AUTO_ENTER fields are not correctly handled by the 5250 Client in Host Integration Server 2000

If an application that is running on an AS/400 computer is configured to use AUTO_ENTER fields, the 5250 Client (Win5250.exe) may stop responding.

This problem occurs the 5250 Client only sends the ENTER keystroke without checking the internal CMDKeyEvent structure when AUTO_ENTER fields are used.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Host Integration Server 2000. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.Note Because of file dependencies, the most recent fix that contains these files may also contain additional files.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

This problem was corrected in Microsoft Host Integration Server 2000 Service Pack 2.

In an AS/400 environment, there are two methods to send a keystroke to the server. In the first method, the user can send only a cursor address and the Attention Identification (AID) value to the server. In the second method, the 5250 Client must send all modified data tag (MDT) fields and the AID value. For cursor movements or for the ENTER keystroke, the 5250 Client must always send MDT fields. When the user presses a functional key, including F1 through F24, the 5250 Client must evaluate bytes 5 through 7 of the Start of Header (SOH) order. This SOH order specifies what to send for a specific functional key: only the AID value or both the MDT field and the AID value. The 5250 Client processes a keystroke and sets the CMDKeyEvent global variable according to the key that is pressed. When the keystroke is processed, the subfield of the CMDKeyEvent structure is checked to see if the MDT fields must be sent to the server. For the AUTO_ENTER fields, the ENTER keystroke is sent without setting the CMDKeyEvent variable. Therefore, the old value of the CMDKeyEvent variable is used and causes the unpredictable results.