IOF Release 7J

Introduction

Several additional enhancements are included in 7J to make IOF easier to install, maintain and use. This newsletter summarizes the major enhancements provided by the new IOF release.

There are significant enhancements to the IOF SORT command for Release 7J:

• SORT commands are saved in the user's profile for each panel
• The SORT command is significantly faster
• Optionally sort on a field by pointing to it with the cursor
• Sort fields can be selected from a sort menu
• Up to four fields can be selected with a single SORT command
• Current sort is now displayed in HELP
• New FIELD command helps identify field names

The syntax for the new SORT Command:

SORT  field1 A/D  field2  A/D   field3  A/D  field4  A/D
SORT       (with cursor pointing to a field)
SORT       (with cursor in the COMMAND area)
SORT  OFF

One to four fields can be specified.  If more than one field is specified, ascending (A) or descending (D) sequence must be specified for each field.  When only one field is specified, ascending sequence is used if neither A nor D is specified.

Use the FIELD command (described below) with the cursor pointing to a panel field to determine a fieldname.

When there is no initial sort specified on the option menu, the sort fields specified are saved in the user's profile and applied each time the current panel is re-displayed.

A simplified way to sort in ascending sequence on a single field is to enter the SORT command with the cursor pointing to the panel field to be sorted on.  This is identical to entering "SORT fieldname A".  The sort field pointed to will be saved in the user's profile.

Many IOF panels provide a sort assist panel. Enter "SORT" with no parms. Place the cursor in the COMMAND input area to display the assist menu for the current IOF panel.  The most commonly used sorts for the panel can be selected from a menu. Sort sequences selected from the menu are saved in the user's profile and will be re-applied each time the current panel is re-displayed.

--------------------------- Select a Sort for Jobs ------------------------- COMMAND ===> The selected sort will be saved in your profile. 1 Sort by jobname and jobid (this is the default) 2 Sort most recently run jobs first 3 Sort oldest jobs first 4 Sort by owner, jobname and jobid 5 Display HELP for the SORT command n - Select a sort End - Return without selecting a sort

The performance of the SORT command has been significantly enhanced. This will be most noticeable when sorting extremely long lists of jobs or output groups

HELP on many panels displays the active sort for that panel.

----------------------------- Job List Menu Help ---------------------------- COMMAND ===> The IOF Job List Menu displays all types of jobs. Each basic type of job is displayed in a different section which has a unique format most appropriate to that type of job. Jobs can be selected, cancelled, released, and modified directly from the Job List Menu by simple commands. The list of jobs can also be searched, sorted, and manipulated by commands. 1 Summary of line commands 2 Summary of primary commands 3 Format of IOF Job List Menu 4 Menu of detailed command descriptions Active filter and sort values PREFIX: SCOPE: DEST: SORT: DATE D TIME D

When running under ISPF, a popup window displays the name of the field selected by the cursor.  When running from native TSO or CICS, the field name is provided in the short error message area to the right of the top line on the screen.

We have had many requests to display a full date run for output jobs.  There isn't room on the panel to do this without moving an existing field to the second screen of the panel. To solve this problem, two alternate formats have been defined in release 7J for the output jobs section of the Job List Menu. The traditional view is selected by default.

The new DATE field is in yyyy/mm/dd format.  This format is convenient for sorting jobs in order received or run.   A new TIME field in format hh:mm is also available.

The first alternate view moves the DESTDEV field to the second screen to make room for the new DATE and TIME fields.  The second alternate view moves the OWNER field to the second screen.   The choice between the default view, or one of the two alternate views will depend on which fields are most useful to specific users.

The new ALTVIEW command can be used to cycle between the three available alternate views.  The alternate view  is saved in the user's profile and will be used each time the current panel is displayed until changed by a subsequent ALTVIEW command, unless the current panel has been modified by ARRANGE or CUT and PASTE commands.

Alternate views may be defined for additional IOF panels in future IOF releases.

----------------------------- IOF Job List Menu ------------( 11 )----------- COMMAND ===> SCROLL ===> CURSOR --------------------------------- Output Jobs ------------------------------- -------JOBNAME--JOBID---ACT-STAT-OWNER----RECS-HELD-PAGES-HELD---DATE----TIME- _ 1 GENER J008160 ISIJFW 78 40 2004/05/03 14:08 _ 2 BATCHIOF J016007 ISIJFW 59 15K 2004/04/30 13:56 _ 3 BR14LOPB J016403 S013 ISIJFW 79 2004/04/29 16:15 _ 4 JOBARCH J012067 ISIJFW 88 33 2004/04/15 9:20 _ 5 BR14 J011965 CAN ISIJFW 13 2004/04/13 9:46 _ 6 JOBACESS J006919 ISIJFW 5226 2004/03/17 10:43 _ 7 M18NEWOP J002512 ISIJFW 22K 2004/03/12 16:30 _ 8 M53ZAP J002480 ISIJFW 111 2004/03/12 13:18 _ 9 IOFSPARC J000257 ISIJFW 276 2004/03/05 11:44 _ 10 MODID J013041 8 ISIJFW 1922 2004/01/28 15:50 _ 11 SASSTAT J007521 ISIJFW 207 2003/09/25 14:07

New Profile Options for Snap Target Data Sets

----------------------------- IOF Profile Menu ----------------------------- COMMAND ===> 0 - Specify Program Function Key Options 1 - Specify IOF user profile options 2 - Specify default characteristics for sysout snap data sets 3 - Specify default characteristics for disk snap data sets 4 - Specify print attributes to be set for TSO session 5 - Specify screen field attributes (ISPF only)

------------------------- Default Snap Attributes ----------------------- COMMAND ===> 1 - Class, Dest, Outdisp, CC, Optcd, Pagedef, Formdef, Forms, Title, Name, Room, Building, Dept, Address 2 - Outname, Copies, Ucs, Fcb, Notify, Index, Lindex, Ckptpgs, Ckptlns, Burst, Prmode, Flashc, Z, Prty, Outbin, Comset, Wtrid, Linect, Flash, Modtrc, Chars, Modify, Copyg 3 - Control, Datack, Dpagelbl, Pimsg, Pimsg#, Sysarea, Trc, Userlib 4 - Userdata 5 - Formlen, Prterror, Retain, Retry, Prtoptns, Prtqueue 6 - Colormap, Intray, Portno, Offset, Overlay

Rexx Error Processing Enhancement

Prior to release 7J, the "on error" routine of a Rexx exec running under IOF would not be invoked when an IOF function completed with a non-zero return code. This has been corrected for release 7J.

A side effect of this enhancement is that non-zero return codes from IOF functions will now produce Rexx line-mode error messages unless the exec contains a "TRACE OFF" instruction. All distributed IOF execs have been modified to include a "TRACE OFF" instruction.

If you have written local execs that run under IOF then you may wish to prevent these line-mode error messages by inserting the following statement in those execs.

trace 'off'

Rexx execs running under IOF 7J can trap the line number, IOF error message number, and Rexx statement causing an error. For example, establish an IOF Rexx error routine that lists the error number, long IOF error message, and statement that caused the error by including the statement below at the beginning of the Rexx exec:

call on error

error: errrc = rc /* get rc */ if rc > 0 & rc < 17 then return rc /* minor ret codes */ errlnbr = sigl /* error line # */ errline = sourceline(sigl) /* error statement */ 'tsicopy name(message) to(rexx) section(panel)' /* IOF message */ say 'Error' errrc 'on stmt' errlnbr /* rc and stmt# */ say errline /* show stmt */ say message /* show IOF msg */ rc = errrc /* reset rc */ return errrc /* return with rc */

Password Analysis Procedure

The IOF expiration password date can be displayed by entering the command below on any IOF panel. The end date of the current paid IOF license is displayed.

DVAR   EXPRDATE

IOF continues to run for an additional eight days after the official expired date in "warning" mode. A message is displayed in the long error message area on the third line of the screen

------------------------------ IOF Option Menu --------------< Expiring >- COMMAND ===> The program product license for this product will soon expire Select an option. To get a detailed option menu, follow the option with "?". blank - Your jobs G - Output Groups M - System Monitor I - Input jobs H - Held Groups INIT - Initiators R - Running jobs L - System Log APPC - APPC tasks/output O - Output jobs PR - Printers MAS - MAS system display J - All jobs menu D - Device Options CMDS - Global Commands P - IOF Profile NEW - What's New in IOF QT - Quick Trainer JOBNAMES ===> Enter 1 to 8 generic jobnames above SCOPE ===> ALL, ME or another user's USERID Press HELP to see all valid SCOPE values DEST ===> Enter 1 to 8 destinations above SORT ===> Press HELP to see all valid SORT values

Several customers have requested an automated way to be warned that the IOF license will soon expire. Release 7J provides a utility that can be run in batch to check the IOF expiration password and give meaningful messages and return codes for several conditions. A new job, M45DATCK, is generated in the IOF INSTALL library to invoke this new utility.

M45DATCK has two parms that the user may wish to modify:

• WARNDAYS(7) - Number of days of warning. The job will get return code 4, add an alert to the SYSTSPRT data set, and optionally notify one or more users this number of days prior to IOF entering expiration warning mode. The default value is 7 days.

• NOTIFY(NONE) - One or more userids to be notified when the job gets any non-zero return code. The default value specifies that no users will be notified. To notify multiple users, separate the userids by commas. For example, NOTIFY(USERJOE,USERSAM,USERSUE)

You may want to run this new utility daily, and have production control check the return codes and messages in the SYSTSPRT data set. You can modify the job to change the warning threshold, and to notify one or more users when the job gets a non-zero return code.

Return values are:

RC Description -- ------------------------------------------------------    0 Normal termination. Expiration date is ok and will not expire for some time greater than 7 days from now. 4 Normal termination. Expiration date is ok, but the start of expiration date warning mode is 7 days or less from now. 8 IOF is either in expiration date warning mode or it is in license warning mode but is still usable. License warning mode is designed to permit IOF to run at a disaster recovery site. IOF will run until the third midnight after the last IPL. 12 IOF is in license error mode and cannot be used until the system is IPLed. Then it will run until the third midnight. 16 IOF has expired. 20 IOF has received a rc indicating an install error. 24 IOF has received a rc indicating an unknown install error of some sort. 32 IOF has either abended, or received an unexpected error of some sort.

Several users have requested the ability to snap copies of IOF panels. We have also found internal uses for this facility. Release 7J has four new Rexx execs that snap copies of the current panel to a pre-defined SNAP target data set. The execs are:

• IOFSNPGR - Snap Output Group Display
• IOFSNPJQ - Snap Job List Menu
• IOFSNPJS - Snap Job Summary Panel
• IOFSNPMN - Snap System Monitor

The execs are invoked from the panel to be snapped by entering %EXECNAME on the panel COMMAND line. The target data set must be explicitely defined by the SS or SD command prior to invoking a panel SNAP exec. For example, from the Job List Menu, enter SS to define a sysout target snap data set. Then enter %IOFSNPJQ to snap a copy of the displayed panel to the target data set.

Optional parms on the panel snap execs are:

Exec ------ Parm ---------- Description ------------------------------ IOFSNPGR FULL Snap extended JCT fields IOFSNPJQ FULL Snap extended JCT fields IOFSNPJS FULL Snap all data set fields TEMPLATE Add a parse template RUNNING Show open sysout data sets for a running task INPUTJCL Show input data sets IOFSNPMN FULL Snap extended JCT fields TEMPLATE Add a parse template

To snap all data set fields, show input data sets, and add a parse template to a Job Summary snap, enter:

%IOFSNPJS   FULL   TEMPLATE   INPUTJCL

The panel snap execs can be invoked from a higher level exec with the Rexx CALL statement. For example, to snap the Job Summary with a parse template from a Rexx exec that is positioned to the panel:

CALL   IOFSNPJS   TEMPLATE

The panel snap execs can be easily modified to change the specific fields that are snapped. Each exec contains a list of $COL and $OPT statements that define the specific fields to be snapped. $COL statements are always snapped. $OPT statements are snapped only if the FULL parm is specified. Remove unwanted $COL or $OPT statements, and save the modified exec under a different name to produce a tailored format.

All applicable IOF release 7H maintenance has been applied to release 7J.  IOF 7J supports all releases of OS/390 and z/OS 1.1  through 1.5.

HELP for the Job List Menu and Output Group Display now displays filters in effect and the currently specified SORT.