The Four Hundred

Microsoft's Word has the right idea. Out of the box, Word's default document colors are black text on a white background, just like the printed page. PC5250, on the other hand, features the same "dynamic" green text on a black background interface that's remained unchanged since before the days of the first Bush presidency. But green on black doesn't cut it for today's users, so a handy technique for changing PC5250's screen colors is invaluable.

There are two good reasons for changing PC5250 screen colors: aging users and presentable documentation. Staring at a green and black screen all day can be tough on middle-aged eyes (like mine), and common courtesy--along with possible ergonomic lawsuits--might compel you to find a more pleasing color scheme than what IBM's default setting provides. You may also need to change colors to produce more readable documentation. Green and black screen shots can look truly horrid in paper reports, and they really suck the ink out of a LaserJet printer cartridge.

Fortunately, it's easy to change the default screen text and background colors for the PC5250 program that comes with Client Access Express for Windows V5R1 PC5250. Here are a few easy steps to make your PC5250 screens use a Microsoft-like black and white color scheme (note: this technique also works with several earlier versions of Client Access, but the triggering options may be located in different places on the PC5250 menu-bar).

Pull up a standard PC5250 screen and marvel at how ugly and dark it looks in standard green on black. Also notice there's some white and blue text for non-dynamic information such as column headings, options numbers, and F-keys.

Go to PC5250's Color Mapping feature by selecting Edit, Preferences, Appearance, and Color Mapping from the PC5250 menu bar. This will bring up a Color Mapping input box that will be displayed as an overlay window on your active PC5250 session.

The Color Mapping input box allows you to change the default screen colors for different groups of text on your PC5250 screen. With the input box open, move your cursor to any piece of text in your active PC5250 session (which lies underneath the overlaid Color Mapping input box). Click the PC5250 text you want to change colors for, and then select different colors from the Foreground and Background color bars in the Color Mapping box. As you select different foreground and background colors, you'll see the corresponding text and background colors on your overlaid PC5250 screen immediately change.

Notice that an individual color change won't change all the text and background colors in your active session. This is because each change only affects the portions of the screen associated with the active PC5250 screen text that you clicked. It does not change other text information that shows up on the screen, including dynamic information, option descriptions, PC5250 screen titles, column headings, and the F-key description area. Each of these areas needs to be changed individually, since they contain different color schemes (the title is white text on a black background, the options descriptions are blue on black, dynamic information is green on black, and the column headings are white on black).

To change the remaining PC5250 screen areas while still in the Color Mapping input box, click any other spot on the active PC5250 session that still contains a black background. Again, select the right-most black color and the left-most white color, respectively, from the Foreground and Background color bars. This will change that particular screen area to your target colors. Continue changing screen colors until the entire screen is converted to black text on a white background.

Once you've converted you're entire screen to the colors you want, click the OK button on the Color Mapping input box to return to your active PC5250 screen. Also notice that there is an Undo button and a Default button in the Color Mapping window. The Undo button reverses the last color change you made on your screen, while the Default button will return your PC5250 session to its normal green on black color scheme. These are great buttons to remember, in case you quickly want to change your screen back to a previous scheme.

To save your color changes so that they appear the next time your start this PC5250 session, click File, then Save, from the PC5250 menu bar. This saves your changes in the session's .WS file that PC5250 uses to start this session.

Speaking of publishing PC5250 screens in Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, or other programs, there's also a handy technique for copying an entire PC5250 screen into the Windows clipboard as a graphic. To do this, bring up the PC5250 session data you want to copy and press the Print Scrn key. This copies the entire screen to the Windows clipboard, where you can then paste it into whatever program you wish. I particularly like copying PC5250 screens into PowerPoint slides because I can then add text boxes and autoshapes--such as ovals, squares, and arrows--over the PC5250 graphic to highlight certain features of the screen for the audience.