Use CICS Option to include a CICS application in a Mainframe Express project.
You can also maintain CICS resource definitions. You can compile your CICS
application, edit it, and debug it in a CICS environment on your PC.
You need to have read the chapter
Start Here for the Tutorials and worked through the
first session,
Using Mainframe Express, before you do this
session.
You need to have installed CICS Option to do this session. We assume you
are familiar with CICS on a mainframe.
This session takes you through maintaining and running a CICS
application on your PC. It shows you how to view and manipulate resources
required for CICS application development.
The demo application used in this session is a simple CICS application
that you might have downloaded from a mainframe. In this session, you get it
working on your PC. You create a transaction called ACCT, which simulates a
retail credit account. This demonstrates simple VSAM file query, update, and
delete functions.
If you have closed Mainframe Express, open it as before. If any project
window or other windows are open, close them.
In this session you:
To create the project:
- Click New on the File menu, then select Project
on the New dialog box and click OK.
- Enter cicsdemo as the name of the project and change the name
of the Project Folder to d:\mfuser\projects\gsdemo\cicsdemo, then
click Next.
- Ensure that Using this wizard is selected and
click Next.
- Leave the default folder for the catalog unchanged and click
Next.
You now get a page asking which of the installed options this
project uses.
- Ensure that only the CICS check box has a check mark, and click
Next.
Because you have said this project uses CICS, you next get some
pages that you didn't get when you first used the Project Wizard, in the
chapter Using Mainframe Express.
- Leave the default CICS region name unchanged and click Next.
- Leave the default folder for the resource definition file unchanged
and click Next.
Leaving this unchanged means you will use the resource definition
file supplied with Mainframe Express.
- From the pulldown list, select DFH$IVP for the System
Initialization Table and click Next.
- Click Finish.
To add your files (the COBOL source file and BMS mapset file) to the
project:
- Click Add Files on the Project menu.
- In the Add Files to Project dialog box, open the folder
\mfuser\projects\gsdemo\cicsdemo\source. Ensure the Files of Type
field is set to Source Files.
- Select all the files in the folder, then click Add.
The files are added to the project.
- Click Done.
Mostly, the resources used by this project are defined in the resource
definition file supplied with Mainframe Express. Let's look at these.
In the chapter Using Mainframe Express we saw how the tabs at the
bottom of the project window give you different views on the project. For
example, the Files View shows the types of the files in the project.
Because our present project is a CICS project, it has an extra view, the
CICS View.
- Click the CICS tab at the bottom of the project view.
The CICS view has, in the left-hand pane, a tree view which you can
use to select whether the right-hand pane shows entries in the Program Control
Table (PCT), the File Control Table (FCT) or the Processing Program Table
(PPT). Initially neither is selected, so the right-hand pane is empty.
- Click Program Control Table (PCT) in the left-hand pane, and
click Yes on the message asking if you want to change which groups are
being viewed.
- In the Viewable Groups dialog box, click View All in Startup
List, then click OK.
The right-hand pane now lists all the PCT entries in the groups that
are in the startup list.
We need to add a PCT entry for the transaction used in this demo, and an
FCT entry for the file it uses. To start with, you create a new group for
them:
- Right-click in the right-hand pane and click Add new entry.
The PCT Properties dialog box appears.
The Group field contains the group name CICSDEMO, which is
the default group created with the same name as the project. For this tutorial,
we want to create a totally new group and not use the default group.
- Click the down arrow on the Group field and click <Add
New Group>.
The Add New Group dialog box appears.
- Enter MYDEMO in the Group name field and Getting
Started Demo in the Description field.
- Ensure that both the In current startup list and
Viewable check boxes are selected, then click OK.
The new group MYDEMO now appears in the Group field of the PCT
Properties dialog box. This group is in the startup list and takes precedence
over all other groups in the list. Any table entries made in this group will be
the ones used during startup.
Now continue to add the new PCT entry:
- Enter the following (leave the remaining fields unchanged), and click
OK.
| Transaction ID |
ACCT (Type in upper case
- this field is case sensitive) |
| Program |
ACCT00 |
| Description |
Getting Started Demo
trancode |
An entry for transaction ACCT in group MYDEMO appears in the list in
the right-hand pane.
The new entry for transaction ACCT appears above the entry for ACCT
that is in group DFH$ACCT, and has a value of 1 in the Precedence column. This
shows that the group MYDEMO takes the highest precedence during startup and
that this definition of ACCT will be used instead of the one in group
DFH$ACCT.
To add an FCT entry for the file used in the tutorial demo:
- Click File Control Table (FCT) in the tree view in the
left-hand pane.
This displays a list of FCT entries in the right-hand pane.
- Right-click in the right-hand pane and click Add new entry.
The FCT Properties dialog box appears, with the new group MYDEMO
already in the Group field.
- Enter the following (leave the remaining fields unchanged), and click
OK.
| File |
ACCTFIL |
| Description |
Getting Started Demo file
base |
| Type |
KSDS |
| Min LRECL |
63 |
| Max LRECL |
383 |
| Key Position |
1 |
| Key Length |
5 |
An entry for file ACCTFIL in group MYDEMO appears in the list in the
right-hand pane.
The new entry for file ACCTFIL appears above the entry for ACCTFIL
that is in group DFH$ACCT, and has a value of 1 in the Precedence column. This
shows that the group MYDEMO takes the highest precedence during startup and
that this definition of ACCTFIL will be used instead of the one in group
DFH$ACCT.
The PCT definitions for the other transactions used in the demo and
the FCT definition for the alternate index for the file will be taken from the
group DFH$ACCT in the supplied resource definition file.
Note: You can also add Processing Program Table (PPT) entries by
right-clicking on Processing Program Table (PPT) and clicking Add New
Entry. You do not need to add PPT entries for the files in this tutorial
(PPT entries are optional for COBOL programs in Mainframe Express). However,
there are times when you need to add PPT entries (data tables and PL/I programs
require PPT entries).
The COBOL program used in this demo needs the directive OS/VS
COBOL, so before building you must set this in the build settings for the
project:
- Click Project in the left-hand pane of the project view, and
click Build Settings for Project on the Project menu.
- Click the COBOL tab.
- In the COBOL Dialect field, click the down arrow and select
OS/VS COBOL.
- Click OK.
To build the project:
- Click Build on the Build menu.
As you saw in the chapter Using Mainframe Express, the
correct compiler is automatically called for each source file - in this case,
for the COBOL and BMS files.
The build finishes with "Build finished with no
errors".
To run the application:
- Click Run on the Debug menu.
The Start Debugging dialog box appears. Because the CICS Option is
installed, this dialog box includes a CICS tab. We want to tell Mainframe
Express the name of the transaction to run.
- Click the CICS tab, and enter ACCT in the Initial
Tran Id field.
ACCT is the ID of the transaction and must be typed in upper case as
this field is case sensitive. (An option to convert to upper case is accessible
from Configure Default Terminal on the Start Debugging dialog box, but
we will assume this option is not set.)
- Click OK.
Mainframe Express
starts a single-tasking CICS region in which to run the transaction. You see
several things happen.
In the Output window, a
CICS log tab appears. The CICS Log view appears in front of the other
views in the Output window, and you can see messages showing the region
starting up.
The Application Output window appears. This window emulates a 3270 terminal.
Messages appear, showing the application starting up, and the application
displays its first map there. (If the Application Output window is undocked,
its title bar changes to "Single Tasking Region (cicsdemo)" as well.)
You can also click the Debug menu. You will see that Stop
Debugging is enabled, while Start Debugging and Run are not.
This shows that an application is running. (To close the menu again without
executing a function, click on some neutral space.)
In the following, note:
- On the PC, the Escape key (marked Esc) is used as the
equivalent of the 3270 Clear key.
- On the PC, the right-hand Control key (marked Ctrl) is
used as the equivalent of the 3270 Enter key. If you have problems with
this on your PC, try the Enter key at the far right of the keyboard, or
Ctrl+Return (hold down Ctrl while pressing Return).
- In the following, the Application Output window must be selected,
that is, in front of the others (also known as "having focus"), so
that keystrokes are directed to it and not to some other window. It should be
automatically selected when it appears, but if in doubt click in it with your
mouse.
- Press CICS Clear (Esc).
This exits from the transaction, and the Application Output window
shows a blank screen with a cursor. If you wanted to run another transaction,
you would enter its transaction id here.
- Type EXIT, then press 3270 Enter (right-hand
Ctrl).
Messages in the CICS log and the Application Output window show the
region shutting down.
You can leave the Application Output window visible, as the next
section uses it as well.
To debug the application:
- Click Start Debugging on the Debug menu .
- Click the CICS tab, and ensure ACCT is still in the
Initial Tran Id field.
- Click OK.
You see the same things happening on your screen as when running the
application, but in addition a source view window appears, showing the source
of Acct00, the main program invoked by the ACCT transaction. The application
has not yet displayed its first map in the Application Output window, because
execution is paused at the first COBOL statement of the application.
- Click
a few times,
until the first map is displayed.
- Press 3270 Clear (Escape).
The highlight returns to the IDE, showing the next statement to be
executed. A second source view window has opened, because execution has jumped
into a different COBOL program, Acct01. (If you have the "recycle
windows" option set - click Edit on the Options menu, then
Recycle window on the Source View page - the source of the second
program replaces the first in the existing window.)
- Click a few more
times.
This demonstrates that you single-step a CICS application in the
same way as any other. All the same debugging features are available for a CICS
application as for any other application. We will not debug this application
further, but will simply complete the run.
- Click
.
The transaction completes without debugging, and exits. As before,
the Application Output window shows a blank screen with a cursor.
- Type EXIT, then press 3270 Enter (right-hand
Ctrl).
As before, the transaction completes and the region shuts down.
You've now finished getting this application running on your PC. But
before we finish this session, we'll look briefly at how you can view and edit
a BMS mapset.
In the chapter Using Mainframe Express we saw how opening a file
loads the correct editor for that type of file. For a BMS mapset, the editor is
the BMS Painter. We will look at how to use this to view a mapset. A later
session demonstrates the editing of mapsets in detail.
- In the Files View, ensure that in the left-hand pane either
Project or Source or BMS is selected, then right-click
acctset.bms in the right-hand pane and click Edit on the popup
menu
In certain places in Mainframe Express, double-clicking an item
executes the first function on the popup menu. Here, you could have
double-clicked acctset.bms instead of right-clicking and clicking
Edit.
A BMS Painter window opens displaying the first map of
acctset.bms, as shown in Figure 19-1.
Figure 19-1:
The IDE with a BMS Painter Window
- In the left-hand pane, click the "+" by ACCTSET, to
expand the tree view.
You see a full list of the maps in this mapset.
- Click ACCTDTL in the left-hand pane.
This displays the map ACCTDTL in the right-hand pane.
- Close the BMS Painter window.
Close both source view windows and hide the Application Output
window.
The Cicsdemo project is used in two subsequent sessions,
Running with Multitasking and
Editing a BMS Mapset. If you're planning to go onto
those sessions, you can keep the project open.
If you want to take a break before going on to the next session, you can
close Mainframe Express.
Return to the
Tutorials Map in
the chapter Start Here for the Tutorials and choose which session to go
on to next, depending on your interests.
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