IMPACT'97: Internet--Intranet--Web, Transforming Legacy Systems to Open Systems

Hyatt Regency Denver Downtown Hotel -- Sunday, April 27 to Wednesday, April 30

For more information: http://www.impactug.org

• English as a second language
• Questions & Answers

English as a second language

by Tym Stegner

Habla Espanol? Parlez vous Francais? Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Not all users of System 1032 speak English as their primary language.

System 1032 offers several features and commands to help adapt the user interface to non-English-speaking users.

The SET STANDARDS INTERNATIONAL command resets the date and numerical standards to the international conventions. These conventions include redefining the default date format to day-month-year, the digit separator to a period, and the decimal separator to a comma. The system variables $DATE_STANDARD, $FMT_COMMA, and $FMT_DECPT are also set to their proper values, respectively.

In addition to the default changes, you can adjust other system variables to adapt the System 1032 interface to a different language. These system variables include:

Variable	Meaning
$FMT_MVSTR	Missing value character
$FMT_OVSTR	Field full indicator character
$MAINTAINER	System maintainer's name
$MAINT_CTR	Help office location
$NCS_SORT	Default collating sequence
$PRNT_*	Various print display control values
$SITE	Company name
$TIS_*	Choice, Help & Recognize invoking sequences

System 1032 can store characters of any national character set, both in its value storage and its key structure, because System 1032 understands 8-bit characters. Using the MULTINATIONAL option on the KEY command or the KEYED option for attributes ensures that the proper international sort order for keyed values is respected. The SORT command and the BY option in PRINT also support the MULTINATIONAL option.

You can set the error messages files for the base system, as well as many of the layered products (including forms, the Command Window, and Request), to point to a file that has been converted for a particular language. At this time, this operation is not directly available to users, but remains a consulting operation.

The basic language of System 1032, PL1032, cannot be changed without a large development effort. However, you can redefine System 1032 command variables to ``internationalize'' the basic commands, and thereby ease the language burden of the occasional interactive user. Note that you can redefine only the primary command verbs; you cannot redefine embedded keywords such as IN, VIA, or TO.

A System 1032 command variable is a special class of text-varying variable whose value can be parsed as in-line commands, without the use of the @ or @= operators.

Example

A German-speaking site might chose to define command variables for OPEN, FIND, and PRINT:

Variable OFFNEN command initially ``OPEN \p0''

Variable FINDEN command initially ``FIND \p0''

Variable DRUCKEN command initially ``PRINT \p0''

OFFNEN Ds FILMS In S1032_Demo Readonly

FINDEN All

DRUCKEN Film_Title Release_Year

You can implement several of these suggestions in the System 1032 system initialization file, with the exception of language-modified error and message files, which you must access via system-defined logical names.

Questions & Answers

Model 204 Question:

Could Model 204 cause an SC022 ABEND? A user writes:

Every once in a while, Model 204 just dies with an SC022 ABEND in an MVS operating-system environment. The IBM completion code manual says:

``The execute channel program (EXCP) processor abnormally ended the job, because the maximum number of EXCP/EXCPVR macro requests permitted for an address space was exceeded. The maximum number of outstanding requests is defined in the ASCBXCNT in the address space control block (ASCB). Check the job for a loop that could result in these macros being issued without intervening wait macros. Search problem reporting data bases for a fix for the program.''

Is this a problem with Model 204 or is something wrong with our system here?

Answer:

The MVS operating system has a limit of 500 EXCPs. Because Model 204 issues an EXCP for each write request as fast as a user's application requests, you might exceed this limit. This usually happens when a DUMP or RESTORE command is issued and MAXBUF is set high, thus causing many EXCPs to be issued in rapid succession.

You can solve this problem in one of the following ways:

• Run your M204 job with the IOS BRANCH ENTRY (XMEMSVC) option turned on.
• Set MAXBUF to a lower value, thus forcing the number of EXCPs being issued to be spaced out in time, thus avoiding the maximum limit. CCA recommends that you try the first option for your Online, and choose either option for your BATCH204 jobs.

Model 204 question:

What changes are planned for CRAM in V4R1 of Model 204?

Answer:

In V4R1, Model 204 now supports the use of cross-memory services within the CRAM interface under MVS/XA and above.

 

• CRAM buffers are no longer obtained from CSA.
  Results: A substantial decrease in CSA storage requirements.
  
• All data moves are from the user buffer directly into the M204 user area.
  Results: A significant decrease in the number of data moves.
  
• All CRAM waits under cross-memory services are now invisible; no ECBs are added to the Scheduler chain.
  Results: Minimized Scheduler overhead by reducing the length of the M204 wait chain.