Messages

You use messages to communicate information to users; that is, information that you, the application developer, believe they need to know. Typically, this would be information regarding user actions, status, or problems that need correction. Additionally, ISPF issues messages when needed to inform users of situations that ISPF handles.

Dialog Tag Language provides you with a way to define application-provided messages. You use ISPF services to handle the display of messages. When the application calls for a message to be displayed, ISPF places it either in the message area of the application panel or within a pop-up window, known as a message pop-up.

Messages are defined according to their purpose and severity. The four types of messages you can define are:

Information: To provide information about a user-requested action.
Warning: To provide information about conditions the user may need to be aware of.
Action: To alert the user to an exception condition that requires a response from the user to correct the situation.
Critical: To alert the user to an exception condition that requires a response from the user to correct the situation. Critical messages are similar to action messages.

This topic tells you how to define messages for your applications. For a complete description of ISPF message processing, refer to z/OS ISPF Dialog Developer's Guide and Reference.