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[Vodkasoda]

Hi all, hope somebody out there can help ...

I know how to pass variables from my JCL to PROCs and programs & I know how to get Return codes back ... what I want to do, though, is to get data back to replace/update a variable in the JCL !!!

I can't see a way of doing it with EASYTRIEVE but I suspect REXX may be able to do it ... but then again I am guessing here !!!

Basically I am executing a PROC as follows :

//X10301 EXEC ZPAYREPA,
// PROGID=UNI,
// XZ=Z,
// PAYROLL=MSP,
// COUNTRY=REP,
// MEMBER=APGE005,
// PARMLIB=Z

I want to replace MEMBER=APGE005 with a variable, MEMBER=&MEMB1 and I want the MEMB1 variable to be passed back to the JCL after a file containing the relevant data has been interrogated ... does that make sense ?

Any help appreciated ...

[superk]

I think that the mistake you're making here is that you are atempting to treat JCL like it's a progamming language, which it is not. JCL doesn't support variables, at least not in the usual sense.

Take your example. You want to replace MEMBER=APGE005 with a variable, MEMBER=&MEMB1. That's fine, but your job will get a JCL error until you supply a value for &MEMB1 BEFORE the job is submitted. This is usually handled by including a SET statement at the beginning of the job:

//MYJOB1 (JOB ...),,,,CLASS=X,MSGCLASS=X
//*
// SET MEMB1=somevalue
//*

What would make the most sense for you is to run your job and proc WITHOUT the &MEMB1 variable. As your program reads "a file containing the relevant data", have the program write an output file to a member of a PDS library (as an example, 'MYUSER.MYJCL(MEMB1)', with the following content:

// SET MEMB1=the resolved data

Next, submit another job, this time with a JCLLIB/INCLUDE statement up front:

//MYJOB2 (JOB ...),,,,CLASS=X,MSGCLASS=X
//*
// JCLLIB ORDER=MYUSER.MYJCL
//*
// INCLUDE MEMB1
//*

Now, your job can run without a JCL error, since you are supplying the value for the &MEMB1 variable.

[kolusu]

superk,

I guess the requirement was to able to dynamically modify the member name based on the data. The only way I can think of doing it is building the JCL and submitting it via INTRDR.

Kolusu
_________________
Kolusu
www.linkedin.com/in/kolusu

[Vodkasoda]

Yes, Superk's reply looks interesting, but Kolusu has grasped the problem better !!

The problem being that I have a PROC in place that needs a member name passed to it as a parameter, this will update a production PDS with that member & then run a program to 'compile' it to a CICS / VSAM file.

At the moment I'm contemplating creating a new PROC and picking the parameter up differently ... In an ideal world I would be able to submit a job that would run after 23:00 (i.e. the CICS region has gone down and the Batch jobs have finished) abd I could hard-code my member name; unfortunately such simplistic ideas as having an initiator that is Time-specific is considered inappropriate here !!!

Therefore I'm having to set up a job that will be kicked off nightly by OPC and pick up any parameters that I have set up in advance ... long winded and very heavy-handed, but ultimately an improvement on what I have now, which is to take the Production system from the users, request CICS files be closed. request that Change Management run me a special job, wait half an hour for the output from that special job to go to JMR so I can check the output, then ask that the CICS files be re-opened and call the users to give them their system back ... I have to raise numerous "tickets" to get all this approved and it's really not worth the hassle !!!

Sometimes I really wish people would listen to me when I know best 8) !!!!!!!!!