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How to save, restore the screen -- the quick and easy way

Ron Turull
11.24.2004
Rating: -3.80- (out of 5)

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In the last installment, I introduced you to Dynamic Screen Manager (DSM). This time we turn our attention to a couple of DSM APIs. These two APIs can be used to take a "snapshot" of the screen, save it and restore it later using the saved data. One of the ways this can be used is in the following situation, drawn from personal experience.

An RPG program calls a CL program, which in turn executes the STRPCCMD command. The STRPCCMD runs a command on the PC and leaves the screen completely blank. After returning, the RPG program does considerable processing before doing another write to the screen (e.g., EXFMT). During this time the screen remains blank, and the user may get the impression that the PC is hung.

Objective: Have the RPG program restore its screen after receiving control back from the CL program.

We do not want to use RSTDSP(*YES) on the CRTDSPF command because it can cause performance problems. Nor do we want to execute an RPG WRITE operation to the screen because it

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requires the use DFRWRT(*NO) on the CRTDSPF command, which can greatly complicate matters.

Solution: Use the Save Screen API (QsnSavScr) to take the snapshot and save the screen before calling the program that alters the screen. After the program returns, use the Put Buffer API (QsnPutBuf) to restore the screen. The following partial RPG code listing shows the ease of using this technique.

The Save Screen API stores a buffer handle (i.e., buffer identifier) in the Buffer parameter. The buffer it identifies (which is managed internally by DSM) will contain the data necessary to restore the screen -- the snapshot. The Put Buffer API writes the data saved in the buffer to the screen. Note: If you compile and run this program, you will see the screen flash.

Here are six points to remember:

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About the author: Ron Turull is editor of Inside Version 5. He has more than 20 years' experience programming for and managing AS/400-iSeries systems.

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