Extract global variable action
You can extract information from the host screen and define it as a global variable.
For the region of the host screen, you define the starting and ending rows and columns for the area of the screen you want to assign as a global variable.
In the Advanced section, use the Plane to extract drop-down list to select the data plane to extract. The options are:
- Text
- Color
- Field
- Extended field
- DBCS
- Grid
When you extract data for the global variable, you can specify a name for a new global variable or select an existing global variable name from the drop-down list for the Name field.
To specify how text extracted from multiple rows of the host screen is defined in a global variable, click Advanced. You must select one of the radio buttons to specify if the extraction should be treated as one string or as a list of strings (indexed). When you select the Extract this region as one string option, the extracted data is saved in a global variable as a single object in the form of a 2-dimensional character array. When you select the Extract this region as a list of strings option, the data is extracted as a 2-dimensional character array and broken up into individual 1-dimensional arrays, each one representing a single extracted row and stored in an index in the global variable.
- Overwrite the existing value with this new value
- Overwrite the existing value with this new value, starting at the specified index
- Append this new value after the last index of the existing value
- Insert this new value into the existing value, at the specified index
sample. The values of
sampleare
a b c d. The
ain the value has an index of 0, therefore the value of
sample[0]is
a, and the
bin the value has an index of 1, therefore the value of
sample[1]is
b, and so on. Assume that you extract a new set of values
e f g.
- If you click the Overwrite the existing
value with this new value radio button, the value
a b c d
ofsample
is changed toe f g
. - If you click the Overwrite the existing
value with this new value, starting at the specified index radio
button, and assume an index of 2, the value
a b c d
ofsample
becomesa b e f g
. - If you click the Append this new
value after the last index of the existing value radio button,
the value
a b c d
ofsample
becomesa b c d e f g
. - If you click the Insert this new value
into the existing value, at the specified index radio button,
and assume an index of 2, the value
a b c d
ofsample
becomesa b e f g c d
.
Selecting the Shared check box will allow the global variable to be shared.
For more information about global variables, see Interacting with global variables.