Re: Crosshair cursor

I use it all the time. Vista 3270. On Sat, Dec 29, 2018 at 1:10 PM Doug wrote: > Yes Sir, would switch emulators just to have it! > Doug > > . > > On Dec 29, 2018, at 12:57, Ronald Kristel wrote: > > Definitely, how else would I be able to find my cursor? 😊 > > Ronald Kristel > __

Disturbing news in the z/OS 2.4 announcement letter

"Withdrawal of ISPF Workstation Agent (WSA) z/OS V2.4 is planned to be the last release to support the ISPF Workstation Agent (WSA), also known as the ISPF Client/Server Component. WSA is an application that runs on your local workstation and maintains a connection between the workstation and the

Re: Messages & Codes (was Re: "Everyone wants to retire mainframes")

Many years ago when my organization was developing thousands of online screens for our IMS applications, I tried to get our screen design standards committee to implement a standard that would have required a message id to appear beside every error message displayed on the screen. They flatly refus

Re: New Mainframe Community

I was on that site for many years, but now the obnoxious ads are driving me away. On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 14:09 Carmen Vitullo wrote: > I thought I recognized your name, I was there back in the day when all the > members of my MF team quit, and I was left to sort out z/os installs > SYSPLEX , MA

Re: Good FTP client for MVS data set access

For what it is worth, I prefer the file transfer features supported by the ISPF Workstation Agent. Performs well and is easy to automate using Rexx and ISPF services. On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 21:38 Paul Gilmartin < 000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > On Wed, 17 Jun 2020 20:2

Re: OT: OOBOL and English was Re: Still COBOL After All These Years?

Acronym War! On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 06:53 Joe Monk wrote: > Not a good idea to be hurling insults from a work account. > > Joe > > On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 4:25 AM R.S. > wrote: > > > BBC > > > > -- > > Radoslaw Skorupka > > Lodz, Poland > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > W dniu 07.08.2020 o 03:28,

Re: Disturbing news in the z/OS 2.4 announcement letter

A later version of the Announcement (July) makes no mention of WSA. I am not sure what to make of that. On Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 2:23 PM Seymour J Metz wrote: > ObGungaDin It was clunky; it badly needed multi-line and block copy. But > it was better than nothing. > > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) M

Re: Cobol calling module with non alphanumeric no longer allowed???

Call variable messes up the impact analysis tools used by the programmers in our shop. We use DYNAM and call literal except where the called program name is truly variable, pulled from a table for example. I am surprised that call literal does not support names with national characters. I have n

Re: Images rather than etext

I was skeptical about option 3.4 when it first came out. I knew all of *my* data set names and I was a good typist. I cannot live without a data set list manager now. On Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 16:22 Bob Bridges wrote: > Reminds me of a coworker at an insurance company in Ohio I worked at a > co

Re: IEF211I - DATA SET RESERVATION UNSUCCESSFUL on relative GDG

Are you using GDGBIAS = STEP or GDGBIAS = JOB? On Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 13:17 Mike Schwab wrote: > Can downgrade from Exclusive (NEW,MOD,OLD) to Shared (SHR) within a job. > Cannot upgrade from Shared to Exclusive within a job.. > Since the first job was SHR, another system / job / task may be br

Re: Looking for a utility to create a master listing of all PDS members on a system

I have a rexx program that reads in a list of data set names and / or masks and creates a “master” member list consisting of all of the PDS/E members found in the data sets. The output is a file containing the member name, the DSN, last update date (from ISPF stats, if available) and the number o

Re: Max Size of ISPF table?

I have an ISPF application that is built around a table of about 90,000 rows. Performance is acceptable, but the app is read-only except for the overnight batch process that builds it. The build process is a bit of a pig. The Locate command was a problem. My first attempt was a brute force sc

Re: it was 20 years ago today

I was working on contract with a major bank during the run up to Y2K. The bank was so confident that they had the issue licked that they laid off all of the contractors in November. I found another contract immediately, but my new shop also had things well in hand, so I ended up partying that ni

Re: DB2 / DFSort question

IBM supplies (or did at one time) a sample COBOL program that supports a varying list SELECT statement via dynamic SQL. I adapted this program so that it could be invoked as an E15 exit. It accepts an SQL statement via a dd statement called SQLIN, then executes the query, fetching the results a

Re: SPF/SE.... out of business?

SPF/PC supports a sizable subset of ISPF services. Back when I last used it I remember that it seemed a few releases behind the real thing, but the basics were there. On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 18:40 Paul Gilmartin < 000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > On Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:3

Re: And the survey says...

At our shop HOD is the standard, Pcomm is a supported alternative. I use Tom Brennan’s Vista. My laptop is locked down, but I didn’t need Admin rights to install it. I expect at some point that I will get my wrist slapped for using an “unapproved” software product, but as I get closer to retir

Re: And the survey says...

They could model it on WSA. :-) On Sun, May 2, 2021 at 3:03 PM Charles Mills wrote: > > Is there a possibility of a separate IND$FILE client with all the > > In the late 1980's/very early 1990's Spectrum Concepts (XCOM 6.2) had a > product called IND$VTAM which was an IND$FILE that ran outside

Re: ISPF cursor positioning based edit or browse

There might also be a locally developed variation at your shop. Mine has two competing versions. It’s not difficult to create such a tool using ISPF variables ZSCREENI (current screen image) and ZSCREENC (current cursor position). On Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 15:24 Mike Hochee wrote: > Excellent! >

Re: Programs that work right the first time.

I like to tell my younger colleagues that I am disappointed when my code works correctly the first time. No bugs to hunt down? Where’s the fun in that? 😀 On Sun, Aug 22, 2021 at 14:49 Bill Johnson < 0047540adefe-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > You claim to know of a 1 line APL sup

Re: COBOL compiler option to list libraries from which COPY members were loaded?

My shop uses Enterprise COBOL 6.2 and that information appears in the compile listing. I am not sure which compiler option influences that behavior but it works by default. I rely on it often. On Sun, Sep 5, 2021 at 13:57 Farley, Peter x23353 < 031df298a9da-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wr

Re: System Programmer Titles

The current title at our shop is “IT Build analyst” or “IT Build Specialist”. On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 5:05 PM Skip Robinson wrote: > I toyed with a number of different titles but couldn't find one elegant and > imperial enough. So I borrowed from my trash man. Now I'm a Sanitation > Engineer. >

Re: COBOL 6.2 - use of identical data name in a nested COMMON subpro

Just to satisfy my curiosity, is there a compelling use case for nested programs? I have played with them, but, possibly due to a lack of imagination on my part, I cannot think of a reason to use them. On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 13:12 Farley, Peter x23353 < 031df298a9da-dmarc-requ...@listserv.u

Re: Friday question: ISPF Statistics Manipulation

I once wrote a blog on this topic on the company's internal social media site. I called it "Lies, damned lies and Member List Statistics". :-) On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 10:27 AM Walt Farrell wrote: > On Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:49:13 -0500, Barbara Nitz wrote: > > >That's what I mean by 'used as evid

Re: FTP Software for Mainframe to PC

I am still in mourning about the prospect of losing WSA. I built several tools around it. :-( On Fri, Jun 10, 2022 at 12:21 Michael Oujesky wrote: > While not FTP, if you still have it, ISPF WSA does transfers to/from > non-MVS platforms. Gone with z/OS 2.5. > > Michael > > > At 07:48 AM 6/1

Re: ISPF WSA and ISPF Plugin for z/OSMF

gt; sas > > > On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 12:40 AM Michael Oujesky > wrote: > > > Ditto > > > > At 05:09 PM 6/10/2022, Don Leahy wrote: > > > > >I am still in mourning about the prospect of losing WSA. I built > several > > >tools around it. :-( >

Re: ISPF WSA and ISPF Plugin for z/OSMF

people. On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 15:02 Michael Oujesky wrote: > And it had the ability to take a PDS and transfer all the members to > individual files on the target (Windows) with EBCDIC to ASCII > translation in one transfer request. > > Michael > > At 08:47 AM 6/11/2022, Do

Re: ISPF WSA and ISPF Plugin for z/OSMF

10:26:38 -0400, Don Leahy wrote: > > >It was also aware of ISPF stats, so on a WS to host xfer it could compare > >dates and only transfer changed files. > > > But beware. Timestamps at both ends may be under user control. > I have scripts that deliberately change times

Re: Modernize Mainframe Applications for Hybrid Cloud with IBM and AWS

Running batch does not preclude 24x7 online availability. On Sun, Jun 19, 2022 at 09:44 Bill Johnson < 0047540adefe-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > People still run batch on the mainframe? The ING CEO needs replaced. Last > shop I worked at we ran very little batch. Because as a healt

Re: Learning one's tools

I try to never show my code to a manager. No good can come from it. On Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 4:25 PM Seymour J Metz wrote: > You have to love it when a manager tells you not to use a COBOL verb but > instead to use COBOL.. > > Fortunately, some bosses are

Re: ./ ADD - which utility?

I agree with you.None of the alternatives that I have tried are as fit for purpose as WSA. On Fri, May 17, 2024 at 16:13 Michael Oujesky wrote: > I really miss WSA and it's ability to take a text > PDS and transfer all the members to Windows > creating individual members in the target > dire

Re: As a long-time Rexx programmer (SDSF)

I am a huge fan of RGEN. It’s like a context aware version of the ISPF MODEL command. That is some excellent work. And so is the HELP facility in general. On Fri, Jun 14, 2024 at 18:29 Rob Scott < 0618c90e6fdf-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > For every z/OS release we also create a

Re: z/OS 3.1 Enhancements & Support News

Almost all of my Rexx work involves one or more of those host environments, including obscure ones like REXXIMS. I don’t see me moving to Python anytime soon. But I have very little career runway left, so my preference doesn’t matter. :-). On Sun, Jun 30, 2024 at 04:31 Rob Scott < 0618c90

Re: Does anyone out there have the course code for CURSORED. It an ISPF tool that extracts the datasets the cursor is on and opens an edit panel so you can see it

Many of these tools examine the ZSCREENI (screen image) and ZSCREENC (current cursor) position in order to determine the DSN pointed to by the cursor. ZSCREENI/C is available on any ISPF panel, not just Edit, so you can implement this point-and-shoot functionality anywhere you wish. On Mon, Feb 1

Re: Anyone using CA's TELON product?

I am a former user. Telon was de-installed from our environment over a decade ago. On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 7:58 AM, Lizette Koehler wrote: > Just curious if anyone is using the COBOL code generator product called > Telon. > I have been posting to the CA Communities but so far no one has replied.

Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: [SURVEY] What ISPF terminal model do you use

62x160 using Tom Brennan's Vista 3270. On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 3:17 PM, Martin Packer wrote: > Thanks. But -oversize 132x43 (not order) got rejection from TSO. > > Cheers, Martin > > Martin Packer, > zChampion, Principal Systems Investigator, > Worldwide Cloud & Systems Performance, IBM > > +44-

Re: [External] Re: blanks at the end of Unix file names - was LMINIT cannot handle concatenation with more than 16 data sets?

Also known as the “chicken out” prompt. :-) On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 14:50 Pommier, Rex wrote: > z/OS 2.4, it does not remember shutting those options off. I'm OK with > the behavior and could take it either way but I know I'd be recovering user > datasets much more often if the "are you sure"

Re: JCL checkers?

I am a big fan or Pro/JCL. Especially the feature that lets you simulate the execution of an entire job stream. It’s an easy way to check that your DSNs are consistent from job to job, without actually running them. On Fri, Mar 12, 2021 at 15:28 Mitch Mccluhan < 005d889cebf0-dmarc-requ...@l

Re: How to upload 600 files from PC to Mainframe

WSA is another possibility. It is part of ISPF (for now), so should be available to all. Once you have wsa.exe running on your desktop you can set up a batch job on the mainframe to pull the files over using the FILEXFER service. It’s fast, and doesn’t have to tie up your TSO session. On

Re: How to upload 600 files from PC to Mainframe

t; >> On 3/25/2021 2:22 PM, Don Leahy wrote: > >>> WSA is another possibility. It is part of ISPF (for now), so should > be > >>> available to all. Once you have wsa.exe running on your desktop > you can > >>> set up a batch job on the mainfra

Re: TSO RENAME broke?

TSO profile? NOWTPMSG (IIRC) might be suppressing an error message. On Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 9:18 PM Ed Jaffe wrote: > On 9/25/2018 12:30 PM, Seymour J Metz wrote: > > TSO RENAME is just a wrapper for IDCAMS RENAME. > > Is that right?? I always thought TSO RENAME did it own DADSM calls. > > Or m

Re: IND$FILE -- where did the name come from?

Why all the love for IND$FILE? ISPF's workstation agent (WSA) is a far superior solution to the problem of sending files between your work station and the mainframe. Easy to automate (see the ISPF FILEXFER service) and is included with ISPF at no additional cost. On Sat, Dec 1, 2018 at 3:37 PM P

Re: IND$FILE -- where did the name come from?

:26 -0500, Don Leahy wrote: > > >Why all the love for IND$FILE? ISPF's workstation agent (WSA) is a far > >superior solution to the problem of sending files between your work > station > >and the mainframe. Easy to automate (see the ISPF FILEXFER service) and > is &g

Re: Yahoo Password Breach: 7 Lessons Learned - Security - Attacks/breaches - Informationweek

On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 12:08 PM, Tony Harminc wrote: > On 20 July 2012 05:06, Timothy Sipples wrote: > > > 3. TSO/E is a part of z/OS, but most people who use z/OS these days > probably aren't using TSO/E. > > Are you saying that that is what has > changed? That compile/edit/submit and data adm

Re: question about ISPF dialog panel performance

Is it possible that the process that populates the DYNAREA variable is the culprit? Or have you already ruled that out? -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu wit

Re: Lookat

I am a big fan of the TSO version of LOOKAT. Count me among those puzzled by the decision to get rid of BookManager. Sent from my iPad > On Dec 13, 2013, at 2:21 PM, "Farley, Peter x23353" > wrote: > > I stand corrected! Thank you for spotting my error. Entering IEC036I does > indeed re

Re: Format of sisptenu members

Option 3.16 is another way to examine ISPF tables. Sent from my iPad > On Feb 4, 2015, at 10:41 AM, John McKown wrote: > >> On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 8:10 AM, scott wrote: >> >> Has anyone figured out the format of the sisptenu members? Looks like a >> pds directory within a directory. Is t

Re: Video that might give you a chuckle

CICS: see-eye-see-ess vs. kicks SQL:ess-q-el vs sequel On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 9:26 AM, zMan wrote: > Am I the only one who finds "zahhss" (rhymes with "boss") really grating? > Mostly from non-z folks, but I hear it occasionally even from people within > the fold. > > On Thu, May 26, 2016

Re: Error in a simple COBOL program

I have never seen one in production, but I have seen developers' tools that use this approach to test locally developed check digit routines and other utilities. On Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 8:00 PM, Frank Swarbrick < frank.swarbr...@outlook.com> wrote: > Ah, yes, I've never seen a (real) COBOL progra

Re: Some RFEs for Enterprise COBOL

I have voted, but I am not sure about dynamic-capacity table. Wasn't that delivered with the new 'unbounded' table feature in Cobol 5.1? On Tue, Jul 7, 2015 at 12:46 PM, Frank Swarbrick < frank.swarbr...@outlook.com> wrote: > I would love some votes on these! > > Perform until exit (73686): > ht

Re: Source for "98% of the checking transactions flow through a mainframe" type statements

If you are handling Real money, you need to use a Real computer. :-) On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 2:29 PM, Jeff Gross wrote: > Charles, > > Here is a link to Mainframe resource info by CA technologies. > http://www.ca.com/us/products/mainframe/product-resources.aspx > > There is one report in the Ind

Re: "Colossus"

Colossus was misunderstood. It only wanted to do what was best for humanity, whether we liked it or not. On Mon, Nov 11, 2024 at 8:19 PM Bob Bridges < 0587168ababf-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > I'm reminded of a video I saw only yesterday claiming that Elon Musk has > created the w

Re: What is a "programming language"? Was:: Modifying JCL on the fly

When explaining it to newcomers I describe JCL as a special type of scripting language where the logic flows in just one direction. No loops, no backwards branching, etc. ironically, JCL’s limitations in that regard make it easier to develop scheduling and restart management software. Being user

Re: Mainframe FTP status

Maybe they could bring WSA back. On Wed, Sep 25, 2024 at 17:08 Paul Gilmartin < 042bfe9c879d-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:29:17 -0400, Phil Smith III wrote: > > >Feh. IND$FILE is single-threaded and requires a terminal session. And can > you do the equivalent

Re: Mainframe FTP status

Yes!!! ISPF/CS was brilliant. I had to decommission several of my favourite tools when IBM withdrew the feature. On Thu, Sep 26, 2024 at 12:23 Schmitt, Michael wrote: > You know what was an easy way to transfer files between z/OS and a PC? > ISPF C/S. > > > > -

Re: Logon to TSO+ISPF on multiple LPAR's at the same time?

You might also need to review your ISPCFIG settings to confirm that the LPAR name is included in some temporary file names used by ISPF. (TSO ISPCCONF) On Sun, Nov 24, 2024 at 19:12 Brian Westerman < 06ba4ed225c9-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > You don't do anything with the HLQ, it'

Re: ISPF Edit - how to switch off CAPS ON

The HILITE JCL edit command does a good job of pointing out lowercase characters in JCL. Yeah, you still have to fix your errors manually though. On Sun, Dec 8, 2024 at 08:49 Seymour J Metz wrote: > No, the ideal JCL editor would uppercase only whas needs to be uppercase, > and would include fa

Re: ISPF Edit - how to switch off CAPS ON?

Did you try the EDSET command? It’s another way of setting up an initial macro name and seems to work across differing APPL ids. But I haven’t tested it recently. On Fri, Dec 6, 2024 at 20:56 Tony Vitonis wrote: > I use an initial edit macro that tries to make smart contextual decisions > abou

Re: ISPF Edit - how to switch off CAPS ON?

I usually type in lower case and then use the UC line command to uppercase the line if necessary. I don’t code much Assembler though. COBOL is case insensitive, like sensible languages ought to be 😀 On Fri, Dec 6, 2024 at 13:56 Rupert Reynolds wrote: > From memory of 1990s, CAPS ON was forc

Re: IBM compiler/LE WIBNI

With COBOL 6.4 at the base level, you can use ddname IGZPROUT at the run step of your JCL to generate a report of all dynamically called programs that are compiled with Enterprise COBOL 5 or later releases. With the COBOL runtime PTF for APAR PH61133 installed, the report contains COBOL 5 or later

Re: Logon to TSO+ISPF on multiple LPAR's at the same time?

ue name at this time. For example, it is safe to delete > and reallocate a data set userid.SOME.THING. > > I don’t even trust that the applications I wrote and maintain would work. > > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List on behalf > of Don Leahy > Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discu

Re: Logon to TSO+ISPF on multiple LPAR's at the same time?

Yes, and it’s not that difficult. You can either use ISPF profile sharing or use a separate ISPF profile data set on each LPAR. I have done it both ways. On Fri, Nov 22, 2024 at 16:09 Paul Gilmartin < 042bfe9c879d-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:18:36 -0500, D

Re: ISPF 3.3 panel error on ZOPT variable

If TRUNC is added to the assigned assignment statement, the error no longer occurs. &ZOPT = TRUNC(&ZCMD,8) Pretty obvious fix, I am surprised the bug still exists in z/OS 3.1 On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 12:55 Steve Estle < 05dcac13570d-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > Michael, > > If you

Re: The mainframe is alive

A point often overlooked is that those applications don’t have to provide accurate information and 6 nines availability. On Sat, Mar 1, 2025 at 14:16 Phil Smith III wrote: > > one mainframe box can handle far more transactions that a row of open > systems servers can. > > Sure, and that's why Fac

Re: Command Line (was: Mystified by FTP ...)

It was painful to decommission the local toolbox that I had built around WSA. I am almost over it now. On Wed, Mar 12, 2025 at 9:06 PM Seymour J Metz wrote: > Alas! > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי > נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר > > > >

Re: Field color in SDSF v3.1

Displaying non zero Max-rc in a contrasting color on the ST panel has prolonged my career. I was having trouble distinguishing from 0008 when it was monochrome. Sometimes it is the little things…. :-) On Mon, Jun 9, 2025 at 15:16 Rob Scott < 0618c90e6fdf-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>