ws3270 Manual Page

Note: This page is no longer being maintained for ws3270 4.0 and later. Please refer to the the x3270 Wiki for up-to-date documentation.

Contents

Name
Synopsis
Description
Options
Code Pages
NVT Mode
Toggles
File Transfer
The PrintText Action
Nested Scripts
Passthru
Proxy
Resources
See Also
Copyrights
Version

Name

Synopsis

Description

[prefix:]...[LUname@]hostname[:port][=accept]

Prepending a P: onto hostname causes the connection to go through the telnet-passthru service rather than directly to the host. See PASSTHRU below.

Prepending an S: onto hostname removes the "extended data stream" option reported to the host. See -tn below for further information.

Prepending an N: onto hostname turns off TN3270E support for the session.

Prepending an L: onto hostname causes ws3270 to first create a TLS tunnel to the host, and then create a TN3270 session inside the tunnel. (This function is supported only if ws3270 was built with TLS support). Note that TLS-encrypted sessions using the TELNET START-TLS option are negotiated with the host automatically; for these sessions the L: prefix should not be used.

Prepending a Y: onto hostname causes ws3270 to skip validation of host TLS certificates. This overrides any other configuration or command-line options.

Prepending an A: onto hostname is equivalent to setting the -nvt option; it forces an NVT-mode session instead of a 3270-mode session.

A specific Logical Unit (LU) name to use may be specified by prepending it to the hostname with an `@'. Multiple LU names to try can be separated by commas. An empty LU can be placed in the list with an extra comma. (Note that the LU name is used for different purposes by different kinds of hosts. For example, CICS uses the LU name as the Terminal ID.)

The hostname may optionally be placed inside square-bracket characters `[' and `]'. This will prevent any colon `:' characters in the hostname from being interpreted as indicating option prefixes or port numbers. This allows numeric IPv6 addresses to be used as hostnames.

The port to connect to defaults to telnet. This can be overridden with the -port option, or by appending a port to the hostname with a colon `:'. (For compatability with previous versions of ws3270 and with tn3270(1), the port may also be specified as a second, separate argument.)

An optional accept name (a hostname to accept in the host's TLS certificate) may be specified by appending it to the hostname with an equals sign (`='). The accept name can also be specified with the -accepthostname option.

Options

-accepthostname name

Specifies a particular hostname to accept when validating the name presented in the server SSL certificate, instead of comparing to the name used to make the connection.

-clientcert name

Specifies the name of a client certificate to provide to the host.

-clear toggle

Sets the initial value of toggle to false. The list of toggle names is under TOGGLES below.

-codepage name

Specifies an EBCDIC host code page. See CODE PAGES below.

-connecttimeout seconds

Specifies the time that ws3270 will wait for a host connection to complete.

-devname name

Specifies a device name (workstation ID) for RFC 4777 support.

-httpd [addr:]port

Specifies a port and optional address to listen on for HTTP connections. Addr can be specified as `*' to indicate 0.0.0.0; the default is 127.0.0.1. IPv6 numeric addresses must be specified inside of square brackets, e.g., [::1]:4080 to specify the IPv6 loopback address and TCP port 4080.

Note that this option is mutually-exclusive with the -scriptport option and disables reading actions from standard input.

-loginmacro Action(arg...) ...

Specifies a macro to run at login time.

-localcp codepage

Specifies the Windows code page to use for local I/O. The default is to use the system's ANSI code page.

-minversion version

The minimum required version of ws3270, e.g., 4.0ga12. If the running version is less than the specified version, ws3270 will abort. The format of a version is major.minortypeiteration. type is ignored, and minor and iteration can be omitted.

-model name

The model of 3270 display to be emulated. The model name is in two parts, either of which may be omitted:

The first part is the base model, which is either 3278 or 3279. 3278 specifies a monochrome (green on black) 3270 display; 3279 specifies a color 3270 display.

The second part is the model number, which specifies the number of rows and columns. Model 4 is the default.

Model Number	Columns	Rows
2	80	24
3	80	32
4	80	43
5	132	27

Note: Technically, there is no such 3270 display as a 3279-4 or 3279-5, but most hosts seem to work with them anyway.

The default model is 3279-4.

-noverifycert

For TLS connections, do not verify the host certificate.

-nvt

Start in NVT mode instead of waiting for the host to send data, and make the default terminal type xterm.

-oversize colsxrows

Makes the screen larger than the default for the chosen model number. This option has effect only in combination with extended data stream support (controlled by the "ws3270.extended" resource), and only if the host supports the Query Reply structured field. The number of columns multiplied by the number of rows must not exceed 16383 (3fff hex), the limit of 14-bit 3270 buffer addressing.

-port n

Specifies a different TCP port to connect to. n can be a name from /etc/services like telnet, or a number. This option changes the default port number used for all connections. (The positional parameter affects only the initial connection.)

-proxy type:host[:port]

Causes ws3270 to connect via the specified proxy, instead of using a direct connection. The host can be an IP address or hostname. The optional port can be a number or a service name. For a list of supported proxy types, see PROXY below.

-scriptport [addr:]port

Specifies a port and optional address to listen on for scripting connections. Addr can be specified as `*' to indicate 0.0.0.0; the default is 127.0.0.1. IPv6 numeric addresses must be specified inside of square brackets, e.g., [::1]:4081 to specify the IPv6 loopback address and TCP port 4081.

Note that this option is mutually-exclusive with the -httpd option and disables reading actions from standard input.

-scriptportonce

Allows ws3270 to accept only one script connection. When that connection is broken, ws3270 will exit.

-set toggle

Sets the initial value of toggle to true. The list of toggle names is under TOGGLES below. The -p option of x3270if causes it to use this socket, instead of pipes specified by environment variables.

-tn name

Specifies the terminal name to be transmitted over the telnet connection. The default name is IBM-model_name-E, for example, IBM-3278-4-E.

Some hosts are confused by the -E suffix on the terminal name, and will ignore the extra screen area on models 3, 4 and 5. Prepending an S: on the hostname, or setting the "ws3270.extended" resource to "false", removes the -E from the terminal name when connecting to such hosts.

The name can also be specified with the "ws3270.termName" resource.

-trace

Turns on data stream and event tracing at startup. The default trace file name is x3trc.pid.txt in the current directory.

-tracefile file

Specifies a file to save data stream and event traces into. If the name starts with `>>', data will be appended to the file.

-tracefilesize size

Places a limit on the size of a trace file. If this option is not specified, or is specified as 0 or none, the trace file size will be unlimited. The minimum size is 64 Kbytes. The value of size can have a K or M suffix, indicating kilobytes or megabytes respectively. When the trace file reaches the size limit, it will be renamed with a `-' appended and a new file started.

-user name

Specifies the user name for RFC 4777 support.

-utf8

Forces the local codeset to be UTF-8, ignoring the locale or Windows codepage.

-v

Display the version and build options for ws3270 and exit.

-verifycert

For TLS connections, verify the host certificate, and do not allow the connection to complete unless it can be validated. (This is the default setting.) This option is overridden by a Y: prepended to the hostname when connecting.

-xrm "ws3270.resource: value"

Sets the value of the named resource to value. Resources control less common ws3270 options, and are defined under RESOURCES below.

Code Pages

Name	Host Code Page
belgian	500
belgian-euro	1148
bracket	037
brazilian	275
chinese-gb18030	1388
cp1047	1047
cp870	870
finnish	278
finnish-euro	1143
french	297
french-euro	1147
german	273
german-euro	1141
greek	423
hebrew	424
icelandic	871
icelandic-euro	1149
italian	280
italian-euro	1144
japanese-kana	930
japanese-latin	939
norwegian	277
norwegian-euro	1142
russian	880
simplified-chinese	935
slovenian	870
spanish	284
spanish-euro	1145
swedish	278
swedish-euro	1143
thai	1160
traditional-chinese	937
turkish	1026
uk	285
uk-euro	1146
us-euro	1140
us-intl	037

The default code page is bracket, which is useful for common U.S. IBM hosts which use EBCDIC codes AD and BD for the `[' and `]' characters, respectively.

Note that any of the host code pages listed above can be specified by adding cp to the host code page number, e.g., cp037 for host code page 037. Also note that the code pages available for a given version of ws3270 are displayed by the -v command-line option.

NVT Mode

If the host later negotiates to stop functioning in 3270 mode, ws3270 will return to NVT emulation.

In NVT mode, ws3270 supports both character-at-a-time mode and line mode operation. You may select the mode with a menu option. When in line mode, the special characters and operational characteristics are defined by resources:

Mode/Character	Resource	Default
Translate CR to NL	ws3270.icrnl	true
Translate NL to CR	ws3270.inlcr	false
Erase previous character	ws3270.erase	^?
Erase entire line	ws3270.kill	^U
Erase previous word	ws3270.werase	^W
Redisplay line	ws3270.rprnt	^R
Ignore special meaning of next character	ws3270.lnext	^V
Interrupt	ws3270.intr	^C
Quit	ws3270.quit	^\
End of file	ws3270.eof	^D

Toggles

aidWait

Changes the behavior of actions that send an AID to the host (Enter, Clear, PA and PF). When set, these actions no longer block until the host unlocks the keyboard. It is up to the script to poll the prompt for the unlocked state, or to use the Wait(unlock) action to wait for the unlock.

blankFill

If set, ws3270 modifies interactive 3270 behavior in two ways. First, when a character is typed into a field, all nulls in the field to the left of that character are changed to blanks. This eliminates a common 3270 data-entry surprise. Second, in insert mode, trailing blanks in a field are treated like nulls, eliminating the annoying `lock-up' that often occurs when inserting into an field with (apparent) space at the end.

lineWrap

If set, the NVT terminal emulator automatically assumes a NEWLINE character when it reaches the end of a line.

screenTrace

Turns on screen tracing at start-up. Each time the screen changes, its contents are appended to the file .

trace

Turns on data stream and event tracing at start-up. Network traffic (both a hexadecimal representation and its interpretation) is logged to the file . The directory for the trace file can be changed with the "ws3270.traceDir" resource. Script actions are also traced.

typeahead

If set, characters typed while the keyboard is locked will be stored and played back when the host unlocks the keyboard. If clear, these characters will be dropped.

Actions

Actions

Actions marked with an asterisk (*) may block, sending data to the host and possibly waiting for a response.

*Attn()	attention key
BackSpace()	move cursor left (or send ASCII BS)
BackTab()	tab to start of previous input field
Charset(charset)	change host code page
CircumNot()	input "^" in NVT mode, or "¬" in 3270 mode
*Clear()	clear screen
*Connect(host)	connect to host
*CursorSelect()	Cursor Select AID
Delete()	delete character under cursor (or send ASCII DEL)
DeleteField()	delete the entire field
DeleteWord()	delete the current or previous word
*Disconnect()	disconnect from host
Down()	move cursor down
Dup()([failonerror|nofailonerror])	duplicate field
*Enter()	Enter AID (or send ASCII CR)
Erase()	erase previous character (or send ASCII BS)
EraseEOF()	erase to end of current field
EraseInput()	erase all input fields
FieldEnd()	move cursor to end of field
FieldMark()([failonerror|nofailonError])	mark field
HexString(hex_digits)	insert control-character string
Home()	move cursor to first input field
Insert()	set insert mode
*Interrupt()	send TELNET IP to host
Key(keysym[,failonerror|nofailonerror])	insert key keysym
Key(0xxx[,failonError|nofailonerror])	insert key with character code xx
Left()	move cursor left
Left2()	move cursor left 2 positions
MonoCase()	toggle uppercase-only mode
MoveCursor(row,col)	move cursor to zero-origin (row,col)
Newline()	move cursor to first field on next line (or send ASCII LF)
NextWord()	move cursor to next word
*PA(n)	Program Attention AID (n from 1 to 3)
*PF(n)	Program Function AID (n from 1 to 24)
PreviousWord()	move cursor to previous word
PasteString(hex_digits)	insert string using pasting behavior
PrintText([gdi|wordpad,][dialog|nodialog,][printer-name])	print screen text on printer
Quit()	exit ws3270
Redraw()	redraw window
Reset()	reset locked keyboard
Right()	move cursor right
Right2()	move cursor right 2 positions
*Script(command[,arg...])	run a script
*String(string)	insert string (simple macro facility)
Tab()	move cursor to next input field
Toggle(option[,set|clear])	toggle an option
ToggleInsert()	toggle insert mode
ToggleReverse()	toggle reverse-input mode
*Transfer(option=value...')	file transfer
Up()	move cursor up

Note that certain parameters to ws3270 actions (such as the names of files and keymaps) are subject to substitutions:

The character ~ at the beginning of a string is replaced with the user's home directory.

Environment variables are substituted using the Unix shell convention of $name or ${name}.

Two special pseudo-environment variables are supported. ${TIMESTAMP} is replaced with a microsecond-resolution timestamp; ${UNIQUE} is replaced with a string guaranteed to make a unique filename (the process ID optionally followed by a dash and a string of digits). ${UNIQUE} is used to form trace file names.

File Transfer

The Transfer() action can be entered at the ws3270> prompt with no parameters, which will cause it to prompt interactively for the file names and options. It can also be invoked with parameters to define the entire transfer.

Because of the complexity and number of options for file transfer, the parameters to the Transfer() action can take the unique form of option=value. They can also be given with their parameters separately. Options can appear in any order. Note that if the value contains spaces (such as a VM/CMS file name), then the entire parameter must be quoted, e.g., "hostfile=xxx foo a". With sequential options, this would be hostfile,"xxx foo a". The options are:

Option	Required?	Default	Other Values
direction	No	receive	send
hostfile	Yes
localfile	Yes
host	No	tso	vm, cics
mode	No	ascii	binary
cr	No	remove	add, keep
remap	No	yes	no
exist	No	keep	replace, append
recfm	No		fixed, variable, undefined
lrecl	No
blksize	No
allocation	No		tracks, cylinders, avblock
primaryspace	Sometimes
secondaryspace	No
avblock	Sometimes
buffersize	No	4096

The option details are as follows.

direction

send to send a file to the host, receive to receive a file from the host.

hostfile

The name of the file on the host.

localfile

The name of the file on the local workstation.

host

The type of host (which dictates the form of the IND$FILE command): tso (the default), vm or cics.

mode

Use ascii (the default) for a text file, which will be translated between EBCDIC and ASCII as necessary. Use binary for non-text files.

cr

Controls how newline characters are handled when transferring mode=ascii files. remove (the default) strips newline characters in local files before transferring them to the host. add adds newline characters to each host file record before transferring it to the local workstation. keep preserves newline characters when transferring a local file to the host.

remap

Controls text translation for mode=ascii files. The value yes (the default) causes ws3270 to remap the text to ensure maximum compatibility between the workstation's character set and encoding and the host's EBCDIC code page. The value no causes ws3270 to pass the text to or from the host as-is, leaving all translation to the IND$FILE program on the host.

exist

Controls what happens when the destination file already exists. keep (the default) preserves the file, causing the Transfer() action to fail. replace overwrites the destination file with the source file. append appends the source file to the destination file.

recfm

Controls the record format of files created on the host. (TSO and VM hosts only.) fixed creates a file with fixed-length records. variable creates a file with variable-length records. undefined creates a file with undefined-length records (TSO hosts only). The lrecl option controls the record length or maximum record length for recfm=fixed and recfm=variable files, respectively.

lrecl

Specifies the record length (or maximum record length) for files created on the host. (TSO and VM hosts only.)

blksize

Specifies the block size for files created on the host. (TSO and VM hosts only.)

allocation

Specifies the units for the primaryspace and secondaryspace options: tracks, cylinders or avblock. (TSO hosts only.)

primaryspace

Primary allocation for a file. The units are given by the allocation option. Required when the allocation is specified as something other than default. (TSO hosts only.)

secondaryspace

Secondary allocation for a file. The units are given by the allocation option. (TSO hosts only.)

avblock

Average block size, required when allocation specifies avblock. (TSO hosts only.)

buffersize

Buffer size for DFT-mode transfers. Can range from 256 to 32768. Larger values give better performance, but some hosts may not be able to support them.

windowscodepage

Overrides the workstation code page used for ASCII file transfers. By default, the system ANSI code page is used.

There are also resources that control the default values for each of the file transfer parameters. These resources have the same names as the Transfer() keywords, but with ft prepended and the option name capitalized. E.g., the default for the mode keyword is the ws3270.ftMode resource.

The PrintText Action

Multiple arguments can include keywords to control the output of PrintText():

gdi

Print directly to the printer using GDI, instead of creating an RTF file and running WordPad to print it. (This is the default).

wordpad

Create an RTF file and run WordPad to print it. (This was the former default).

dialog

In GDI mode, pop up the Windows print dialog.

nodialog

In GDI mode, skip the usual Windows print dialog. (This is the default.)

file,filename

Save the output in a file.

html

Save the output as HTML. This option implies file.

rtf

Save the output as RichText. This option implies file. The font defaults to Courier New and the point size defaults to 8. These can be overridden by the printTextFont and printTextSize resources, respectively.

modi

Render modified fields in italics.

caption,text

Add the specified text as a caption above the output. Within text, the special sequence %T% will be replaced with a timestamp.

Nested Scripts

The String Action

The simplest method for nested scripts is provided via the String() action. The arguments to String() are one or more double-quoted strings which are inserted directly as if typed. The C backslash conventions are honored as follows. (Entries marked * mean that after sending the AID code to the host, ws3270 will wait for the host to unlock the keyboard before further processing the string.)

\b	Left()
\exxxx	EBCDIC character in hex
\f	Clear()*
\n	Enter()*
\pan	PA(n)*
\pfnn	PF(nn)*
\r	Newline()
\t	Tab()
\T	BackTab()
\uxxxx	Unicode character in hex
\xxxxx	Unicode character in hex

Note that the numeric values for the \e, \u and \x sequences can be abbreviated to 2 digits. Note also that EBCDIC codes greater than 255 and some Unicode character codes represent DBCS characters, which will work only if ws3270 is built with DBCS support and the host allows DBCS input in the current field.

Note: The strings are in ASCII and converted to EBCDIC, so beware of inserting control codes.

There is also an alternate form of the String() action, HexString(), which is used to enter non-printing data. The argument to HexString() is a string of hexadecimal digits, two per character. A leading 0x or 0X is optional. In 3270 mode, the hexadecimal data represent EBCDIC characters, which are entered into the current field. In NVT mode, the hexadecimal data represent ASCII characters, which are sent directly to the host.

The Script Action

This action causes ws3270 to start a child process which can execute ws3270 actions. ws3270 listens for connections from the child process on a dynamically-generated TCP port.

Passthru

Proxy

type:[username:password@]host[:port]

The special types socks4a and socks5d can also be used to force the proxy server to do the hostname resolution for the SOCKS protocol. Note that only the http and socks5 proxies support a username and password.

Resources

Resource	Default	Option	Purpose
blankFill	False	-set blankFill	Blank Fill mode
charset	bracket	-charset	EBCDIC character set
dbcsCgcsgid			Override DBCS CGCSGID
dsTrace	False	-trace	Data stream tracing
eof	^D		NVT-mode EOF character
erase	^H		NVT-mode erase character
extended	True		Use 3270 extended data stream
eventTrace	False	-trace	Event tracing
icrnl	False		Map CR to NL on NVT-mode input
inlcr	False		Map NL to CR in NVT-mode input
intr	^C		NVT-mode interrupt character
kill	^U		NVT-mode kill character
lineWrap	False	-set lineWrap	NVT line wrap mode
lnext	^V		NVT-mode lnext character
localCp	(system ANSI code page)	-localcp	Windows code page for local I/O
m3279	(note 1)	-model	3279 (color) emulation
marginedPaste	False	-set marginedPaste	Keep left margin when pasting
monoCase	False	-set monoCase	Mono-case mode
numericLock	False		Lock keyboard for numeric field error
oerrLock	False		Lock keyboard for input error
overlayPaste	False	-set overlayPaste	Overlay protected fields when pasting
oversize		-oversize	Oversize screen dimensions
port	telnet	-port	Non-default TCP port
quit	^\		NVT-mode quit character
rprnt	^R		NVT-mode reprint character
sbcsCgcsgid			Override SBCS CGCSGID
secure	False		Disable "dangerous" options
termName	(note 2)	-tn	TELNET terminal type string
traceFile	(note 3)	-tracefile	File for trace output
werase	^W		NVT-mode word-erase character

Note 1: m3279 defaults to False. It can be forced to True with the proper -model option.

Note 2: The default terminal type string is constructed from the model number, color emulation, and extended data stream modes. E.g., a model 2 with color emulation and the extended data stream option would be sent as IBM-3279-2-E. Note also that when TN3270E mode is used, the terminal type is always sent as 3278, but this does not affect color capabilities.

Note 3: The default trace file is x3trc.pid.txt in the current directory.

If more than one -xrm option is given for the same resource, the last one on the command line is used.

See Also

Copyrights

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

*

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

*

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

*

Neither the names of Paul Mattes, Don Russell, Dick Altenbern, Jeff Sparkes, GTRC nor the names of their contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY PAUL MATTES, DON RUSSELL, DICK ALTENBERN, JEFF SPARKES AND GTRC "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL PAUL MATTES, DON RUSSELL, DICK ALTENBERN, JEFF SPARKES OR GTRC BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

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