To Configure a CICS Region's Program Location and Search Order

User programs used by a CICS region may reside in a file system folder, the region database, the cross-region database, custom database or data store database. This procedure demonstrates how to define each of these location types and how their run-time search order is specified for programs using the Enterprise Server for .NET Administration UI:
Note: With the exception of selecting Application Map Paths instead of Application Program Paths in the steps below, the procedure for configuring a CICS region's BMS map location and search order is exactly the same as that described for programs.
  1. Open the startup file of the CICS region you are configuring with the Region Startup File editor. See To Edit a CICS Region Configuration.
  2. In the Results pane expand the Region node and select the Application Program Paths node. See 1 in the diagram below.
  3. To add a file system program folder location, right-click on the Application Program Paths node and choose Add > Folder Location... from the context menu. See 2 in the diagram below.

    GUID-5FBB3DEE-253A-4C5C-B9AF-30EBEBC6922E-low.png

    The Add Program Path dialog is displayed.

    Enter the name of the folder containing the user programs to be used by the region in the Folder entry field. Alternatively, use the Browse button to select a folder from a standard file dialog. Note that the folder specified should be on a network drive to ensure that it is available to any machine in a scaled-out system. Click on OK. See 3 in the diagram below.

    GUID-046B75B4-BF19-4B91-969A-3CE14BAE5DC8-low.png

    The dialog is dismissed and the folder specified appears in the program folder list.

  4. To add the region database as a program location, right-click on the Application Program Paths node and choose Add > Region Database Location... from the context menu. See 4 in the diagram below.

    GUID-101C0285-1249-4469-BE29-5F3F042CF89D-low.png

    The region database appears in the program folders list. Note that the region database can only be added once to the program folders list, so will not be available as a location for a subsequent Add operation.
  5. To add the cross-region database as a program location, right-click on the Application Program Paths node and choose Add > Cross-region Database Location... from the context menu. See 5 in the diagram below.

    GUID-E3B34855-B6A7-440A-9A51-EA48253E79FB-low.png

    The cross-region database appears in the program folders list. Note that the cross-region database can only be added once to the program folders list, so will not be available as a location for a subsequent Add operation.
  6. To add a custom database (i.e. a user specified database) as a program location, right-click on the Application Program Paths node and choose Add > Custom Database Location... from the context menu. See 6 in the diagram below.

    GUID-5795EB4C-094B-421F-A0D3-D41A5DCA553C-low.png

    The Add Program Database Location dialog is displayed.

    Enter the name of the machine hosting the database in the Server entry field, the name of the database server instance in the Instance entry field, the name of the database in the Database entry field and the name of the table where the programs will reside in the Table entry field. Click on OK. See 7 in the diagram below.

    GUID-05FA3A4C-455F-4759-8E4F-85A76AF48ECE-low.png

    The dialog is dismissed and the custom database location specified appears in the program folder list.

  7. To add a data store database folder as a program location, right-click on the Application Program Paths node and choose Add > Data Store Folder Location... from the context menu. See 8 in the diagram below.

    GUID-FC4D9617-1F36-409D-8C2F-31263707EE03-low.png

    The Data Store Browse dialog is displayed.

    Enter the name of the database server instance in the Server instance entry field, the name of the data store in the Data store name entry field and the name of the data store folder where the programs will reside in the Folder entry field. Click on OK. See 9 in the diagram below.

    GUID-7303341C-B071-4E75-9741-C9D354878062-low.png

    The dialog is dismissed and the custom database location specified appears in the program folder list.

  8. The order in which the program locations are listed indicates the order in which they will be searched at run time (i.e. the location at the top of the list will be searched first, the second in the list searched second and so on). To change the search order, select a location in the list, see 10 in the diagram below, and drag and drop it to the required position in the list. See 11 in the diagram below.

    GUID-37E800F7-F6F4-4515-AAA2-F2FD44267680-low.png

    The selected item in the previous diagram is moved to the top of the list and will now be the first location to be searched at run time. See 12 in the diagram below.

  9. Choose File > Save, or click the Save icon in the toolbar to save the file. See 13 in the diagram below.

    GUID-8F25737B-BC5D-49EA-8228-9AE4309598DB-low.png

You must cold-start the region for the changes to take effect.
Parent topic: Configuring a CICS Region's Program/Map Location and Search Order