User Exits › COBOL User Exit Facility › Using I/O Requests to Retrieve Raw JCL Statements

Using I/O Requests to Retrieve Raw JCL Statements

Any of the I/O requests mentioned in the previous section (types 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) returns an unaltered, or raw, JCL image for the statement requested. The 80-character image is returned in the data area JCLCXIO-RAW-CARD-CHAR, followed by up to 120 characters of substituted text, returned in the data area JCLCXIO-RAW-SYM-CHAR. This substituted text begins with the first operand of the statement, and contains the rest of the statement, with all symbolics expanded. The symbolic area contains blanks unless the JCL statement uses symbolic parameters.

The CAZ1XCOS program illustrates the storage for and use of the raw JCL statements. In this program, JCLCXI0-RAW-CARD-IMAGE is a table entry that occurs ten times, allowing for retrieval of up to ten continuation statement lines for one statement. More statements can be retrieved by making the table larger. Keep in mind that each JCL statement, along with its substituted text, requires 200 bytes of storage.

When printing the raw statement along with its symbolic parameters, the 120-byte substituted text area may cause a blank line to appear between raw JCL statements. Do not shorten this area. To remove the blank line, search the substituted text area for blanks in your exit, and move only non-blank characters to your print line.