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Accessing Main Storage: CORE › Display Main Storage › Storage Pointer

Storage Pointer

The CORE transaction maintains a storage pointer that is adjusted as CA InterTest for CICS reads and interprets the CORE commands you enter. Before the first input command is processed, this pointer is set to the address of the CICS Common System Area (CSA).

After you enter a command and the first CORE display opens on your terminal, the storage pointer is set to the address of the first displayed byte. This is the address of the storage pointer that the CORE transaction recognizes when it examines the next command you enter. For example, the following sequence of commands locates the area named (symbolically) ACCOUNT‑NUMBER in the COBOL program whose task is presently waiting at breakpoint, and displays it. Then it adds five to the address of the displayed area and produces another display that begins at the new address.

CORE='ACCOUNT‑NUMBER'
CORE+5

CA InterTest for CICS adjusts the storage pointer for every element found in your commands. CA InterTest for CICS reads each command from left to right and executes the first executable element it finds.

Example

The following sequence of commands:

CORE='CHARGE‑ITEMS'
CORE=SCAN404T,C'FRONT PANEL'
CORE=CHGC'REAR PANEL'

accomplishes the same thing as the following single command:

CORE='CHARGE‑ITEMS'=SCAN404T,C'FRONT PANEL'=CHGC'REAR PANEL'

Both commands find the field named CHARGE‑ITEMS in the program waiting at breakpoint, scan that storage area (which is 404 bytes long) for the characters FRONT PANEL, and change these bytes to contain the characters REAR PANEL instead. (This is an example of using an equal sign to indicate the beginning of a new element.)

The CORE transaction protects itself against incorrect addresses and recovers from abends caused by store‑ or fetch‑protected addresses. It usually encounters these kinds of addresses during the search for the specified storage area, or if you have made a mistake in formulating the CORE command. If this type of error occurs, the message STORAGE ACCESS ERROR displays.