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CICS interview Question


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trushant.w

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 1:09 pm
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I dont have working experience in cics and worked only on batch but nowadays requirement are for CICS only.
So i used to go for interview by reading some theory

2-3 times i came across below question
Please explain transaction flow in CICS ?

My answer was always like frist we type transaction-id in cics and then that tranaction id is searched in PCT and corresponding programe is called.
Then that programe is Looked in PPT and loaded in main memory and programe is executed.

But i was unable to answer after that.
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Rohit Umarjikar

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:22 pm
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Please refer to below link, this would give you some information on CICS works,

publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zos/basics/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.zos.zmidtrmg/zmiddle_19.htm

Still, if you have any specific question then please then post it here.
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Nic Clouston

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:23 pm
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Depends on whether they were asking about non-conversational, conversational or pseudo-conversational transactions. Try googling for CICS tutorials/books
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trushant.w

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:27 pm
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Hi Rohit

I appriciate you input.

But i already gone through this link but could not find answer.
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Rohit Umarjikar

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:42 pm
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What is your specific question?
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Bill O'Boyle

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 4:28 pm
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trushant.w asked
Quote:
Please explain transaction flow in CICS ?

How detailed of an answer do you need? The answer can be general or very specific.

Please advise....
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trushant.w

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 4:41 pm
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Hi Bill

I think they were expecting very specific answer.
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Bill O'Boyle

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 5:42 pm
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trushant.w,

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but if you stumbled over your answer, then the perspective employer may decide not to hire you. It really all depends on the interviewer and whether your answer was a flat-out "NO" or perhaps "I'm not completely sure, but I can certainly find out".

HTH....
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trushant.w

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 5:51 pm
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What could be the best answer to this question ?
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Bill O'Boyle

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 6:26 pm
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Well, certainly "NO" would not be a good answer.

Transaction flow in CICS is detailed in the manuals and is really too much to get into on this forum.

It's a matter of studying and understanding the concepts.

If you don't have a CICS background, then attempting to answer the interviewer with inadequate information, may not be such a good idea.
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dick scherrer

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 7:14 pm
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Hello,

And much can depend on the depth/expectation of the interviewer.

If this is an HR person, there may be a "canned" answer they want. If the interviewer actually knows CICS, they may want more specifics in the answer. If they want more specifics, the question most likely will not be too general (the question posted here is quite general).
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Ed Goodman

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 8:01 pm
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From an application developer point of view, I wonder if they meant something like:

) Program gets control
) Program reads input message
) Program displays input screen
) User enters data, presses enter
) Program gets control
) Program handles data
) Program either responds with errors or calls next program

For IMS, I hear people talk about the 'Input side' and 'Output side' of a program a lot. We use a code generator, so most of the time, they are talking about how IT does things instead of how IMS does things.
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Rohit Umarjikar

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:48 am
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Ed Goodman, you are right but then the question should have been Please explain pseudo-conversational programming in CICS instead ?
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Milin

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:53 am
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Allow me to address this query..

1) TRANSID is a 4-char field.. first Terminal Control accepts this ID entered into the terminal.. and puts it into working storage

2) System Services then identify associated Program through PCT.. the program modules are brought from program library [DASD] to working storage

3) Task is created.. the associated program is given a control [via PPT].. it invokes BMS and terminal control to send map on terminal

4) then BMS and terminal control handle user's input.. invoke file control [FCT]

5) file control reads the appropriate file.. then the program invokes BMS and terminal control to format the retrived data and to send it to the terminal for display...


I hope this five step transaction flow explanation will be helpful..

correct me if i am wrong somewhere.. icon_smile.gif icon_neutral.gif icon_rolleyes.gif
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