Visual Command [VI/F1]
Switches to full-screen editing at the current line, at a specified line, or at the next occurrence of a specified string.
VISUAL [ linenum | "string" ]
(Default: linenum = *)
Qedit allows you to edit text in "full-screen" mode on most HP terminals that have block-mode, and on PCs equipped with terminal emulators such as Reflection and AdvanceLink. You use the terminal's special keys to edit the screen, instead of using Qedit commands. When the image on the screen suits you, press Enter and Qedit reads the screen and records the changes in your file. For full details, see the "Getting a Quick Start with Full-Screen Editing" chapter.
Examples
/visual {start full-screen editing now}
/vis 45 {start full-screen editing at line 45}
/vi "go" {find "go" then change to full-screen}Notes
For a help screen that summarizes most of Visual mode, type a "?" in the top screen line (at the ===>) and press the F7 key.
If you are a novice, use Set Vis Update ON. Qedit now automatically reads your updated screen when you browse or use a function key.
Other tips: Do not add more than 60 lines before pressing Enter. If you have trouble at 9600 baud try turning your terminal down to 2400 baud. Avoid the Clear Display key; if you press it by mistake, type "*" in the top screen line and press F7 (this will refresh the screen). To save and restore your function keys, use Set Vis Save ON. To get out of Visual, use the F8 function key.
Visual Blockemulation on HP-UX
As of HP-UX 11.0, HP has dropped support for block-mode terminals. For this reason, full-screen editing as implemented on HP3000 computers only works on HP-UX versions earlier than 11.0. On HP-UX 11.0 or later, full-screen editing is available in Screen mode (Set Visual Screen On) on VT-type terminals or in Visual mode emulation (Set Visual Blockemulation On) on HP-type terminals.
Blockemulation emulates block-mode operations by reading each line one by one instead of reading the whole screen in a single operation. Depending on the type of connection, this process might take a few seconds as the cursor moves down the screen.
In most cases, Qedit is able to detect that block-mode is not available and activates Visual Blockemulation automatically. If it does not, use the Set Visual Blockemulation command.
Visual Blockemulation also has the following limitations:
- Does not allow more than 20 contiguous blank lines
- Can not add more than 30 new lines at a time
- Can not display more than 260 characters on a line
Visual Blockemulation sometimes can not detect it has read all the lines. To workaround this, Qedit assumes that 20 contiguous blank lines indicates a potential transmission problem and stops reading the screen. If you have to insert more than 20 empty lines, make sure you insert less than 20 and hit Enter. Repeat until you have all the lines you need. Of course, you can use the Add command outside of Visual mode.
Similarly, you can not add more than 30 new lines to the current screen before transmitting your changes. Make sure you insert lines in smaller numbers then hit Enter or use the Add command.
Visual Blockemulation can not display more than 260 characters on each line. To edit wider lines, change the Set Left and/or Set Right values.
Right Margin and Display Width
Full-screen mode can take advantage of most features available on the terminal or emulator it's running on. A couple of these features are the ability to adjust the display width and the right margin based on the file's record length. Unfortunately, these features are not implemented equally well on all devices and may cause undesirable behavior.
For example, the hpterm emulator supports display width larger than the standard 80 columns. However, Qedit can not change the display width using the usual escape sequences. Setting the right margin also caused problems for some users. That's why we introduced the RCRTMODEL 1234. This tells Qedit that the terminal can be polled to determine the current display width and has basic block-mode capabilities.
At the same time, we introduced Set Visual Marginfixed. When RCRTMODEL is set to 1234, Marginfixed is automatically enabled. In this case, Qedit does not try to change the display width nor does it change the right margin. It assumes both are set by the user and have the same value. If needed, a user can manually enable Marginfixed on a terminal or emulator other than hpterm.