Personal Communications iSeries

The keys unique to Bidirectional PC400 are:
  • Language selection: This function is activated by the key combination Alt+Shift and allows the changing of the language layer. If the language layer is Latin, by pressing the Alt+RightShift key combination, the language layer will change to Arabic. If the language layer is Arabic, by pressing the Alt+LeftShift key combination, the language layer will change to Latin.
  • Screen Reverse: This function is activated by the key combination Alt+NewLine and reverses the screen image. If the screen orientation is left-to-right, by pressing this key combination the screen image will be reversed to right-to-left. If the screen orientation is right-to-left, pressing this key combination reverses the screen image to left-to-right.

    Note that the operator information area is not reversed by this operation.

    When the screen orientation is changed, the language layer is changed to the default language of the new screen orientation. If the screen is reversed to right-to-left, the language is changed to Arabic. If the screen is reversed to left-to-right, the language is changed to one using Latin characters.

    The inversion of the screen causes directional characters to be replaced by their counterparts.

  • Field Reverse: This function is activated by the key NumLock and toggles the field orientation to either left-to-right or right-to-left. The text in the field is not inverted. The cursor orientation is set equal to the new field orientation and the language layer is selected accordingly.

    If the cursor is in the first logical position of a field or line, when selecting field reverse function, the cursor skips to the other side of that field or line, which now becomes the first logical position. If the cursor was not in the first position of the field or line, when selecting field reverse function, the cursor remains in its position and allows natural and correct editing of existing text.

  • Close: This function is activated by the key combination NumPad/ and is provided so that the data entered in one keying direction can be concatenated with the data that was previously entered in the opposite direction. It operates as follows:
    • All embedded nulls are removed from the current line.
    • Concatenated text is moved to the right boundary of the field (if the field direction is right-to-left) or to the left boundary (if the field direction is left-to-right).
    • The cursor direction is set to the field direction.
    • The language layer is set to the default for the field direction.
    • If the screen orientation is now left-to-right, the cursor is positioned at the first null to the right of the concatenated text.
    • If the screen orientation is now right-to-left, the cursor is positioned at the first null to the left of the concatenated text.
  • Base: This function is activated by the key combination Ctrl+Home; it is a toggle key that activates or deactivates the Automatic Shape determination function for Arabic RTL text. It is valid only when processing RTL Arabic text. If it is pressed in an LTR field, an operator error 0027 results.