The DIVIDER tag

You can separate the elements on a panel or the regions you define for a panel with the DIVIDER tag. A DIVIDER definition produces either a blank or visible divider line, depending on the value you assign to the TYPE attribute of the DIVIDER tag. The visible divider line can be a dashed line or a solid line, or it can contain text.

The default value, NONE, produces a blank divider line. The values DASH, SOLID, and TEXT produce a visible divider line.

For horizontally formatted dividers,

When the GRAPHIC invocation option is specified, SOLID produces a solid line for host display and DASH produces a dashed line.
When NOGRAPHIC is specified or the panel is displayed in GUI mode, both SOLID and DASH produce a dashed line.

Both SOLID and DASH use the "|" character (obtained from the ISPF literals table) for vertically formatted dividers. The value TEXT (used in combination with the FORMAT attribute) is valid only for dividers within vertical regions and specifies that blank padding is used for the supplied text.

The GAP attribute specifies whether the divider line completely crosses the panel area or region that contains the divider, or if a 1-character gap is to remain at either end of a horizontally formatted divider. The valid values for the GAP attribute are YES (the default), and NO.

The value you assign to GUTTER specifies the size (in characters) of the total width of the divider. For vertical formatting the default is 1, because ISPF allots 1 line of screen space for the divider. For horizontal formatting the default GUTTER size is 3, because an attribute byte is placed both before and after the divider character. Any value more than the default is split to either side of the divider. If the GUTTER value is an even number, the conversion utility increases the number by 1 so that the divider is centered within the defined width. The GUTTER attribute is useful for creating blank space on a panel.

The NOENDATTR attribute is valid only when formatting dividers within horizontal regions. When NOENDATTR is specified, the ending attribute is not added to the divider. With NOENDATTR and a GUTTER size of 1, a divider of one blank character can be created. With a GUTTER size of 2, TYPE=SOLID can be used to produce a visible divider.

The FORMAT attribute is valid only when formatting dividers within vertical regions. The FORMAT attribute must be specified to have ISPDTLC process the text provided with the DIVIDER tag. FORMAT specifies the text placement within the divider line as START, CENTER, or END.

Here is an example where there are two DIVIDER tags defined. The first DIVIDER does not specify a TYPE attribute, and produces a blank horizontal line. The second DIVIDER specifies TYPE=SOLID, and produces a visible divider.

<!doctype dm system>
<panel name=fields1>Selections
  <area>
    <dtacol selwidth=24 pmtwidth=15>
    <selfld name=item>Pick an item:
      <choice>Widget
      <choice>Doohickey
      <choice>Gizmo
    </selfld>
    <divider>
    <selfld name=color>Pick a color:
      <choice>Red
      <choice>Green
    </selfld>
    <divider type=solid gap=no>
    <selfld name=size>Pick a size:
      <choice>Minuscule
      <choice>Behemoth
    </selfld>
    </dtacol>
  </area>
  <botinst>To exit the application, press F3.
</panel>

Figure 1 shows the result:

Figure 1. Area dividers

                                 Selections
 
 Pick an item:
 __  1.  Widget
     2.  Doohickey
     3.  Gizmo
 
 Pick a color:
 __  1.  Red
     2.  Green
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Pick a size:

 __  1.  Minuscule
     2.  Behemoth
 
 To exit the application, press F3.

The dashed line in the second divider in the preceding example extends across the entire AREA definition to both margins because we specified GAP=NO in the DIVIDER definition.