CONSOLE=<idformat>{,drivername}

This statement establishes an internal identifier for the instance, and optionally a terminal driver. Over the years is has devolved to become a nearly bottomless pit of complexity and confusion, but fortunately, in 99% of the cases, you can just set it to the following:

CONSOLE=NETUNIQUE,<tdvname>             ; windows networks

The <tdvname> parameter should be either PCTDVG or PCTDV, with the only difference being that the PCTDVG version implements certain GUI improvements (such as the conversion of text message boxes to Windows dialog boxes).

Historically, certain national replacement character set variations of the terminal driver were supported, such as PCUK and PCFR. This function has been taken over by the CHARSET statement.

The NETUNIQUE option on the CONSOLE statement generates a unique identifier for each A-Shell session, made up of the NetBios computer name, followed by a colon and a numeric suffix indicating the instance number. (The computer name may be set via the Windows Control Panel, using the Networks applet under W9x and the System applet in subsequent versions.) Other options exist, but are for all practical purposes obsolete now.

You can see these identifiers with SYSTAT/C. You can also retrieve your own identifier with the subroutine GETUSN, which see in the A-Shell XCALL Reference.

If you establish meaningful computer names, then these console identifiers are probably more useful than AMOS-style job names. But since job names are so embedded in AlphaBASIC applications, A-Shell also generates them using the TSKAAA, TSKAAB, etc. format. If you don't like the dynamically generated job names, you can override them by using the –j <jobnam> command line switch, or you can create a cross-reference association between console identifiers and job names using TRMDEF statements.

Because the console device name is used by the TRMDEF parameters, the CONSOLE parameter must occur before any TRMDEF specifications.