[comp.os.vms] VMS Foreign terminal support termtable

rankin@EQL.Caltech.EDU.UUCP (08/31/87)

The SMG section of the run-time library reference manual has a brief
discussion of creating and using the termtable database.

>> Another question.  What utilities is this useful with.  Does EDT know how
>> to use termtables?  MAIL?  TYPE/PAGE?  DCL command line editing?  User programs
>> that use LIB$SET_CURSOR(), LIB$CLEAR_SCREEN(), and the like?  VMS C Curses?
>> MONITOR?  Etc., etc.?
> I'm not sure what all utilities make use of this.  I know that MAIL does
> (my first experience with all this was in an effort to get mail to clear
> my screen quickly when I was using a 300-baud dial-up non-DEC terminal).
> I think that TYPE/PAGE does too, but you'll just have to experiment.

The termtable database is used by the SMG run-time library routines and
by SET TERMINAL/DEVICE=xxx.  VMS C Curses runs on top of SMG, so programs
using Curses routines can take advantage of termtable enhancements.

As of VMS v4.5, not many utilities use SMG.  Most rely on the older
(presumed [by me] to be phased out) SCR routines.  LIB$SET_CURSOR(),
etc, use SCR also.

    VMS images using SMGSHR             VMS images using SCRSHR
      [SYSEXE]MAIL.EXE                    [SYSEXE]ACC.EXE
      [SYSEXE]SDA.EXE                     [SYSEXE]EDF.EXE
      [SYSLIB]DEBUG.EXE                   [SYSEXE]MONITOR.EXE
                                          [SYSEXE]PHONE.EXE
                                          [SYSEXE]SDA.EXE
                                          [SYSEXE]SYSGEN.EXE
                                          [SYSEXE]VMSHELP.EXE
                                          [SYSLIB]DEBUG.EXE

Note that the debugger and dump analyzer are linked with both sets
of routines.  TYPE/PAGE does not do any screen oriented I/O other
than clear the screen [and then only when /DEC_CRT or /ANSI_CRT is
set for the terminal].  EDT requires DEC_CRT (vt52 or vt100) escape
sequences; TPU requires ANSI_CRT (vt100) escape sequences; there is
no way to make them run transparently on other terminals.

The above list was obtained by using ANALYZE/IMAGE.  It does not
indicate other programs that use LIB$FIND_IMAGE_SYMBOL() to load in SMGSHR
only when needed (I assume SET does this, but it might map directly
to TERMTABLE).  No screen-oriented layered products are included because
none were available to be checked.

                                        Pat Rankin