| Developing Applications with Mainframe Express | The Mainframe Express Interface | |
This chapter provides introductory information on how Mainframe Express uses the following types of file:
Within Mainframe Express a project is identified by the name of its project file. You specify the location and name of the project file (which has a file extension of .mvp) when creating a new project or opening an existing one.
Mainframe Express creates and updates the project file. You do not have to do anything with this file. Each project has a separate project file which a workgroup can share.
The Allocation folder field on the General page of the Catalog page on the Project Settings dialog box is initially set to the location of the project file. This field specifies the location for all other files created by Mainframe Express in the project, such as spooled output files. You can change this field to use another location.
When you first start Mainframe Express, you are asked to supply a user ID. This is used by Mainframe Express to identify who creates or updates cataloged files or the spool file.
Each project has a system catalog, which emulates the mainframe data set catalog. Mainframe Express uses the system catalog to hold information about the data sets used by its execution environment. You specify the location of the system catalog file (which has a default name of catalog.dat) when creating a new project. An existing file, created by another project, can be used. If the file does not exist, Mainframe Express creates it when the first data set is cataloged.
The location and name of the system catalog file is shown in the System catalog field on the General page of the Catalog page on the Project Settings dialog box. You can change this field to use a different system catalog file.
To maintain a connection with the mainframe environment, you can continue to use MVS data set names in JCL statements and TSO commands. However, these names have no meaning in a PC environment, so Mainframe Express also requires the name of the PC file that represents the data set. Both names are included in the catalog entry.
In addition to the system catalog, you can define one or more user catalogs for a project. These can be used in a similar way to the system catalog but are reserved for data sets with specific qualifiers. This enables you to build a catalog structure to suit your requirements.
You can define the user catalogs on the User page of the Catalog page on the Project Settings dialog box. For each user catalog, you will need to specify its location and name and the data set qualifier (node) associated with the catalog.
This section contains basic information about using Mainframe Express with data sets. For further information on this subject, see the chapter Advanced Data Set Information in your IDE Technical Guide.
All data sets that are referenced in JCL statements or TSO commands must have an entry in the catalog so that Mainframe Express can locate the PC file that represents the data set. These data sets include:
EXEC statements
INCLUDE statements or
TSO SUBMIT commands
TSO ALLOCATE,
FREE and DELETE commands
TSO EXEC commands
RELATE commands supported by
the Mainframe Express extension to the TSO environment
There are five methods of including an entry in the catalog:
This is available by clicking Catalog > Allocate Dataset on the Tools menu or by right-clicking in the Catalog View and clicking Allocate on the popup menu.
With this method only the data set name is provided, so Mainframe Express assigns the PC filename, normally using the sequence s0000001.dat, s0000002.dat etc.
If you check the Convert dots to subfolders check box on the General page of the Catalog page on the Project Settings dialog box, Mainframe Express assigns the filenames by converting the dots to backslashes (\). In particular, this enables you to continue using any existing PROXMVS filenames. For performance reasons, it is not recommended in other cases. Details of this facility are given in the chapter Migrating from PROXMVS in your Migration Cookbook.
The Add Existing Dataset command is provided on a popup menu (right-click in the Catalog View). Alternatively, on the Tools menu click Catalog then Add Existing Dataset.
You need to specify both the MVS name and the PC filename.
The Add into PDS command is provided on a popup menu in the File View and Workgroup View (right-click on the file you want to add). There is also an Add into PDS check box on the Add Files to Project dialog box (click Add files on the Project menu). In either case, if you specify a new (not previously cataloged) MVS partitioned data set name, Mainframe Express assigns a PC filename and updates the catalog.
The Add Members to PDS-name command is provided on a popup menu in the Catalog View (right-click on the PDS into which you want to add members). For each new (not previously cataloged) file added to the PDS, Mainframe Express assigns an MVS data set name and updates the catalog.
See the section Partitioned Data Sets (PDS) for more information.
If you have DataConnect configured and the Enable DataConnect lookup when dataset not found check box checked, Mainframe Express looks on the mainframe for any data sets that it cannot find on the PC. The Enable DataConnect lookup when dataset not found check box is on the General page of the Catalog page on the Project Settings dialog box. Your system administrator would normally configure DataConnect for you. See the chapter Accessing Mainframe Files in your Administrator's Guide.
In an MVS mainframe environment, a file can be defined as an individual data set or as part of a partitioned data set (PDS). Mainframe Express supports both of these methods.
In a partitioned data set (organization = PO), the individual data sets are known as members (organization = PDSM). You define a partitioned data set and its members to Mainframe Express like any other data set.
Procedure libraries are partitioned data sets that contain procedures that can be specified in JCL jobstreams. Mainframe Express supports three types of procedure library and searches them in the following order.
JCLLIB statement, which is
specific to a job.
You must allocate these libraries to the catalog.
You can define up to eight of these libraries from the Workgroup View by right-clicking Dependency Libraries and clicking Add Dependency Folder on the popup menu.
When you add an existing PC file into a partitioned data set, whether by the Add into PDS or the Add Members to PDS-name method (see Data Set Files), the file is added as a partitioned data set member (PDSM). A new catalog entry is created, and the PDSM inherits the properties of the PDS. Mainframe Express assigns an MVS data set name based on the PC filename, but you can rename it.
The Add into PDS method is restricted to PDSs that use a line sequential record format (such as procedure libraries). We recommend the Add Members to PDS-name method for adding multiple files into a PDS.
When you finish adding one or more files, the files are parsed to find
any COPY and INCLUDE statements and to resolve
any dependencies. They are shown by the Dependencies node on the
Project View.
When you add a procedure file (with extension .prc), it is automatically added to the procedure library SYS1.PROCLIB. If the library does not exist, Mainframe Express first creates it and allocates it to the catalog.
When you run the first job in a project, Mainframe Express creates a system log file for that project and gives it an entry in the catalog. Mainframe Express updates this file with information about each job that is run. You can view and reset the system log from the Spool View.
By default, Mainframe Express uses the same name (MFMVS.SYSLOG) for the system log for all projects. This is shown in the System log dataset field on the Spool page of the Catalog page on the Project Settings dialog box. You can change this name for each project.
Mainframe Express emulates the spooler functions of the mainframe's job entry system. You can select emulation of either JES2 or JES3.
Mainframe Express creates a spool file for each of the following:
In Mainframe Express, a JCL jobstream can have only one job but the
job can contain multiple job steps. You use an EXEC
statement to specify the program to be executed by a job step. You can do
this either directly:
EXEC PGM=program-name
or indirectly, using a cataloged procedure:
EXEC PROC=procedure-name ---------> EXEC PGM=program-name.
Although the Catalog View does not include spool files, they are assigned data set names.
If the data set name is not specified, the MVS name has the form:
SYSyyyy.Smmdd.Shhmmss.Jjjjjj.Dnnnnn.ddname
If the data set is temporary, the MVS name has the form:
SYSyyyy.Smmdd.Shhmmss.Jjjjjj.ANDAND.tempname
where:
Note: You can also submit jobstreams for running on the mainframe and view the resulting spool output files in Mainframe Express. See the section Running a Job on the Mainframe in the chapter JCL Support.
Copyright © 1999 MERANT International Limited. All rights reserved.
This document and the proprietary marks and names
used herein are protected by international law.
| Developing Applications with Mainframe Express | The Mainframe Express Interface | |