March 2007 Technical Tip - File Manager Dumps for the COBOL Programmer

March 2007 Technical Tip – File Manager Dumps for the COBOL Programmer

In the November 2002 article I showed you how to use FileAid to print dumps which utlilize a COBOL copy library member. In this article I will show you how to do the same thing using IBM's File Manager. I will use the same file and copy library member I used in the other article. The file is appropriately named JUNK. This file contains a label in columns 1-8, a zoned decimal number in columns 9-11, and a packed decimal number in columns 12-13. Here's the COBOL copy library member which describes this dataset:

01  JUNK-RECORD.
    05  JR-LABEL     PIC X(8).
    05  JR-ZONED     PIC 9(3).
    05  JR-PACKED    PIC S9(3)   COMP-3.

Here are the second and third records of the file as viewed through ISPF with HEX ON. Notice that record 3 contains a non-printable character in position 5 of JR-LABEL (X'EE') and non-numeric data in JR-ZONED (all C'X') and in JR-PACKED (all C'Y').

EDIT       JCQUBX0.JUNK                         Columns 00001 00013
Command ===>                                       Scroll ===> HALF
****** *********************** Top of Data ************************

-------------------------------------------------------------------
000002 SECOND  222  
       ECCDDC44FFF22
       253654002222C
-------------------------------------------------------------------
000003 OOPS    XXXYY
       DDDEE444EEEEE
       6672E00077788
-------------------------------------------------------------------

File Manager, like FileAid has the capability of producing a dump which shows the records field-by-field, using the field names and formats as specified in the indicated copy library member. The JCL is as follows:

//* JOBCARD
//****************************************************** 
//*  FILE MANAGER JCL TO PRODUCE A FORMATTED DUMP.     * 
//*  FORMAT IS DETERMINED BY A COBOL COPYBOOK MEMBER.  * 
//****************************************************** 
//FILEMGR  EXEC PGM=FMNMAIN 
//STEPLIB  DD DSN=SYS2.FILEMGR.LOADLIB,DISP=SHR 
//         DD DSN=FMN.SFMNMOD1,DISP=SHR 
//         DD DSN=IBMZ.SIBMZCMP,DISP=SHR 
//         DD DSN=IGY.SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR 
//         DD DSN=SYS1.SORTLPA,DISP=SHR 
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* 
//SYSIN    DD * 
$$FILEM DSP FORMAT=SNGL,             EACH RECORD SHOWN SEPARATELY 
$$FILEM NLRECS=3,                    DUMP THREE RECORDS ONLY 
$$FILEM TCIN=JCQUBX0.COPY(JUNKREC),  COBOL COPYBOOK MEMBER 
$$FILEM LANG=COBOL,                  COPYBOOK IS COBOL (VS. PLI) 
$$FILEM DSNIN=JCQUBX0.JUNK           THIS IS THE FILE TO BE DUMPED 
//

The File Manager dump for the second and third records appears as follows. Whereas FileAid shows non-printable characters in PIC X fields, and non-numeric in PIC 9 fields, in their hexadecimal form, File Manager shows non-printable characters in PIC X fields with periods, and non-numerics in PIC 9 fields as all asterisks. This makes FileAid more useful in debugging, in my opinion.

Field         Data 
--------------------- 

Record Number - 2 

 JR-LABEL      SECOND 
 JR-ZONED       222 
 JR-PACKED      222 

Record Number - 3 

 JR-LABEL      OOPS. 
 JR-ZONED      **** 
 JR-PACKED     ****

This is just one example of what File Manager can do. Caliber Data Training is pleased to offer training in a number of popular utilities including SyncSort, Easytrieve, and SAS. We hope you will consider us when deciding upon a training provider.