Re: advice on best technique for processing input parms...

Michael, 

The best way I have found to handle this is to move the "in-line" data to a
source member in some source file. QCARDSRC(JOBA). In your CL you will need
to do an OVRDBF that would look like this. 
OVRDBF FILE(CARDIN) TOFILE(*LIBL/QCARDSRC) MBR(JOBA)
In your cobol program you will just read CARDIN until EOF. You will need to
make some changes in you program to allow for the 12 byte in the front of
the file that holds the Sequence number and the date. If you do not want to
do that then you could copy the source file member to a fix 80 byte file
that is created in QTEMP. Make sure you use the *CVTSRC option on the CPYF. 

HTH

Jerry Thomas
Cothern Computer Systems, Inc. 


-----Original Message-----
From: cobol400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:cobol400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Rosinger
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 2:57 PM
To: cobol400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [COBOL400-L] advice on best technique for processing input parms...

List,

We will be migrating COBOL programs from a VSE/ESA system to i5. Many of our

COBOL programs have optional input parameters that drive the processing. The

way the majority of them handle the parms is that the parms are coded 
"in-line" in the JCL. The program defines the system reader device as a 
"file". This technique has proven to be the most flexible since it enables 
the program to handle 0 to many input parms and keeps "reading" the file 
until end-of-file (translated that means when the JCL card containing the 
"/*" card is read).

So, I would like opinions as to how best to adapt this type of processing to

the iSeries world. Is there a way to define the system reader device as a 
file to the COBOL program which can read in the parameter cards that are 
"in-line" in the CL and *know* when to stop (EOF)?

If not, what is the closest method that would require the fewest logic 
changes to the existing programs?

Your ideas please. TIA!