Hold Processing
CA provides the HOLD feature of Telon in prototype
form, intending it to be used only when the user wants to set aside
his current work for an interruption (like ISPF split-screen).
There are other valuable uses for the mechanism:
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Whenever an item can be selected from a list for more detailed display
or update, with a subsequent return to the list, the hold feature would
also be useful. One of the sample programs provided by CA shows how
to custom-code the ability to return to the same page of the list that
you left, but the custom-code is quite complex. The hold feature
would accomplish this easily and naturally.
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CA's sample programs also demonstrate the general technique of maintaining
a table of previous programs for PF3 and PF12 to return to, but again this
is custom-code reproducing the basic effect of a hold.
To make full use of the HOLD feature in these and other ways, you have
to be able to have several held screen images at once, but as delivered
Telon only supports one.
The TDF itself, written in Telon, demonstrates one extension to a round-robin
(FIFO) set of multiple held sessions. More useful to most applications
would be a stacked (LIFO) set. CASE Integrators has built a variety
of extensions to the hold facility, using which require no more custom
code than using CA's prototype.
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