Datapoint USA - Products

RMS Terminal

RMS Terminal is a 32-Bit 735x/8220 terminal emulator for use with Microsoft's Windows Operating Systems.

Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP...and higher

RMS Terminal is designed solely for connections with the Datapoint RMS Operating System, version 4.3 or higher.

RMS Terminal presents the screen image (see above) from the host computer in a window on the PC screen, with a Windows "look and feel". It accepts input from the PC keyboard and mouse, and transfers input back to the RMS host system.

Communication Protocols

RMS Terminal supports the following communications protocols:

TCP/IP communication requires a network card or modem connection. If TCP/IP is used with a modem, it must be used in conjunction with PPP on the client and server side.

Asynchronous communication needs either a serial connection to a POUA, or a modem, depending on the situation.

Shortcut Buttons, Command Macros, and Key State Indicators RMS Terminal can use shortcut buttons, command macros, and key state indicators to simplify use, and improve mouse control with RMS applications.

Shortcut Buttons

Located near the top of the RMS Terminal interface screen is an icon tray with useful shortcut buttons. Shortcut buttons help streamline your use of RMS Terminal. Instead of navigating through several menu layers to get to the functions you want to perform, you simply click the associated shortcut button.

Available shortcut button functionality:

Connect to RMS host
Disconnect current session
Load Communication Properties dialog box
Load Select Colors dialog box
Load Manager Control Login dialog box
Load RMS Terminal Help Contents interface
Display Help About Box
Launch default Internet Browser
Exit RMS Terminal

Macro Buttons The bottom portion of the interface screen contains a set of pre-defined command buttons that will send the indicated RMS keystrokes or key sequences to the RMS host system.

These buttons provide the following functionality:

Abort key sequence
Logoff key sequence
RMS Command key
Quit key
Cursor up/down/left/right S
croll up/down/left/right

Even though these buttons are quite useful, actual keystrokes can also be used. In some situations there could be an element of risk associated with having the Abort and Logoff key sequences available at the touch of a mouse button. It is therefore possible to disable or hide these buttons, and others, from the user when configuring the emulator. This capability is provided under Manager Control.

User-defined Macros

In addition to the pre-defined command buttons, the user can define up to 20 macros, tailored to his own applications. These will appear as command buttons on the Macro Button Bar.

These user-defined macros could be a very useful tool when customer applications require frequent use of certain keystroke combinations.

Key State Indicators

RMS Terminal also include Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Insert key state indicators to detect key shift state.

Mouse Support

There are different "mouse modes", accessible by using the right mouse button, that allow the use of the mouse in RMS applications for such tasks as:

Initiating commands on standard command ring menus
Navigating on SCOUTNI style menus
Cursor positioning in editors (ie. EASLNI).

Using macros, it will also be possible to let the RMS application know if and where, within the application's screen, the user clicked the mouse. It is therefore now possible to implement mouse control in RMS applications!!

Help About Dialog Box

The Help About Dialog Box provide instance access to RMS Terminal version data, and PC system information. Version data for executables and Dynamic Link Libraries is made available when the dialog box is displayed. The following PC system information is also made available.

Physical Memory
Available Memory
Operating System version and type
Central Processing Unit type

The Help About Dialog Box can also provide direct access to the Windows System Information interface, via the "Sys Info" command button.

Enhanced Help Content Interface

RMS Terminal's online HELP system give you the ability to easily obtain product help information. Information can be retrieved in several ways, by Search, from a pre-defined Index, or by navigating through the Table of Contents.

Manager Control

RMS Terminal offers a unique feature not available in most Windows based emulators, Manager Control. Manager Control provide the ability to configure emulator options and features, on a per user basis, in a secured area. Protected by user id and password, access to the Manager Control interface is restricted from users. This is significant for computing environments that require complete product configuration control.

Dashboard User Interface

The RMS Terminal Dashboard User Interface provides a mechanism for dynamic, programmatic control of the emulator session. Utilizing macro language control statements, RMS Terminal can interact with a Standard Databus program and the program can provide RMS and Windows funtionality. The Dashboard User Interface can enhance overall productivity and data manipulation by giving users access to Windows and RMS based programs from the click of a command button.

RMS Application Features

RMS Terminal has several capabilities making it possible to partly adapt existing, character based, RMS applications to look better with, or interact better with, a modern Windows graphical user interface. Some of these mechanisms can even be used without touching the original RMS application code at all.

The mouse support and macros already described above are part of this. In addition, there are five other points that are important to keep in mind:

DDE Support. As you probably know, DDE is a mechanism within Windows that applications can use to communicate with each other. Using this it is possible, for example, to define a macro button that makes the emulator pick up a particular data field from the RMS application and pass it over to another Windows application as a key for looking up data in a Windows database. Or one could go the other way and make RMS look up data or perform other actions based on input from a Windows application. So an excellent level of integration between RMS applications and Windows applications can be achieved, and since it is all happening in the RMS Terminal emulator, there is no need to modify the RMS application at all. However, if you are willing to modify your RMS applications, you can go even further. Through the emulator, RMS based Standard Databus applications can send DDE commands to other Windows applications, such as Excel. That means you now have the capability to let RMS applications dynamically send data to, retrieve data from, or control Windows applications!!

Image File Display. RMS Terminal has the capability to pick up an image file from the PC's local disk and display it in a window, making it look to the user as if it is part of the RMS application he is using. For applications where pictures can provide useful additional information, this can be used to significantly improve an RMS application. To use this, it is likely that modifications would have to be made to the RMS application, since the keys to the images to be displayed would probably have to be stored there, but this will depend very much on the situation.

Mouse Control. In some cases, mouse support can be significantly expanded. Using macros, you can make the emulator tell the RMS application where the cursor is when the user clicks the mouse button. Having this information, the RMS application can then act accordingly. This way, complete mouse control can be built into RMS applications.

Dynamic Macros. The command button macros described above, do not necessarily have to be defined via the emulator's menu commands. RMS based Standard Databus applications will be able to send new macros, or redefine existing ones, to the emulator dynamically. So, each RMS application could have its own set of command buttons for easier operation, or an RMS application could have different sets of command buttons available, depending on the situation.