Determining the active partition

When you send to a partition, you can move the cursor to that partition or another one. A value of ACTIVATE in the PARTN option of the map definition puts the cursor in the partition to which you are writing.

If you specify ACTPARTN on your BMS SEND command, you can name any partition (not necessarily the one to which you are writing), and you override the ACTIVATE specification. Both ACTIVATE and ACTPARTN unlock the keyboard for the active partition, as well as placing the cursor there. If neither is present, the cursor does not move and the keyboard is not unlocked.

Although you can make a partition active by placing the cursor there when you send, you do not have the last word on this subject, because the operator can use the jump key on the terminal to move the cursor to another partition. This can complicate receiving data back from the terminal, but BMS provides help, as we are about to explain.