Chapter 31: The CICS Option Interface

This chapter describes how to use the Mainframe Express IDE to access the functions available with the CICS Option component of Mainframe Express. It covers only the CICS Option specific aspects of the IDE interface. Information about the general IDE interface can be found in the earlier chapters of this User's Guide.

31.1 The Integrated Development Environment

The Mainframe Express integrated development environment (IDE) incorporates all the tools and utilities required for CICS application development. The IDE lets you create, compile and test your CICS applications using the CICS Option interface. From within the IDE you can:

Create and edit application programs.
Compile application programs.
Design, create and edit BMS maps on the screen using the BMS screen painter.
Generate BMS macro definition files.
Generate BMS copybooks from mapsets.
Generate BMS load modules.
Create or modify resource definitions.
Start a single-tasking system for debugging.
Start a multi-tasking system and attach terminals, with or without debugging.

To be able to use the CICS Option interface to the IDE you must have created a project that uses CICS, or added CICS to the project settings for an existing project, and have the project open in the IDE.

31.2 Files View

The Files View of the IDE for a CICS project looks the same as the Files View for any other Mainframe Express project. You display it by clicking the Files tab in the Project View - see Figure 31-1.

Figure 31-1: The Files View For a CICS Project

The functions available from the Files View are the standard functions of the Mainframe Express IDE. From the tree view in the left-hand pane you can add files to the project and specify the build settings for the project. From the file list in the right-hand pane you can edit application program source files, specify build settings for individual files, and compile source files.

For CICS Option, the Files View provides additional functions for editing BMS mapsets. You can edit BMS mapsets either by using the BMS screen painter or by directly editing the BMS macro file source.

To use the BMS screen painter, double-click the BMS macro file name (.bms file) in the file list in the right-hand pane. (Alternatively, right-click the file name and click Edit.) This initiates the BMS screen painter and displays the first map in the mapset ready for you to edit. See the chapter CICS BMS Screen Painter in this User's Guide for information about using the painter.

To edit the BMS macro file directly, right-click the BMS file name and click Edit As Text. This displays the BMS macro source in the IDE editor and you can edit it in the same way as any other source file.

31.3 CICS View

The CICS View of a project lets you define CICS resources, and manipulate CICS resource groups and the startup list. You display the CICS View by clicking the CICS tab in the Project View - see Figure 31-2.

Figure 31-2: The CICS View

The CICS View comprises two panes: on the left is the CICS Tree View; and on the right is the CICS Details View. The CICS Tree View shows the resource definition tables for which you can view, create and change entries. The CICS Details View shows the entries that are in the resource definition table selected in the CICS Tree View.

31.3.1 CICS Tree View

The CICS Tree View shows the resource definition tables that can be viewed. Currently, only the Program Control Table, the File Control Table, Processing Program Table and System Initialization Table can be viewed and updated in the CICS Tree View. The remaining resource definition tables can be viewed and modified using the character interface to resource definition (click CICS > Resource Definition on the Tools menu). Right-click CICS System at the top of the tree view to display the popup menu shown in Figure 31-3.

Figure 31-3: The CICS Tree View Popup Menu

On this popup menu you can click:

Properties to display the Properties dialog box that lets you view and change some fields of the system initialization table. See the chapter Developing CICS Applications in this User's Guide for more information.
Startup List to display the Startup List Configuration dialog box that lets you add resource groups to the startup list, delete them from it, and reorder them within it. See the chapter Developing CICS Applications in this User's Guide for more information.
Viewable Groups to display the Viewable Groups dialog box shown in Figure 31-4.

Figure 31-4: The Viewable Groups Dialog Box

On this dialog box you can select, with the check boxes to the left of the group names, which groups' resource definition table entries are to be displayed in the CICS Details View.
Apply Overrides to RDF to apply the override settings in the Properties dialog box, which are project-specific, to the Resource Definition File; depending on how you are working, this file could be shared by a number of projects and users.
Refresh CICS View from RDF to refresh the display in the CICS Details View if the resource definition file has been updated by another user, or by the import process or by the character interface to resource definition.
Upgrade RDF to have CICS Option check to see whether your resource definition file needs upgrading.
A resource definition table name to add it to or remove it from the tree view.

You also change the resource groups that are displayed in the details view by right-clicking a table name in the tree view and selecting the appropriate groups on the popup menu.

31.3.2 CICS Details View

The CICS Details View is initially empty but when you select a resource definition table in the CICS Tree View, it shows the entries in that table. The entries shown depend on the groups you have made viewable for resource definition. Initially it may be that no groups are viewable, in which case a message dialog will lead you to the Viewable Groups dialog box, described above, so that you can select the groups you want to view.

You can see the details of an entry by double-clicking the entry name to see the tablename Properties dialog box. You use this dialog box to update the details of the table entry. See the chapter Developing CICS Applications in this User's Guide for more information about defining resources.

You can pin this dialog box to the IDE by clicking in the bottom left-hand corner. You can then click table entry names in the details view; the Properties dialog box remains displayed and is updated with the information for each table entry you select.

From the details view you can also create, copy and delete table entries by right-clicking the entry and selecting the appropriate item on the popup menu shown in Figure 31-5.

Figure 31-5: The CICS Details View Popup Menu

On this popup menu you can also click:

Filter to change the group filtering mode. There are four filter modes which control which groups are shown in the tree view:
- View selected groups displays the resources of the groups which you have selected in the Viewable Groups dialog box.
- View All Groups displays the resources of all of the groups.
- View groups in startup list displays the resources of the groups in the startup list.
- View one group only displays the resources for the group which you right-clicked on.
Groups to select groups that are displayed.
Viewable Groups to display the Viewable Groups dialog box described in the section CICS Tree View above.
Remove groupname group from startup list or Add groupname group to startup list (depending on the group selected) to remove it from or add it to the startup list.
Startup List to display the Startup List Configuration dialog box as described in the section CICS Tree View.
Refresh to refresh the display in the CICS Details View if table entries have been updated outside of the IDE.
Properties to display the tablename Properties dialog box for the table entry selected. (The same as double-clicking the entry as described above.)

31.4 CICS Tools Menu

The CICS tools menu lets you control the functions of CICS Option. Click CICS on the Tools menu of the IDE to display the CICS tools menu shown in Figure 31-6.

Figure 31-6: The CICS Tools Menu

On the CICS tools menu you can click:

Start Region to start a multi-tasking CICS region. The region started is the one associated with the CICS project open in the IDE. CICS Option can only run one region at a time so this option is grayed out if a multi-tasking region is already running. See the chapter Developing CICS Applications in this User's Guide for information about starting a region.
Stop Region to close down the CICS region. This option is grayed out if no multi-tasking region is running.
Start 3270 Terminal to start a 3270 terminal emulation attached to the running CICS region. This option is grayed out if no multi-tasking region is running. You can attach multiple 3270 terminal emulators to a multi-tasking region. See the chapter Developing CICS Applications in this User's Guide for information about starting a 3270 terminal emulation.
Resource Definition to start the character interface to CICS resource definition. This enables you to view or modify the less commonly used resource definition tables that aren't accessible from the CICS View. This is for use by your CICS system administrator.
Import Resources to add CICS resource definitions that have been downloaded from the mainframe CICS system definition (CSD) file to the resource definition file on the PC. This is for use by your CICS system administrator.
Export Resources to create a Resource Definition Table (.RDT) file which can be used to update the mainframe CICS system definition (CSD) file. This is for use by your CICS system administrator.
DFHCNV Maintenance to import mainframe style DFHCNV macros for converting data between EBCDIC and ASCII.
Region Management to display the menu shown in Figure 31-7.

Figure 31-7: The CICS Region Management Menu

On the CICS region management menu you can click:

Monitor Region to display information about the active multi-tasking region. This option is grayed out if no multi-tasking region is running.
Request System Dump to take a dump of the running multi-tasking CICS region. This option is grayed out if no multi-tasking region is running.
View Trace/Dump to format and display a trace or dump file.
Configure Default Terminal to display the Configure Default 3270 Terminal dialog box that lets you specify options for the 3270 terminal emulation that is started by default.
Force Region Termination to terminate the active multi-tasking region immediately without closing it down in a controlled way. This option is grayed out if no multi-tasking region is running.

31.5 Debug Menu

When you debug a CICS application, the Start debugging dialog box (displayed by clicking Start Debugging on the Debug menu) contains a CICS tab page. You specify different options on this page depending on whether you are debugging in a single-tasking or multi-tasking CICS environment. See the chapter Developing CICS Applications in this User's Guide for information about debugging CICS applications.