CICS Channels Window

Restriction: This window is available only when debugging CICS COBOL applications that use channels and containers.

The CICS Channels window shows an expandable list of channels and the containers they contain, and also provides a view of the data stored in each container.

The CICS Channels window is displayed automatically when the Debugger executes an EXEC CICS statement that references a channel and/or container, such as EXEC CICS PUT CONTAINER (CHANNEL). The window remains open and is updated automatically as and when required until debugging is terminated.

You can also display the CICS Channels window manually by clicking Debug > Windows > CICS Channels.

Filter container names
Type a character string to filter the list to those in the currently selected container that contain the string in their container name.
Channels list
Shows the channels used by the program up to the current point in execution. Click Name to toggle sorting the list in ascending and descending order. Click a channel name to show its containers on the Containers list.
Containers list
Lists each container contained in the selected channel, along with its properties. Click a property column head to toggle sorting the list in ascending or descending order alphabetically based on the values in the selected column.
Name
The name of a container in the selected Channel.
Length
The length of the data in the container in bytes.
Read-Only
False
Data in the container is editable.
True
Data in the container is not editable.
Encoding
The specified CCSID value, if used, or otherwise the character set used by the program that created the container.
Type
The type of container data, either Char (character) or Bit (binary).
Container Memory Viewer
Shows the contents of the container selected on the Containers list.
Note: You cannot edit data in the Container Memory Viewer even when the Read-Only setting on the container is set to False. However, you can edit container data in either the Memory or Watch windows. See Memory Window and Watch Window for more information.
Address
A list of hexadecimal memory addresses for data in the selected container.
Data
Hexadecimal display of the binary data.
Text
A textual representation of the data using the specified encoding to display the text.