Working with Dumps › Formatted Displays Category › Abend Help Screen

Abend Help Screen

The Abend Help screen displays help for a specific abend code. In most cases, the help screen gives a probable cause and recommends what you can do to handle the error.

To invoke the online help facility, select Abend Help under the Formatted Display category on the Display Selection menu.

The following is a sample Abend Help Display for an ASRA abend.

    CA InterTest for CICS‑ INTERACTIVE HELP FACILITY ‑    (V9.0)
TUTORIAL: Automatic Breakpoint:  Error code 37.

 Error code 37:  ASRA (0C7)  ‑ Data exception.

 A data exception is recognized when either the sign or digit codes of operands
 in the decimal machine instruction are invalid.

 WHAT YOU CAN DO:   Use CORE to display the fields in question and then modify
 them with the CORE facility. Then use the resume task facilities to re‑execute
 the instruction.

 The usual cause is that a data field had not been initialized to a valid
 packed decimal (COBOL: COMP‑3) value, or the value was not properly edited
 before the move into the field. This kind of error is also likely to happen if
 the same main storage location is defined as two or more fields, and not all
 of these are specified for packed‑decimal (COMP‑3) arithmetic.
                                                                          (end)
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 ENTER N FOR NEXT PAGE, P FOR PRECEDING PAGE, F FOR FIRST PAGE, OR ‑
 M FOR RETURN TO PREVIOUS MENU,  CLEAR TO EXIT, OR MESSAGE NUMBER. ==> M 

Note: The prompts on the bottom of the Help screen refer to navigating within the Help facility. For example, entering M returns you to the previous Help menu, not the previous CA SymDump for CICS menu.

Press Clear or PF3 to exit the Help facility and return to the previous CA SymDump for CICS menu.

Note: A local systems administrator can create and maintain help file entries for user‑defined abend codes. These user‑provided help entries take precedence over system‑provided help entries. The search hierarchy used for an Abend Help Display is as follows:

1. User‑provided help for the abend code and program name.
2. User‑provided help for the abend code.
3. System‑provided help for the abend code.
4. If none of the above, a message indicates help is not available.