| Workgrouping | File Conversion Utilities | |
This chapter describes the SourceConnect and DataConnect configuration tool that is supplied with Mainframe Express. SourceConnect and DataConnect are components of the optional Mainframe Access product suite which can be installed in your system if you want to access files on the mainframe. For full information about Mainframe Access, refer to the manual Mainframe Access Product Suite: Installation and Usage Guide.
The procedure for downloading an IMS database, using Mainframe Access technology or a generic file transfer tool, is also described at the end of this chapter.
Note: In order to access mainframe files using Mainframe Access, you must first have configured the Common Communications Interface (CCI). For more information on configuring CCI, see the chapter Fileshare and CCI.
The configuration tool is invoked from Mainframe Access on the IDE Options menu. It stores the configuration data in the Windows system registry. The separate configuration files that were used with earlier products are no longer required.
The configuration tool lets you specify the following configuration data for mainframe file access:
Each of these items is selected from a menu, which is described below.
The criteria that need to be satisfied if a file is to be read from or written to a mainframe data set are:
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To gain access to the mainframe using either SourceConnect or DataConnect, you must provide details on how to get there. To gain access to the mainframe using either SourceConnect or DataConnect, you must provide details on how to get there. This information is shared by all components of Mainframe Access, so if you change it here, you change it for all applications on your PC that use Mainframe Access. Specify the following details about the servers used. This is all you need to specify for DataConnect. |
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CCI Communications Module |
Specify the CCI communications protocol - either APPC or TCP/IP |
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Standard Server Name |
Specify the name of the Mainframe Access server |
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Standard Server Machine Parameters |
Specify additional CCI parameters for the Mainframe Access server. If you are using the direct connect feature of Mainframe Access, this is where you would specify MFNODE:your-tcp/ip-address,MFPORT:your-tcp/ip-portnumber The Mainframe Access documentation has extensive information on the direct-connect TCP/IP feature, in the installation chapter. If you are using APPC or direct-connect TCP/IP you will need to enter the relevant information here. For APPC you would most likely enter LUname.mode. For example, WKSLU010.#INTER, where WKSLU010 is your LU name. |
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Endevor Server Name |
Specify the name of the Endevor server if one is being used. |
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Endevor Server Machine Parameters |
Specify additional CCI parameters for the Endevor server. See the previous description for the Standard Server; it also applies to the Endevor Server. |
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Location of the cache directory |
Specify the folder that is to be used by SourceConnect for its local cache. The default value is c:\windows\temp. In the configuration file, this information was specified in the CACHE statement. |
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Security |
Specify whether security is enabled. If this check box is checked, a password is required to access the mainframe. In the configuration file, this information was specified in the SECURITY statement. |
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Specify the networked PC drives to be assigned to PVCS. You can only select drives that are not already being used by the PC. |
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CFG Location |
For each drive you can optionally specify the fully qualified location of the PVCS configuration (CFG) file for your environment. |
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Promotion Group |
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Version Label |
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In the configuration file, this information was specified in the DRIVE statement. |
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Specify the networked PC drives to be assigned to data sets on the mainframe. You can only select drives that are not already being used by the PC. |
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Catalog Search Criteria |
For each drive you can optionally specify a value that is to be used to filter a search of the data set catalog. This value is usually your high-level-qualifier. For example, if you specify ABCD for drive S, then referencing S:\*.* produces a list of all data sets beginning with ABCD. You can specify one asterisk (*) as a wildcard in the search criteria value, to include multiple data set names. |
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In the configuration file, this information was specified in the DRIVE statement. |
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You do not have to define all of your partitioned data sets to SourceConnect. SourceConnect automatically detects non-migrated partitioned data sets and provides access to them. The purpose of this category is to allow you to change the extension that this partitioned data set will use. By default, the last qualifier in the partitioned data set name will be the extension used on the PC. Usually, this is not the desired one. You can override this extension with this category or, better still, you should use the global extension overrides category to group all partitioned data sets with the same last qualifier to have the same PC extension. Specify the partitioned data sets for which you want to change the extension, as follows. |
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Partitioned Dataset |
Specify the name of a partitioned data set. |
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Use Extension |
Specify the file extension used for all members of the partitioned data set. |
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In the configuration file, this information was specified in the PDS statement. |
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Defines a data set as being a Librarian data set. By default, the associated extension for the data set is the last qualifier in the data set name. With the global extension overrides category you can globally override all data sets with a specific last qualifier to use a specific PC extension. With Librarian however, multiple extensions are possible as Librarian keeps information about the member type in its database. You can specify that these various types be associated with various PC extensions Specify the Librarian data sets that are to be available for access from the mainframe, as follows: |
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Librarian Dataset |
Specify the name of a data set controlled by the Librarian source control system. |
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Default Ext |
Optionally, specify the default extension to be used for all mainframe types that are not explicitly specified. |
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Extension Override List |
Optionally, specify the file extensions used for the members of the Librarian data set according to their mainframe type. Use the format: mainframetype=extension,mainframetype=extension,... |
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In the configuration file, this information was specified in the LIB statement. |
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Defines a data set as being a Panvalet data set. By default, the associated extension for the data set is the last qualifier in the data set name. With the global extension overrides category you can globally override all data sets with a specific last qualifier to use a specific PC extension. With Panvalet however, multiple extensions are possible as Panvalet keeps information about the member type in its database. You can specify that these various types be associated with various PC extensions Specify Panvalet data sets that are to be available for access from the mainframe, as follows: |
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Panvalet Dataset |
Specify the name of a data set controlled by the Panvalet source control system. |
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Default Ext |
Optionally, specify the default extension to be used for all mainframe types that are not explicitly specified. |
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Extension Override List |
Optionally, specify the file extensions to be used for the members of the data set according to their mainframe type. Use the format: mainframetype=extension,mainframetype=extension,... |
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In the configuration file, this information was specified in the PAN statement. |
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Defines a data set as being an in-house system data set. SourceConnect accesses your in-house source control system through the mainframe program MFLSCIHS, which is supplied as a sample program with Mainframe Express. You need to write the Assembler source code for some routines in MFLSCIHS. By default, the associated extension for the data set is the last qualifier in the data set name. With the global extension overrides category you can globally override all data sets with a specific last qualifier to use a specific PC extension. With some in-house systems however, multiple extensions are possible as the in-house system keeps information about the member type in its database. You can specify that these various types be associated with various PC extensions Specify in-house system data sets that are to be available for access from the mainframe, as follows: |
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In-house dataset |
Specify the name of a data set controlled by the in-house system. |
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Default Ext |
Optionally, specify the default extension to be used for all mainframe types that are not explicitly specified. |
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Extension Override List |
Optionally, specify the file extensions to be used for the members of the data set according to their mainframe type. Use the format: mainframetype=extension,mainframetype=extension,... |
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Defines a named data set as being a CCC/LCM data set. By default, the associated extension for the data set is the last qualifier in the data set name. With the global extension overrides category you can globally override all data sets with a specific last qualifier to use a specific PC extension. With CCC/LCM however, multiple extensions are possible as CCC/LCM keeps information about the member type in its database. You can specify that these various types be associated with various PC extensions Specify CCC/LCM data sets that are to be available for access from the mainframe, as follows: |
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CCC/LCM Dataset |
Specify the name of a data set controlled by the CCC/LCM source control system. |
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System |
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Config |
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Ext Override |
Optionally, specify the file extensions to be used for the members of the data set according to their mainframe type. Use the format: mainframetype=extension,mainframetype=extension,... |
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This is one of the most important configuration categories for SourceConnect. You need to use this category to define and control mainframe files as SourceConnect files. It defines controlled extensions for input/output requests on the drive letters specified in the drive entries. By default, the associated extension for the data set is the last qualifier in the data set name. If an extension is defined in the partitioned data sets, Librarian data sets, Panvalet data sets, CCM/LCM data sets, or in-house system data sets categories, then you do not have to add it here as well. This is done for you by SourceConnect. Also, you do need need to define the following standard extensions; they are defined automatically: ASSEM, ASSEMBLE, ASM, BMS, C, CBL, CIC, CNTL, CLIST, COB, COBOL, CONTROL, COP, COPY, COPYLIB, CPP, CPY, CSD, CTL, CTRL, DBD, DCT, DYL, ECL, FCT, GEN, H, INC, INCL, INCLUDE, JCL, JOB, LNK, MAC, MACLIB, MFS, MLC, PCT, PGM, PLI, PPT, PRC, PROC, PROCLIB, PSB, RCT, REX, SCH, SOURCE, SRC, TSO, TXT, and TEXT. Any file with an undefined extension is written to the current working folder instead of to the relevant data set on the mainframe. Specify the file extensions for data sets that are to be available for access from the mainframe as follows: |
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Extension to control |
Specify the file extension that you want SourceConnect to control when accessing drives controlled by SourceConnect. If the extension you are working with is not defined here or in the configure global extension overrides list, then SourceConnect will not try to access the file on the mainframe but, instead, will redirect the request to the current working folder. |
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In the configuration file, this information was specified in the EXTENSIONS statement. |
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This is one of the most important configuration categories for SourceConnect. You need to use this category to define and control mainframe files as SourceConnect files. It defines controlled extensions for input/output requests on the drive letters specified in the drive entries, with changes in the mainframe type to this specific extension. You may globally override mainframe types to use specific extensions. This is very useful as it avoids you having to define a partitioned data set, Librarian data set, Panvalet data set, CCM/LCM data set, or in-house system entry for each data set for which you wish to override the extension. For example, if you want to override all mainframe types of SOURCE to use CBL, then specify SOURCE as the mainframe type and CBL as the associated PC extension. You can of course add multiples of these parameters. Specify extension overrides for the data sets, as follows. |
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Mainframe Type to Override |
Specify the mainframe type of a data set |
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Associated Workstation Extension |
Specify the associated file extension to be used unless explicitly specified in other entries. |
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In the configuration file, this information was specified in the EXTENSIONS statement. |
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Specify the data sets which are to use an alternate data set for updates, as follows: |
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When Writing to |
Specify the name of the original data set. |
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Redirect to |
Specify the name of the alternate data set. |
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Files can be read from the original data set, but any new or changed files are written to the alternate data set, thus preserving the original unchanged. In addition, when SourceConnect goes to read a member from the original data set, it will first check to see if that member is in the alternate data set. If it is, then it will be used from there. This configuration category is ideal for overriding a production data set to a development one. Typically, you would specify a redirection of production to development. In the configuration file, this information was specified in the IF-WRITING-TO statement. |
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The process of downloading an IMS database from a mainframe to a PC consists of three stages:
Each of these stages is described below.
You must unload the IMS database into a sequential file with variable-length records. The file must contain one record for each segment and each record must contain the record length, segment name, and segment data in fixed positions. Two utilities for creating a suitable sequential file are:
The standard IBM unload utility creates a sequential file with a variable-length record for each segment. In each record, the segment name begins in position 7 and the segment data begins in position 36.
The IMSDBUV utility is supplied with Mainframe Express. You can transfer it to the mainframe where it runs in IMS/ESA as a batch program. It retrieves segments from a database. For each segment, it creates a variable-length record containing record length, segment name, and segment data.
IMSDBUV can also add header and trailer records to the file to describe the file's contents and, for example, the compression routine used.
You can use the MFA Drag and Drop facility to download and automatically load the IMS database for you, as follows:
Alternatively, you can use any file transfer utility that supports binary file transfer to transfer the sequential file to the PC. A binary file transfer does not perform conversion from the EBCDIC character set to ANSI and does not add carriage return or line-feed (CR/LF) record delimiters.
If you have used the MFA Drag and Drop facility to download the IMS database, the reload has already been done.
If you used another file transfer utility, you can use the IMSDBU utility that is supplied with Mainframe Express to load the database from a variable-length sequential file. To use IMSDBU from the Mainframe Express IDE, do the following:
For more information, see the section IMSDBU - Data Management in the chapter Developing IMS Applications in your User's Guide.
Copyright © 1999 MERANT International Limited. All rights reserved.
This document and the proprietary marks and names
used herein are protected by international law.
| Workgrouping | File Conversion Utilities | |