JCL Parameters Substitution Usage

To enable JCL parameters substitution, add this setting to the mfbsi.cfg configuration file:

SkelProcessType=MFBSI

Enabling parameters substitution also creates a folder under the folder specified by the $MFBSI_DIR variable that stores the modified JCL file.

JCL parameters substitution is enabled when AutoEdit (command-line or through mfbsi.cfg) or PARMS … [END-PARMS] in a command line command are used. If not specified, no parameter substitution is done. If specified on the command line, parameters definition is started by the keyword PARMS and ended with END-PARMS. END-PARMS is not needed if it is the last keyword on the command line.

The maximum authorized command line length with MFBSIJCL is 8191 characters.

A parameter definition is formed by parameterName, followed by the equal sign =, followed by parameterValue. A total of 500 parameters is allowed.

parameterName can have a maximum of 32 characters, which are automatically translated to upper case as needed. In JCL, parameterName is prefixed by one or two special characters that identify the parameter. By default, the characters %% are used for the prefix. You can change the default characters used in JCL for parameterName with the setting SUBST-Prefix in the mfbsi.cfg configuration file.

A parameterName in a JCL member ends with:

When a parameter is ended by a dot or using ++, these characters are suppressed after substitution.

parameterValue can have a maximum of 80 characters. To indicate a null value, use two consecutive double-quotes. Values that contain spaces should be enclosed by double-quotes.

Some or all parameters can be stored in a line sequential parameter file. Each parameterName=parameterValue pair must be on a single line and start in position 1. Prefix the full file location (path-baseName-extension) with the @ character. Delimit the file name using double quotes if it contains one or more spaces. For example:

MFBSIJCL ABC00231 PARMS HLQ=MF @"Y:\...\Parm File.Prm" WEEK=49
MFBSIJCL ABC02233 PARMS @/MF_ES/…/parmFile.prm END-PARMS

Parameters can also be specified as environment variables, using for example the OS command set / export parameterName=parameterValue. If PARMS … [END-PARMS] is not used, specify AUTOEDIT to enable substitution. On UNIX/Linux, parameter names are case sensitive.

The search order for parameters value resolution is:

If requested, an MFBSI user exit before submission, such as mfbsiue1.cbl invokes after parameters substitution has successfully completed. The variable ESue1-JCLfile contains the full name of the substituted JCL file.

In case of job restart, PARMS … [END-PARMS] or AUTOEDIT are not allowed. No JCL substitution is done.