ITEM: E3049L

How to clear out the function keys for an IBM 3151?

Question:

The scenario is as follows:

We have an IBM 3151 Model 310 with the Wyse-50 emulation cartridge.
Sometimes we define a function key to be X characters long and then
want to redefine it to be Y characters long, where Y \< X.  When
we overwrite the old string there are characters left from the old 
string at the end and there doesn't seem to be a way to clear these
remaining characters (clear to end) when using Def F on the IBM 3151.  
Overwriting these remaining characters with spaces really adds spaces
to the end of the string and this is not what we want.  Is there a
way to clear the remaining characters?

Response:

Redefining the Function Keys is discussed on pages 3-3 - 3-5 in the 
IBM 3151 ASCII Display Station Reference Manual.

Note 4 (on page 3-5) states that trailing null characters are removed
from the Function Key definition.  So, you can "clear out" the remaining
characters from the old function key definition by adding null characters
to the end of the new string.  

Here is the procedure:

Type Ctrl-ESC to get the Function Definition menu.  Enter the number
of the key you want to change and hit the Send Key.  Type in the new
string.  After typing in the new string, overwrite the remaining 
characters by typing in Ctrl-2.  Ctrl-2 is the Null Key and you will see 
small circles for this character.  Once you have overwritten all of 
the remaining old characters, use the Send key to save the new definition.
You can then exit the function key menu by typing Ctrl-ESC.

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