Screen Section

The Screen Section describes the format, layout, and behavior of console screens. It contains one or more uniquely named screen description entries.

A screen item in the Screen Section is analogous to a data item in the Working-Storage Section. The terms screen item or Screen Section entry may refer to an elementary item or a group item.

Screen Section entries:

provide "form level" ACCEPT and DISPLAY, which means a single ACCEPT or DISPLAY statement can activate any number of elements on the screen.
are referenced by Format 2 ACCEPT and DISPLAY statements in the Procedure Division.
define one or more controls, data fields, or literals, and their associated attributes.

ACCEPT and DISPLAY statements that reference a Screen Section entry include built-in features that greatly simplify programming. A single ACCEPT statement will reference the controls and input fields that you named and defined in a Screen Section entry, and a single DISPLAY statement will display the corresponding collection of prompts for the user. When you code your programs with Format 2 ACCEPT and DISPLAY, the tab and arrow keys (or their substitutes if you have customized the keyboard) are automatically functional so the user can move from field to field during data entry.

See Screen Section for more on the Screen Section.

Note: Since Screen Section entries are defined in the Data Division but acted upon in the Procedure Division, you will want to read the information given here with that for the Format 2 ACCEPT and DISPLAY described in Procedure Division Statements.

General Format

SCREEN SECTION.

   [ screen-description ] ...

Syntax Rules

Each level 01 screen item described in the Screen Section must be uniquely named.
Subordinate screen names need not be unique if they can be made unique through qualification.