It's easy with the Retrieve Call Stack API.

By Bruce Vining

In our last column, "More-Flexible Testing of Your CL Program Error-Handling," we left the SNDESCAPE program with the limitation of our having to hardcode the name of the program being tested: MONESCAPE. Today, we will look at how to dynamically determine the program that we want to send an escape message to. We will do this by using the Retrieve Call Stack (QWVRCSTK) API, which is documented here.

Use message replacement data along with the Command Analyzer Retrieve exit point.

Written by Bruce Vining

In our last column, "Testing Your CL Program Error-Handling," we looked at a rather simplistic SNDESCAPE exit program and noted several assumptions in how the program is written:

Register and use the Command Analyzer Retrieve exit point.

By Bruce Vining

I recently received a note from Phillip M., asking about the availability of APIs to aid in his testing of CL programs. In part, he says, "The commands generate CPF, BRM, and LNT message id's. I can't duplicate hardly any of the errors that will come up and I need to test the CL thoroughly before I put it into production. I really need the MONMSG command to pick up what I throw at it."

Having had similar needs in the past--how to generate specific failure conditions for testing purposes--I can readily understand his need. And I suspect some of you reading this article feel likewise. Fortunately, there is a fairly easy way to accomplish his objective (assuming that your system is at V4R5 or later).

Change commands with the Command Analyzer Change exit point.

By Bruce Vining

This article is the fourth in a series that discusses how to use proxy commands and the Command Analyzer Change exit point. In the last article, we reviewed the validation-checking that an exit program should perform prior to processing command-related data passed to the program. In this article, we will look at the actual processing of this command-related data.

Register and validate the Command Analyzer Change exit point.

By Bruce Vining

This article is the third in a series that discusses how to use proxy commands and the Command Analyzer Change exit point. In the last article, you saw the source for the Check for KILL exit program CHKKILL, but we had not had the opportunity to examine the program in detail. We'll start doing so now.

Did you know you could enhance the IBM "Work with" commands?

By Bruce Vining

Over the years, many users have asked for the ability to enhance IBM-provided displays. With V6R1, this is now possible with the commands Work with Output Queue (WRKOUTQ), Work with Spooled Files (WRKSPLF), Work with Job Spool Files (WRKJOB OPTION(*SPLF), and even the Status Print (D P) of the System/36 environment. While IBM continues to reserve numeric options such as 1 for send, 2 for change, 3 for hold, and so on, users can now define their own alphabetic options such as A for archive, E for email, F for fax, and so on. In this article, we will see how to add a new option, P (Print Next or Prioritize), to move a spooled report to the top of an output queue.