The placement of the command line and long message field at the bottom of a logical screen is a user-definable option. Placement is controlled by the system variable ZPLACE. You can select or deselect Command line at bottom on the ISPF Settings panel, and the setting changes the value of ZPLACE. ZPLACE can also be changed in a dialog.

The value of ZPLACE is stored in the application profile pool. To change the value, use the VPUT statement in a panel definition, the VPUT service in a dialog function, or the ISPF Settings panel options. None of these settings takes priority over the others. For example, an ISPF Settings panel selection can change what a dialog set, and vice versa.

If the panel specifies ASIS on the )BODY statement for a panel, the command and message lines are not repositioned, even if you specify placement at the BOTTOM. The command line moves only if all of these are true:

• For primary windows:
  1. If the WINDOW(w,d) keyword is specified on the header statement where w is less than the screen width, then:
     1. The keyword ASIS must not be specified on the )BODY header statement.
     2. The first character of the command line must be an attribute character.
  2. If the WINDOW(w,d) keyword is specified on the header statement where w is equal to the screen width or the WINDOW keyword is not specified, then:
     1. The keyword ASIS must not be specified on the )BODY header statement.
     2. The first and last character of the command line must be an attribute character, and one of these is true:
        1. There is an attribute byte in the first column of the line following the command line.
        2. There is an attribute byte in the last column of the line preceding the command line.
  3. For pop-up windows, the keyword ASIS is not specified on the )BODY header statement.

Command lines that move in panels designed for primary windows will continue to move if these panels are displayed in pop-up windows. In addition, command lines in panels created using the DTL and converted using the ISPF conversion utility will move in both primary and pop-up windows.

If requirement 2b1 is false, but 2b2 is true, ISPF changes the attribute byte in the last column of the line preceding the command line to match the attribute byte in the last column of the command line. This gives the same result as 2b1.

For the long message line to be moved, the panel must be designed so that the system default is used to position the long message. That is, an alternate long message field cannot be specified by the panel designer using the keyword 'LMSG' on the )BODY header statement.

The long message line is not moved unless the command line is moved, but the command line is moved regardless of whether the long message field is moved.