5250 Terminal Keyboard Mapping

Default Keyboard Settings

The following keyboard 'actions' are identified and mapped to either an IBM Aid key that gets submitted or a terminal command to edit field content or to move the cursor position.

Telnet Flags

A few of the 'Actions' that submit but do not send Aid Key to the IBM i need to effect the Telnet message header instead. According to http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1205.txt, there is a 16 bit flag field in the Telnet header. Eight of those bits are reserved and should be set to zero.

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Customizing the Keyboard

To map Actions not set by default or to customize keyboard mapping, you can add a few lines of JavaScript code to the ~/Themes/Current/Monarch/Asna5250Terminal.aspx markup. The JavaScript code that implements the ASNA 5250 Terminal emulator subscribes to the following browser events:

• document.body.onkeydown
• document.body.onkeypress

When keyboard input is identified, the input is normalized into a Key object with the following properties:

Key = function (code, ctrlKey, altKey, shiftKey) {
      this.code     = code;
      this.ctrlKey  = ctrlKey;
      this.altKey   = altKey;
      this.shiftKey = shiftKey;
   }

This Key object needs to be mapped into either an Action, as noted above, or a character to be added to the field at the cursor's position. Before applying the Defaults above, the ASNA 5250 Terminal emulator JavaScript code checks for the global function WingsTerminalMapKey. If it exists as a function, then it is called with the following parameters:

inputKey, wasKeyPress, outEvent

Where:

InputEvent = function ( action, character) {
   this.action = action;
   this.character = character;
}

For example, the following implementation of global function WingsTerminalMapKey will map the 'RESET' action to the Ctrl + R key combination. Note: the default 'Esc' mapping would still work. To disable the default code, map it to a blank action.

<script type="text/javascript">
   WingsTerminalMapKey = function (inputKey, wasKeyPress, outEvent) {
      if (inputKey.ctrlKey && String.fromCharCode(inputKey.code).toUpperCase() === 'R' ) { // Ctrl R
         outEvent.action = 'RESET';
      }
   }
   WingsTerminal.renderDisplay_init("85%","100%");
</script>

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Adding Hot-keys for International Characters
(when not available on keyboard)

Even the numeric keypad (when Num Lock is ON), may be used to enter characters – giving its ascii code. For example, Alt 164 on US keyboard produces the 'ñ' symbol - it may be simpler to remember to produce these, by a combination with the Ctrl key. You can easily map 'ñ' or accent on vowels with a sequence such as Ctrl, like in the following example:

<script type="text/javascript">
   WingsTerminalMapKey = function (inputKey, wasKeyPress, outEvent) {
      if ( inputKey.ctrlKey ) {
         switch( String.fromCharCode(inputKey.code).toUpperCase() ) {
            case 'N' :
               outEvent.character = 'ñ';
            break;
            case 'A' :
               outEvent.character = 'á';
            break;
            case 'E' :
               outEvent.character = 'é';
            break;
            case 'I' :
               outEvent.character = 'í';
           break;
           case 'O' :
               outEvent.character = 'ó';
           break;
           case 'U' :
              outEvent.character = 'ú';
           break;
         }
      }
   }
</script>

Note: When re-mapping the keyboard, please test under the three supported Browsers: IE7+, Chrome, and Firefox.

Special Note:

The references to the directory location of Asna5250Terminal.aspx in the above information specifies ~/Themes/Current/ as the location used. Refer to Setting the location of the Asna5250Terminal.aspx page for more information.

See Also

5250 Terminal Branding

Keyboard Macros

Terminal Menus