Most of us who use work on the iSeries do so through the network via IBM Client Access. Most of us are aware that it is possible to copy text from our iSeries session and paste it into a Windows application, such as MS Word or Excel and vice versa.
Cutting and pasting text to / from your iSeries screen is pretty standard stuff. What you may not know is what to do when you want to cut several pages worth of data from your iSeries screen into your Windows document. Your current methods probably go something like this:
1. Select / copy one page of text from iSeries screen.
2. Toggle over to Word or Excel document.
3. Paste text into Word or Excel document.
4. Toggle back to iSeries screen.
5. Page down to display next page of data.
6. Select / copy another page of text from iSeries screen.
7. Toggle over to Word or Excel document.
8. Paste text into Word or Excel document where you left off.
9. Repeat steps one through eight until you finish, lose track of where you left off or become nauseated.
You can make this process much less cumbersome using the Copy Append option under the Edit pull-down menu. Check it out.
1. Select first page of data from your iSeries screen.
2. Copy the text by pressing the COPY button (or ALT-E-C).
3. Page down to the next page of data.
4. Select the text in the next page of data.
5. Copy the second page (and each subsequent page) of data using the Copy / Append feature. NOTE: The shortcut for this function is ALT-E-D.
6. Toggle over to your Windows application and PASTE ONCE!!! All the data from your first copy and every COPY / APPEND pastes into your application.
What if you want to do exactly the opposite -- that is, copy from a Windows application and paste into your iSeries session. Must you resign yourself to copying and pasting one page at a time? The answer is an emphatic and resounding NO!
Say, for example, that you want to copy a list of item number from your Word document and paste them into your entry screen on the iSeries but you have more (much more) than one page in your paste buffer. Enter the 'PASTE NEXT' function.
1. Copy the selected text from your Windows application.
2. Paste into your iSeries screen by positioning your cursor where the paste begins and clicking on the Paste button OR ALT-E-P.
3. Page down, position your cursor again and select Paste Next from the Edit pull down menu (or use keystrokes ALT-E-N).
I have found this real handy for copying a column of numbers from a spool file (on line) into a spreadsheet and then using the SUM function to 'prove' that the totals on the report are correct. Many of you might find this info 'old hat' but I am constantly amazed how many 'veteran' iSeries users don't know it.
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