Pathmaker Reference Manual

Glossary
Glossary–6 067869 Tandem Computers Incorporated
user. In the Pathmaker product and other Pathway environments, terminal control
processes (TCPs) interpret Screen COBOL programs to serve as requesters. 2. A
Pathmaker application module corresponding to a Screen COBOL program unit. A
Pathmaker requester contains presentation logic for a single logical screen (which can
contain several pages), manages terminal context associated with that screen,
communicates with services, and contains navigation logic. There are four types of
Pathmaker requesters: database (DB), transaction (TRNS), menu (MENU), and
registered (REG).
Requester context. The set of all reference objects used in a requester, including both the
objects that are displayed on the screen and the objects that are not displayed, but are
used in interprocess messages to other requesters and to servers.
Skeleton. A code template that generates source code for requesters, servers, and
services. Skeletons are written in a macro language that is available for you to use.
Refer to Section 3, “Macro Language.”
Screen. 1. That part of the terminal on which screen images are displayed. 2. A screen
image. 3. The logical screen associated with a requester, corresponding to the
SCREEN section of a Screen COBOL program unit. The logical screen defines the
locations, lengths, and other attributes of fields displayed on the end user's screen.
Screen COBOL. A COBOL-like language designed specifically for writing requester
programs, including descriptions of screen images. This language is supplied as part
of Pathway. The Pathmaker product generates Screen COBOL programs from the
requester information you provide.
Screen element. An indivisible component of an application screen image. A screen
element has a starting location, a length, and video attributes. Screen elements consist
of: data fields, decorations, point fields, and pseudofields. Screen elements can be
added or modified by using the Screen Painter.
Screen field name. A Screen COBOL name associated with the screen data field. You
can assign a screen field name by using the Display Detail screen. If you do not assign
a screen field name, the Pathmaker product generates one that is dependent on the
screen's relative position on the screen.
A screen field name can be sent to a service by using the pseudofield @CURSOR-
FIELD.
Screen Painter. A Pathmaker facility that allows you to modify screens generated by the
Pathmaker product. With the Screen Painter, you can move data items to different
screen locations and draw borders to improve a screen's readability.
Segmented data field. A data field that extends logically from the rightmost position on
a line to the leftmost position of the subsequent line. Each portion of the data field is
referred to as a segment. Information about each segment (starting location, ending
location, and so on) is stored in the Pathmaker project catalog.
Server. A program comprising one or more services. Servers communicate with
requesters and access and manipulate the database. Each server is a context-free
process that does not require memory of a previous transaction in order to process the
current transaction.