Skip to main content

Devices

Define device types.

Synopsis

[Devices]    Name=a^b^c^d^e^f^g^h

Description

The [Devices] section of the configuration parameter file (CPF) contains an entry for every device detected by InterSystems IRIS® data platform. Each entry has a Name, which is the defined device title or number, and eight strings separated by up-arrows (^) that define a device. The maximum length of all strings is 128 characters, except for the Description (g) string, which can be up to 256 characters. The entries are as follows

  • (a) PhysicalDevice— The physical name used to refer to the device. The PhysicalDevice value specifies the device argument for this device’s OPEN command. The name can contain up to 128 alphanumeric characters; it can contain space characters as well. For example, for a printer you could enter the following, where MYNAME is the computer name.

    |PRN|\\MYNAME\ISF-HP5SiMX7

    Or:

    |PRN|\\MYNAME\Canon PIXMA

  • (b) Type— The type of device. Options: TRM=Terminal. SPL=Spooling device. MT=Magnetic Tape drive. BT=Cartridge tape drive. OTH=Any other device including printers and sequential files. The default depends on the device type.

  • (c) SubType— Used to refine the definition of your device subtypes. Subtypes specify terminal characteristics. They are used to create the appropriate OPEN command for the device. There should be subtype information for every terminal type.

  • (d) Prompt— Choose a prompt: valid inputs are 1, 2, or NULL (a blank or empty field). 1 corresponds to Auto-use this device if it is the current device. 2 corresponds to Auto-use this device with predefined settings (predefined Right Margin and Parameter settings). NULL corresponds to Show device prompt (the user sees the device selection prompt with the default device defined).

  • (e) OpenParameter— A colon-separated string that provides the parameters, timeout, and mnespace arguments for this device’s OPEN command. The syntax for the OpenParameter string is:

    (parameters):timeout:"mnespace"

    Inside the parentheses for parameters, individual items are colon-separated, as follows:

    param1:param2:param3

    Resulting in:

    (param1:param2:param3):timeout:"mnespace"

    timeout and mnespace are optional, but if they are provided, the correct number of colons must separate them from previous entries in the OpenParameter string.

    parameters must be contained within parentheses only if there is more than one parameter. If there are no parameters, or if there is only one parameter, the parentheses may be omitted from the string. Thus the following is a correct and complete OpenParameter string:

    :timeout:"mnespace"

    If provided, mnespace must be contained within double quotes, as shown.

    For details about the OPEN command and its arguments, including a large variety of syntax examples, see the ObjectScript Reference.

  • (f) AlternateDevice— The device ID of another device. The value entered for AlternateDevice must be a defined mnemonic such as the Name supplied for another device.

    Specifying an AlternateDevice value for the device allows users of the %IS utility to specify “A” to tell InterSystems IRIS to use the alternate device. %IS is a general device selection utility for character-based applications. For details about %IS see Allowing Users to Specify a Device, especially the section %IS Mnemonics, which describes the conventions for entering the “A” code for %IS.

  • (g) Description— A text description of where the device is located. This field is for your own reference to help you identify what machine you are configuring.

  • (h) Alias— An alternate device ID (number) for this device. All aliases must be unique. You can use this value as the device argument in an OPEN command.

Examples

In the [Devices] section, each entry Name=a^b^c^d^e^f^g^h appears all on one line:

[Devices]
0=0^TRM^C-Terminal^^^^Principal device^
2=2^SPL^PK-DEC^^^^Spool LA120^
SPOOL=2^SPL^PK-DEC^^^^Spool LA120^
TERM=0^TRM^C-Terminal^^^^Windows Console^
|PRN|=|PRN|^OTH^P-DEC^^"W"^^Windows Printer^
|TNT|=0^TRM^C-VT220^^^^Principal device^
|TRM|=0^TRM^C-Terminal^^^^Windows Console^

Changing This Parameter

On the Devices page of the Management Portal (System Administration > Configuration > Device Settings > Devices) is a list of existing devices. Select Create New Device, Edit, or Delete to modify the list.


FeedbackOpens in a new tab