Mainframe to PC Print Conversion

A mainframe report format file is either a file downloaded to the PC from the mainframe or a file created by an application, downloaded to the PC and run on the PC.

A mainframe report format contains carriage-control characters which are converted by the Data File Converter to PC printable formats. When defining the mainframe report files, the record length includes the carriage-control character and the records must be fixed length. In PC Print files, the record length is solely the data length.

You can print the PC print format files on any standard ANSI printer capable of printing 132 characters per line. As some ANSI printers print only 80 characters per line, you might have to print your files in compressed mode to achieve this.

If you specify the input file as a mainframe report format file, but it was created on the PC using a downloaded mainframe application, you may receive error message 139 ("Input file not "real" mainframe report format"). This can occur if the printer output has been created in PC format rather than the mainframe report format. Check directives used to control the compilation and execution of the program.

The Data File Converter provides specific support for conversion between Mainframe Report files and PC Print files. Conversion to or from these formats to other formats is not supported.