CICS REXX Interface

[Chavez, Kari]

Is there a way to do a CICS command (i.e.. CEMT I .....) from REXX? Is
there a CICS REXX interface of any kind?

I want to new copy programs, open and close files, enable files, etc. from
REXX tools. I know that I can do it in batch but I want to do it ONLINE.

I have searched the ISPF-L archives for the Notre Dame list. How do I
search the archives for this Marist list?

Who out there does CICS and REXX?

Thanks for all your help!! These are some great lists!

Kari Sue Chavez
UNIPAC
303 696 3369
kch...@unipac.com

[Noud Michael S]

One option is SupportPac CA1D, an EXCI interface to REXX. It won't allow
you to directly do CEMT, etc, but you can write CICS programs to feed any
particular data via the COMMAREA. A provided assembler program does the
communication to CICS via EXCI and puts the results into REXX variables and
vice-versa. I guess you could write a CICS program that just accepts a
command then issues/interprets it.

See http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ts/cics/txppacs/ca1d.html .

Mike

[Pete Wirfs]

Couldn't you write a REXX that runs the same software that you would
use from batch?

Pete

On 6 Jun 2000 07:25:34 -0700, KCh...@UNIPAC.COM (Chavez, Kari) wrote:

>Is there a way to do a CICS command (i.e.. CEMT I .....) from REXX? Is

>there a CICS REXX interface of any kind?
>

[Robert Zenuk]

If you are running CICS Transaction Server (I know this exists in TS 1.2 and
above) there is a very functional REXX API. This requires that you run at
least a skeletal CICSPlex System Manager (CPSM) environment. Everything
below is documented in SC33-1430-20 IBM CICSPlex System Manager for MVS/ESA
Application Programming Interface and GC33-0784-20 IBM CICSPlex System
Manager for MVS/ESA Setup.

I have used the API to issue the equivalent of INQUIRE, SET and PERFORM
commands. The command format does not resemble CEMT in any way. In REXX,
IBM provides a REXX function package called EYUAPI. CPSM stores all relevant
CICS information realtime in a series of Data Spaces as objects in the form
of Resource Tables. CPSM also maintains a VSAM Data Repository (DR) that can
replace the CSD, if desired. In a SYSPLEX all the Data Spaces and DRs are
kept synchronized across all OS images. As of TS 1.2 and CPSM 1.3 there are
276 Resource Tables defined; ranging from CICSRGN (a bunch of data about all
known and active CICSs) objects to TASK (all known tasks across all known and
active CICSs) objects to PROGRAM (all known programs defined to all known and
active CICSs) objects to METADESC (meta data about the objects) objects to
PROGDEF (all program definitions across all defined CICSs); see SC33-1220-20
IBM CICSPlex System Manager for MVS/ESA Resource Tables Reference for details.

The interface is actually similar to a SQL interface in the that you have a
prescribed sequence of events an API program must follow:

1) Attach to the CPSM environment and acquire a thread (CONNECT)
2) Optionally set retrieval criteria (FILTER), like setting up a SQL WHERE
predicate
Also optionally ORDER the results, like ORDER BY
Also optionally GROUP the results, similar to GROUP BY and HAVING
3) Retrieve the results (GET), like issuing a SQL SELECT
4) Loop through your results (FETCH), just like the SQL FETCH
5) Within the loop, load REXX function pool variables (TPARSE)
6) Within the loop, do whatever processing is appropriate (a limited list of
examples):
CREATE any new CICS resources (like RDO using the DR)
DISCARD or DELETE any CICS resources
MARK (flag rows for action later)
SET/PERFORM SET/PERFORM OBJECT any CICS objects (an example could be a
NEWCOPY)
PERFORM (could also SHUTDOWN a CICS)
UPDATE (update a DR resource)
7) Disconnect and release resources (TERMINATE)

The nice thing about the API is that you do not need dedicated CICS console
definitions for the issuing user. CPSM also comes with an ISPF dialog that
does the basics, but is somewhat limited in overall use. It does provide
some great "cross-plex" views of overall activity.

We use CPSM (and other tools) to manage 152 Production CICS regions across 10
CPUs (mostly IBM 9672-ZZ7s) in a 12-way Parallel SYSPLEX. We found
traditional CICS management techniques were lacking in this environment.
CPSM is a great addition to the operational management of CICS, but it is not
a panacea for the be-all-to-end-all of CICS management tools.

Thanks,
Robert Zenuk

robz...@aol.com

[Bruce Sacco]

Does EYUAPI call RACF to validate the user's authority to
issue the equivalent of INQUIRE, SET and PERFORM commands?

Bruce Sacco
Stephen P. Teale Data Center
Sacramento, CA

>If you are running CICS Transaction Server (I know this
exists in TS 1.2 and
>above) there is a very functional REXX API. This requires
that you run at
>least a skeletal CICSPlex System Manager (CPSM)
environment. Everything
>below is documented in SC33-1430-20 IBM CICSPlex System
Manager for MVS/ESA
>Application Programming Interface and GC33-0784-20 IBM
CICSPlex System
>Manager for MVS/ESA Setup.

... snip

[TB-DB2-BAC]

Hi,

Without using a REXX-CICS interface you could be issuing the CEMT commands
from the MVS console (using REXX) like f <cics>,CEMT ....... and capture the
output in your REXX program. You should have authority to issue MVS
commands, hoever...

Hope this helps

Wilco Boschman

"Chavez, Kari" <KCh...@UNIPAC.COM> schreef in bericht
news:1079BA7E3A36D211A4AD...@hqmail.unipac.com...

[Pete Wirfs]

My shop used to use this method, but it has one draw-back.
The REXX can't tell if the issued console command worked or not.
(no feedback)

Pete

On Thu, 8 Jun 2000 15:39:51 +0200, "TB-DB2-BAC" <db2...@hetnet.nl>
wrote:

[Antonio & Sharon]

Yes, Kari. Go into the IBM web page for books, (go to www.ibm.com ) and do
a search on books/publications and then, search for CICS and REXX at the
same time. You will get a list of the publications that are available to
view or download from IBM. Super great.

Good Luck.
Antonio Salcedo
Winston-Salem, NC.
"Chavez, Kari" <KCh...@UNIPAC.COM> wrote in message