Interactive Phase

The interactive phase describes the type of activity you are performing while maintaining a file in an input process. The interactive phase is meaningful in the context of the mode you are in. For example while in add mode, you may add an order record and a number of associated line items. At this point, you may want to return to the order record and modify a field you previously entered. When the order record displays on the screen, you are still in add mode (because you have not changed the mode), but you are in modify interactive phase. The mode on the status surface shows "Add/Mod," indicating that you are in add mode and modify interactive phase.

A second example demonstrates another combination of mode and interactive phase. While in change mode, if you retrieve a record that another user already retrieved in change or delete mode, you can display the record but you are not allowed to change it. The mode on the status surface shows "Chg/Inq" to indicate the status of the record.

In most cases, you will be in an activity that displays only the mode, because the activity you are performing is the same as the mode. For example, after selecting inquire mode, you proceed to display records one after the other. In this case, only "Inq" displays for mode on the status surface.