ISPF Variables and ISPF Control Variables

Examples of some of ISPF Variables and ISPF Control Variables
ISPF Variables 

ISPF Services create and maintain built-in variables as shown in the following list:
Their names all start with Z. It is a good idea to start your variable names with a letter other than Z.
You can use them:
	on panels to display their value
		just put an & in front of them: 
		Example: &ZUSER
	in a REXX program
		obtain their value with a VGET
		Example: ADDRESS ISPEXEC “VGET (ZUSER)”
		Say Zuser

Here are the more common variables:

ZAPPLID 	current application id
ZCMD  	command input field
ZDATE 	the current date
ZDAY  	day of current month (01 – 31)
ZDAYOFWK	day of week (Monday, etc)
ZEDLMSG	long message that will appear on next panel displayed 
		if user presses PF1 key
ZEDSMSG	short message that will appear on next panel displayed 
ZERRLM 	latest long error message issued by ISPF
ZERRMSG 	latest error message id issued by ISPF
ZERRSM 	latest short error message issued by ISPF
ZHINDEX 	top index page in tutorial
ZHTOP 	top of page in tutorial
ZJDATE 	current julian date
ZKEYS 	number of PF keys
ZLOGON 	the name of the logon procedure you are executing
ZMONTH	name of month
ZPFKEY	Name of PF key in effect upon exiting the screen.
			PF01 – 24. (PF00 means no PF key in effect)
ZPFxx  	setting for PFxx key
ZPREFIX  	the prefix that TSO is putting on dataset names 
		entered without apostrophes          
		same as REXX SYSVAR(SYSPREF)
ZPRIM   	YES if this panel is a primary option panel
         	executed with ISPSTART PANEL(panel-name)
ZSEL  	command input field truncated at first period
ZTDSELS	# rows selected after TBDISPL displays rows of a table on a panel
ZTDTOP 	current top row pointer from table display services
ZTEMPF 	name of temporary file for file tailoring.
ZTERM 	terminal type
ZTIME 	the current time (hh:mm)
ZUP  		name of parent panel of current panel
ZUSER 	the current userid. Same as REXX SYSVAR(SYSUID)
ZVERB  	the last command entered on the command line 
		END if PF3 pressed  RETURN if PF4 pressed
ZWINTTL	the title of the next window to be displayed
ZYEAR 	the current year (00 – 99)
   

ISPF Control Variables

These are used on panels. The leading “.” is required.

.ALARM = YES	causes the terminal to beep
			Generally used on a conditional statement

.ATTR			Dynamically change the attributes of a field in )INIT, )REINIT, or )PROC
			.ATTR (&PHONENUM) = new attributes'
			.ATTR (&field-name) = 'COLOR(YELLOW) HILITE(REVERSE)'

.CURSOR=fieldname	
			positions the cursor on this field

.HELP			used in INIT
			.HELP = member name in panel library for help (PF1)

.MSG = message id		
			displays this message

.PFKEY		contains the PF key pressed by the user. in the )PROC section
			variable = .PFKEY

.RESP 
	If the user presses PF3 or PF4 (Return key) it is set to END.
	Otherwise it is set to ENTER by the system 
			You may test it in )PROC to see what key was pressed

.TRAIL		Contains the characters dropped by a TRUNC (see below)

.ZVARS 
	This is used in )INIT
	If you use the variable Z in a panel definition multiple times 
	each use refers to one of the variables in this list. 
	The first Z used refers to the first variable in this list. 
	The second to the second, etc.
	Since this makes for unreadable panel code, consider using other variable names
	If a one character variable name is adequate, use that instead.

	Note in the following example
	The first Z is the same as NAME
	second Z is the same as ADDRESS
	third Z is the same as SEX
	)INIT
	.ZVARS = '(NAME ADDRESS SEX)'

	The only variable where the Z makes sense in the previous example is SEX, because that is 	a one character field. 
	The + delimits the input field.