Cobol option to hide some part of code

Pandora-Box · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:54 pm

Is there a cobol option that could allow us to hide some part of code across different level?

Level here means Dev,test,uat,prod

And I use SCLM for version control

Also if there is some kind of option exist does it need to be done along at the time of some setup?

enrico-sorichetti · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:56 pm

what do You mean by <HIDE> ???

Pandora-Box · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:33 pm

For example :

If have added some displays and not have removed I dont want them to be shown in prod but made available in lower regions

dbzTHEdinosauer · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:14 pm

you could use the D in column 7 and in the the 'with debugging mode' in the SOURCE COMPUTER para.
but then you have to remove (or comment-out) the 'with debugging mode'
before you compile for the prod version.

otherwise there is nothing you can do,
except of course add a file with a record that you would always have to check (in prod as well as test).

unfortunately there is nothing you can do to tell the compiler (other than compiler options)
to do something.

D in 7 is treated as a comment when the 'with debugging mode' is not present in the source.
the lines will still be in the source, but do not generate any object code.
with a d in 7, you can lay any code that you want. object is generated with the 'with debugging mode' clause,
and without the clause, the D in 7 is treated as an asterisk (*) by the compiler

unfortunately, most resource products move the latest object and do not create a new one upon entry to another 'region' (test prod, etc..).

if you have no debugging tool in-house, then displays are one of the few means of debugging that you have.

on the other hand, if you have a production problem, without the displays you are still canoeing without a paddle.

Pandora-Box · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:27 pm

The Biggest concern we have is that too many changes external interfaces involed for couple of them we have no control atleast my team perspective and too much of business case involved so its a crunchy situation that even 70% ok code is ok to be in prod so for the rest of 30% not ok code I need displays

I heard of the option D but never tried it yet

Thanks for the inputs Dick

Bill Woodger · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:15 pm

Perhaps if you put the SOURCE-COMPUTER in a copybook. In Production source, the copybook can just contain a comment explaining that there is nothing there ("This Copybook Intentionally Left Blank").

Then in the other environments, the copybook contains the appropriate SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph.

When promoting to Production, the copybook just never makes its... and the D lines are treated as comments in the Production compile.

Pandora-Box · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:03 am

There is another concern we don't maintain discrete cookbooks across levels so I am afraid or I did not get your point correctly

Due to the patch we made in SCLM in our shop we compile only once in user level rest of the level we just move to next levels

Akatsukami · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:15 am

Bill Woodger · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:20 am

Wow, don't tell the Auditors :-)

Can you recreate any given source from, say, two years four months and three days ago, and guarantee that when compiled the object code is identical to the Production object code at that time? I suspect not.

Fail of a Computer Audit, without looking anywhere further.

Anyway, the Ds won't work then.

The "Debugging Declaratives" might give you something, because they can be set on/off by an option (in various ways, my preference being CEEOPTS DD statement). There is some "performance" penalty if turning off what has been compiled in, because a switch needs to be tested for every reference/use of a paragraph/SECTION.

Pandora-Box · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:23 am

No those were repercussions or advantage of the patch which eased some clock

Pandora-Box · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:31 am

Thanks Bill will try that CEEOPTS when I get back to my desk next week

Thanks for those pointers

Gary McDowell · Active User Joined: 15 Oct 2012 Posts: 139 Location: USA

I'm looking for a CICS program I did this to and I cannot find it. It was basically an "IF" statement. I can't even remember the situation now. If I come accorss it I'll let ya know.
if "prod"
do-something
else
do-something-else
end-if

Bill Woodger · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:50 am

Perhaps UPSI.

This is one byte of on/off values (0-7) which you can interrogate from COBOL and set in the JCL.

Looked like this when I used it last: