Prompt for Verb

This Subprogram will prompt for the Operator to supply a text string where the first word in the string will be treated as a Verb and validated against those within the currently setup Group. The full text of the Verb (not just what is typed in as a response) will be returned to the Caller.

Short Name Calling Sequence

STATUS = UIGTVB(PROMPT,VERB)

Long Name Calling Sequence

STATUS = UI_GET_VERB(...)

Input Arguments

PROMPT (Character) Prompt Text

Output Arguments

VERB (Character) Response Verb Text

Function Value

UI__SUCCESS ) Success UISUCC )

UI__NOT_INITIALIZED ) Package not Initialized UININI )

UI__ILLEGAL_GROUP ) Illegal Group UIILGP )

UI__QUAL_PRESENT ) Qualifier(s) Present UIQUPR )

UI__NO_INPUT ) No Input Present UINOIN ) (Asynchronous Mode) UI__INPUT_ABORTED ) Input Aborted (Ctrl-Z) UIABRT ) UI__END_OF_FILE ) End-of-File detected UIEOF ) in Batch Mode Note:

1. Only Verbs (or Aliases thereof) within the currently setup GROUP (via UI_USE_GROUP etc.) will be legal responses to this call. If an Alias Name is given in response, the Primary Verb Name will be returned to the Application Program.
2. The list of valid response verbs may be determined by typing ``?" as a response. This will display a complete list of valid responses. Typing ``?NAME", where NAME is a valid verb or truncation thereof will display any detailed help information (supplied via a call to IO_DEFINE_HELP) about all valid verbs commencing with the specified NAME. Thus ``?a" will return the Help Information about all Verbs in the currently setup Group that start with the letter ``A".
3. If the Verb identified by the response has an Action Routine attached to it (via a prior call to UI_DEFINE_ACTION), then this Subroutine will be called automatically prior to the return from this Subprogram. Great care should be taken in using this feature since it can easily give rise to re-entrant code, this not being supported universally.
4. UI__SUCCESS indicates that the Verb has no directly associated Qualifiers whereas UI__QUAL_PRESENT indicates that the Verb has some attached Qualifiers present. These must be scanned by calls to UI_GET_QUALIFIER until it signifies that no more are present.
5. This Subprogram sets the valid Qualifiers to be those directly associated with the Verb (if any), not those associated with any Verb Parameters. Thus subsequent calls to UI_GET_QUALIFIER will only accept these Verb Qualifiers as valid input.
6. UI__NO_INPUT will only be returned in Asynchronous Mode and indicates that the User has not yet specified any Input. The Application Program should poll using UI_TEST_INPUT until this indicates that some Input has been received, and recall this Subprogram.
7. The UI__INPUT_ABORTED Function Value indicates that the User typed Ctrl-Z to abort input. This is only implemented on a VAX/VMS system. It is an informational function value only, no error message will be reported.
8. The UI__END_OF_FILE Function Value indicates that an End-of-File was detected on the main Input Stream in Batch or non-interactive mode where Input is not taken from a terminal but rather from a file. It is a severe error and therefore causes an error to be reported (unless this has been inhibited by a prior call to UI_ERROR_LEVEL).
9. The Prompt string will only be issued if the response is not already present in the input line.
10. No Prompt will be issued if the specified Prompt String is null (all spaces).