or the connection fails.
CloseScript(status)
Causes the emulator to stop reading commands from
the script. This is useful to allow a peer script
to exit, with the emulator proceeding interac
tively. (Without this command, the emulator would
exit when it detected end-of-file on standard
input.) If the script was invoked by the Script
action, the optional status is used as the return
status of Script; if nonzero, Script will complete
with an error, and if this script was invoked as
part of login through the ibm_hosts file, the con
nection will be broken.
ContinueScript(param)
Allows a script that is waiting in a PauseScript
action, below, to continue. The param given is
output by the PauseScript action.
Disconnect
Disconnects from the host.
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Ebcdic(row,col,rows,cols)
Ebcdic(row,col,length)
Ebcdic(length)
Ebcdic The same function as Ascii above, except that
rather than generating ASCII text, each character
is output as a hexadecimal EBCDIC code, preceded by
0x.
EbcdicField
The same function as AsciiField above, except that
it generates hexadecimal EBCDIC codes.
Info(message)
Pops up an informational message.
Expect(text[,timeout])
Pauses the script until the specified text appears
in the data stream from the host, or the specified
timeout (in seconds) expires. If no timeout is
specified, the default is 30 seconds. Text can
contain standard C-language escape (backslash)
sequences. No wild-card characters or pattern
anchor characters are understood. Expect is valid
only in NVT mode.
MoveCursor(row,col)
Moves the cursor to the specified coordinates.
PauseScript
Stops a script until the ContinueScript action,
above, is executed. This allows a script to wait
for user input and continue. Outputs the single
parameter to ContinueScript.
Snap Equivalent to Snap(Save) (see below).
Snap(Ascii,...)
Performs the Ascii action on the saved screen
image.
Snap(Cols)
Returns the number of columns in the saved screen
image.
Snap(Ebcdic,...)
Performs the Ebcdic action on the saved screen
image.
Snap(Rows)
Returns the number of rows in the saved screen
image.
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Saves a copy of the screen image and status in a
temporary buffer. This copy can be queried with
other Snap actions to allow a script to examine a
consistent screen image, even when the host may be
changing the image (or even the screen dimensions)
dynamically.
Snap(Status)
Returns the status line from when the screen was
last saved.
Snap(Wait[,timeout],Output)
Pauses the script until the host sends further out
put, then updates the snap buffer with the new
screen contents. Used when the host unlocks the
keyboard (allowing the script to proceed after an
Enter, PF or PA action), but has not finished
updating the screen. This action is usually
invoked in a loop that uses the Snap(Ascii) or
Snap(Ebcdic) action to scan the screen for some
pattern that indicates that the host has fully pro
cessed the last command.
The optional timeout parameter specifies a number
of seconds to wait before failing the Snap action.
The default is to wait forever.
Transfer(keyword=value,...)
Invokes IND$FILE file transfer. See FILE TRANSFER
below.
Wait([timeout,] 3270Mode)
Used when communicating with a host that switches
between NVT mode and 3270 mode. Pauses the script
or macro until the host negotiates 3270 mode, then
waits for a formatted screen as above.
The optional timeout parameter specifies a number
of seconds to wait before failing the Wait action.
The default is to wait forever.
For backwards compatibility, Wait(3270) is equiva
lent to Wait(3270Mode)
Wait([timeout,] Disconnect)
Pauses the script until the host disconnects.
Often used to after sending a logoff command to a
VM/CMS host, to ensure that the session is not
unintentionally set to disconnected state.
The optional timeout parameter specifies a number
of seconds to wait before failing the Wait action.
The default is to wait forever.
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Wait([timeout,] InputField)
A useful utility for use at the beginning of
scripts and after the Connect action. In 3270
mode, waits until the screen is formatted, and the
host has positioned the cursor on a modifiable
field. In NVT mode, waits until the host sends at
least one byte of data.
The optional timeout parameter specifies a number
of seconds to wait before failing the Wait action.
The default is to wait forever.
For backwards compatibility, Wait is equivalent to
Wait(InputField).
Wait([timeout,] NVTMode)
Used when communicating with a host that switches
between 3270 mode and NVT mode. Pauses the script
or macro until the host negotiates NVT mode, then
waits for a byte from the host as above.
The optional timeout parameter specifies a number
of seconds to wait before failing the Wait action.
The default is to wait forever.
For backwards compatibility, Wait(ansi) is equiva
lent to Wait(NVTMode).
Wait([timeout,] Output)
Pauses the script until the host sends further out
put. Used when the host unlocks the keyboard
(allowing the script to proceed after an Enter, PF
or PA action), but has not finished updating the
screen. This action is usually invoked in a loop
that uses the Ascii or Ebcdic action to scan the
screen for some pattern that indicates that the
host has fully processed the last command.
The optional timeout parameter specifies a number
of seconds to wait before failing the Wait action.
The default is to wait forever.
FILE TRANSFER
The Transfer action implements IND$FILE file transfer.
This action requires that the IND$FILE program be
installed on the IBM host, and that the 3270 cursor be
located in a field that will accept a TSO or VM/CMS com
mand.
Because of the complexity and number of options for file
transfer, the parameters to the Transfer action take the
unique form of option=value, and can appear in any order.
The options are:
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Option Required? Default Other Values
------------------------------------------------------------------
Direction No send receive
HostFile Yes
LocalFile Yes
Host No tso vm
Mode No ascii binary
Cr No remove add, keep
Exist No keep replace, append
Recfm No fixed, variable, undefined
Lrecl No
Blksize No
Allocation No tracks, cylinders, avblock
PrimarySpace No
SecondarySpace No
The option details are as follows.
Direction
send (the default) to send a file to the host,
receive to receive a file from the host.
HostFile
The name of the file on the host.
LocalFile
The name of the file on the local workstation.
Host The type of host (which dictates the form of the
IND$FILE command): tso (the default) or vm.
Mode Use ascii (the default) for a text file, which will
be translated between EBCDIC and ASCII as neces
sary. Use binary for non-text files.
Cr Controls how Newline characters are handled when
transferring Mode=ascii files. remove (the
default) strips Newline characters in local files
before transferring them to the host. add adds
Newline characters to each host file record before
transferring it to the local workstation. keep
preserves Newline characters when transferring a
local file to the host.
Exist Controls what happens when the destination file
already exists. keep (the default) preserves the
file, causing the Transfer action to fail. replace
overwrites the destination file with the source
file. append appends the source file to the desti
nation file.
Recfm Controls the record format of files created on the
host. fixed creates a file with fixed-length
records. variable creates a file with variable-
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length records. undefined creates a file with
undefined-length records (TSO hosts only). The
Lrecl option controls the record length or maximum
record length for Recfm=fixed and Recfm=variable
files, respectively.
Lrecl Specifies the record length (or maximum record
length) for files created on the host.
Blksize
Specifies the block size for files created on the
host. (TSO hosts only.)
Allocation
Specifies the units for the TSO host PrimarySpace
and SecondarySpace options: tracks, cylinders or
avblock.
PrimarySpace
Primary allocation for a file created on a TSO
host. The units are given by the Allocation
option.
SecondarySpace
Secondary allocation for a file created on a TSO
host. The units are given by the Allocation
option.
SEE ALSOexpect(1)ksh(1)x3270(1)c3270(1)s3270(1)VERSION
Version 3.2.17
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