DISPLAY CHARACTERISTIC

DISPLAY_CHARACTERISTIC is an operation that can be specified in the function field of the F$GETQUI() lexical function. It returns information about a specific characteristic definition or the next characteristic definition in a wildcard operation. A characteristic is any attribute of a print or batch job that is relevant to your environment. For example, characteristics for a printer could refer to the color of the ink, the type of paper, or the location of the printer. Characteristics are created with DEFINE/CHARACTERISTIC, assigned to queues with SET QUEUE/CHARACTERISTIC and to jobs with PRINT/CHARACTERISTIC.

Syntax

F$GETQUI("DISPLAY_CHARACTERISTIC", [item],object-id,[flags])

Item

Corresponds to a $GETQUI system service output item code. The following items are valid for DISPLAY_CHARACTERISTIC:

• CHARACTERISTIC_NAME: the name of the characteristic (for example, for a characteristic defined with DEFINE/CHARACTERISTIC BLUEINK 5, CHARACTERISTIC_NAME is "BLUEINK")
• CHARACTERISTIC_NUMBER: the number of the characteristic (for example, for a characteristic defined with DEFINE/CHARACTERISTIC BLUEINK 5, CHARACTERISTIC_NUMBER is "5")

Object Id

Corresponds to the $GETQUI system service QUI$SEARCH_NAME, QUI$_SEARCH_NUMBER, and QUI$_SEARCH_JOB_NAME input item codes. The object-id argument specifies either the name or the number of an object (for example, a specific queue name, job name, or form number) about which F$GETQUI is to return information. The asterisk (*) and the percent sign (%) wildcard characters are allowed.

Flags

Flags allowed for DISPLAY_CHARACTERISTIC:

• FREEZE_CONTEXT: when in wildcard mode, prevents advance of wildcard context to the next object. If you do not specify this flag, the context is advanced to the next object.
• WILDCARD: establishes and saves a context. Because the context is saved, the next operation can be performed based on that context.

Example

SMAN43$ define/characteristic redink 3
SMAN43$ s = f$getqui("DISPLAY_CHARACTERISTIC","CHARACTERISTIC_NAME",-
_SMAN43$ "3")
SMAN43$ sh sym s
  S = "REDINK"