Dear Folks,
I'm just sending this short note, to help us sysprogs make better
use of our working time.
We all know that the CBT Tape (www.cbttape.org) has zillions of
useful tools, and we may have given up trying to use them, because there
are so many of them. But I'll try to tell you about two or three of
them, so you can get started saving time.
The PDS command from CBT File 182, contains hundreds of separate
functions, almost NONE of them APF-authorized, and this tool, especially
when working in ISPF, can make short work of all-day jobs, getting them
done in a few minutes. Since there are a lot of subcommands in the PDS
package, and they take time to learn, I'm suggesting to you that you
install the latest version (8.6.24.4) with the UTILXMIT (XMIT-format)
load library, and get started learning it, a few minutes a day. PDS
will pay your time investment back almost immediately.
For (just a small) example), you can accurately re-link any load
module by saying "MAP module RELINK" when pointing PDS to a load module
dataset. This takes all the guesswork out of finding the correct
linkage editor parameters. And you can do it to a whole load library by
saying MAP : RELINK (where the colon, :, means "do it to all members".
Thus, you can do an all-day job in less than 5 minutes, and do it
accurately.
And there are over 100 such subcommands, which can make short work
of some very difficult tasks.
The other starting program should be the REVIEW set of programs on
CBT File 134 (load modules on File 135). Did you know that (starting
with REVIEW 51.3), if you REVIEW an XMIT-format file, REVIEW will expand
it for you, so you can see all the members, if it is a pds? And REVIEW
can do a lot of other useful things with files. REVIEW has an ISPF-like
editor (called REVEDIT) which runs in TSO READY mode. Thus you can fix
ISPF using an editor that is almost like ISPF. When REVIEW-ing a file or
a member, just say UPDATE on the command line to get into REVEDIT. You
can also invoke REVIEW from within PDS.
This is just a start. If you spend a little bit of time each day
investigating this stuff, you can save hours and days of working time...!!!
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam
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