show

The show statement shows a form or web page.

The statement is valid in the following kinds of code:
  • A main text UI program
  • A main web transaction program
  • A called web transaction program
  • A library called by any of the previous kinds of programs

Furthermore, you can use a show statement in a program with a variable that is located in a library.

The show statement has the following effect:
  1. Commits recoverable resources, closes files, and releases locks.
  2. Optionally passes a basic record to the program to use. This record, if used, is specified in the passing clause of the show statement.
  3. Ends the first program.
  4. Presents either a text form or a web page.

If a text form is presented, the statement always fulfills a deferred transfer: the user submits the form to invoke a new program or transaction. If a web page is presented, the deferred transfer is optional. An invoked program, or the first program in an invoked transaction, is always a main program.

Syntax


Syntax diagram for the show statement
formName
Name of a text form that is visible to the program. For more information about visibility, see Scope. If you include a returning clause in the statement, the text form must be equivalent to the text form in the inputForm property of the invoked program.
VGUIRecordName
Name of a UI record that is visible to the program. For more information about visibility, see Scope. If you include a returning to clause in the statement, the UI record must be equivalent to the UI record in the inputUIRecord property of the invoked program.
targetName
Identifier of the program or transaction that is invoked after the user submits the text form or web page. The name can be a part reference without quotation marks, a literal string in quotation marks, a constant, or sysVar.transferName or another variable.
basicRecordName
Name of a basic record. The content is assigned to the input record of the receiving program.
properties
One property is supported. That property is meaningful only for text UI programs that use IMS/VS as the target platform.
isExternal
A Boolean property:
  • NO, the default, indicates that an EGL-generated program is the target of the deferred transfer.
  • YES indicates that a non-EGL-generated program is the target.

Compatibility

Table 1. Compatibility considerations for the show statement
Platform Issue
CICS® for z/OS®

EGL implements the statement with the CICS® START command and uses the COMMAREA option of that command to pass the record. The record data starts in the first byte of the CICS® common area, and the maximum record length is 32763.

targetName refers to a CICS® transaction name.

The show statement does not support a deferred transfer to a non-EGL-generated program.
IBM® i The show statement does not support a deferred transfer to a non-EGL-generated program.
IMS/VS

The show statement supports a deferred transfer to an EGL-generated program or to a non-EGL-generated program. targetName refers to an IMS™ transaction name.

In relation to EGL-generated programs, the following rules apply:
  • The target program must specify the same values as does the source program, for the following build descriptor options:  spaSize, spaADF, and spaStatusBytePosition.
  • The target and source programs must share the same form group.

A target program that is not EGL-generated must use MFS to receive the passed form. The MFS map name can be the same as the EGL form name.
IMS™ BMP The show statement is not supported.
z/OS® batch The show statement is not supported.
Web transactions The show statement is supported for main or called web transactions. The returning to clause is optional in this case, and the isExternal property has no effect.
Other Java™ generation The show statement does not support a deferred transfer to a non-EGL-generated program.