x3270 Manual Page
Contents
Name
Synopsis
Description
Options
Fonts
Character Sets
Character Classes
Keypad
Hosts Database
Color Schemes
NVT (ANSI) Mode
Menus
Status Line
Icons
Keymaps
Macros and Scripts
Composite Characters
APL Support
XIM Support
Screen Printing
Bugs
Passthru
Proxy
Files
Environment Variables
See Also
Copyrights
Version
Name
x3270 -
IBM host access tool
Synopsis
x3270
[options]
[host]
Description
x3270 opens
a telnet connection to an IBM
host in an X window.
It implements RFCs 2355 (TN3270E), 1576 (TN3270) and 1646 (LU name selection),
and supports IND$FILE file transfer.
The window created by x3270
can use its own font for displaying characters, so it is a fairly accurate
representation of an IBM 3278 or 3279.
It is similar to tn3270(1) except that it is X-based, not curses-based.
The full syntax for host is:
[prefix:]...[LUname@]hostname[:port]
Prepending a P: onto hostname causes the connection to go
through the telnet-passthru service rather than directly to the host.
See PASSTHRU below.
Prepending an S: onto hostname removes the "extended data
stream" option reported to the host.
See -tn below for further information.
Prepending an N: onto hostname
turns off TN3270E support for the session.
Prepending an L: onto hostname
causes x3270 to first create an SSL tunnel to the host, and then
create a TN3270 session inside the tunnel. (This function is supported only if
x3270 was built with SSL/TLS support).
Note that TLS-encrypted sessions using the TELNET START-TLS option are
negotiated with the host automatically; for these sessions the L: prefix
should not be used.
A specific Logical Unit (LU) name to use may be specified by prepending it to
the hostname with an `@'.
Multiple LU names to try can be separated by commas.
An empty LU can be placed in the list with an extra comma.
(Note that the LU name is used for different purposes by different kinds of
hosts.
For example, CICS uses the LU name as the Terminal ID.)
The hostname may optionally be placed inside square-bracket
characters `[' and `]'.
This will prevent any colon `:' characters in the hostname
from being interpreted as indicating option prefixes or port numbers.
This allows numeric IPv6 addresses to be used as hostnames.
On systems that support the forkpty library call, the
hostname may be replaced with -e and a command string.
This will cause x3270 to connect to a local child process, such as
a shell.
The port to connect to defaults to
telnet.
This can be overridden with the -port option, or by appending
a port to the hostname with a colon
`:'.
(For compatability with previous versions of x3270
and with tn3270(1), the port
may also be specified as a second, separate argument.)
Options
x3270 is a toolkit based program, so it understands standard Xt options and
resources.
It also understands
the following options:
- -activeicon
-
Specifies that the icon should be a miniature version of the screen image.
See ICONS below.
- -apl
-
Sets up APL mode.
This is actually an abbreviation for several options.
See APL SUPPORT below.
- -cc range:value[,...]
-
Sets character classes.
See CHARACTER CLASSES, below.
- -charset name
-
Specifies an EBCDIC host character set.
See CHARACTER SETS below.
- -clear toggle
-
Sets the initial value of toggle to false.
The list of toggle names is under MENUS
below.
- -efont name
-
Specifies a font for the emulator window.
See FONTS below.
- -iconname name
-
Specifies an alternate title for the program icon.
- -iconx x
-
Specifies the initial x coordinate for the program icon.
- -icony y
-
Specifies the initial y coordinate for the program icon.
- -im method
-
Specifies the name of the input method to use for multi-byte input.
(Supported only when x3270 is compiled with DBCS support.)
- -keymap name
-
Specifies a keymap name and optional modifiers.
See KEYMAPS below.
- -keypad
-
Turns on the keypad as soon as x3270 starts.
- -km name
-
Specifies the local encoding method for multi-byte text.
name is an encoding name recognized by the ICU library.
(Supported only when x3270 is compiled with DBCS support, and necessary
only when x3270 cannot figure it out from the locale.)
- -model name
-
The model of 3270 display to be emulated.
The model name is in two parts, either of which may be omitted:
The first part is the
base model,
which is either 3278 or 3279.
3278 specifies a monochrome (green on black) 3270 display;
3279 specifies a color 3270 display.
The second part is the
model number,
which specifies the number of rows and columns.
Model 4 is the default.
| Model Number | Columns | Rows |
| 2 | 80 | 24 |
| 3 | 80 | 30 |
| 4 | 80 | 43 |
| 5 | 132 | 27 |
Note: Technically, there is no such 3270 display as a 3279-4 or 3279-5, but
most hosts seem to work with them anyway.
The default model
for a color X display
is 3279-4.
For a monochrome X display, it is
3278-4.
- -mono
-
Forces x3270 to believe it is running on a monochrome X display.
- -once
-
Causes x3270 to exit after a host disconnects.
This option has effect only if a hostname is specified on the command line.
- -oversize colsxrows
-
Makes the screen larger than the default for the chosen model number.
This option has effect only in combination with extended data stream support
(controlled by the "x3270.extended" resource), and only if the host
supports the Query Reply structured field.
The number of columns multiplied by the number of rows must not exceed
16383 (3fff hex), the limit of 14-bit 3270 buffer addressing.
- -port n
-
Specifies a different TCP port to connect to.
n can be a name from /etc/services like telnet, or a
number.
This option changes the default port number used for all connections.
(The positional parameter affects only the initial connection.)
- -printerlu luname
-
Causes x3270 to automatically start a pr3287 printer
session.
If luname is ".", then the printer session will be associated with the
interactive terminal session (this requires that the host support TN3270E).
Otherwise, the value is used as the explicit LU name to associate with the
printer session.
- -proxy type:host[:port]
-
Causes x3270 to connect via the specified proxy, instead of
using a direct connection.
The host can be an IP address or hostname.
The optional port can be a number or a service name.
For a list of supported proxy types, see PROXY
below.
- -pt type
-
Specifies the preedit type for the multi-byte input method.
Valid values are OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root and
OnTheSpot.
The value for OverTheSpot can include an optional suffix, a signed
number indicating the vertical distance in rows of the preedit window from the
cursor position, e.g. OverTheSpot+1 or OverTheSpot-2.
The default value is OverTheSpot+1.
(Supported only when x3270 is compiled with DBCS support.)
- -reconnect
-
Causes x3270
to automatically reconnect to the host if it ever disconnects.
This option has effect only if a hostname is specified on the command line.
- -sb
-
Turns on the scrollbar.
- +sb
-
Turns the scrollbar off.
- -scheme name
-
Specifes a color scheme to use in 3279 mode.
This option has effect only in combination with 3279 emulation.
See COLOR SCHEMES below.
- -script
-
Causes
x3270
to read commands from standard input, with the results written to standard
output.
The protocol for these commands is documented in
x3270-script(1).
- -sl n
-
Specifies that n lines should be saved for scrolling back.
The default is 64.
- -set toggle
-
Sets the initial value of toggle to true.
The list of toggle names is under MENUS
below.
- -socket
-
Causes the emulator to create a Unix-domain socket when it starts, for use
by script processes to send commands to the emulator.
The socket is named /tmp/x3sck.process_id.
The -p option of x3270if causes it to use this socket,
instead of pipes specified by environment variables.
- -tn name
-
Specifies the terminal name to be transmitted over the telnet connection.
The default name is
IBM-model_name-E,
for example,
IBM-3279-4-E
for a color X display, or
IBM-3278-4-E
for a monochrome X display.
Some hosts are confused by the -E
suffix on the terminal name, and will ignore the extra screen area on
models 3, 4 and 5.
Prepending an s: on the hostname, or setting the "x3270.extended"
resource to "false", removes the -E
from the terminal name when connecting to such hosts.
The name can also be specified with the "x3270.termName" resource.
- -trace
-
Turns on data stream tracing at startup.
Unlike turning it on from a menu option,
there is no pop-up to confirm the file name, which defaults to
/tmp/x3trc.process_id.
- -tracefile file
-
Specifies a file to save data stream and event traces into.
If the value stdout
is given, then traces will be written to standard output.
If the value none
is given, then traces will be piped directly to the monitor window, and no
file will be created.
- -tracefilesize size
-
Places a limit on the size of a trace file.
If this option is not specified, or is specified as 0 or none,
the trace file will be unlimited.
If specified, the trace file cannot already exist, and the (silently enforced)
minimum size is 64 Kbytes.
The value of size can have a K or M suffix, indicating
kilobytes or megabytes respectively.
After reading resource definitions from the X server
and any standandard X11 resource definition files
($HOME/.Xdefaults, etc.), x3270 will read definitions
from the file $HOME/.x3270pro.
This file contains local customizations and is also used to save changed
options by the Save Changed Options in File menu option.
Note that -xrm options override any definitions in
the .x3270pro file.
Fonts
x3270 does not use the "*font" resource for its main
window.
Instead, it uses a custom 14-point font called
3270,
which is a close
approximation of a real 3270 display and allows x3270
to display the ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1)
character set and special status-line symbols.
A more compact font, 3270-12, is also supported, as are the
various sized fonts 3270gt8, 3270gt12, 3270gt16,
3270-20, 3270gt24, and 3270gt32.
The fonts 3270h and 3270gr are also included to allow display of
Hebrew and Greek text, respectively.
The font may be specified with the -efont
option or the "x3270.emulatorFont" resource.
x3270 can also use any X11 font that implements the
display character set required by the host EBCDIC character set.
An additional font,
3270d,
is supplied.
This font is identical to the default 3270
font, except that it has bitmaps defined for field attribute characters.
This means that field attributes, which are normally displayed as blanks,
are now visible on the screen.
The characters displayed are hexadecimal codes, which can be translated
using a document provided with the x3270 sources.
The font can be changed at any time through a menu option.
It can also be implicitly changed by changing the size of the x3270
window with the mouse: if the window is made larger, x3270 will try to
change to a larger font, and vice-versa.
Character Sets
The -charset
option or the "x3270.charset" resource controls the EBCDIC
host character set used by x3270.
Available sets include:
| Charset Name | Host Code Page | Display Character Sets |
| apl | 37 | 3270cg-1a |
| belgian | 500 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| belgian-euro | 1148 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| bracket | 37 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| brazilian | 275 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp1047 | 1047 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp870 | 870 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-2 |
| finnish | 278 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| finnish-euro | 1143 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| french | 297 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| french-euro | 1147 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| german | 273 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| german-euro | 1141 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| greek | 423 | 3270cg-7 iso8859-7 |
| hebrew | 424 | 3270cg-8 iso8859-8 |
| icelandic | 871 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| icelandic-euro | 1149 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| italian | 280 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| italian-euro | 1144 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| japanese | 1027+300 | jisx0201.1976-0 + jisx0208.1983-0 |
| norwegian | 277 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| norwegian-euro | 1142 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| russian | 880 | koi8-r |
| simplified-chinese | 836+837 | 3270cg-1a iso8859-1 + gb2312.1980-0 |
| slovenian | 870 | iso8859-2 |
| spanish | 284 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| spanish-euro | 1145 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| thai | 838 | iso8859-11 tis620.2529-0 |
| turkish | 1026 | iso8859-9 |
| uk | 285 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| uk-euro | 1146 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| us-euro | 1140 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| us-intl | 37 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
The default character set is
bracket,
which is useful for common IBM hosts which use EBCDIC
codes 0xAD and 0xBD for the `[' and `]' characters,
respectively.
Most 3270 fonts implement the 3270cg-1 display
character set, which is a reordered version of
the ISO 8859-1 character set.
Some implement the 3270cg-1a display character set, which is a superset
of 3270cg-1 that includes APL2 characters.
3270h and 3270gr implement special character sets for Hebrew
and Greek, respectively.
You can also specify national-language translations for your keyboard;
see KEYMAPS below.
Character Classes
x3270 supports character classes (groupings of characters chosen
with a double mouse click) in the same manner as xterm(1).
The "x3270.charClass" resource or the
-cc option can be used to alter the character class table.
The default table is the same as
xterm's;
It groups letters together, and puts most punctuation characters in individual
classes.
To put all non-whitespace characters together in the same class (and
duplicate the behavior of some early versions of
x3270,
use the following value:
33-127:48,161-255:48
See xterm(1) for further syntax details.
Keypad
A keypad may optionally be displayed, with a mouse-clickable button for each
3270 function key (these functions are also available from the keyboard).
The keypad can be turned on and off by clicking on the "keypad" button in the
upper-right-hand corner of the window.
The "x3270.keypad" resource controls where it is displayed.
Options are:
| left | in a separate window, to the left of the screen |
| right | in a separate window, to the right of the screen |
| bottom | in a separate window, below the screen |
| integral | in the same window as the screen, below it |
The default is right.
If the "x3270.keypadOn" resource is set to
true,
the keypad will be displayed at startup.
Hosts Database
x3270 uses the ibm_hosts database to
construct a pull-down menu of hosts to connect to.
It also allows host name aliases to be defined, as well as specifying
macros to be executed when a connection is first made.
See ibm_hosts(5) for details.
You may specify a different ibm_hosts
database with the "x3270.hostsFile" resource.
Color Schemes
When emulating a 3279 display, the X colors used to draw the display
are selected by two resources: the "x3270.colorScheme" resource, which gives
the name of the color scheme to use, and the
individual "x3270.colorScheme.xxx" resources, which
give the actual definitions.
The color scheme resources are documented in the Resources
file with the x3270 source.
The color scheme may also be changed while x3270
is running with a selection from the Options menu.
NVT (ANSI) Mode
Some hosts use an ASCII front-end to do initial login negotiation,
then later switch to 3270 mode.
x3270 will emulate an ANSI X.64 terminal until the host
places it in 3270 mode (telnet BINARY and SEND EOR modes, or
TN3270E mode negotiation).
The emulation is fairly complete; however, it is
not intended to make x3270 a replacement for xterm(1).
If the host later negotiates to stop functioning in 3270 mode,
x3270 will return to ANSI emulation.
In NVT mode, x3270
supports both character-at-a-time mode and line mode operation.
You may select the mode with a menu option.
When in line mode, the special characters and operational characteristics are
defined by resources:
| Mode/Character | Resource | Default |
| Translate CR to NL | x3270.icrnl | true |
| Translate NL to CR | x3270.inlcr | false |
| Erase previous character | x3270.erase | ^? |
| Erase entire line | x3270.kill | ^U |
| Erase previous word | x3270.werase | ^W |
| Redisplay line | x3270.rprnt | ^R |
| Ignore special meaning of next character | x3270.lnext | ^V |
| Interrupt | x3270.intr | ^C |
| Quit | x3270.quit | ^\ |
| End of file | x3270.eof | ^D |
Separate keymaps can be defined for use only when x3270 is in
3270 mode or NVT mode.
See KEYMAPS for details.
Menus
x3270 has a menu bar with three pull-down menus (File, Options, and
Connect) and a button to turn the keypad on and off.
The pull-down menus are also available as pop-up menus by using the "Ctrl"
key and the left, middle and right mouse buttons, respectively.
The menu bar can be turned off by setting the "x3270.menuBar" resource to
false.
Many sections of the File and Options menus are toggles,
options that may be either on or off.
The entries under the File menu are as follows:
- File Transfer
-
Initiates transferring a file between the IBM host and the local workstation,
using the IND$FILE protocol.
A pop-up menu allows specifying the file names and other attributes of the
transfer.
The IND$FILE program must be installed on the IBM host, and the 3270 cursor
must be located in a field that will accept a TSO or VM/CMS command.
- Printer Session
-
Starts or stops a printer session.
- Trace Data Stream
-
If set, network traffic (both a hexadecimal representation and its
interpretation) are logged to the file
/tmp/x3trc.process_id,
and a window is popped up to monitor the data.
The file name is confirmed with a pop-up; the default directory name for the
trace file can be changed with the "x3270.traceDir" resource.
- Trace Keyboard/Mouse Events
-
If set, information about keyboard and mouse events and the actions that
x3270 takes in response are logged to a file.
This is the same file as used for tracing the data stream, above.
Event tracing is useful for creating and debugging custom keymaps, macros
and scripts.
For example, it will tell you precisely what action was taken in response to
pressing a particular key.
If the key is not mapped, it will tell you the keysym name and keycode so you
can add it to a custom keymap.
- Save Screen(s) in File
-
If set, saves an ASCII representation of the current screen image in
the file /tmp/x3scr.process_id.
A pop-up allows the file name to be changed; the default directory name can be
changed with the "x3270.traceDir" resource.
The pop-up also has buttons to choose between saving just the current image,
or continuously saving it as it is redrawn.
- Print Screen Text
-
Pipes an ASCII representation of the screen contents to a command for
printing.
The default command is lpr.
- Save Screen Text in File
-
Appends a text representation of the screen contents to a file.
The data can be saved in plain ASCII or HTML.
- Print Window Bitmap
-
Uses the xwd and xpr commands to print a copy of the graphical
screen contents.
- Save Changed Options in File
-
Saves into a file the values of all options that have been changed since
x3270 was started.
A pop-up allows the file name to be changed; the default file
is .x3270pro in the user's home directory.
If the file already exists, it is appended to.
x3270 will read the contents of this file the next time it starts up.
The options settings in the file override any resources defined
with xrdb or in the user's .Xdefaults
file; command-line switches override the file.
A different options file can be specified by the X3270PRO
environment variable.
If the environment variable NOX3270PRO
is set, no options file will be read.
- Execute an Action
-
Allows an action name and parameters to be entered from the keyboard.
This allows experimentation with actions without having to edit keymaps
and repeatedly restart x3270.
The toggles under the Options menu are as follows:
- Monocase
-
If set, x3270 operates in uppercase-only mode.
- Blinking Cursor
-
If set, the cursor blinks once per second.
- Blank Fill
-
If set, x3270 behaves in some un-3270-like ways.
First, when a character is typed into a field, all nulls in the field to the
left of that character are changed to blanks.
This eliminates a common 3270 data-entry surprise.
Second, in insert mode, trailing blanks in a field are treated like nulls,
eliminating the annoying `lock-up' that often occurs when inserting into an
field with (apparent) space at the end.
- Show Timing
-
If set, the time taken by the host to process an AID is displayed on
the status line.
- Track Cursor
-
If set, the cursor position is displayed on the status line.
- Scrollbar
-
If set, the scrollbar appears.
- Wraparound
-
If set, the ANSI terminal emulator automatically assumes a NEWLINE
character when it reaches the end of a line.
- Paste with Left Margin
-
If set, puts restrictions on how pasted text is placed on the screen.
The position of the cursor at the time the paste operation is begun is
used as a left margin.
No pasted text will fill any area of the screen to the left of that
position.
This option is useful for pasting into certain IBM editors that use the
left side of the screen for control information.
- Select by Rectangles
-
If set, x3270 will always select rectangular areas of the screen.
Otherwise, x3270
selects by rectangles when in 3270 mode, but in ANSI mode it selects
continuous regions of the screen like xterm(1).
- Crosshair Cursor
-
If set, ways select rectanthe
display character set required by the host EBCDIC character set.
An additional font,
3270d,
is supplied.
This font is identical to the default 3270
font, except that it has bitmaps defined for field attribute characters.
This means that field attributes, which are normally displayed as blanks,
are now visible on the screen.
The characters displayed are hexadecimal codes, which can be translated
using a document provided with the x3270 sources.
The font can be changed at any time through a menu option.
It can also be implicitly changed by changing the size of the x3270
window with the mouse: if the window is made larger, x3270 will try to
change to a larger font, and vice-versa.
Character Sets
The -charset
option or the "x3270.charset" resource controls the EBCDIC
host character set used by x3270.
Available sets include:
| Charset Name | Host Code Page | Display Character Sets |
| apl | 37 | 3270cg-1a |
| belgian | 500 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| belgian-euro | 1148 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| bracket | 37 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| brazilian | 275 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp1047 | 1047 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp870 | 870 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-2 |
| finnish | 278 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| finnish-euro | 1143 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| french | 297 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| french-euro | 1147 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| german | 273 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| german-euro | 1141 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| greek | 423 | 3270cg-7 iso8859-7 |
| hebrew | 424 | 3270cg-8 iso8859-8 |
| icelandic | 871 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| icelandic-euro | 1149 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| italian | 280 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| italian-euro | 1144 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| japanese | 1027+300 | jisx0201.1976-0 + jisx0208.1983-0 |
| norwegian | 277 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| norwegian-euro | 1142 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| russian | 880 | koi8-r |
| simplified-chinese | 836+837 | 3270cg-1a iso8859-1 + gb2312.1980-0 |
| slovenian | 870 | iso8859-2 |
| spanish | 284 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| spanish-euro | 1145 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| thai | 838 | iso8859-11 tis620.2529-0 |
| turkish | 1026 | iso8859-9 |
| uk | 285 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| uk-euro | 1146 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| us-euro | 1140 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| us-intl | 37 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
The default character set is
bracket,
which is useful for common IBM hosts which use EBCDIC
codes 0xAD and 0xBD for the `[' and `]' characters,
respectively.
Most 3270 fonts implement the 3270cg-1 display
character set, which is a reordered version of
the ISO 8859-1 character set.
Some implement the 3270cg-1a display character set, which is a superset
of 3270cg-1 that includes APL2 characters.
3270h and 3270gr implement special character sets for Hebrew
and Greek, respectively.
You can also specify national-language translations for your keyboard;
see KEYMAPS below.
Character Classes
x3270 supports character classes (groupings of characters chosen
with a double mouse click) in the same manner as xterm(1).
The "x3270.charClass" resource or the
-cc option can be used to alter the character class table.
The default table is the same as
xterm's;
It groups letters together, and puts most punctuation characters in individual
classes.
To put all non-whitespace characters together in the same class (and
duplicate the behavior of some early versions of
x3270,
use the following value:
33-127:48,161-255:48
See xterm(1) for further syntax details.
Keypad
A keypad may optionally be displayed, with a mouse-clickable button for each
3270 function key (these functions are also available from the keyboard).
The keypad can be turned on and off by clicking on the "keypad" button in the
upper-right-hand corner of the window.
The "x3270.keypad" resource controls where it is displayed.
Options are:
| left | in a separate window, to the left of the screen |
| right | in a separate window, to the right of the screen |
| bottom | in a separate window, below the screen |
| integral | in the same window as the screen, below it |
The default is right.
If the "x3270.keypadOn" resource is set to
true,
the keypad will be displayed at startup.
Hosts Database
x3270 uses the ibm_hosts database to
construct a pull-down menu of hosts to connect to.
It also allows host name aliases to be defined, as well as specifying
macros to be executed when a connection is first made.
See ibm_hosts(5) for details.
You may specify a different ibm_hosts
database with the "x3270.hostsFile" resource.
Color Schemes
When emulating a 3279 display, the X colors used to draw the display
are selected by two resources: the "x3270.colorScheme" resource, which gives
the name of the color scheme to use, and the
individual "x3270.colorScheme.xxx" resources, which
give the actual definitions.
The color scheme resources are documented in the Resources
file with the x3270 source.
The color scheme may also be changed while x3270
is running with a selection from the Options menu.
NVT (ANSI) Mode
Some hosts use an ASCII front-end to do initial login negotiation,
then later switch to 3270 mode.
x3270 will emulate an ANSI X.64 terminal until the host
places it in 3270 mode (telnet BINARY and SEND EOR modes, or
TN3270E mode negotiation).
The emulation is fairly complete; however, it is
not intended to make x3270 a replacement for xterm(1).
If the host later negotiates to stop functioning in 3270 mode,
x3270 will return to ANSI emulation.
In NVT mode, x3270
supports both character-at-a-time mode and line mode operation.
You may select the mode with a menu option.
When in line mode, the special characters and operational characteristics are
defined by resources:
| Mode/Character | Resource | Default |
| Translate CR to NL | x3270.icrnl | true |
| Translate NL to CR | x3270.inlcr | false |
| Erase previous character | x3270.erase | ^? |
| Erase entire line | x3270.kill | ^U |
| Erase previous word | x3270.werase | ^W |
| Redisplay line | x3270.rprnt | ^R |
| Ignore special meaning of next character | x3270.lnext | ^V |
| Interrupt | x3270.intr | ^C |
| Quit | x3270.quit | ^\ |
| End of file | x3270.eof | ^D |
Separate keymaps can be defined for use only when x3270 is in
3270 mode or NVT mode.
See KEYMAPS for details.
Menus
x3270 has a menu bar with three pull-down menus (File, Options, and
Connect) and a button to turn the keypad on and off.
The pull-down menus are also available as pop-up menus by using the "Ctrl"
key and the left, middle and right mouse buttons, respectively.
The menu bar can be turned off by setting the "x3270.menuBar" resource to
false.
Many sections of the File and Options menus are toggles,
options that may be either on or off.
The entries under the File menu are as follows:
- File Transfer
-
Initiates transferring a file between the IBM host and the local workstation,
using the IND$FILE protocol.
A pop-up menu allows specifying the file names and other attributes of the
transfer.
The IND$FILE program must be installed on the IBM host, and the 3270 cursor
must be located in a field that will accept a TSO or VM/CMS command.
- Printer Session
-
Starts or stops a printer session.
- Trace Data Stream
-
If set, network traffic (both a hexadecimal representation and its
interpretation) are logged to the file
/tmp/x3trc.process_id,
and a window is popped up to monitor the data.
The file name is confirmed with a pop-up; the default directory name for the
trace file can be changed with the "x3270.traceDir" resource.
- Trace Keyboard/Mouse Events
-
If set, information about keyboard and mouse events and the actions that
x3270 takes in response are logged to a file.
This is the same file as used for tracing the data stream, above.
Event tracing is useful for creating and debugging custom keymaps, macros
and scripts.
For example, it will tell you precisely what action was taken in response to
pressing a particular key.
If the key is not mapped, it will tell you the keysym name and keycode so you
can add it to a custom keymap.
- Save Screen(s) in File
-
If set, saves an ASCII representation of the current screen image in
the file /tmp/x3scr.process_id.
A pop-up allows the file name to be changed; the default directory name can be
changed with the "x3270.traceDir" resource.
The pop-up also has buttons to choose between saving just the current image,
or continuously saving it as it is redrawn.
- Print Screen Text
-
Pipes an ASCII representation of the screen contents to a command for
printing.
The default command is lpr.
- Save Screen Text in File
-
Appends a text representation of the screen contents to a file.
The data can be saved in plain ASCII or HTML.
- Print Window Bitmap
-
Uses the xwd and xpr commands to print a copy of the graphical
screen contents.
- Save Changed Options in File
-
Saves into a file the values of all options that have been changed since
x3270 was started.
A pop-up allows the file name to be changed; the default file
is .x3270pro in the user's home directory.
If the file already exists, it is appended to.
x3270 will read the contents of this file the next time it starts up.
The options settings in the file override any resources defined
with xrdb or in the user's .Xdefaults
file; command-line switches override the file.
A different options file can be specified by the X3270PRO
environment variable.
If the environment variable NOX3270PRO
is set, no options file will be read.
- Execute an Action
-
Allows an action name and parameters to be entered from the keyboard.
This allows experimentation with actions without having to edit keymaps
and repeatedly restart x3270.
The toggles under the Options menu are as follows:
- Monocase
-
If set, x3270 operates in uppercase-only mode.
- Blinking Cursor
-
If set, the cursor blinks once per second.
- Blank Fill
-
If set, x3270 behaves in some un-3270-like ways.
First, when a character is typed into a field, all nulls in the field to the
left of that character are changed to blanks.
This eliminates a common 3270 data-entry surprise.
Second, in insert mode, trailing blanks in a field are treated like nulls,
eliminating the annoying `lock-up' that often occurs when inserting into an
field with (apparent) space at the end.
- Show Timing
-
If set, the time taken by the host to process an AID is displayed on
the status line.
- Track Cursor
-
If set, the cursor position is displayed on the status line.
- Scrollbar
-
If set, the scrollbar appears.
- Wraparound
-
If set, the ANSI terminal emulator automatically assumes a NEWLINE
character when it reaches the end of a line.
- Paste with Left Margin
-
If set, puts restrictions on how pasted text is placed on the screen.
The position of the cursor at the time the paste operation is begun is
used as a left margin.
No pasted text will fill any area of the screen to the left of that
position.
This option is useful for pasting into certain IBM editors that use the
left side of the screen for control information.
- Select by Rectangles
-
If set, x3270 will always select rectangular areas of the screen.
Otherwise, x3270
selects by rectangles when in 3270 mode, but in ANSI mode it selects
continuous regions of the screen like xterm(1).
- Crosshair Cursor
-
If set, ways select rectanthe
display character set required by the host EBCDIC character set.
An additional font,
3270d,
is supplied.
This font is identical to the default 3270
font, except that it has bitmaps defined for field attribute characters.
This means that field attributes, which are normally displayed as blanks,
are now visible on the screen.
The characters displayed are hexadecimal codes, which can be translated
using a document provided with the x3270 sources.
The font can be changed at any time through a menu option.
It can also be implicitly changed by changing the size of the x3270
window with the mouse: if the window is made larger, x3270 will try to
change to a larger font, and vice-versa.
Character Sets
The -charset
option or the "x3270.charset" resource controls the EBCDIC
host character set used by x3270.
Available sets include:
| Charset Name | Host Code Page | Display Character Sets |
| apl | 37 | 3270cg-1a |
| belgian | 500 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| belgian-euro | 1148 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| bracket | 37 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| brazilian | 275 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp1047 | 1047 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp870 | 870 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-2 |
| finnish | 278 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| finnish-euro | 1143 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| french | 297 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| french-euro | 1147 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| german | 273 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| german-euro | 1141 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| greek | 423 | 3270cg-7 iso8859-7 |
| hebrew | 424 | 3270cg-8 iso8859-8 |
| icelandic | 871 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| icelandic-euro | 1149 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| italian | 280 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| italian-euro | 1144 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| japanese | 1027+300 | jisx0201.1976-0 + jisx0208.1983-0 |
| norwegian | 277 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| norwegian-euro | 1142 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| russian | 880 | koi8-r |
| simplified-chinese | 836+837 | 3270cg-1a iso8859-1 + gb2312.1980-0 |
| slovenian | 870 | iso8859-2 |
| spanish | 284 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| spanish-euro | 1145 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| thai | 838 | iso8859-11 tis620.2529-0 |
| turkish | 1026 | iso8859-9 |
| uk | 285 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| uk-euro | 1146 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| us-euro | 1140 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| us-intl | 37 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
The default character set is
bracket,
which is useful for common IBM hosts which use EBCDIC
codes 0xAD and 0xBD for the `[' and `]' characters,
respectively.
Most 3270 fonts implement the 3270cg-1 display
character set, which is a reordered version of
the ISO 8859-1 character set.
Some implement the 3270cg-1a display character set, which is a superset
of 3270cg-1 that includes APL2 characters.
3270h and 3270gr implement special character sets for Hebrew
and Greek, respectively.
You can also specify national-language translations for your keyboard;
see KEYMAPS below.
Character Classes
x3270 supports character classes (groupings of characters chosen
with a double mouse click) in the same manner as xterm(1).
The "x3270.charClass" resource or the
-cc option can be used to alter the character class table.
The default table is the same as
xterm's;
It groups letters together, and puts most punctuation characters in individual
classes.
To put all non-whitespace characters together in the same class (and
duplicate the behavior of some early versions of
x3270,
use the following value:
33-127:48,161-255:48
See xterm(1) for further syntax details.
Keypad
A keypad may optionally be displayed, with a mouse-clickable button for each
3270 function key (these functions are also available from the keyboard).
The keypad can be turned on and off by clicking on the "keypad" button in the
upper-right-hand corner of the window.
The "x3270.keypad" resource controls where it is displayed.
Options are:
| left | in a separate window, to the left of the screen |
| right | in a separate window, to the right of the screen |
| bottom | in a separate window, below the screen |
| integral | in the same window as the screen, below it |
The default is right.
If the "x3270.keypadOn" resource is set to
true,
the keypad will be displayed at startup.
Hosts Database
x3270 uses the ibm_hosts database to
construct a pull-down menu of hosts to connect to.
It also allows host name aliases to be defined, as well as specifying
macros to be executed when a connection is first made.
See ibm_hosts(5) for details.
You may specify a different ibm_hosts
database with the "x3270.hostsFile" resource.
Color Schemes
When emulating a 3279 display, the X colors used to draw the display
are selected by two resources: the "x3270.colorScheme" resource, which gives
the name of the color scheme to use, and the
individual "x3270.colorScheme.xxx" resources, which
give the actual definitions.
The color scheme resources are documented in the Resources
file with the x3270 source.
The color scheme may also be changed while x3270
is running with a selection from the Options menu.
NVT (ANSI) Mode
Some hosts use an ASCII front-end to do initial login negotiation,
then later switch to 3270 mode.
x3270 will emulate an ANSI X.64 terminal until the host
places it in 3270 mode (telnet BINARY and SEND EOR modes, or
TN3270E mode negotiation).
The emulation is fairly complete; however, it is
not intended to make x3270 a replacement for xterm(1).
If the host later negotiates to stop functioning in 3270 mode,
x3270 will return to ANSI emulation.
In NVT mode, x3270
supports both character-at-a-time mode and line mode operation.
You may select the mode with a menu option.
When in line mode, the special characters and operational characteristics are
defined by resources:
| Mode/Character | Resource | Default |
| Translate CR to NL | x3270.icrnl | true |
| Translate NL to CR | x3270.inlcr | false |
| Erase previous character | x3270.erase | ^? |
| Erase entire line | x3270.kill | ^U |
| Erase previous word | x3270.werase | ^W |
| Redisplay line | x3270.rprnt | ^R |
| Ignore special meaning of next character | x3270.lnext | ^V |
| Interrupt | x3270.intr | ^C |
| Quit | x3270.quit | ^\ |
| End of file | x3270.eof | ^D |
Separate keymaps can be defined for use only when x3270 is in
3270 mode or NVT mode.
See KEYMAPS for details.
Menus
x3270 has a menu bar with three pull-down menus (File, Options, and
Connect) and a button to turn the keypad on and off.
The pull-down menus are also available as pop-up menus by using the "Ctrl"
key and the left, middle and right mouse buttons, respectively.
The menu bar can be turned off by setting the "x3270.menuBar" resource to
false.
Many sections of the File and Options menus are toggles,
options that may be either on or off.
The entries under the File menu are as follows:
- File Transfer
-
Initiates transferring a file between the IBM host and the local workstation,
using the IND$FILE protocol.
A pop-up menu allows specifying the file names and other attributes of the
transfer.
The IND$FILE program must be installed on the IBM host, and the 3270 cursor
must be located in a field that will accept a TSO or VM/CMS command.
- Printer Session
-
Starts or stops a printer session.
- Trace Data Stream
-
If set, network traffic (both a hexadecimal representation and its
interpretation) are logged to the file
/tmp/x3trc.process_id,
and a window is popped up to monitor the data.
The file name is confirmed with a pop-up; the default directory name for the
trace file can be changed with the "x3270.traceDir" resource.
- Trace Keyboard/Mouse Events
-
If set, information about keyboard and mouse events and the actions that
x3270 takes in response are logged to a file.
This is the same file as used for tracing the data stream, above.
Event tracing is useful for creating and debugging custom keymaps, macros
and scripts.
For example, it will tell you precisely what action was taken in response to
pressing a particular key.
If the key is not mapped, it will tell you the keysym name and keycode so you
can add it to a custom keymap.
- Save Screen(s) in File
-
If set, saves an ASCII representation of the current screen image in
the file /tmp/x3scr.process_id.
A pop-up allows the file name to be changed; the default directory name can be
changed with the "x3270.traceDir" resource.
The pop-up also has buttons to choose between saving just the current image,
or continuously saving it as it is redrawn.
- Print Screen Text
-
Pipes an ASCII representation of the screen contents to a command for
printing.
The default command is lpr.
- Save Screen Text in File
-
Appends a text representation of the screen contents to a file.
The data can be saved in plain ASCII or HTML.
- Print Window Bitmap
-
Uses the xwd and xpr commands to print a copy of the graphical
screen contents.
- Save Changed Options in File
-
Saves into a file the values of all options that have been changed since
x3270 was started.
A pop-up allows the file name to be changed; the default file
is .x3270pro in the user's home directory.
If the file already exists, it is appended to.
x3270 will read the contents of this file the next time it starts up.
The options settings in the file override any resources defined
with xrdb or in the user's .Xdefaults
file; command-line switches override the file.
A different options file can be specified by the X3270PRO
environment variable.
If the environment variable NOX3270PRO
is set, no options file will be read.
- Execute an Action
-
Allows an action name and parameters to be entered from the keyboard.
This allows experimentation with actions without having to edit keymaps
and repeatedly restart x3270.
The toggles under the Options menu are as follows:
- Monocase
-
If set, x3270 operates in uppercase-only mode.
- Blinking Cursor
-
If set, the cursor blinks once per second.
- Blank Fill
-
If set, x3270 behaves in some un-3270-like ways.
First, when a character is typed into a field, all nulls in the field to the
left of that character are changed to blanks.
This eliminates a common 3270 data-entry surprise.
Second, in insert mode, trailing blanks in a field are treated like nulls,
eliminating the annoying `lock-up' that often occurs when inserting into an
field with (apparent) space at the end.
- Show Timing
-
If set, the time taken by the host to process an AID is displayed on
the status line.
- Track Cursor
-
If set, the cursor position is displayed on the status line.
- Scrollbar
-
If set, the scrollbar appears.
- Wraparound
-
If set, the ANSI terminal emulator automatically assumes a NEWLINE
character when it reaches the end of a line.
- Paste with Left Margin
-
If set, puts restrictions on how pasted text is placed on the screen.
The position of the cursor at the time the paste operation is begun is
used as a left margin.
No pasted text will fill any area of the screen to the left of that
position.
This option is useful for pasting into certain IBM editors that use the
left side of the screen for control information.
- Select by Rectangles
-
If set, x3270 will always select rectangular areas of the screen.
Otherwise, x3270
selects by rectangles when in 3270 mode, but in ANSI mode it selects
continuous regions of the screen like xterm(1).
- Crosshair Cursor
-
If set, ways select rectanthe
display character set required by the host EBCDIC character set.
An additional font,
3270d,
is supplied.
This font is identical to the default 3270
font, except that it has bitmaps defined for field attribute characters.
This means that field attributes, which are normally displayed as blanks,
are now visible on the screen.
The characters displayed are hexadecimal codes, which can be translated
using a document provided with the x3270 sources.
The font can be changed at any time through a menu option.
It can also be implicitly changed by changing the size of the x3270
window with the mouse: if the window is made larger, x3270 will try to
change to a larger font, and vice-versa.
Character Sets
The -charset
option or the "x3270.charset" resource controls the EBCDIC
host character set used by x3270.
Available sets include:
| Charset Name | Host Code Page | Display Character Sets |
| apl | 37 | 3270cg-1a |
| belgian | 500 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| belgian-euro | 1148 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| bracket | 37 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| brazilian | 275 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp1047 | 1047 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| cp870 | 870 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-2 |
| finnish | 278 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| finnish-euro | 1143 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| french | 297 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| french-euro | 1147 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| german | 273 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| german-euro | 1141 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| greek | 423 | 3270cg-7 iso8859-7 |
| hebrew | 424 | 3270cg-8 iso8859-8 |
| icelandic | 871 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| icelandic-euro | 1149 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| italian | 280 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| italian-euro | 1144 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| japanese | 1027+300 | jisx0201.1976-0 + jisx0208.1983-0 |
| norwegian | 277 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| norwegian-euro | 1142 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso8859-15 |
| russian | 880 | koi8-r |
| simplified-chinese | 836+837 | 3270cg-1a iso8859-1 + gb2312.1980-0 |
| slovenian | 870 | iso8859-2 |
| spanish | 284 | 3270cg-1a 3270cg-1 iso8859-1 |
| spanish-euro | 1145 | 3270cg-15a 3270cg-15 iso885 |