Joined: 07 Feb 2009 Posts: 1318 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
In my REXX, panel, message and skeleton libs I still have members that date back to the early 1990'ies. I probably will never use them, but given that that take no more than a few tracks, there's no way I'm going to delete them, ever.
What you're doing, probably suggested by a clueless PHB, is a total waste of time, and so is this whole thread.
...why not copy the datasets involved to the USS side an do your research from there
That was my initial inclination, until I discovered that we're (my company) is running some horribly antiquated USS version which doesn't include BASH. I am OK with writing antiquated sh scripts (or whatever shell is in use), but, it seems like this whole thing *should* be able to be done with a few lines of REXX. Since this looks like an opportunity to learn REXX, I thought I would try it.
Of course, I am stumbling on even the most basic funcitonality.
My latest experiment with running (submitting) my first REXX script results in this, totally useless message: RECORD LENGTH OF DATA SET MYUSER.DEV.REXX1 NOT 80
I cannot understand how something as trivial as creating a text file could be made so complicated.
I feel like I am missing some absolute basic knownledge here.
Almost like I am not even using tools that are available.
As a sort of weak analogy, it's like I am using the DOS 1.0 shell from within modern Linux BASH without knowing or something.
Seriously, I honestly cannot believe that this is really the way people work on Mainframe z/OS. Surely there are modern editors, and proper shells that can be used for this.
As a simple example of what I am talking about, my attempt at running a simple REXX script, as indicated above. It took me about 4 attempts to create the file within ISPF. Editing it is a painfully archaic process of line editing with an interface worse than 'ed' (I mean, come on, 'vi' is 45 years old !) , Now, I have to figure out how I can correct this RECORD LENGTH error, when really, why do I need to care about this, surely this is the job of the OS and file system to worry about.
WTF !
This is a text file containing REXX script. How complicated can it be ?
And, this is what I mean by I feel like I must be missing something. Like there are tools available, but, I am not yet aware of them.
Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Posts: 2609 Location: Silicon Valley
Code:
RECORD LENGTH OF DATA SET MYUSER.DEV.REXX1 NOT 80
In the 1950's (maybe earlier??), you had to use a keypunch machine to type stuff onto a paper card (that was 80 characters long). And you used a card reader to input your stuff into the mainframe.
Additional functions where added later, but some of the original restrictions remain. I am not trying to convince you to like the old stuff; I am just trying to explain that you need to live with some restrictions. They are unlikely to change.
-----
I suggest you issue this command: PROFILE MSGID
so that when a message is displayed, you get a message number that you can search for.
