Input Field Characteristics

Input Fields that Extend Multiple Lines

The Extended Input Field configuration value allows you to choose how Webulator/400 will present input fields that extend multiple lines. An example is the extended command entry prompt that appears on some AS/400 screens. It often starts at line 18 column 7 and ends at line 21 column 79.

You can choose to have these fields shown as either Scrollable Input Fields or Text Areas.

Scrollable Input Fields

Scrollable input fields are fields that have a height of 1 row and a width equal to the starting position on the screen to the edge of the screen. It allows the viewable value to be scrolled either left or right as necessary.

The advantages of scrollable input fields include:

Allows long entries without unnecessary CR/LFs.
Browser limits the amount of text that can be typed.

The disadvantages of scrollable input fields include:

Single line entry looks different than native AS/400 screen.
May not allow entire entry to be viewed without manual scrolling.

The AS/400 command line entry field will look like this as a scrollable input field:

Text Areas

Text Areas are fields that have a width and height that closely resemble the dimensions of the corresponding AS/400 input field.

The advantages of text areas include:

More closely resembles the native AS/400 screen.
Allows entire entry to be viewed.

The disadvantages of text areas include:

Does not automatically word wrap. Requires CR/LFs to get desired effect.
Browsers do not limit the amount of text that can be typed.

The AS/400 command line entry field will look like this as a text area:

Uppercase Input Fields

The Upper to Lower Conversion configuration value allows you to automatically convert data inside a uppercase input field to lower case before being display to the user. You may want to use this option if you have uppercase input fields that do not show all of the characters without scrolling inside the input field. Some browsers do not allocate enough screen space to show all of the uppercase characters which results in fields that appear to be truncated. By converting these uppercase fields to lowercase, all of the characters should be viewable.