From: Paul Gilmartin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 2. Bring WSA back from the dead and fix it.
>
Is this the dreaded ISPGUI?
The ISPGUI window was just plain ugly.
Gil,
In my opinion, the ISPF WorkStation Agent (WSA) is brilliant, but I agree
with you that ISPGUI leaves much to be desired. Unfortunately, I think a lot
of people confuse WSA with ISPGUI and this is a real shame because it casts
WSA in a bad light when really it shouldn't.
The WSA brings several things to the table, only ONE of which is the ability
to run ISPF in GUI mode. I think what happens is people install the WSA,
immediately check out ISPF in GUI mode, dislike it, and never use the WSA
ever again.
The WSA does much more than just allow ISPF to run in GUI mode. For example,
it allows mainframe files to be viewed or edited on a workstation, or
workstation files to be viewed or edited on a mainframe. It also simplifies
file transfer; e.g. simply select the members you want to transfer from a
member list. These are really great features of WSA and I think they're
vastly underutilized. I very rarely run ISPF in GUI mode, but I use WSA each
and every day.
Coming back to the GUI for a moment; no, you can't resize the window (at
least, not in the sense you mean). It has a maximum fixed window size, so
you can't (for example) add more rows by dragging the bottom of the window
down. You can drag the edges in to make the window smaller, in which case it
'hides' a portion of the screen (i.e. the font size remains static). But
this in itself can have some advantages. For example, in non-GUI mode you
can only see 2 split screen sessions. But in GUI mode, you can see any and
all of your split screen sessions at the same time. So you could (for
example) have 4 split screen sessions and have each one visible in a
different corner of your monitor.
In normal situations I would never run ISPF in GUI mode. But in certain rare
situations (e.g. where I might want to visibly compare the contents of 3
different files), the ability to run ISPF in GUI mode is yet another
advantage of the WSA.
Dave Salt
SimpList(tm) - The easiest, most powerful way to surf a mainframe!
http://www.mackinney.com/products/SIM/simplist.htm
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