DIALOGUE: providing total terminal independence

ABSTRACT

A software tool, called DIALOGUE, makes application programs completely terminal-independent so that they can be used from both formatted screens and character mode terminals. The independence is achieved by providing programmers with a high-level record definition language for describing the data. This language isolates the programmer from the details of terminal interaction so they can be automatically handled in the most appropriate fashion at execution time.

To support various terminal types most effectively, DIALOGUE may generate a different interface for each brand of terminal. A unique aspect is its typewriter interface which supports character mode terminals so that they are indistinguishable (to the application) from formatted screen terminals. Devices such as light pens and OCR readers are also supported.