CMD (Command Definition)

The CMD tag defines a command within an application command table.

Syntax


>>-<CMD--NAME=internal-command-name----------------------------->

>--+------------------------------+-->-------------------------->
   '-ALTDESCR=command-description-'      

>--+-----------------------+--+--------+-----------------------><
   '-external-command-name-'  '-</CMD>-'

Parameters

NAME=internal-command-name

This attribute specifies an internal name for the command. The internal-command-name must have these characteristics:

2-8 single-byte characters in length
The first (or only) character must be A-Z, a-z, @, #, or $.
Remaining characters, if any, can be A-Z, a-z, @, #, $, —, or 0-9.

Lowercase characters are translated to their uppercase equivalents.

The internal-command-name is used in two ways:

As the command table search criteria when:
- A key defined in the current key list is pressed
- A pull-down choice with an associated RUN action is selected
- A command is entered in the command area of a panel.
As the value passed to dialogs when the command action is PASSTHRU or SETVERB. See CMDACT (Command Action) for more information about the PASSTHRU and SETVERB command actions.

ALTDESCR=command-description

This attribute provides a description of the command. It is placed in the ISPF variable ZCTDESC. The command-description text length is limited to 80 bytes.

external-command-name

Specifies the external name for this command.

Note: The external-command-name must be equal to the internal-command-name. You must use the external-command-name to support the ability provided by ISPF for truncated command entry and the T (truncation) tag. For more information, see T (Truncation).

Comments

The CMD tag defines a command within an application command table. The defined command can be issued by an application user by entering the internal-command-name in the panel command area, or pressing a function key, or selecting a pull-down choice that references the command's internal-command-name. See KEYI (Key Item) and ACTION (Action) for additional information.

The action to be taken when a command is issued is defined with the CMDACT tag. See CMDACT (Command Action) for information about defining command actions.

Restrictions

The CMD tag must be coded within a CMDTBL definition. See CMDTBL (Command Table) for a complete description of this tag.

Processing

Table 1. The tags you can code within a CMD definition
Tag	Reference	Usage	Required
CMDACT	CMDACT (Command Action)	Single	Yes
T	T (Truncation)	Single	No

Examples

Here is source file markup that contains a command table that defines the commands UPDATE, ADD, DELETE, and SEARCH. The DELETE and UPDATE commands have defined truncations.

<!DOCTYPE DM SYSTEM>

<CMDTBL APPLID=conv>
  <CMD NAME=update>Upd<T>ate
    <CMDACT ACTION='alias add'>
  <CMD NAME=add>Add
    <CMDACT ACTION=setverb>
  <CMD NAME=delete>Del<T>ete
    <CMDACT ACTION=passthru>
  <CMD NAME=search>Search
    <CMDACT ACTION=passthru>
</CMDTBL>

This table shows the resultant ISPF application command table.

Table 2. ISPF application command table
ZCTVERB	ZCTTRUNC	ZCTACT
UPDATE	3	ALIAS ADD
ADD	0	SETVERB
DELETE	3	PASSTHRU
SEARCH	0	PASSTHRU