The Windowing Interface

Introduction

This chapter provides an introduction to the windowing interface that you use to control the SAS/C Debugger during full-screen mode. In full-screen mode you can use the Command window or PF keys to issue commands that control your debugging session. As a result of these commands, the SAS/C Debugger displays information about your program and the session. The windowing interface is composed of windows in which you can send commands and other information to the debugger.

Some Window Basics

The windowing interface consists of a series of windows through which you issue commands to perform a variety of tasks. Each window consists of an optional border and one or more fields. The border defines the location and display area for the window on the terminal screen. The fields are areas inside the window that are used to view and type information. The field can be extended beyond the window borders. That is, the field can contain information that is not currently visible within the borders. You scroll the window horizontally or vertically to view this information.

Multiple Windows Can Be Displayed

You can have several windows displayed simultaneously, which enables you to issue a command in one window and view its results in a second window. For example, Displaying Several Windows Simultaneously shows the Status, Source, Termout (terminal output), Log, Print, and Command windows. The functions of these and other windows that are not shown in this example are explained in Types of Windows.

Displaying Several Windows Simultaneously

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Some windows display all of the information that is associated with their function at one time. For example, the Status window consists of one line of status information, as shown in Displaying Several Windows Simultaneously; therefore, all of the information that is associated with the Status window is displayed simultaneously.

Other windows, such as the Source and Termout windows in this example, might display only a portion of the information that is associated with their function at one time. You may have to scroll through a field to view information that is hidden.

Windows Can Be Moved and Resized

A window's size affects how much information can be displayed at one time. Most windows can be resized, moved, opened, closed, and zoomed. (When you zoom a window, it either fills the entire display or shows the maximum information available for that window.) For example, Initial Position of the Termout Window shows the initial position of the Termout window. In the example shown in Displaying Several Windows Simultaneously, the Print window has been moved, and the Termout window has been moved and resized. Both of these windows filled the top half of the display when they were originally displayed. See Controlling the Windowing Interface for complete descriptions of how to open, close, move, resize, and zoom windows.

Initial Position of the Termout Window

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Windows Can Overlap

When several windows are displayed, you can choose to have them overlap each other. This allows you to display the maximum size for the window in which you are working, while keeping the other windows readily available. Depending on the size and position of the overlapped windows, parts of them may be visible, or they may be completely hidden. In Initial Position of the Termout Window, the Termout window overlaps the Source window.

The debugger uses a stack to keep track of open windows. You can move through this stack of windows in either direction, or you can jump directly to a specific window in the stack. The current window is called the top window because it is on top of the stack. It overlays any other windows that happen to be located on the same portion of the display.

Windows Have Logical Cursors

Each window has a logical cursor that is associated with it. Although you cannot see the logical cursor, the debugger uses it to keep track of your location in a window. The current window displays a physical cursor that can be seen at the location of the logical cursor. Furthermore, the position of the logical cursor is used for certain operations (such as scrolling by cursor amount), which may cause the logical cursor to move.

Types of Windows

The windowing interface is composed of 15 different types of windows. (You can open multiple instances of some of these window types.) Reference information for each window is provided in Window Directory. The following list provides a summary of their functions:

Browse window: is used to browse text files and to display output from the browse command.
Command window: is used to issue debugger commands.
Config window: displays current configuration information such as default window locations, colors, and display attributes. This window can also be used to change window attributes and location.
Dump window: displays a dump of memory in character and hexadecimal format.
Find window: is used to enter a search string for the windows find command.
Help window: provides context-sensitive help information. You can enter the help system from any location on the display by pressing the PF1 key. (By default, the PF1 key is used to access the help system. The Keys window is used to change the help key assignment.)
Keys window: displays current PF key settings. This window can also be used to redefine a PF key.
Log window: displays a log of the debugger commands that you enter during your session, as well as other useful information.
Message window: displays a message in response to invalid input. You can close this window by pressing the ENTER key.
Pop-up window: request for information in response to invalid input. The Pop-up window displays the invalid input, and you must either provide a valid value or delete the invalid value before you can continue.
Print window: displays the value of an expression.
Register window: displays the contents of general purpose and floating-point registers and the current instruction address in hexadecimal format.
Source window: displays source code, highlighting the current position in the code. You can also enter prefix-area commands from the Source window to control your debugging session. Prefix area commands are described in Source Window.
Status window: displays status information for your debugging session.
Termin window: is used to type terminal input that your program requests.
Termout window: displays terminal output from your program.
Watch window: is used to monitor the changing value of an expression. As with the Print window, the expression can be of either the scalar or the aggregate type.

The four primary windows (Status, Source, Log, and Command) are always open. With the exception of the Message or Pop-up windows, you can use the window open command to take a quick look at the other windows that are listed in the previous section. To open a window, type the following command, where name is the name of the window:

   window open name

To close the window, move the cursor into the window and press PF15, which executes the window close command.

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