"... conversion utility or compiler directive to make the translation from
the Unisys implementation of Cobol FD's to Enterprise Cobol?"

If the data is *all* in character format, then conversion from ASCII to
EBCDIC is easy using OPTCD=Q on the DCB. Unfortunately, that's seldom the
case, which makes things *much* more complicated.  You mention the
half-byte alignment problem, so you're already aware of that one. There's
also the issue of how signed and unsigned decimal fields are handled
(Unisys=leftmost position or none, IBM=rightmost position always).

MCP was inherited from the Burroughs side of the Unisys family, so there
will likely be some detailed information on the proprietary data types
somewhere here:
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/burroughs
Wish I could be more specific, but my depth of expertise is more on the IBM
side.
If anyone can point to a *specific* reference for Burroughs/Unisys data
types, please post it here.  I'd love to see it!

There was a recent discussion of specific Unisys to IBM conversion issues
on the "Mainframe Assembler Professionals" LinkedIn group, here:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/1462937/1462937-6049636244294488065
BFX was mentioned (a Netex product), was mentioned as a solution, and the
person posting sounded very positive about it, but looking at their
documentation, I don't see a reference which specifically says it does
Unisys to IBM conversion - z/OS to Unisys, yes, but not the other way
around:
http://www.netexsw.com/nesi/support/ReleasedDocs/H21x/man-ref-H211-08.pdf
And if it is supported, it looks like you basically write the conversion
code yourself, in Assembler, around which BFX is basically just a
"wrapper".

For a fee, there are some companies which can do the conversion for you,
such as:
http://www.discinterchange.com



> Date:    Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:04:58 +0000
> From:    "Ambros, Thomas" <[email protected]>
> Subject: Conversion from Unisys Cobol file definitions to zOS
>
> My apologies if there is a Cobol listserv that I should have subscribed to
> and submitted the question there, if someone knows of it please let me know
> so I can redirect to the correct place.
>
> Pardon me, also, if I use terms incorrectly in phrasing my question
> because I couldn't be weaker in application programming or Cobol
> idiosyncracies.
>
> Our site has occasion to import files from a Unisys site running 'MCP
> Level 57 Miser level 15.2', and integrate the data with the application
> datasets on the local system.  I do not know the Cobol product the Unisys
> site is using, I have inquiries out but no answers yet.  There are at least
> a few items causing our application programmers some difficulties.
>
> For example, it appears that the COMP fields in the Unisys file do not
> occupy storage the same as they do on zOS.   For example, a COMP field with
> three digits occupies one and one-half bytes on the Unisys file whereas on
> zOS it would be a halfword.
>
> Given the size and number of the files and descriptions to convert, coding
> a conversion by hand is not entirely practical.
>
> I realize this is a pretty vague request, but does anyone know of a
> conversion utility or compiler directive to make the translation from the
> Unisys implementation of Cobol FD's to Enterprise Cobol?   I have done some
> basic Google searching but nothing I find appears to address this sort of
> thing very closely.
>
> Thomas Ambros
> zEnterprise Operating Systems
> zEnterprise Systems Management
> 518-436-6433
>
>
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Reply via email to