From 3b374a1955975ae91534b5300f2e5c6112cb7299 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Matthew R. Wilson" <mwilson@mattwilson.org>
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2026 14:45:25 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] Add PositionOnly field attribute

---
 example1/example1.go |  5 +++++
 screen.go            | 10 +++++++++-
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/example1/example1.go b/example1/example1.go
index 637fd69..fb0c760 100644
--- a/example1/example1.go
+++ b/example1/example1.go
@@ -55,6 +55,11 @@ var screen1 = go3270.Screen{
 	{Row: 16, Col: 0, Content: "The following should be left and right square brackets: [ ]"},
 	{Row: 17, Col: 0, Content: "Graphic escape support:"},
 	{Row: 17, Col: 24, Name: "gesupport"},
+
+	// Can use PositionOnly attribute to place text beginning at a specific
+	// position without introducing a new attribute byte.
+	{Row: 19, Col: 0, PositionOnly: true, Content: "This text starts in first column"},
+
 	{Row: 22, Col: 0, Content: "PF3 Exit"},
 }
 
diff --git a/screen.go b/screen.go
index 57bb82e..c0db5c8 100644
--- a/screen.go
+++ b/screen.go
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ type Field struct {
 	// Text is the content of the field to display.
 	Content string
 
+	// PositionOnly will use a Set Buffer Address (SBA) command to move the
+	// cursor to the position, but not insert a new attribute byte. The only
+	// properties of the Field that will apply if PositionOnly is true are:
+	// Row, Col, Content, Name. Others will be silently ignored.
+	PositionOnly bool
+
 	// Write allows the user to edit the value of the field.
 	Write bool
 
@@ -316,7 +322,9 @@ func showScreenInternal(screen Screen, values map[string]string,
 		}
 
 		b.Write(sba(fld.Row, fld.Col, cols))
-		b.Write(buildField(fld))
+		if !fld.PositionOnly {
+			b.Write(buildField(fld))
+		}
 
 		// Use fld.Content, unless the field is named and appears in the
 		// value map.