REXX for zOS

Duration:   3 or 4 days

Participants:   Application programmers and developers, technical support personnel, and end users.

Objectives:   Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to: -  Code, test, and execute powerful REXX execs that accomplish a variety of utility and programming tasks in an MVS/ESA environment. -  Code REXX programs that customize JCL and submit MVS background jobs. -  Use built-in REXX functions, including those specific to the TSO platform, and write your own internal and external functions and subroutines. -  Perform file I/O using the EXECIO statement. -  Execute batch REXX execs using JCL. -  Invoke TSO foreground applications.

Overview:   -  This course emphasizes REXX features that are particularly useful in an MVS and TSO environment. -  We present this class in 3 days for experienced programmers. For a class of students with no programming experience, we present a 4 day course omitting complex program logic and covering other programming-related topics in greater depth. -  We discourage including non-programmers and programmers in the same class. -  Generally, this course is followed by ISPF Dialog Manager, which provides full-screen (panel) IO, variable, library, table support, etc. -  An additional day can be added to this course teaching “structured programming using REXX”. It is added at the beginning of the course, so that all subsequent workshops reinforce the structured programming concepts.

Prerequisites:   Experience using TSO/ISPF is required. An understanding of programming concepts is strongly recommended.

Format:   Lecture and discussion with hands-on exercises.

Topic Outline:   -  Creating and Running REXX Execs         Writing a simple exec         Running a REXX exec in the TSO/MVS environment         Running a REXX exec              Explicit method              Implicit method         SYSPROC vs SYSEXEC         EXECUTIL SEARCHDD(YES)         REXX execs and CLISTs         TSO commands in REXX execs -  The Basics         Syntax rules         Variables, functions, and subroutines         Constants         Arithmetic operators         Comparison operators         Boolean operators         Concatenation         Stem variables         Buffers and stacks -  REXX Instructions         SAY instruction         PULL instruction         ARG instruction         Passing arguments to a REXX exec         IF...THEN...ELSE instruction         SELECT instruction         DO instruction -  Troubleshooting         TS, TE         Deciphering error messages -  Built-in Functions         External functions         Arithmetic functions         Comparison functions         Conversion functions         Formatting functions         String-manipulation functions         Miscellaneous functions -  Trapping Screen Output         SYSTRAP         Stem variables         Looping -  User-Written Subroutines and Functions         Functions vs subroutines              Purpose and use              Internal vs external         Functions              External              Internal         Return codes         Subroutines              External              Internal         RESULT variable         EXPOSE -  File I/O and Stacks         Using EXECIO         Data stacks and queues         Buffers         Push -  Interrupt and Error Handling         SIGNAL instruction         Event trapping examples -  Tracing and Debugging REXX Execs         Tracing         RC-return code -  Running REXX Execs in Batch         Batch TSO         MVS Batch -  Invoking Dialog Management Services         Necessary allocations         Service invocation         Displaying simple ISPF panels

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