Hi Peter,
The complete documentation for character based user interfaces was included in the Net Express product which preceded Visual COBOL. Unfortunately these docs and examples have not yet made it into the Visual COBOL documentation although it is planned to do so.
For right now I would recommend that you take a look at the Net Express documentation here for more information. Click on the link for Character User Interfaces.
There was also a sample program called adsamp.cbl that was delivered with Net Express but was left out of Visual COBOL. I am posting that sample below:
******************************************************************
* Copyright Micro Focus International Ltd 1996-1998.
* All Rights Reserved.
******************************************************************
****************************************************************
* This program assumes that the default configuration has been *
* selected using Adiscf. *
****************************************************************
special-names.
cursor is cursor-position
crt status is key-status.
data division.
working-storage section.
**************************************************
* Parameters to be used for the x"AF" calls.
**************************************************
01 set-bit-pairs pic 9(2) comp-x value 1.
01 get-single-character pic 9(2) comp-x value 26.
01 enable-esc-and-f1.
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 1.
03 filler pic x value "1".
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 0.
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 2.
01 disable-all-other-user-keys.
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 0.
03 filler pic x value "1".
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 2.
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 126.
01 enable-slash-key.
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 1.
03 filler pic x value "3".
03 filler pic x value "/".
03 filler pic 9(2) comp-x value 1.
**************************************************
* Status returned after termination of an ACCEPT.
**************************************************
01 key-status.
03 key-type pic x.
03 key-code-1 pic 9(2) comp-x.
03 key-code-1-x redefines key-code-1 pic x.
03 key-code-2 pic 9(2) comp-x.
**************************************************
* Cursor-Position is returned by ADIS containing
* the position of the cursor when the ACCEPT was
* terminated.
***************************************************
01 cursor-position.
03 cursor-row pic 99.
03 cursor-column pic 99.
**************************************************
* Work areas used by the program.
**************************************************
01 work-areas.
03 wa-name pic x(30).
03 wa-address-line-1 pic x(40).
03 wa-address-line-2 pic x(40).
03 wa-address-line-3 pic x(40).
03 wa-address-line-4 pic x(40).
03 wa-age pic 999 value 0.
01 exit-flag pic 9(2) comp-x value 0.
**************************************************
* Screen Section.
**************************************************
screen section.
01 main-screen.
03 blank screen.
03 line 2 column 27
value "Typical Data Entry Screen".
03 line 3 column 27
value "-------------------------".
03 line 5 column 1 value "name [".
03 pic x(30) using wa-name highlight prompt " ".
03 value "]".
03 line 7 column 1 value "address [".
03 pic x(40) using wa-address-line-1 highlight prompt " ".
03 value "]".
03 line 8 column 1 value " [".
03 pic x(40) using wa-address-line-2 highlight prompt " ".
03 value "]".
03 line 9 column 1 value " [".
03 pic x(40) using wa-address-line-3 highlight prompt " ".
03 value "]".
03 line 10 column 1 value " [".
03 pic x(40) using wa-address-line-4 highlight prompt " ".
03 value "]".
03 line 12 column 1 value "age [".
03 pic zz9 using wa-age highlight prompt " ".
03 value "]".
03 line 20 column 1 value
"---------------------------------------------------------
- "-----------------------".
03 line 21 column 1 value "f1" highlight.
03 value "=".
03 value "/h" highlight.
03 value "elp".
03 column 75 value "esc" highlight.
03 value "ape".
01 help-screen.
03 blank screen.
03 line 1 column 34 value "Help Screen".
03 line + 1 column 34 value "-----------".
03 line 4 value "escape" highlight.
03 value " Quit this program.".
03 line 6 column 1 value "f1 or /h" highlight.
03 value " View this help screen.".
03 line 8 column 1
value "Use the cursor keys to move around ".
03 value "the fields on the screen.".
03 value " Pressing enter".
03 line + 1 column 1 value "accepts the data ".
03 value "and presents a new blank form to fill in.".
03 line 24 column 25
value "Press any key to continue ...".
**************************************************
* Procedure Division.
**************************************************
procedure division.
entry-point section.
* First we want to ensure that the keys are enabled as we want
* them. Enable the Escape and F1 keys.
call x"AF" using set-bit-pairs
enable-esc-and-f1
* disable every other user function key.
call x"AF" using set-bit-pairs
disable-all-other-user-keys
* set up "/" key to act as a function key and terminate
* the ACCEPT operation.
call x"AF" using set-bit-pairs
enable-slash-key
* Now ensure that the cursor position will be returned when an
* ACCEPT is terminated. Setting to row 1, column 1 will ensure
* that the cursor will be initially positioned at the start of
* the first field.
move 1 to cursor-row
move 1 to cursor-column
* Loop until the Escape key is pressed.
perform until exit-flag = 1
display main-screen
accept main-screen
evaluate key-type
when "0"
* The ACCEPT operation terminated normally; that is the Enter key
* was pressed. In this case, we simply blank out the work areas
* and restart in the first field.
initialize work-areas
move 1 to cursor-row
move 1 to cursor-column
when "1"
* A user function key has been pressed. This will either be
* Escape or F1 as all others have been disabled.
if key-code-1 = 0
* Escape has been pressed, so we wish to leave the program.
move 1 to exit-flag
else
* F1 has been pressed so display the help screen.
perform display-help-screen
end-if
when "3"
* A data key has terminated the ACCEPT operation. It must be "/"
* as no other keys have been enabled to do this. Now get the
* next character to see if "H" or "h" has been pressed.
call x"AF" using get-single-character
key-status
if key-type = "3" and
(key-code-1-x = "h" or
key-code-1-x = "H")
perform display-help-screen
end-if
end-evaluate
end-perform
stop run.
display-help-screen section.
* Display the help screen and then wait for a key to be pressed.
display help-screen
call x"AF" using get-single-character
key-status.