Progress
Portability Guide


Dimensions of Terminals

Progress can accommodate character-based terminal screens of different sizes. On Windows NT, the number of lines is 25. On UNIX, the number of lines varies depending on the terminal model, but is usually 24. Procedures that rely on 25 lines on the screen do not operate correctly on 24-line terminals. Therefore, design your use of the screen based on 24 lines to ensure that your procedures do not depend on that extra screen line.

NOTE: Windows NT 4.0 provides you with a choice of line numbers for a character-based terminal screen. Located in the character window properties sheet, the selection of line numbers includes 25 (default), 43, and 50.

Figure 3–1 shows the dimensions of a character-based window.

Figure 3–1: Character-based Window

You must size your frames to fit the display area. If some users run your application on terminals that have 24 lines while others run on terminals with more lines, design your frames to fit in the smaller display area to ensure that your frames fit in either display.

You must also size your frames to fit the width of the screen. Most screens are 80 characters wide, although some are wider. You can take advantage of the entire width of your terminal screen (up to 255 characters) when developing an application. However, if you take advantage of a screen width greater than 80 characters, your frames will not fit on a screen with a smaller width.


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