JCL, Cobol and "Call Parameters"

Hello,

we are in the evaluation phase of converting a bunch of applications to
MF/Cobol. The Programms work fine and right now I am trying to figure
out the best way to handle all this JCL-Stuff. Eg.

The JCL says :

* $$JOB JNM=REI-V94,DISP=D,CLASS=0,PRI=8
* $$LST  CLASS=A,DISP=H,FNO=33AE,FCB=FCB000Z8,LST
=B0E
// JOB ZAKMTE ---- UNVERFALLBARKEIT
// ASSGN SYS010,B0E
LIBDEF *,SEARCH=ALLES.TEST
// EXEC VSB094,SIZE=512K
99  70000000 98000000
/*
/&
* $$EOJ

COBOL uses this :

FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT LISTFILE
ASSIGN TO SYS010-UR-3203-S.

So the Name of the Spool File is dynamically setted by the JCL. How do
I do this with a shell script or a call to the MF/Cobol Runtime
"runcob32".

For SYSIPT I have done the following. According to the JCL-Above

#!/bin/bash
echo "99  70000000 98000000" | ./VSB094

This is then used in COBOL with

01  ACC-IPT1.
05  FILLER                  PIC XXXX.
05  VLK-VNR-BEGINN          PIC X(8).
05  FILLER                  PIC X(1).
05  VLK-VNR-ENDE            PIC X(8).

ACCEPT ACC-IPT1 FROM SYSIPT.

And I have the Parameters. But how to handle those filenames ?

Kind regards

Michael

> And I have the Parameters. But how to handle those filenames ?


cob32 -iv -C ASSIGN=EXTERNAL -o VSB390M.int VSB390M.cbl

and in the shell script

export SYS010UR3203S=filename.txt

does the job. Of course the ACCEPT has to be modified to

SELECT LISTENDATEI
ASSIGN TO SYS010UR3203S.
*           ASSIGN TO SYS010-UR-3203-S.

Because Unix does not want "-" in Environmentvariable names.

I don't have an answer, but I do have a comment.
You're converting from VSE to Micro Focus?  Traitor!

:-)

Oh, one other comment.  I believe Micro Focus has a product that will allow
you to keep you VSE JCL.  You might try contacting them.

Frank

michael.bierenfeld@web.de<michael.bierenfeld@web.de> 01/24/07 4:56 AM >>>
>Hello,
>
>we are in the evaluation phase of converting a bunch of applications to
>MF/Cobol. The Programms work fine and right now I am trying to figure
>out the best way to handle all this JCL-Stuff. Eg.
>
>The JCL says :
>
>* $$JOB JNM=REI-V94,DISP=D,CLASS=0,PRI=8
>* $$LST  CLASS=A,DISP=H,FNO=33AE,FCB=FCB000Z8,LST
=B0E
>// JOB ZAKMTE ---- UNVERFALLBARKEIT
>// ASSGN SYS010,B0E
>   LIBDEF *,SEARCH=ALLES.TEST
>// EXEC VSB094,SIZE=512K
>99  70000000 98000000
>/*
>/&
>* $$EOJ
>
>COBOL uses this :
>
>       FILE-CONTROL.
>           SELECT LISTFILE
>                  ASSIGN TO SYS010-UR-3203-S.
>
>So the Name of the Spool File is dynamically setted by the JCL. How do
>I do this with a shell script or a call to the MF/Cobol Runtime
>"runcob32".
>
>For SYSIPT I have done the following. According to the JCL-Above
>
>#!/bin/bash
>echo "99  70000000 98000000" | ./VSB094
>
>This is then used in COBOL with
>
>       01  ACC-IPT1.
>           05  FILLER                  PIC XXXX.
>           05  VLK-VNR-BEGINN          PIC X(8).
>           05  FILLER                  PIC X(1).
>           05  VLK-VNR-ENDE            PIC X(8).
>
>ACCEPT ACC-IPT1 FROM SYSIPT.
>
>And I have the Parameters. But how to handle those filenames ?


---
Frank Swarbrick
Senior Developer/Analyst - Mainframe Applications
FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO  USA

> You're converting from VSE to Micro Focus?  Traitor!

As an act of compassion :-)

> Oh, one other comment.  I believe Micro Focus has a product that will allo
w
> you to keep you VSE JCL.  You might try contacting them.
>

I will keep this as an option. I have contacted a company which has
some sort of JCL-Interpreter. The MF/Stuff is somwhat to tightly
integrated into their stuff. This would lead from one addiction to
another.

Kind Regards

Michael

michael.bierenfeld@web.de<michael.bierenfeld@web.de> 01/26/07 5:12 AM >>>
> 
>
>As an act of compassion :-)
> 
allow 
>
>I will keep this as an option. I have contacted a company which has
>some sort of JCL-Interpreter. The MF/Stuff is somwhat to tightly
>integrated into their stuff. This would lead from one addiction to
>another.

Seriously, though, I have to ask what type of VSE workload do you have that
you are migrating to MF and Unix?  Are you migrating just batch
applications, or CICS applications as well?  If CICS, what are you using on
the Unix side to run them?  Mainframe Express MTO?

We're not looking to move off of VSE, but sometimes (often) VSE seriously
pisses me off...

Frank


---
Frank Swarbrick
Senior Developer/Analyst - Mainframe Applications
FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO  USA

Frank Swarbrick wrote:
> michael.bierenfeld@web.de<michael.bierenfeld@web.de> 01/26/07 5:12 AM >>> 
> allow 
>
> Seriously, though, I have to ask what type of VSE workload do you have tha
t
> you are migrating to MF and Unix?  Are you migrating just batch
> applications, or CICS applications as well?  If CICS, what are you using o
n
> the Unix side to run them?  Mainframe Express MTO?
>
> We're not looking to move off of VSE, but sometimes (often) VSE seriously
> pisses me off...
>
> Frank

Just curious:  What level of VSE are you using?  Have you checked the
new z/VSE V4.1?
> http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_c.../ENUS207003.PDF

I'm not a VSE person.  I deal with z/OS exclusively. I'm just curious,
and sometimes the most recent IBM announcements to not always make it to
the people who need it most.
Carl

CG<Carl.Gehr.ButNoSPAMStuff@MCGCG.Com> 01/26/07 9:53 AM >>>
>Frank Swarbrick wrote: 
that 
on 
seriously 
>
>Just curious:  What level of VSE are you using?  Have you checked the
>new z/VSE V4.1? 
>
>I'm not a VSE person.  I deal with z/OS exclusively. I'm just curious,
>and sometimes the most recent IBM announcements to not always make it to
>the people who need it most.

Most of the new features of 4.1 are "system" type stuff.  No new COBOL stuff
(other than Y2K stuff nothing major in over ten years).  No new CICS stuff
(nothing in at least five years).

Anyway, we are on v 2.7, but going to 3.1 "any day now".  Hopefully soon
followed by 4.1, but I won't get my hopes up.

Frank


---
Frank Swarbrick
Senior Developer/Analyst - Mainframe Applications
FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO  USA

> Seriously, though, I have to ask what type of VSE workload do you have that
> you are migrating to MF and Unix?  Are you migrating just batch
> applications, or CICS applications as well?  If CICS, what are you using o
n
> the Unix side to run them?  Mainframe Express MTO?
>

It is not a question of workload. You dont find to many companies here
in Germany that do offer VSE support (outsourcing). On the other side
Software Development with "modern" Tools like Microfocus is different
than using VM/VSE Tools.

Yep we are planing to migrate CICS and Batch Jobs. For CICS its
planned to use MTO. Batch will be native Cobol with UC4 as Scheduling
system. JCL interpreted or ported to Shell Scripts (not decided yet)

Kind regards

Michael

michael.bierenfeld@web.de<michael.bierenfeld@web.de> 02/09/07 9:55 AM >>> 
that 
on 
>
>It is not a question of workload. You dont find to many companies here
>in Germany that do offer VSE support (outsourcing). On the other side
>Software Development with "modern" Tools like Microfocus is different
>than using VM/VSE Tools.
>
>Yep we are planing to migrate CICS and Batch Jobs. For CICS its
>planned to use MTO. Batch will be native Cobol with UC4 as Scheduling
>system. JCL interpreted or ported to Shell Scripts (not decided yet)

Sounds like an interesting project.  I'd be very interested to hear the
results once you are done.  I definitely find VSE to not be an ideal
environment often times.

What I meant by my question about workload is, do you consider your workload
(online and batch) to be "large"?  We are one of the largest VSE shops in
the world (workload-wise), from what I've heard.  We have a an IBM z9 BC,
model 2096-U02, running at 526 MIPS.  Any idea what size your VSE box is?
One thing (among others) that I would worry about if moving to MF and Unix
would be performance.

Oh, another question.  What type of data access do you use on VSE?  VSAM?
DB2?  DL/I?

Frank


---
Frank Swarbrick
Senior Developer/Analyst - Mainframe Applications
FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO  USA

> model 2096-U02, running at 526 MIPS.  Any idea what size your VSE box is?
> One thing (among others) that I would worry about if moving to MF and Unix
> would be performance.
>

We have approx. 20MIPS. Recent Tests esp. with DB2 (8.x on AIX) and MF-
Cobol on a midsize AIX System do show factor 20 in Performance
(better).

> Oh, another question.  What type of data access do you use on VSE?  VSAM?
> DB2?  DL/I?

DL/I is elliminated. VSAM and DB2 are the only access systems. VSAM
because of performance (see above).

:-) as the thing goes on I am shure that I will post again.

Kind regards

Michael