Setting preferred formatting width

The Z Abend Investigator ISPF interface permits the user to select a preferred formatting width. This width is the width that Z Abend Investigator should use whenever possible during formatting of information for displays.

The preferred formatting width is not synonymous with the actual width of Z Abend Investigator displays. It only affects the width of some displayed information, for example, text paragraphs. Other information is static by design and is not affected by the formatting width.

The Preferred Formatting Width display is shown when the View menu Preferred Formatting Width option is selected (for information about selecting this option in general, refer to Action-bar pull-down menus).

Figure 1. Sample Preferred Formatting Width display

  File  Options  View  Services  Help
 ┌───────────────── Preferred Formatting Width Specification ─────────────────┐
 │                                                                            │
 │ Specify the display formatting width to be used by Z Abend Investigator    │
 │ whenever possible and press Enter.                                         │
 │                                                                            │
 │ Preferred Formatting Width 80   (Minimum 80)                               │
 │                                                                            │
 │  F1=Help     F3=Exit    F12=Cancel                                         │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

   Fault ID Job/Tran User ID  Sys/Job  Abend Date       Time
     F00323 HFZVPCOB XMPUSER  MVS2     S0C7  2019/12/21 13:02:25
     F00445 ALLANT01 JACKIED  MVS8     S0C7  2019/12/19 03:29:57
     F00444 ALLANT01 JACKIED  MVS8     S0C7  2019/11/28 20:25:30
     F00442 ALLANT01 ALLANT   MVS8     S0C7  2019/09/10 22:20:10
     F00349 CS05     CICSUSER CSCB0050 ASRA  2019/08/23 07:47:23
     F00348 CS04     CICSUSER CSCB0040 ASRA  2019/08/23 07:46:36
     F00345 CS01     CICSUSER CSCB0010 AEIL  2019/08/23 07:43:35
     F00050 PSTRANDR PSTRAND  STPLEX4B S0C4  2019/08/02 17:03:18
     F00035 CICS53   n/a      MVS2     n/a   2019/04/05 14:49:11
     F00034 CICS53   n/a      MVS2     S08E  2019/03/22 13:12:23
 F1=Help      F3=Exit      F4=MatchCSR  F5=RptFind   F6=Actions   F7=Up
 F8=Down     F10=Left     F11=Right    F12=MatchALL

The minimum accepted width is 80 characters, which is also the default. Although a value of 999 can be specified, the maximum width is at all times limited by the actual display width.

After typing the desired formatting width, press the Enter key to return to the previous display using the specified formatting width.

If the formatting width exceeds the physical width of your screen, then you can use the scroll commands, LEFT (PF10) and RIGHT (PF11) to view the entire display.

To return to the previous display without changing the formatting width, enter the EXIT (PF3) or CANCEL (PF12) command.