Breakpoint Activities › Indirect Commands

Indirect Commands

The CA InterTest for CICS indirect commands facility enables you to define a set of commands that execute automatically, or indirectly, at a predetermined location in a monitored COBOL or PL/I program. Invoke these commands from an unconditional, conditional, or request breakpoint.

In effect, indirect commands are executed at breakpoints within your program just as other CA InterTest for CICS line commands issued from the Source Listing Display, such as MOVE and GO, are used to alter the flow of your program's logic. The difference is that indirect commands are executed automatically without issuing a breakpoint display. Once the indirect commands are performed, your program continues to execute normally.

Indirect commands save you from having to recompile a program or manually correct an area of code every time it is encountered during a debugging session. With the indirect commands facility, you can perform the following actions:

• Change the flow of control in your program
• Test conditions based on specified variables
• Change the value of specified variables
• Create and execute commands as a group, like adding a new subroutine
• Automatically resume execution of your program at the same or different location
• Define abbreviations for variables with long names

  Note: Indirect commands are not available for Assembler programs.