A-Shell Reference

Type

Value

Description

Numeric

-

(hyphen) Allow Minus Sign.

Timer

!

(exclamation point) Activate return of elapsed time during input. This is only applicable when the timer parameter is specified. Note that this can be used even if time-out is not specified (by setting timer=0).

Character

#

(number sign) Numeric (0-9). If nothing entered, displays a "0" (but returns just a blank string.) Also see N.

Character

$

(dollar sign) Currency Field.

Misc

&

(ampersand) Enable protected fields.

Misc

|&

(bar ampersand) Works like a "smart" version of "&", re-enabling protected mode on exit only if it was previously enabled. The "&" feature always re-enables protected mode, which was the way it worked historically under AMOS.

Misc

(

(open parenthesis) Strip leading blanks from entry before pre-load.

Misc

)

(close parenthesis) Start cursor at end.

Character

*

(asterisk) Accept all characters. Same as A.

Character

,

(comma) Punctuation allowed. Punctuation is anything other than a number or letter.

Numeric

.

(period) Allow Decimal Point.

Misc

|.

(bar period) Forces INFLD to use periods rather than underlines for the field marker in text mode. Previously you had to use prehistoric compatibility mode, or allow decimal points, to achieve this.

Numeric

|#

(bar hash) Disable the automatic display of "0" in a numeric field when nothing entered.

Timer

/

(slash) Disable all timer displays. This differs from the "+" code in that the "+" code leaves the message "timing out" on the bottom line (but does not show the time)

Misc

|/

(bar slash) Disables the display of the INFLD "about" box (normally triggered by Ctrl+\). This is mainly a workaround for a problem where the about box is being triggered unexpectedly.

GUI

||/

(bar bar slash) Removes the "client edge"—which combines a border and an internal margin—from the edit box. This is useful mainly to make the edit control blend into a background, perhaps related to creating a composite combining an edit control with other text on a static panel, and/or to achieve a "clean" look.

Misc

:

(colon) Disable bright and dim.

Misc

;

(semicolon) Turn cursor on while waiting for input; turn it off again on exit from field.

Exit

?

Help key allowed. Displays message on bottom line "Hit `?' for Help", and returns exitcode = 8 if help key entered. Leaves the value of entry as it was before calling INFLD. Note that the help key, message, and message location may be customized.

Character

@

(at sign) Control Character Input.

Misc

[

(open bracket) Force cursor to blink during input.

Misc

\

(backslash) Clear bottom line.

Misc

]

(close bracket) Strip trailing blanks. Otherwise entry field is filled up with trailing blanks, like in INPUT. The stripped blanks are not counted toward xmin.

Misc

|]

(bar close bracket) Defeats both the padding and stripping of trailing blanks, so that you get back exactly what you typed. (See ].)

GUI

||]

(bar bar close bracket) Prevents field width from being automatically expanded by logic that attempts to allow for the extra space needed by various GUI enhancements. For example, combo boxes smaller than six characters wide typically get an extra three characters of width to account for the space needed for the dropdown button. Similar rules apply to date and time pickers as well.

GUI

||[

(bar bar open bracket) causes the redisplayed field to grow as needed for the contents. (This was once part of the ||] code but has been removed in order to avoid slight differences in field display widths which give such screens a ragged look.)

Misc

`

(grave) Force destructive Enter.

Misc

||`

(vertical bar, vertical bar, grave) Forces unconditional destructive CR; text mode only.

Misc

^

(carat) Convert to upper case (1).

Misc

_

(underscore) Use clear-to-end-of-line function (-1,9) to clear field.

Misc

|_

(bar underscore) Use underline to mark designated field (instead of default auto-beveling). See Field Markers.

Character

{

(open brace) Character acceptance is limited to the set of characters specified in setdef. Typically you would combine this with "*", else the characters may be rejected before even considering the setdef list.

Misc

}

(close brace) Activates "INMEMO" mode. This is a special INFLD mode used internally by the A-Shell implementation of INMEMO.

Misc

|}

(bar close brace) Activates horizontal scrolling mode. Set automatically when maxchrs > xmax.

Misc

||}

(bar bar close brace) Activates "command-line" mode. This is a special INFLD mode used internally by the A-Shell implementation of the dot prompt and for BASIC INPUT statements.

Timer

+

Disable display of time remaining (on bottom line). Normally, the time remaining until time-out is displayed (and updated every second) on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Misc

<

(less than) Echo a carriage return on exit from the field. This is useful especially with the F and @ codes to let the operator know immediately that the input is being processed.

Exit

||<

Type ||< may be used with ||S (selection-only combo boxes) to force an exit with EXITCODE 32 whenever the selection changes due to the user typing a keyboard character. The concept is the same as for ||5 and ||3 as described below.

Misc

=

(equals) Do not reformat the field on exit. Also see |R (do not redisplay on exit).

Date/Time

>

(greater than) Convert Date Format.

GUI

||*

Enable Password Encryption.

GUI

|*

Disable Password Encryption.

Character

a

Alphabetic characters allowed (a-z, A-Z), or as defined by the LDF (language definition file).

Character

A

All characters allowed (subject to code b). Note that A is used for com­patibility with INPUT, but to most people, "*" makes more sense. Note that A or "*" is equivalent to the combination "a#," (alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation).

Exit

|a

Enable Ctrl+A (when cursor already at start of field) to return exitcode=19. (Ctrl+A normally moves cursor to start of previous word.)

GUI

||a

Activate Auto-Complete mode.

Misc

|A

Activates simulation of Xcall AMBTOA.

Misc

b

Disallow blanks.

Misc

B

Disable character blanking.

Exit

|B

Enable Ctrl+B to return exitcode=16, and Ctrl+O to return exitcode=17.

GUI

||b

For checkboxes, causes the current state of the checkbox to override the normal default state (i.e. the default based on the type codes if opcode=0, or the contents of the entry parameter if opcode=1 or 2). Useful when the checkbox statement may have been changed by clicking on it outside of the awareness of the application. Same effect as cmdflg=4.

Misc

c

Capitalize first letter of each word.

Character

C

CARRIAGE RETURN only.

Exit

|C

Enable Ctrl+S to return exitcode=26.

GUI

||c

Convert Y/N Field To Checkbox.

GUI

||C

Causes a field which would normally appear as a combo box or a date picker while editing (see setdef, dates) to also appear as a combo box when not actively being edited. Otherwise, these kinds of fields revert to static text controls when not active. See Active Versus Inactive Behavior.

Character

d

Date Input, Today.

Character

D

Date Input.

Date/Time

|D

Defaults century to 19xx. Applies for date formats which allow user to enter only the YY. If not specified, century default is determined by the SBR=CCYY:## entry in miame.ini.

Date/Time

||D

Allows a date field to be filled with zeroes.

Date/Time

|d

Allow Date Shortcuts.

Misc

e

Force non-destructive Return (or Enter). This is the default for most field types except numeric. See code "`" (grave accent) above.

Misc

E

Abort allowed.

GUI

|E

Causes the field to retain the form of an edit control when not active. (Otherwise, fields normally revert to static text controls when not active.) Also see ||C and Active Versus Inactive Behavior.

Exit

||E

Causes Enter to return exitcode 23 instead of the normal 0. This can be useful in certain dialog situations (particularly involving AUI_EVENTWAIT) where either the correct response to Enter, or the meaning of a response of exitcode 0, might otherwise be ambiguous.

Misc

f

Form Field.

Misc

F

Fast input.

Misc

|F

|F is similar to F (fast) except that it affects the preload operation, rather than interactive typing. When specified, if the preloaded characters satisfy the minimum field size, then the field will exit immediately (without waiting for input).

GUI

|f

Reserved for internal use ATE in GUI mode to control function key settings

GUI

||f

Force Fixed-Pitch Font.

GUI

||F

Force Modified Fixed-Pitch Font..

Misc

g

Return updated field contents.

Numeric

G

May be useful for aligning decimal points in column of variable precision numbers.

GUI

|g

Implies |G, but limits the GUI enhancements to just the Windows-style edit box (i.e. without some of the other automatic enhancements such as date picker controls).

GUI

|G

Activate GUI Enhancements.

GUI

||g

Disable/override GUI mode. (Used to temporarily cancel a global |G or ||G or |g)

GUI

||G

Same as |G except turns Y/N fields into checkboxes.

Misc

h

Disables the help message display "Hit ? for Help". This may be desirable when you have help on virtually every field, or when you need to use that area for some other message.

Character

H

Hours field. Like $ but omits the "$" from the display.

Date/Time

|h

HexaDecade Dates (2).

Character

||h

Accept hexadecimal digits (A-F, a-f, 0-9).

Date/Time

|H

HexaDecade Dates (1).

GUI

||H

Disable horizontal scrolling within control. Note that the ability to scroll is sometimes needed in order to fit all of the allowed characters, if using proportional fonts and the field consists of wider-than-normal (e.g. CAPS) characters.

Misc

i

(lower case I) Completely invisible field. Similar to S except that nothing is echoed (so you cannot even see how many characters are allowed, or how many were typed.) type i silences the beveling so that the field remains totally invisible (no cursor, no indication of field position or size, no echoing of characters).

Misc

I

(upper case letter "eye".) Use invisible field markers. See also Field Markers.

Misc

|I

(bar upper case letter "eye") Forces INFLD to start in insert mode, rather than the default (which may be either insert or replace mode, depending on several factors).

Misc

||I

(bar bar upper case letter "eye") Forces INSERT mode off / REPLACE mode on). This overrides the remembered state for the current field, but does not change the remembered state for subsequent fields.

Date/Time

j

Julian Date Format.

Character

J

Accepts alphanumeric input, and if the input is wholly numeric, right justifies and fills with leading zeroes.

GUI

||J

Right Justify Checkbox Text.

Exit

k

Enable Ctrl+E to return exitcode=15 (rather than its normal use as the record abort key, which sets inxctl=1.)

Misc

||k

Disables internal too-fast input filter, which may otherwise cause characters fed via a burst to be dropped.

GUI

|K

Windows Keyboard Conventions.

GUI

||K

Acts just like |K but also disables the Ctrl+C abort while the field is active. This allows you to use Ctrl+C for copy-to-clipboard without first having to disable Ctrl+C abort in the application. See also Ctrl+C Behavior.

Misc

|l

(bar lower case letter "el") Forces lower case.

Misc

||l

(bar bar lower case letter "el") Same as ||L except that entry will return a complete <code>,<description> pair (e.g. "01,North") instead of just the code item. See Coded Lists.

Exit

L

Enable Ctrl+L Right-Arrow. Returns exitcode=12 if right arrow hit when cursor already at right end of field.

Exit

|L

The combination |L (vertical bar, L) is the same as type L (without the vertical bar) in that it triggers exitcode 12. The difference is that with L by itself, you can only exit from the far right side of the field. (If there are characters to the right of the cursor, then the right arrow key will simply move the cursor to the right.) With |L, you can exit the field from any position, provided you have not already used other editing or cursor motion keys first. This mode is useful for Right-Arrow to skip from one field to the next.

Misc

||L

(bar bar upper case letter "el") List substitution. setdef consists of <code>,<descr> pairs, e.g.: ,01,North,02,South,03,Middle Earth,, Application uses the code items (01, 02, ...) while the operator sees and uses the description items. See Coded Lists.

Misc

m

Disable default type codes.

Numeric

M

Thousands Separator.

GUI

|m

Prevents the Enter key, when used to select an item from the dropdown list in a combo box, from also causing the field to exit.

GUI

|M

Multi-line edit box. xmax sets the display width of the box. maxchrs sets the maximum number of characters allowed (up to a maximum of 1024). defpt is reinterpreted as the height of the box. See ||H for disabling horizontal scrolling (to enable word wrap). Enter (along with any other enabled exit key) exits. See Multi-line Edit Control (INFLD).

GUI

||m

Causes exitcode 13 to be returned when an item is selected from the dropdown list (using Enter or click) in a combo box. This allows you to distinguish that event from merely hitting Enter to the field when the dropdown is not displayed. The same effect also applies to fast mode checkboxes, allowing you to distinguish between Enter (which returns exitcode 0) and a click or other keystroke which changes the checkbox value and then exits (with exitcode 13).

GUI

||M

Variation of multi-line edit. Allows Enter to be used to manually break lines. Also, displays a vertical scroll bar.

Misc

n

Return null.

Character

N

No/Yes Field.

Exit

|N

Enable Ctrl+N to return exitcode=22 (instead of just moving the cursor to the end of the field).

Misc

O

(Upper case letter "O") Optional field. Allows operator to skip the field, even if the xmin specified is non-zero. However, if 1 or more characters are entered, then the minimum goes back into effect.

Misc

p

Overrides cmdflg parameter, setting it to 1—i.e. forces command file input to be active. See also MX_SETCMDINP.

Character

P

Phone Number Or Zip Code Input.

Misc

|p

Prehistoric Compatibility Mode. See Field Markers.

Misc

|P*

This three-character type combination (vertical bar, P, followed by any character A-Z, [, ], ^, _) enables Ctrl + (whatever the third character of the sequence is) to launch the pop-up utility ASHPOP.RUN.

Misc

||p

Disables the use of the clipboard paste option.

Misc

||P

This may be used with the security type field (S) to automatically decrypt/encrypt a password, using A-Shell's standard password encryption scheme. See MX_PWCRYPT.

Misc

q

Causes field to be edited in reverse video.

Timer

Q

Disable time-out suspend feature. (Normally, the operator can suspend the time-out counter for 10 minutes by hitting Ctrl+S. Suspending the timer is useful when you have to temporarily interrupt data entry, as when answering the phone.) A-Shell Note: Under A-Shell, Ctrl+B is the suspend key.

Exit

|Q

Enable Ctrl+P to return exitcode=25 (instead of initiating a screen snapshot).

Timer

r

Time out reminder. This is similar in motivation to the w code, except that it just causes a single beep, without any message, after 10 seconds have elapsed (when the timer option is active.)

Numeric

R

Right Justify Field.

Misc

|r

Read only.

Misc

|R

Do not redisplay field.

GUI

||r

Create A Radio Button.

Misc

s

Disable display of setdef options, which are otherwise displayed along the bottom line of the screen. Not applicable in GUI mode, where the setdef options are loaded into a combo box.

Misc

S

Security field: echo all characters as "*". Also see i above.

Misc

|s

Provides support for regular expressions in SETDEF. When |s is specified, SETDEF is interpreted as a single regular expression, which the data field must match. Note that to invoke regular expression flags such as PCRE_CASELESS, you will need to use the Perl-style internal option settings, e.g. "(?i)[AP]M" will match AM, PM, am, pm, etc. Also note that in this mode, setdef should contain only the regex pattern, with no leading or trailing delimiters.

Misc

|S

Causes an automatic screen capture to be appended to the capture file on exit from the field. See MX_SCRNPIC for more info on screen captures.

GUI

||s

Makes setdef list matching optional. Only applies to the combo box, in which case it allows the operator to enter a value that is not in the list.

GUI

||S

Variation of combo box in which typing a character only selects the nearest matching item from the list. (Otherwise the user can type independently of the list, and use Down-Arrow to find the nearest match.) See Combo Box Control (INFLD)

Date/Time

t

Time Field.

Date/Time

th

Same as "t" but allows hh > 24. Not supported in the Windows date control, i.e. not compatible with TYPE "|G" (use "|g" instead).

Exit

T

Allow Tab key as a terminator. Sets inxctl to 3 and exitcode to 7.

Timer

|t

Reset timer to the initial value after every keystroke.

Timer

|T

Overrides timer parameter to zero. Useful for disabling timer globally in programs that otherwise use it (by putting this in the SBR=INFDEF: string.)

Date/Time

||t

Same as t (time) but in GUI mode returns the time in 12-hour format rather than 24 hour format.

Exit

||T

Causes Enter to act like Tab (returning exitcode 7). This might help simplify dialog logic, particularly when using EVENTWAIT with the EVW_EXCDFOCUS option, by eliminating the need for special treatment of the exitcode 0 case.

LDF

u

Observe LDF rules. See LDF-Related Codes.

Character

U

European Date.

Misc

|u

Convert to upper case (2).

Exit

|U

Enable Ctrl+U to return exitcode=21 (instead of just moving the cursor to the start of the field).

GUI

||U

Create up/down ("spinner") control. See Up/Down Control (INFLD).

LDF

||u

Ignore LDF; see LDF-Related Codes.

Numeric

v

Value Range Checking.

GUI

||v

Self Service Date Picker.

Exit

V

Trap Ctrl+C and return exitcode=10 (instead of the normal mode which aborts to the ASB error trapping routine). Note that you must specify the exitcode parameter for this to work. See also Ctrl+C Behavior.

Timer

w

Timer wake up warning. When added to any set of timer related codes, causes a warning beep and message when only 10 seconds remain on the timer. The message blinks TIMING OUT in the lower right corner of the screen, and any key hit during the remaining 10 seconds resets the timer to the original value. Note that w overrides / to display the warning message and suspend message as well, if invoked. See r

Misc

W

Disallow record abort key.

Exit

|w

Enable Ctrl+W to return exitcode=20 (when at the start of an empty field)

Exit

|W

Enable Ctrl+W to return exitcode=1 and inxctl=1, instead of moving the cursor to the start of the next word.

GUI

||W

Disable the mousewheel within the context of a single combo box field. Added to A-Shell 6.5.1680, June 2020.

GUI

||x

Force coordinates (row, col) to be interpreted as pixels. This is an alternative to setting IMXF_PIXCOORDS; see xmax.

Character

X

Specifies a Y/N field, but with no default. May be used to force the operator to make a choice, or, with xmin=0, to allow a third option (blank).

Misc

|X*

Program Ctrl+X.

Exit

|XX

Enable Ctrl+X to return exitcode=27. Note that this is a special case of the general three-character type sequence |X* which causes Ctrl+X to be interpreted as Ctrl+* (where * is any character compatible with the control key).

Character

Y

Yes/No Field.

Numeric

Z

Zero Fill.

Exit

|Z

Enable Ctrl+Z to return exitcode=18 (instead of clearing the field).

Misc

0

(zero) Strip away all characters typed ahead into the input buffer before inputting the field. Useful when you want to make sure that the operator reads a message or prompt before answering it.

Exit

1

Enable Escape, returns exitcode=1. Note that this is only effective when used without the E code (see above). This differs from Escape with the E code in that the contents of the field are not overwritten with "END". Also note that the Ctrl+E abort key also returns exitcode=1.

Timer

||1

Modifies the timeout feature causing it to start out suspended. See Timer-Related Codes for more detail.

Exit

2

Enable Left-arrow (Backspace on most PCs), returns exitcode=2. This is only effective without the E code, and is intended to be processed as a move to previous field.

Exit

|2

(vertical bar followed by 2) (Windows/ATE) (GUI mode only) Forces Shift+Tab to return exitcode 2 (like left arrow would if type 2 was specified). Otherwise Shift+Tab acts exactly like Up-arrow, meaning it will exit with exitcode set to 3 if type 3 specified. Unlike left arrow, Shift+Tab does not require that the cursor be in the home position in order to be treated as an exit key. Note that type |2 neither requires type 2 nor implies it. In other words, type |2 by itself will enable Shift+Tab exits (setting exitcode 2) but will not enable the Left-Arrow exit. Use type 2|2 or |22 to allow both methods of exiting.

Exit

3

Enable Up-arrow, returns exitcode=3. Should be processed as either a return to previous field, or to next field above cursor in same column.

Exit

|3

Types |3 and |5 are equivalent to the existing Types 3 and 5, respectively, except that if used with a combo box, they also cause the up/down arrows to exit immediately (with the corresponding exitcode), rather than scroll among the choices in the combo box, PROVIDED THAT the combo box is not already in the dropdown position. (This is directly analogous to the XTREE coldef option ScrollMode=Tree.) An additional side-effect of |3 and |5 (versus 3 and 5) is that Shift+Up-arrow and Shift+Down-arrow will now act as they do in text mode (i.e. get translated via the function key translation system), even if |K (Windows keyboard mode) is in effect.

Exit

||3

Types ||5 and ||3 act just like |5 and |3 respectively, except that the exit occurs AFTER updating the display (with the next or previous item in the list), instead of BEFORE. Thus they work similarly to the SelChgExit feature of XTREE, allowing you to update some other display element to correspond with the currently displayed item in the combo box.

Exit

4

Enable Ctrl+R, returns exitcode=4. Should be processed as a return to first field in screen, or to previous screen (in multi-screen applications).

Exit

5

Enable Ctrl+J (down arrow), returns exitcode=5. Should be processed as an advance to next field or next line (skipping fields on current line).

Exit

|5

See |3.

Exit

||5

See ||3.

Exit

6

Enable Ctrl+T, returns exitcode=6 and should be processed as an exit out of screen (usually to the ANY CHANGE? prompt). This is particularly useful to terminate change mode when the cursor is allowed to be moved about freely between fields (with the above codes).

Exit

7

Enable Spacebar, returns exitcode=13.

Exit

8

Enable Rubout or Delete, returns exitcode=14 if cursor is in the first position of the field.

Exit

9

Enable Ctrl+^ (Home). Returns exitcode=9 if Ctrl+^ (Home) key hit, and should be processed as a return to first field of screen

Exit

|9

Causes Ctrl+HOME to exit with exitcode 9. This is mainly intended for use with Windows keyboard mode (|K) where you would probably want the HOME key to just move the cursor to the start of the field (like Ctrl+U), in which case you would want to omit the type 9 and just use |9.