IBM Mainframe Forum

Hi Guys,

I would like to ask you for help.

I need to insert text into dataset (CTRL+C in notepad, CTRL+V in mainframe).
Text is inserted over the line numbers.
I am not able to find, which settings I should change.

many thanks

data set before inserting text

text I would like to insert

text is inserted over line numbers

This is not a mainframe issue. This is an issue with the specific terminal emulator you are using. Consult the documentation for the emulator, or contact the vendor.

Please try 'TE' line command (and Enter) prior to your CNTL/V.

Robert Sample wrote:This is not a mainframe issue. This is an issue with the specific terminal emulator you are using. Consult the documentation for the emulator, or contact the vendor.

I, too, am inclined to agree with Mr. Sample, but the issues may be more complex.

Unfortunately, the TS (Topic Starter) chose to cut off the terminal emulator he is using in the PNG files he chose to share with us so we have no idea what emulator he is using.

The more advanced terminal emulators support two modes to paste data. One mode roughly corresponds to the usual Windoze convention and will result in what the TS appeared to show us. A second mode - my emulator calls it "block" mode - operates more like we would expect, where the text is inserted into the ISPF edit screen only in the ISPF input area and does not overlay the sequence number area. As I recall the IBM 3270 emulator offers this option, but I cannot speak about other emulators. I no longer endorse the emulator I use as its vendor has chosen to drastically increase its price and their support policy is not acceptable so I will not mention it. It has been more than 20 years since I used any version of the IBM emulator, and my knowledge of other emulators is limited.

One emulator I do use, though no longer in a production use, is the Vista 3270 emulator. Its price is reasonable and, as of a few years ago, anyway, its product support was excellent. I just started it (for the first time in several years) to test its paste capabilities. It appeared to use block mode paste, but I could no longer find where it was set.

I do endorse Mr. Sample's idea: check the documentation and the configuration options.

One other option is to upload text data (e.g., a Windoze ASCII file) as a text upload and edit the data set created by the upload, and forget pasting data from, say, a Windoze notepad display.

Based on the format of your ISPF screens samples, you try to work in a BROWSE session, do you?

Any update to the data can be done ONLY in ISPF EDIT session...

sergeyken wrote:Based on the format of your ISPF screens samples, you try to work in a BROWSE session, do you?

Then maybe you can explain to all of us how to create blank lines in Browse!?

you try to work in a BROWSE session, do you?

It is actually in VIEW mode, which you get to by selecting BROWSE from the primary menu. I can see why it might be confusing.

Let's be sure we're all on the same page.

ISPF supports three ways to work with data sets.

• "Traditional" EDIT
  This is what most of us think of as EDIT, but I'll call it "traditional" EDIT.
  
  Select all

     File  Edit  Edit_Settings  Menu  Utilities  Compilers  Test  Help
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   EDIT       XXXXXX.ZG.ASM                                   Columns 00001 00072
   Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> HALF
   ****** ***************************** Top of Data ******************************
   000001 ZG       TITLE '                      S I M P L I F I E D   P D S   P R>
   000002                 I N T   U T I L I T Y'
   ''''''
   ''''''
   000003          MACRO
   000004 &NAME    NEWSAVE &ADDR
   000005 &NAME    LR    15,13               COPY SAVE AREA ADDRESS TO REG 15
   000006          AIF   ('&ADDR' EQ '').STACK
   000007          LA    13,&ADDR            COMPUTE NEW SAVE AREA ADDRESS
   000008          AGO   .CHAIN
   000009 .STACK   LA    13,72(,13)          COMPUTE NEW SAVE AREA ADDRESS
   000010 .CHAIN   ST    13,8(,15)           ADD NEW SAVE AREA TO THE
   000011          ST    15,4(,13)            SAVE AREA CHAIN
   000012          MEND
  
  This is the EDIT that has been in ISPF since its inception in the 1970s.
• "Traditional" Browse
  This is what I'll call "traditional" browse.
  
  Select all

    Menu  Utilities  Compilers  Help                                            
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   BROWSE    XXXXXX.ZG.ASM                              Line 00000000 Col 001 080
   Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> PAGE
  ********************************* Top of Data **********************************
  ZG       TITLE '                      S I M P L I F I E D   P D S   P R>
                  I N T   U T I L I T Y'
           MACRO
  &NAME    NEWSAVE &ADDR
  &NAME    LR    15,13               COPY SAVE AREA ADDRESS TO REG 15
           AIF   ('&ADDR' EQ '').STACK
           LA    13,&ADDR            COMPUTE NEW SAVE AREA ADDRESS
           AGO   .CHAIN
  .STACK   LA    13,72(,13)          COMPUTE NEW SAVE AREA ADDRESS
  .CHAIN   ST    13,8(,15)           ADD NEW SAVE AREA TO THE
           ST    15,4(,13)            SAVE AREA CHAIN
           MEND
  
  This is the "browse" that has been in ISPF since the inception of SPF in the 1970s. "Traditional" browse can be selected from the Browse menu or from the DSLIST menu (3.4).
• "View" Browse
  This is "View" which was added in the 1990s (I think)
  
  Select all

   File  Edit  Edit_Settings  Menu  Utilities  Compilers  Test  Help
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  VIEW       XXXXXX.ZG.ASM                                   Columns 00001 00072
  Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> HALF
  ****** ***************************** Top of Data ******************************
  000001 ZG       TITLE '                      S I M P L I F I E D   P D S   P R>
  000002                 I N T   U T I L I T Y'                                  
  ''''''
  ''''''
  000003          MACRO
  000004 &NAME    NEWSAVE &ADDR
  000005 &NAME    LR    15,13               COPY SAVE AREA ADDRESS TO REG 15
  000006          AIF   ('&ADDR' EQ '').STACK
  000007          LA    13,&ADDR            COMPUTE NEW SAVE AREA ADDRESS
  000008          AGO   .CHAIN
  000009 .STACK   LA    13,72(,13)          COMPUTE NEW SAVE AREA ADDRESS
  000010 .CHAIN   ST    13,8(,15)           ADD NEW SAVE AREA TO THE
  000011          ST    15,4(,13)            SAVE AREA CHAIN
  000012          MEND
  
  Now as you see, you can insert text, or modify text, but you can't save the altered data. View can be selected from the Browse menu or as a line option in DSLIST menu, usually the 3.4 menu.

You can tell the difference between EDIT and VIEW by the color of the line numbers: Edit uses green / VIEW uses blue line numbers.

FYI. VIEW is one of my innovations when I worked for IBM. I asked the ISPF developers and they obliged. Thanks.
Yes, that was in the early 1990's, when I participated in the beta test for ISPF V4.