Negative Value for RETURN-CODE... is it possible?

lseril · New User Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 2

How will JCL/JES2 behave if I force the value of RETURN-CODE in COBOL to a negative number? For example, i mistakenly set it to the SQL error code like -805.

Will JCL/JES2 default it to a particular value since the range of JCL return codes is between 0 and 4095 only?

Could you provide references or links to support the answer for this?

I currently have a problem wherein I mistakenly set the RETURN-CODE register in a COBOL program to the SQL error code but my job still ends normally with RC=00 on the supposedly abending step.

I appreciate any help on this topic. Thanks!

ikumar · New User Joined: 02 Aug 2005 Posts: 81

I am not sure whether it accepts negative return codes or not.
But i can give you one reason why it is giving RC=00 even though you have forced it to -805. Juct check, whether do u have any CALLs to subprograms after you set the retunr-code to -805. because it resets the retunr-code when the call to sub program is successful.

correct me if i m wrong....

Thanks,
Kumar.

lseril · New User Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 2

Hi Kumar,

We do have a called program and it's passing a return code value to the calling program, will in turn will be MOVEd into the RETURN-CODE register right before ending the execution. However, we realized it's has been passing SQLCODE values which can be negative. This is easy to resolve however I'm puzzled by the way JCL/JES2 message interprets negative values.

We're quite sure that the RETURN-CODE value is -805 because we DISPLAYed it in the SYSOUT but I'm confused why JCL/JES2 changes it to RC=00.

Thanks for the response,
Leo