Introduction › C-LANG Statements

C-LANG Statements

The information required to process jobs is passed to CA IAS using C-LANG (control language) statements. C-LANG is sometimes referred to as CLANG.

Each job type has one or more required C-LANG statements and can also have one or more optional C-LANG statements. For example, the Windows job type (NT_JOB) requires the CMDNAME statement to specify the name of the command name you want to run. Because a set of C-LANG statements make up a job definition, we also refer to these statements as job definition statements.

C-LANG statements are typically stored in PDS members, usually one member per job. The specific dataset that C-LANG statements are stored in depends on the scheduling manager. The dataset must be defined as fixed-block (FB) with a record length (LRECL) of 80.

The following syntax rules apply to C-LANG:

• C-LANG statements can start in any column from 1 to 72.
• C-LANG statements can be continued onto the next line by coding a plus sign (+) or minus sign (-) as the last non-blank character on a line. If + is used, any leading blanks on the next line are removed from the statement. If - is used, any leading blanks on the next line are kept in the statement.
• As a general rule, if duplicate C-LANG statements are entered, the value for the last one entered is passed to the agent. Exceptions to this rule (for example, the ARGS statement for Oracle E-Business Suite) are documented.
• The data CA IAS sends to agents is case-sensitive. In general, the values of operands (parameters) in C-LANG statements are case-sensitive and must be entered in the proper case.
• C-LANG statement names (for example, CMDNAME or ARGS) are not case sensitive. They can be entered in upper, lower, or mixed case. By convention, this guide uses uppercase.
• Comments can be included by coding /* at the beginning of the comment and */ at the end of the comment.

Example: Using the Plus Sign as a Continuation Character

The following example uses the plus sign (+) as a continuation character:

CMDNAME ‘C:\Program Files+
     \MyDir\script.bat'

Because leading blanks on the next line are removed with +, it is equivalent to the following statement:

CMDNAME ‘C:\Program Files\MyDir\script.bat’

Example: Using the Minus Sign as a Continuation Character

The following example uses the minus sign (-) as a continuation character:

ARGS Parm1-
  Parm2

Because leading blanks on the next line are kept with -, it is equivalent to the following statement:

ARGS Parm1  Parm2

Note: In this statement, two blanks separate Parm1 and Parm2 because Parm2 follows two leading spaces in the preceding continuation statement.

Example: Using a Plus Sign Preceded by as Space as a Continuation Character

The following example uses a plus sign (+) preceded by a space as a continuation character:

ARGS Parm1 +
  Parm2

Because leading blanks on the next line are removed with +, it is equivalent to the following statement;

ARGS Parm1 Parm2

Note: In this statement, only one blank separates Parm1 and Parm2. The blank is taken from the space before the plus sign in the preceding continuation statement; the leading blanks before Parm2 have been removed.