Changing your edit profile

In Data set naming conventions we said that the TYPE qualifier describes what type of information is in the data set such as data, text, or the name of a programming language. The type implies certain characteristics of the contents. For example, at most installations, DATA implies all capital letters in a fixed record format with a record length of 80. TEXT implies mixed case letters in a variable record format with a length of 255.

Your edit session in ISPF/PDF is controlled by a profile that contains a list of editing characteristics. There is a profile for each type of data set. Generally the edit profile is a list of defaults commonly associated with that particular type of data.

To see the edit profile for the edit session you are in, enter the PROFILE command on the COMMAND line. You see four lines of information that define your edit session. The profile for a TEXT type of data set might look like the following:

EDIT ---- PREFIX.MEMO.TEXT(APR13) ------------------------------ COLUMNS 001 072
COMMAND ===>                                                    SCROLL ===> HALF
****** ************************ TOP OF DATA ************************************
000001 April 13
=PROF> ....TEXT  (VARIABLE - 251) ....RECOVERY OFF....NUMBER OFF...............
=PROF> ....CAPS OFF....HEX OFF....NULLS ON STD....TABS OFF.....................
=PROF> ....AUTOSAVE ON....AUTONUM OFF....AUTOLIST OFF....STATS ON..............
=PROF> ....PROFILE UNLOCK....IMACRO NONE....PACK OFF....NOTE ON................
000002
000003 My Dear Sir,
000004     Word reached me this morning of a manner in which we
000005 can continue our former case.  It involves no small study
000006 and will require a good deal of concentration.
000007     Perhaps you have no time to devote to this at the
000008 present, but I thought I would at least bring it to your
000009 attention.  It seems there is an entire library filled with
000010 all manner of detail about this very case.  Each volume within
000011 the library contains a distinct level of information
000012 and is intended for a particular audience.  It appears we
000013 have barely scratched the surface on this matter.
000014     I was not able to gather all the information necessary
000015 to present you with a complete picture of the library, but
000016 I have sent away for more information on the matter.  Perhaps
000017 in a week or two I shall be better able to discuss with you

Unless you have a good reason to change the defaults, it is better to leave the edit profile as it was originally set up. The one characteristic you might have a good reason to change is NULLS.

The unused portion of a record can contain nulls or blanks. A null is a moveable unit that doesn't occupy space in the record. A blank is a distinct unit that contains a blank space. NULLS controls whether you can insert characters in a line. When NULLS is ON, the unused portions of records become null characters and you can use the insert key to insert characters within the text as long as the record is not filled. When NULLS is OFF, you cannot use the insert key unless you first create space in the record by deleting blanks.

To change your profile from NULLS OFF to NULLS ON, enter on the COMMAND line:

nulls on

If your edit profile already contains NULLS ON, there is no change. If your edit profile contains NULLS OFF, it changes to NULLS ON.

Exercise

Display an edit session of a data set of the type TEXT. Enter the PROFILE command to show your edit profile. If your profile shows NULLS ON, enter on the COMMAND line:

nulls off

Now move your cursor anywhere in the text and try to use the insert key. You see the input inhibitor. Press the Reset key, then enter on the COMMAND line:

nulls on

Move your cursor in the text again and try to use the insert key. Unless you chose a record that was filled, you can insert a space.

To make the edit profile disappear, enter on the COMMAND line:

reset

Note: You do not need to display the edit profile to change the NULLS mode. However, when the edit profile is not displayed, you receive no immediate indication that NULLS was changed.