> On Apr 12, 12:02am, Jeff Vance wrote:
> I can add:
>      S   - being stored (or otherwise backed-up)

That would be useful.

> :listf @,11
> Account=  A2345678    Group=  OTHER
>                    RecSize              EOF        Limit Disk-Space
> Name---- Acc Code- ---(B) Type ---------(B) ---------(B) (K-1024-B)
> LARGE                  80 FA            500   1234567890         40
> LARGE1                 80 FA    12345678902  12345678902  987654313
> L2345678 ERW AAAAA 999998 FBxx 999999999999 999999999999 9999999999
>
> One problem I see with the 'Acc' column is that way down in the output,
> well past the headers, the access flags may look like filecodes.

I'm not too worried about this.  There should be enough filecodes in a
typical listing that the Acc column will be clearly offset from them.
Also, the specific values in the Acc column don't look like filecodes
and people will quickly get used to them.

You could keep the asterisk, i.e.:

:listf @,11
Account=  A2345678    Group=  OTHER
                   RecSize              EOF        Limit Disk-Space
Name---- Acc Code- ---(B) Type ---------(B) ---------(B) (K-1024-B)
LARGE                  80 FA            500   1234567890         40
LARGE1                 80 FA    12345678902  12345678902  987654313
L2345678*ERW AAAAA 999998 FBxx 999999999999 999999999999 9999999999

which glues the access flags to the asterisk, clearly linking them.
Of course it's kind of ugly and makes the filename look like it has
an asterisk in it.  Also the POSIX mode display would be an issue.

One question on the access column is whether the flags should be
left justified in the field, or should there be an R column, a W
column etc.  Separate columns would make programmatic parsing and
possibly visual scanning of a group of open files easier.  Example:

:listf @,11
Account=  A2345678    Group=  OTHER
                   RecSize              EOF        Limit Disk-Space
Name---- RWES Code- ---(B) Type ---------(B) ---------(B) (K-1024-B)
LARGE    R              80 FA            500   1234567890         40
LARGE1   RW             80 FA    12345678902  12345678902  987654313
L2345678  WE  AAAAA 999998 FBxx 999999999999 999999999999 9999999999
STORE1      S           80 FA    12345678902  12345678902  987654313
STORE2      S AAAAA 999998 FBxx 999999999999 999999999999 9999999999

Another possibility would be to use CaSe as an indicator.  Lower case
for shared access, uppercase for exclusive, etc.

> I admire the attempts to make the header more readable wrt indicating
> GB, MB and KB column locator.  I don't necessarily think it works for a
> few reasons:
> - comma is a U.S. indicator and not well used in other countries.

A possible solution is to use something which isn't a separator character
in any language, such as "--+--+--+--".

> - the header may not be visible when you are reading a large number

Again, if you want to make use of the header, you can :LISTF the one
file you are interested in, and the header will be ideally positioned.

> - the actual header text interferes with the some of the commas.

Yes.  This gets somewhat messy unless you abbreviate, or use a separate
header line of "-"s under the field headings:

:listf @,11
Account=  A2345678    Group=  OTHER

Name     Open FCode Record Type          EOF        Limit Disk Usage
-------- RWES ----- ---+-- ---- ---+--+--+-- ---+--+--+-- -1024B----
LARGE    R E            80 FA            500   1234567890         40
LARGE1   RW             80 FA    12345678902  12345678902  987654313
L2345678  WE  AAAAA 999998 FBxx 999999999999 999999999999 9999999999

> I think the units-of-measure needs to be in the header and a label for the
> fields listed.

Maybe for disk usage.  What are the (B) indicators for EOF and Limit in
your example?  "(R)" might make sense but should be just too obvious to
bother with.  I prefer a cleaner display, even if it requires you to
learn something before you can use it, as long as the things you need
to learn will be simple and easy to remember.  In the above example,
the Record column has no units, so today's MPE user is left wondering
"Is that bytes or words?".  From the context he'll probably realize it
is bytes, but the :HELP should give a simple, clear, example of the
format that points pot that it is bytes.  Once the user knows this,
he can answer his own question the next time it comes up.

> I think mixed case improves readability.

Agreed.

> The header should stand out from the data that follows.

In my last example above, I've added back in the blank line between the
ACCOUNT= GROUP= line and the first header line, because I think it
improves readability, and minimizes the number of differences between
the old and new formats.

G.