Charles, I take it you heard about System Rexx?

René 


> On 20 Jun 2022, at 17:48, Charles Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> I *think* it would be possible to monitor the console ECB from Rexx, and 
> extract any MODIFY text -- you can do almost anything in Rexx with enough 
> C2D()'s -- but multiple levels of C2D() does not exactly make for a pretty 
> application. I think it would be Rexx abuse.
> 
> Answering @kekronbekron's question, I don't think there is any "system" 
> facility that lets a program written in Rexx be aware of STOP or MODIFY. I 
> have two similar Rexx STC's -- one is essentially version zero of the app I 
> am designing here, and will be replaced by it -- and for both, I admit it, 
> the command to stop them is CANCEL. :-(
> 
> I don't think there is any facility for Rexx running in batch-type 
> environments, whether compiled or interpreted, including as an STC, to 
> process HI (Halt Interpretation, not "Hello!"). I would be happy if someone 
> would correct me.
> 
> What I keep meaning to do, and will do as part of this application, is write 
> a little assembler (sorry, David <g>) routine to solve this issue. All of 
> these STC's have the general flow
> 
> Do Forever
>  Perform some sort of processing
>  Delay several minutes
> 
> (Watch out if the list folds those lines!)
> 
> The assembler routine will take as input a delay time in hundredths of a 
> second (because of STIMER), do a WAIT ECBLIST, and return one of
> 
> 'T' -- the time expired
> 'P' -- the operator entered STOP
> 'F modify command operand' -- the operator entered MODIFY
> 
> That will make for an application that could be halted without CANCEL, and 
> also could potentially be re-parametized on the fly.
>    
> Charles
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On 
> Behalf Of David Crayford
> Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2022 10:32 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: Some UNIX file usage questions
> 
>> On 20/06/2022 12:08 pm, wrote:
>> Hey Charles,
>> 
>>> I know exactly how to execute a Started Task written in Rexx, and I know 
>>> most of the gotchas.
>> Could you expand a bit on this please.
>> I have this compiled REXX called MON3B from IBM, from 2016.
>> https://ftpmirror.your.org/pub/misc/ftp.software.ibm.com/s390/zos/wlm/MonitorIIIBatch-v1.10.pdf
>> 
>> Is cancelling it the only way to stop it, if the source for the REXX isn't 
>> available to modify?
> 
> If it's written in REXX I very much doubt it's handling operator 
> commands. That would require a console handler thread which is waaayyy 
> outside the limits of the language. I'm not familar with this product 
> and RMF is one of our products.
> 
> 
>> 
>>  - KB
>> 
>> ------- Original Message -------
>> On Sunday, June 19th, 2022 at 10:45 PM, Charles Mills <[email protected]> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>> Why not use Python? Good question.
>>> 
>>> 1. I can undoubtedly do it perfectly satisfactorily, and almost certainly 
>>> more quickly, in Rexx (because of the learning curve). I would have trouble 
>>> justifying billing the client for my Python learning time when there is 
>>> little benefit (that I know of -- correct me if I am wrong) for the client 
>>> who is paying the bills.
>>> 
>>> Why not, then, learn Python on my own time? Don't I want to learn Python? 
>>> Yes I do, but there are only so many hours in a day, and there are other 
>>> things I want to learn more than I do Python. For example, I would rather 
>>> spend the time learning to make the Roman-Jewish fried artichokes that are 
>>> in the current Cooks Illustrated. Learning Python is just not very high on 
>>> my bucket list. It's there, but probably not high enough to ever rise to 
>>> the top.
>>> 
>>> 2. I know exactly how to execute a Started Task written in Rexx, and I know 
>>> most of the gotchas. In my experience, THAT is the problem with the "new 
>>> tools" on z/OS. What would I have to do to execute a Started Task written 
>>> in Python? What are the gotchas? Heck, what do I have to do to set up any 
>>> Python environment at all? That is the time-consuming issue, and it holds 
>>> about zero personal gratification for me. I could probably learn the Python 
>>> language pretty readily, and it would be one more notch in my belt. Solving 
>>> the probable gotchas of getting Python to actually do productive work on 
>>> z/OS -- not so much.
>>> 
>>>> it would trivial to serve those reports as a REST API
>>> 
>>> Neat, but that is not what the client (who is paying the bills) wants. He 
>>> wants a trivial-to-read-on-his-iPhone email in his inbox every morning. 
>>> Again, it would be nice to have "how to write a REST API" in my toolkit, 
>>> but not nice enough for me to learn it on my own time. Frankly, I am in an 
>>> "I wish I had less work on my plate" mode and I would probably rather learn 
>>> that artichoke recipe than learn to write REST APIs even if I were getting 
>>> paid for the learning time.
>>> 
>>>> use SQLite instead of a file which will significantly simplify writing 
>>>> reports
>>> 
>>> Not for me, and probably not for the "report" (I am flattering the 
>>> requirement calling it a report -- maybe call it an "alert") that the 
>>> client wants. And again, a learning curve that is difficult to justify.
>>> 
>>> So I think I will write it in Rexx, with perhaps a little bit of Assembler.
>>> 
>>> Charles
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On 
>>> Behalf Of David Crayford
>>> Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2022 11:43 PM
>>> To: [email protected]
>>> Subject: Re: Some UNIX file usage questions
>>> 
>>>> On 19/06/2022 1:33 am, Paul Gilmartin wrote:
>>> 
>>>> On Sat, 18 Jun 2022 09:51:45 -0700, Charles Mills wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> ...
>>>>> I picture writing the started task in Rexx, so I would have to write to a 
>>>>> DD
>>>>> name allocated to the UNIX file (either dynamically or with JCL), not with
>>>>> "native" C fopen(), fwrite(), etc. Does that change any of the answers?
>>>> Why? In Rexx you can "address SYASCALL write ..." instead.
>>> 
>>> Why REXX? Is it a case of knowing the banjo so you play Stairway to
>>> Heaven in the style of Earl Schruggs?
>>> 
>>> Why not use IBMs z/OS Python? You can then use SQLite instead of a file
>>> which will significantly simplify writing reports. In fact, it would
>>> trivial to serve those
>>> reports as a REST API and put a nice WebUI on top using a simple
>>> template that supports data tables.
>>> 
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