Terminal and Printer Output Settings

The TERM command is used to display or modify terminal and printer characteristics. Normally the standard settings do not have to be changed. If, however, you are logging on from a different type of terminal from the one you normally use, you may need to change these settings. Some terminals also support a 132-character display, which you may want to use on some occasions to preview reports that will be sent to a line printer.

TERM is used to change the settings for your process for the current logon session.

NOTE

Do not use the command SET-TERM (in SYSPROG) to make the changes, as the change will affect the default settings for all users.

Entering TERM at the TCL prompt lists the current terminal and printer characteristics.

>TERM

 

 

 

TERMINAL

PRINTER

PAGE WIDTH:

79

132

PAGE DEPTH:

24

60

LINE SKIP :

0

 

LF DELAY  :

1

 

FF DELAY  :

5

 

BACKSPACE :

8

 

TERM TYPE :

V

 

 

 

 

>

 

 

The table below describes each of these settings:

Parameter

Default

Description

PAGE WIDTH (TERMINAL)

79

The number of characters per line on a terminal. Must fall in the range of 10 and 154.

PAGE DEPTH (TERMINAL)

24

The number of lines displayed on the terminal screen. The minimum is 0, meaning no page breaks.

LINE SKIP

0

The number of lines skipped at the bottom of the terminal screen. Skip is subtracted from page depth.

LF DELAY

1

The number of null characters output after each carriage return. These delay characters provide a pause after each line feed for terminals that cannot display characters as fast as the computer outputs them. The maximum value is 127.

FF DELAY

5

The number of null characters output after a form-feed character. The maximum value is 127. Some terminals require a pause after a clear-screen command. If you specify 0, no form-feed character is sent to either the terminal or the printer at the beginning of a page. If you specify 1, a form-feed character is sent to the printer (hexadecimal 0C CHAR (12)), but not to the terminal. If you specify 2 or greater, the form-feed character is sent to both the printer and the terminal.

BACKSPACE

8

The ASCII decimal value that corresponds to the backspace character. This parameter is for terminals that cannot physically backspace or that use a backspace character other than CTRL+H. For example, assign a value of 21 for Rocket’s M terminal lines.

PAGE WIDTH (PRINTER)

132

The number of characters per line for a printer. The default value is 132. The maximum value is 154; the minimum is 10.

PAGE DEPTH (PRINTER)

60

The number of lines on a printer page. The maximum value is 32,767. The minimum is 0, meaning no page breaks.

TERM TYPE

V

The terminal type code. This parameter changes the form feed character to match the requirements of the specific terminal and sets cursor addressing for mvBASIC cursor functions. The available codes are listed in the next table.

These parameters must be entered in the order shown below, each separated by a comma. The basic syntax for TERM is as follows:

Format

TERM [width, depth, skip, lf-delay, ff-delay, backspace, ptr-width, ptr-length, type]

Consecutive commas indicate a null parameter, leaving the current setting unchanged. The following command sets the line width to 132 and the form-feed delay to 0:

>TERM 132,,,,0

>

The TERM command does not return any message. You can verify the changes by entering TERM again without any parameters, or you can verify the changes by adding (R to the TERM command at the time you change a setting.

Specifying the terminal type allows mvBase to send the proper codes, as required by the terminal, to perform certain functions that control the screen, such as form feeds, clearing the screen, and cursor addressing. These functions are most often used by the full screen editor, DocuMentor, and mvBASIC programs that use the @ functions.

The list of supported terminal types and the codes used to identify them are shown in the table below.

Code

Description

A

ADDS

A

ADDS580

A

ANT

B

AMPEX210

B

BEEHIVE

C

ADDS2025

C

DTC

C

VT52

D

DATAMEDIA

E

EMULOG200

E

ESPRIT6310

F

TV910

G

GTC

G

IBM3161

H

HONEYWELL

I

IBM3010

I

IBMPC

I

MONOLITH

J

KD500

J

VT100

L

LSI

M

AMPEX

M

AMPEX.D80

M

MIME

N

ENVISION

O

CEM

P

HP2621A

P

PERTEC

Q

QVT102

R

REGENT

S

ANSI

S

SCANSET

S

SOROC

T

TEC

T

TV920

T

TV925

T

TV950

T

WYSE100

U

ULTRATEK6448

V

ADDS/x60-VP

V

ADDS/x60C-VP

V

ADDS4000-VP

V

VIEWPOINT

V

VIEWPOINT2

V

VP/ENHANCED

W

WYSE30

W

WYSE50

W

WYSE60

X

DATAGRAPHIX

X

UNKNOWN

If you do not find the terminal that you use, first check the manufacturer’s documentation to see if your terminal can be set up to emulate any of the terminals on this list.

If type is the only parameter to be specified, you can enter its value without any preceding commas. For instance, if you were dialing into an mvBase system from a personal computer, you could use the TERM command to identify your terminal as type S, an ANSI standard terminal:

>TERM S

This setting would remain in effect throughout the current logon session.

See Also

Setting Line and Process Characteristics

Communications Line Settings

Process Settings

Listing Line and Process Characteristics