Symbolic Name List in VMS

[Jerome H. Fine]

It has been over 10 years since I used VMS, but I seem to remember
that there was a feature available called Symbolic Name List which
is a superset to (and MUCH superior to) the PATH name in DOS.

I no longer have access to the Grey Wall, so I attempted to look in
bitsavers. No luck at all.

I also tried at the HP site, but there dose not seem to be a set of
PDF manuals and no specific information about the SNL. Perhaps
the concept has been renamed to a different concept?

Can anyone provide a link to a PDF of the VMS manual which
contains to documentation for SNL in VMS. Also, is this feature
to same in both the VAX and Alpha at this point? Is there a
difference? Which seems to be better? Is there a separate PDF
for the documentation in each case?

Jerome Fine

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <4b04ac1c$0$276$1472...@news.sunsite.dk>,

You would probably be better off asking this in comp.os.vms. I am sure someone
there could answer your question immediately.

bill

--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
bill...@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>

[H Vlems]

On 19 nov, 03:22, "Jerome H. Fine" <jhfined...@dp3knospamcompsys.to>
wrote:

This link might help you;

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01737012/c01737012.pdf

All VMS manuals are on line, e.g. V8.3:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/os83_index.html

The manuals that are most likely to be of interest are:
- DCL Dictionary
- VMS Master Index
Hans

[Jan van Mastbergen]

Me thinks that $ show symbol/global/all is what you want

Jan

[H Vlems]

On 20 nov, 15:09, Jan van Mastbergen

Umm, you may be right of course. However I got the feeling the OP was
interested in logical name translation, more specifically in search
lists. A search list continues the translation process until either no
further translate table entry is available or a physical device name
is encountered (with a leading underscore).

PS
we kunnen dit onderwerp (en vele andere) over een potje bier
bespreken ;-)

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <2bfddd52-919e-41bf...@s15g2000yqs.googlegroups.com>,

H Vlems <hvl...@freenet.de> writes:
> On 20 nov, 15:09, Jan van Mastbergen
> <j...@onsnetdotnu.youknowwhattodowiththis> wrote:
>> Jerome H. Fine wrote:
>> > It has been over 10 years since I used VMS, but I seem to remember
>> > that there was a feature available called Symbolic Name List which
>> > is a superset to (and MUCH superior to) the PATH name in DOS.
>>
>> > I no longer have access to the Grey Wall, so I attempted to look in

>> > bitsavers. 嚙瞇o luck at all.

>>
>> > I also tried at the HP site, but there dose not seem to be a set of

>> > PDF manuals and no specific information about the SNL. 嚙瞑erhaps

>> > the concept has been renamed to a different concept?
>>
>> > Can anyone provide a link to a PDF of the VMS manual which

>> > contains to documentation for SNL in VMS. 嚙璀lso, is this feature
>> > to same in both the VAX and Alpha at this point? 嚙瘢s there a
>> > difference? 嚙磕hich seems to be better? 嚙瘢s there a separate PDF

>> > for the documentation in each case?
>>
>> > Jerome Fine
>>
>> Me thinks that $ show symbol/global/all is what you want
>>
>> Jan
> Umm, you may be right of course. However I got the feeling the OP was
> interested in logical name translation, more specifically in search
> lists. A search list continues the translation process until either no
> further translate table entry is available or a physical device name
> is encountered (with a leading underscore).
> PS
> we kunnen dit onderwerp (en vele andere) over een potje bier
> bespreken ;-)

Ik ook? Ik ook?

[H Vlems]

On Nov 21, 2:49 am, billg...@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) wrote:
> In article <2bfddd52-919e-41bf-8082-e934c639c...@s15g2000yqs.googlegroups.com>,

>         H Vlems <hvl...@freenet.de> writes:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 20 nov, 15:09, Jan van Mastbergen
> > <j...@onsnetdotnu.youknowwhattodowiththis> wrote:
> >> Jerome H. Fine wrote:
> >> > It has been over 10 years since I used VMS, but I seem to remember
> >> > that there was a feature available called Symbolic Name List which
> >> > is a superset to (and MUCH superior to) the PATH name in DOS.
>
> >> > I no longer have access to the Grey Wall, so I attempted to look in

> >> > bitsavers.  No luck at all.

>
> >> > I also tried at the HP site, but there dose not seem to be a set of

> >> > PDF manuals and no specific information about the SNL.  Perhaps

> >> > the concept has been renamed to a different concept?
>
> >> > Can anyone provide a link to a PDF of the VMS manual which

> >> > contains to documentation for SNL in VMS.  Also, is this feature
> >> > to same in both the VAX and Alpha at this point?  Is there a

> >> > difference?  Which seems to be better?  Is there a separate PDF

> >> > for the documentation in each case?
>
> >> > Jerome Fine
>
> >> Me thinks that $ show symbol/global/all is what you want
>
> >> Jan
> > Umm, you may be right of course. However I got the feeling the OP was
> > interested in logical name translation, more specifically in search
> > lists. A search list continues the translation process until either no
> > further translate table entry is available or a physical device name
> > is encountered (with a leading underscore).
> > PS
> > we kunnen dit onderwerp (en vele andere) over een potje bier
> > bespreken ;-)
>
> Ik ook?  Ik ook?
>
> bill
>
> --
> Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves

> billg...@cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
> University of Scranton   |
> Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>  - Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Natuurlijk Bill, but Jan is nearby (< 10 miles) and you're not (> 1000
miles I guess) :-)

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <56a56cbd-92cb-4a06...@j4g2000yqe.googlegroups.com>,

But bier was mentioned and I couldn't resist. Who knows, maybe I will
find myself near y'all sometime. Where abouts are you guys? I used to
live just over the border from Venlo and made numerous trips to Brunssum,
Schinnen and Maastricht as well.

bill

--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves

bill...@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.

[H Vlems]

On 21 nov, 14:24, billg...@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) wrote:
> In article <56a56cbd-92cb-4a06-8fe5-7f642e236...@j4g2000yqe.googlegroups.com>,

Bill, I'm in Helmond which is about 30 miles west of Venlo. Just
follow the A67.
So, when you're in the neighbourhood, feel free and have a beer!
Hans

[Jerome H. Fine]

>H Vlems wrote:

>On 19 nov, 03:22, Jerome H. Fine wrote:

It has been over 10 years since I used VMS, but I seem to remember
that there was a feature available called Symbolic Name List which
is a superset to (and MUCH superior to) the PATH name in DOS.

I no longer have access to the Grey Wall, so I attempted to look in
bitsavers.  No luck at all.

I also tried at the HP site, but there dose not seem to be a set of
PDF manuals and no specific information about the SNL.  Perhaps
the concept has been renamed to a different concept?

Can anyone provide a link to a PDF of the VMS manual which
contains to documentation for SNL in VMS.  Also, is this feature
to same in both the VAX and Alpha at this point?  Is there a
difference?  Which seems to be better?  Is there a separate PDF
for the documentation in each case?

This link might help you;

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01737012/c01737012.pdf

All VMS manuals are on line, e.g. V8.3:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/os83_index.html

The manuals that are most likely to be of interest are:
- DCL Dictionary
- VMS Master Index
Hans
  

I also asked classiccmp the same question and received the reply which follows the "-------" line.
After I looked at the PDF, I saved the file as well so I don't need to download the PDF every time.
By the way, the actual title of the VMS manual is:
OpenVMS User's Manual V7.3 June 2002    AA-PV5JF-TK

The specific portion of the manual that was most helpful was 11.7 on Creating and Using Search Lists

My goal is to finish developing a Logical Name Handler, LN(X).SYS for RT-11,
which would allow the user to set up a number of Search Lists (up to 9) called:
LNn (where n=blank, 0 ->7) and each Search List would allow up to 16 devices, as in:
LN  =>  LNA, LNB, LNC ... LNP  (for n=blank)
LNn => LnA, LnB, LnC ...  LnP (for n=0 -> 7)
The possible SET commands might be:
SET  LN3:  EMPTY
SET  LN3:  DEVICEA = LD5, DEVICEB = LD3, DEVICEC = DU1
SET  LN3:  SEARCH
producing:  LN3 => LD5, LD3, DU1 for the Search List for LN3.
This would be equivalent to:
ASSIGN  LD5  L3A
ASSIGN  LD3  L3B
ASSIGN  DU1 L3C
Some additional effort might be considered to have a separate set of Search
Lists for each RT-11 job.  Naturally, it would also be helpful to add this
enhancement to TSX-PLUS.

Since 9 Search Lists with 16 entries per list would require 144 ASSIGN
entries (which would obviously completely overflow the ASSIGN table in
RT-11), the 9 Search Lists will be retained in the LN(X).SYS device
handler file and read each time a .LookUp request is initiated for the file:
LNn:FOOBAR.MAC
when, for example, MACRO.SAV attempted to assemble FOOBAR, but
the user did not know where the latest copy of the file was in one of the
3 directories on LD5:, LD3: and DU1:, which would be Searched in the
order shown.

Probably, LN(X).SYS would be allowed ONLY for a .LookUp request,
at least that is the intention at this point.

If anyone has any suggestions, they would be appreciated, especially for the specific
name of the LN(X).SYS device handler.  Another name might be:
Logical Name Search Lists (Pseudo) Device Handler

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>Glen Slick wrote:

On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 5:04 PM, Jerome H. Fine wrote:

 

It has been over 10 years since I used VMS, but I seem to remember
that there was a feature available called Symbolic Name List which
is a superset to (and MUCH superior to) the PATH name in DOS.

Do you mean Logical Names?
 

Yes!!!!!

VMS might have used SNL, but more likely I remembered it incorrectly.

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/731FINAL/DOCUMENTATION/PDF/OVMS_731_USERS.PDF

Defining Logical Names for Devices and Files 11–1

A logical name can be used in place of another name to represent
system objects such as files, directories, devices, or queues. For
example, you might assign a logical name to your default disk and
directory. Logical names serve two main functions: they increase
readability and file independence.

You can define commonly used files, directories, and devices with
short, meaningful logical names. Such names are easier to remember and
type than the full file specifications. You can define names that you
use frequently in your login command procedure. A system manager can
define names that people use frequently in the system startup command
procedure.

You can use logical names to keep your programs and command procedures
independent of physical file specifications. For example, if a command
procedure references the logical name ACCOUNTS, you can equate
ACCOUNTS to any file on any disk. This chapter includes information
about the following:

That is definitely the manual that I require!

I read over a few of the pages, but it will take a while until I understand it all.

The part that discusses a Search List is the portion that is exactly what I hoped to find.
I guess that I should have used the terminology Logical Name Search List.

THANK  YOU  VERY  MUCH!!

Jerome Fine

[Jan van Mastbergen]

I'll bring the beer.

Jan