Did the IUO tool NAMELIST ever make it out to the wider world? Is looks
like it already does what we are looking for:
NAMELIST
--------
NAMELIST is a tool that manages CMS name files. It displays,
updates,
searches and sorts the entries in a name file.
The key features of this tool are described below:
o DISPLAY - The display is under user control; which fields display
and
how they display is extremely flexible. PF6 brings up an
online
updatable user profile. One unusual use for NAMELIST is as
an
easy-to-use vehicle for maintaining files in CMS "namefile
format"
which have non-standard tags (i.e. a tag-oriented database).
o UPDATE - When updating, a user can specify, in the profile brought
up
by PF6, that the PROFS nickname file is to receive the same
change.
(Note that the PROFS file only contains Nick, Node, Userid, and
Name)
o SEARCH - A wildcard character can be used in a search, and the
search
can be done on any tagged field. For example,
NAMELIST :node *TLVM*
will search the node field for any entries that contain
"TLVM"
anywhere within the field and list the results in the
filelist-like
display that is used by NAMELIST.
o SORT - Any field or combination of fields may be sorted in
ascending
or descending order. The sort results may be saved permanently
in
name file.
DJ
---
DAVID JONES | MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR ZSYSTEMS SERVICES | z/VM, Linux, and
Cloud
703.237.7370 (Office) | 281.578.7544 (CELL)
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANY
On 08.18.2020 6:57 AM, Alan Altmark wrote:
On Monday, 08/17/2020 at 09:09 GMT, Rob van der Heij
<[email protected]>
wrote:
Correct, there isn't. I don't think there's an API to operate on NAMES
files. As you say, reading can be done by running NAMEFIND through the
COMMAND stage and intercept the response. As the NAMES file is
frequently
RECFM V, updating in general means rewriting and replacing a section.
And
if you don't know the tags you're looking for, then reading would also
need
to be done by hand. I suppose when I talk to enough people to
understand
the format of the files, I could come up with a few examples showing
how
to
dissect and assemble the files.
Considering the various restrictions, I have some doubts about
leveraging
it as a generic registry.
Not sure what restrictions you're talking about. The format is
well-defined.
But I don't think this is a Pipe thing. I would rather enhance the
NAMEFIND command to allow ADD, REPLACE, and DELETE operations. It
knows
how to find an entry, and where an entry begins and ends in the file.
The ADD function might seem unnecessary, but in the context of NAMEFIND
a
new entry would only be added if it didn't already exist.
Alan Altmark
Senior Managing z/VM and Linux Consultant
IBM Systems Lab Services
IBM Z Delivery Practice
ibm.com/systems/services/labservices
office: 607.429.3323
mobile; 607.321.7556
[email protected]
IBM Endicott
