Chapter 4:  Using ALC Menus

 

This chapter describes how to:

·         Display an ALC menu.

·         Run menu options.

·         Execute commands from a menu.

 

Accessing a Menu

To display an ALC menu, use the OS/400 GO command.  The GO command has two parameters:

 

MENU	This is the qualified name of the menu you want to display.
RTNPNT	This indicates whether you want to return to the current menu when the F3 key is used to exit the new menu.  The possible values are *YES and *NO.

 

In most cases, the menu administrator will make displaying menus even easier, by providing menu options on main menus that let you quickly switch to sub-menus.

 

Sample Menu.

The above figure shows a typical menu.  Note that the menu name and library appear in the upper left, and the system name appears in the upper right.

 

Running Menu Options

Only options that you are authorized to execute appear when a menu is displayed.  To select a menu option, key the option number on the command line and press Enter.

The number of the last option run is shown in parentheses on the lower-right of the menu.

If there are more menu options than can fit on one page of the display, a Position to field appears in the upper right.  Use the Roll or Page keys to move back and forth through the available menu options, or key a number in the Position to field and press Enter to position the display to the page that contains a particular menu option.

 

Tip:	You can select a valid menu option, even if that option is not showing on the current page of the display.

 

Executing Commands

Only authorized users may execute commands (other than numeric menu options) from a menu command line.

Users with *YES specified for Limit Capabilities in their user profile are not allowed to enter commands.

Menu administrators can also disable the command line completely for any menu, preventing all users from entering system commands from that menu.  See Creating Menus for more information.

If a user is authorized, they can run commands from the menu command line by typing the command and pressing Enter.  Press F4 before pressing Enter to see the prompted version of the command.  Press F9 to retrieve commands previously entered.

Function Keys

You can use the following function keys when operating a menu:

 

F1=Help	Display help for the menu option pointed to by the cursor.  When the cursor does not point to a menu option, overview help is displayed.
F3=Exit	Exit the menu.  Return to the previous menu return point.
F4=Prompt	Prompt a system command on the command line.
F5=Refresh	Refresh the display.  Show the first page of the menu.
F9=Retrieve	Retrieve commands previously entered on the command line.
F10=Usage help	View on-line help text that explains how to use ALC menus.
F12=Cancel	Exit the menu.  Return to the previous menu.
Other keys	Other keys may be defined on a menu-by-menu basis by the menu administrator. Text describing additional function keys appears on the last two lines of the display. Key F24 to see text for additional function keys.