Screen-Oriented UI on ND Hardware — the Full Catalog¶

Every documented way to build a screen UI (forms, boxes, editable fields) on SINTRAN III, and how they relate to each other and to VTM underneath.

This is the survey; each entry links to the real, sourced detail. Everything below is either a byte-verified decode of a real floppy/file already in this repo, a direct manual/PI-sheet quote, or is explicitly marked as unconfirmed. Nothing here is invented to fill a gap.

1. The common substrate: VTM¶

Every system in this catalog sits on VTM, SINTRAN's terminal-independence layer — a system-wide DDBTABLES:VTM (or per-version DDBTABLES-n:VTM) file maps a numeric "terminal type" to the real escape-sequence dialect of the physical terminal. VTM itself has no published call-level manual (listed "Internal" in ND-20034-1-EN's library list). Full detail: VTM-TERMINAL-INTERFACES.md.

Confirmed dependency, a new citation not previously in that doc:

"If the file (SYS)DDTABLES-Exx:VTM is not available (does not exist, no access, ambiguous etc.), UNIQUE gets suspended without giving any error message." — Installation/Installation-Description/ND-210731-2-EN.md:194

This confirms UNIQUE (§4 below) depends on the exact same DDBTABLES-n:VTM mechanism as PLANC-SCREEN-H and COBOL's screen handling — every entry in this catalog is a layer over the same one file, not five independent terminal-handling schemes.

2. PLANC-SCREEN-H — the PLANC-native option¶

Full guide: ../Languages/Application/PLANC-UI-VTM-GUIDE.md Floppy decode: Installation/Software/ND-PLANC-SCREEN-H/README.md

A real, byte-verified PLANC callable library (SCREEN:SYMB): frame/fullbar/sparsebar draw boxes and bars; bytdis/bytacc, intdis/intacc, realdis/realacc display and edit typed fields; blankscreen/blankarea/resetscreen clear the screen. Screens can be hand-coded call by call, or declared in a .PICT file (%HEADING/%CONTROL/%DEFINITIONS/%ATTRIBUTES) and compiled by PLANC-GEN-A00:PROG into a generated PLANC source file (:PGEN) that the program $INCLUDEs and calls directly — this build pipeline is now fully decoded, see the linked guide §6.

No ND article number exists for this product anywhere searched — confirmed against both this repo and the source floppy archive's own metadata (products/PLANC-SCREEN.yaml has no article number, no PI/PD doc IDs).

3. NSHS — NORD Screen Handling System (`ND-10013`)¶

Source: Installation/Software/ND-10013/README.md, PI sheet ND-10013-A2-EN.

Two modules: an interactive Screen Picture Maintenance Program (create/edit/test screen "pictures" — leading text plus input-field descriptions) and a Screen Picture Handling Library (routines a program calls to read/write records through a saved picture). Field-level features go well beyond PLANC-SCREEN-H's plain byte/integer/real triad: numeric/decimal/ alphabetic/alphanumeric/bank-account/social-security-number field types, check-digit verification (mod 10/11), date controls, field accumulation, and user-supplied control procedures.

Callable from FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, RPG II — PLANC is not in this list. This is real evidence against (though not a disproof of) the "NSHS and PLANC-SCREEN-H are the same product" theory raised in the PLANC-SCREEN-H README.

Floppy contents (parts 2-3 of a 3-part set; part 1, likely the installer, was never imaged/found): SCREEN-1BANK-K:BRF, SCREEN-2BANK-K:BRF, SCREEN-1REEN-K:BRF (three runtime variants — 1-bank, 2-bank, and reentrant), SCREEN-COPY-K:BPUN (a utility), SCREEN-DEMO-K:SYMB and SCREEN-UCONT-K:SYMB (source), SCREEN-SYMB-K:SYMB (symbol table). No picture-file source was decoded from this floppy — there is no NSHS equivalent of PLANC-SCREEN-H's SUM:PICT to compare byte-for-byte. The "NSHS's picture concept looks like PLANC-SCREEN-H's .PICT" claim in earlier docs is inference from the PI sheet's prose only, not a file-format match.

Open, and likely to stay open: identity vs. PLANC-SCREEN-H, and identity vs. FOCUS (§5) — both are "maintenance program + callable library, same handful of caller languages" products, and nothing found so far distinguishes NSHS from FOCUS beyond their names and product numbers.

4. UNIQUE / UNIQUICK — the 4GL form interpreter¶

Source: worked example in Installation/Software/ND-10730/README.md:39-86, product family in Installation/Software/ND-210729/README.md.

UNIQUE II is not a callable library — it's a 4th-generation-language interpreter. You write a plain text file and UNIQUE runs it directly; there is no PLANC/FORTRAN/COBOL source at all in the normal path. Real, verbatim shipped example, CUSTOMER-REG-A00:UNIQ:

start-form
  Customer: ^NNNNNN
  Name:     ^AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
  ...
end-form
start-fields
data-base-name=CUSTBASE
register-name=CUSTOMER
          field-name=CUSTOMER        key
          field-name=NAME            alternative-key     update
          ...
end-fields

^N and ^A are the real field-placeholder codes — numeric and alphanumeric respectively. This resolves an ambiguity a PI-sheet-only description had left open. key/alternative-key/update in start-fields mark each field's role against the named database/register (data-base-name/register-name).

A companion product, UNIQUICK, builds the same .UNIQ text file interactively via menus and function keys instead of hand-editing it — the generator/interpreter split mirrors PLANC-GEN/PLANC-SCREEN-H and NSHS's maintenance-program/library split, but for a form-interpreter model instead of a compiled/linked-library model. Full product-family article-number table (8 variants across SIBAS/ISAM x ND-100/ND-500, plus a Runtime-only tier) is in the ND-210729 README.

Boxes: Installation/Product-Info/ND-211202-A1-EN.md:40 notes UNIQUE forms can include "ND-NOTIS graphics (S-format)... to include boxes or special symbols" — a fifth, distinct box-drawing mechanism in this catalog, mentioned exactly once and not documented further anywhere found.

5. FOCUS — the ND-100 forms system (`ND-10188`, later `ND-210188`; ND-500 variant is `ND-10341`)¶

Primary source, now decoded: Installation/Software/ND-10188/README.md — a real PI sheet already in this repo (Installation/Product-Info/ND-10188-A2-EN.md), plus a real 4-disk floppy set. (An ND-500 variant, product ND-10341, is separately described only secondhand in Reference-Manuals/500/ND-80.001.2 TO NEC CCIS Data Processing Subsystem.md:7758-7845; that manual, ND-60.137.04, is not in this repo.)

FOCUS = an "ND FORMS maintenance program" (interactive form editor) plus an "ND FORMS/Runtime handling library" (FORTRAN/BASIC/COBOL-callable, both reentrant and non-reentrant variants ship). Near-identical shape to NSHS — same two-module split, same caller-language set minus RPG II.

Three things the real floppy adds beyond the PI sheet: - FOCUS is itself built in PLANC — its floppies bundle PLANC-1BANK-E:BRF/PLANC-2BANK-E:BRF as a build dependency. - It carries its own compiled VTM bridge (FC-MVTM-1CODE:BRF/-2CODE:BRF) — the same "splice a bridge module into the runtime" pattern as COBOL's VTM-BRIDGE-* scripts, but shipped pre-compiled rather than as a patch script. - It ships its own private VTM terminal-table set (VTM-1B-ARRAY-D-C:BRF, DDBTABLES-D-C:VTM) instead of relying purely on the system-wide DDBTABLES:VTM.

Open: relationship to NSHS. Nothing found distinguishes the two beyond product number and name — both are now confirmed as real, independently-decoded products with near-identical PI-sheet wording, not one being a stub description of the other.

6. COBOL's built-in screen handling¶

Source: ../Languages/Application/COBOL-DEVELOPER-GUIDE.md, detailed in VTM-TERMINAL-INTERFACES.md §4.

Not a separate product — COBOL's own DISPLAY/ACCEPT/BLANK screen-section statements are built directly on VTM (the ND-10176H00 floppy's VTM-BRIDGE-*:MODE scripts splice a VTM bridge module into the COBOL runtime at install time — a binary-level integration, not a documented call convention). The COBOL PI sheet itself names FOCUS as the explicit alternative: "The programmer may choose to use either the screen handling system (incorporated in COBOL) or ... FOCUS."

7. Comparison table¶

System	Model	Callable from	Box drawing	Picture/form format	ND article #
VTM	terminal-config layer, no manual	(everything below, indirectly)	n/a (substrate only)	n/a	—
PLANC-SCREEN-H	callable library + `.PICT`->PLANC generator	PLANC only	`frame`/`fullbar`/`sparsebar`	`.PICT` (4 sections)	none found
NSHS	callable library + interactive maintenance program	FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, RPG II	not confirmed	"picture" (format not decoded)	`ND-10013`
UNIQUE/UNIQUICK	4GL interpreter (no source language at all)	n/a — its own `.UNIQ` text format	NOTIS S-format graphics (1 mention only)	`start-form`/`start-fields`	`ND-210729` family
FOCUS	callable library + interactive maintenance program	FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL	not confirmed	not confirmed (no manual in repo)	`ND-10188` (ND-500 variant `ND-10341`)
COBOL built-in	language statements, VTM-bridged at install time	COBOL only	not applicable (form drawing is via DISPLAY literals)	inline `DISPLAY`/`ACCEPT`/`BLANK` statements	n/a (part of COBOL)

8. What is still open across this whole catalog¶

PLANC-SCREEN-H vs. NSHS: unresolved, evidence leans slightly toward "different products" (caller-language lists don't overlap on PLANC).
NSHS vs. FOCUS: never previously asked; both have the exact same two-module shape and caller language set minus RPG II. Genuinely unclear whether these are sibling products, one being an ND-500 port of the other, or unrelated designs that converged on the same shape.
No full manual (ND-60.137), only a PI sheet, exists for FOCUS in this repo; no manual at all for PLANC-GEN or PLANC-SCREEN-H.
NSHS's actual picture-file format was never decoded (part 1 of its floppy set, which likely had the installer and description file, was never imaged).
The NOTIS S-format box-drawing mechanism used inside UNIQUE forms is a single-line mention with nothing else to expand on.