NET/MASTER Network Control Language (NCL) Reference Manual

&SYS.INKEY

System Variables

5–46 106126 Tandem Computers Incorporated

&SYS.INKEY The &SYS.INKEY system variable contains the name of the function key that

terminated user input in the last displayed panel. By examining the contents of

&SYS.INKEY, the procedure can determine if the validation can be bypassed.

If a synchronous panel has been defined with the #OPT panel control statement and a

time interval (specified on the INWAIT operand) has elapsed, &SYS.INKEY is set to

null.

&SYS.INKEY

Considerations

Take care when using IF statements that refer to &SYS.INKEY; if this variable has

a null value, NCL causes a syntax error.

Possible values for &SYS.INKEY are shown in the following table.

Value Meaning

ENTER ENTER or RETURN keys were pressed.

Program Function (PF) keys were pressed. (For example, if PF05 had been used

to enter the data,

would equal 05).

null The panel INWAIT or PROMPT WAIT time period expired.

For a complete list of the values of &SYS.INKEY, refer to the NonStop

NET/MASTER NCL Programmer’s Guide.

Certain PF keys are allocated for use by NonStop NET/MASTER MS. These are

intercepted before reaching the procedure. The CONTROL verb operands

PFKSTD, PFKALL, and NOPFK can be used to allow the procedure to control the

level of PF key interception performed by the system. See the discussion of these

CONTROL verb operands in Section 3, “Verbs.”

As an alternative to &SYS.INKEY, you can use the CONTROL verb with the

PANELRC option to request that return codes be supplied on return from a

PANEL statement. In this case, a return code of 12 in &SYS.RETCODE specifies

that the INWAIT or WAIT time period has expired.

See also &SYS.NATIVE.INKEY, which contains the native or untranslated name of

the last function key used when entering data or during a panel operation.

For PF key entry, &SYS.INKEY is always four characters. Numbers less than ten

always have a leading zero (for example, PF04).