Dialog test (option 7)

This topic describes Dialog Test, option 7 on the ISPF Primary Option Menu.

Dialog Test (option 7) provides you with facilities for testing both complete ISPF applications and ISPF dialog parts, including functions, panels, variables, messages, tables, and skeletons. The Dialog Test option allows you to:

Call selection panels, command procedures, and programs
Display panels
Add new variables and change variable values
Display a table's structure and status
Display, add, modify, and delete table rows
Browse the ISPF log
Process dialog services
Add, modify, and delete function and variable trace definitions
Add, modify, and delete breakpoint definitions.

You can use TSO TEST to complement this option if you want to examine and manipulate non-ISPF storage areas.

You usually test a dialog in one of two ways:

Test individual dialog parts, including panels, skeletons, and messages, without calling a function or a selection panel. Eventually, you end your test session by entering the END command on the Dialog Test Primary Option Panel.
Test dialog functions, including programs, commands, and selection panels, using the Functions option (7.1). You can define traces and breakpoints before calling the function.

Any requested traces for variable usage and dialog service calls are written to the ISPF log. You can browse the log using the Log option (7.5).

If you define a breakpoint and the function gets to it, dialog processing is suspended, and Dialog Test displays the Breakpoint Primary Option Panel (Figure 1). At this point, you can access and manipulate dialog parts, such as variables, tables, and so forth. Then, if you select the Go option from the Breakpoint Primary Option Panel, the dialog resumes processing.

When the processing is complete, you are returned to the Functions option (7.1). If you select the Cancel option from the Breakpoint Primary Option Panel, the dialog is canceled and the first primary option panel that you were shown during your terminal session is displayed again. For example, if the first screen displayed when you began your session was a master application panel that is different from the ISPF Primary Option Menu, that master application panel is displayed again.