November 2002 Technical Tip – FileAid Dumps for the COBOL Programmer

November 2002 Technical Tip – FileAid Dumps for the COBOL Programmer

My favorite FileAid feature is the ability to print dumps which utlilize a COBOL copy library. Consider the following file, 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------

You've probably used IDCAMS for dumping files. And, if so, you'll probably agree that it's format is hardly "user friendly." Just to remind you, here's a portion of an IDCAMS file for the JUNK file.

RECORD SEQUENCE NUMBER - 2 000000 E2C5C3D6 D5C44040 F2F2F222 2C *SECOND 222.. * RECORD SEQUENCE NUMBER - 3 000000 D6D6D7E2 EE404040 E7E7E7E8 E8 *OOPS. XXXYY *

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 //STEP010 EXEC PGM=FILEAID //DD01 DD DSN=JCQUBX0.JUNK,DISP=SHR //DD01M DD DSN=JCQUBX0.TRAINING.COPYLIB,DISP=SHR //SYSIN DD * $$DD01 FPRINT MAP=JUNKREC //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* //SYSLIST DD SYSOUT=*

The FileAid dump for the second and third records appears as follows. Note that non-printable characters in PIC X fields are displayed in their hexadecimal form, as are non-numerics in PIC 9 fields. This can be very helpful in debugging!

RECORD: 2 JUNK-RECORD LENGTH: 13 ---- FIELD LEVEL/NAME ------- -FORMAT- ----+----1----+----2---- 5 JR-LABEL 8/AN SECOND 5 JR-ZONED 3/NUM 222 5 JR-PACKED 2/PS 222 RECORD: 3 JUNK-RECORD LENGTH: 13 ---- FIELD LEVEL/NAME ------- -FORMAT- ----+----1----+----2---- 5 JR-LABEL 8/AN X'D6D6D7E2EE404040' 5 JR-ZONED 3/NUM X'E7E7E7' 5 JR-PACKED 2/PS X'E8E8'

This is just one example of what FileAid can do. Caliber Data Training is pleased to offer training in FileAid as well as other utilities such as SyncSort, FileMaster/MAXBAT, Easytrieve, and SAS. We hope you will consider us when deciding upon a training provider.