[Info-vax] Keypad state in various VMS utilities

[Chris Townley]

On Saturday, October 3, 2020 at 3:59:20 PM UTC+1, Michael Moroney wrote:
> Chris Townley writes:
> 
> >An old issue, but coming back to VMS I find it strange that many VMS utilities seem to silently switch on the application keypad, seemingly to no effect other than making numeric entry more error prone.
> 
> >Any ideas why, or how to prevent it?
> 
> The PROPER behavior of any VMS utility which messes with any terminal state, including
> keypad state is:
> 
> 1) Save the terminal state ($SENSEMODE) and save it away.
> 2) Change the terminal state the way the program wishes.
> 3) Upon exit, set the terminal back as found in 1).  Ideally with an exit handler,
>    so that the terminal isn't left in a funky state if the user ^Ys the program.
> 4) Some states, including the terminal's keypad mode are maintained separately
>    by VMS and the terminal (emulator) itself. Appropriate escape sequences need
>    to be sent to the terminal to set them back correctly.
> 
> A $ SET TERMINAL/INQUIRE usually sets the out-of-synch things back.

I am not saying they are no resetting it, but for example in the authorize utility, what use are they making of the application keyboard?

Many other examples

Chris