RE: Large AS400 shop, test-data suggestions.

On Wednesday, August 26, 1998 7:01 PM, Tim Truax [SMTP:truax@usaor.net] 
wrote:
> Here's where we are now.  We want to subset the production environment
> completely onto a test (large supply machine) then build
> libraries/environments that will be program-alteration-change specific,
> then the programmer will be assigned a library housing the objects
> needed and a programming request form. then they could simply sit down
> and start coding instead of deciphering the system for 10 days before
> coding begins.   Suggestions appreciated.

Wow.

To home-grow this could be a major undertaking.  I do *some* of this stuff 
now, but manually; no automation.  Here are some of the steps I take (boy 
do I wish all my customers had Hawkeye's Pathfinder!)  How much of this I 
do depends on the severity of the problem and what files are updated...

1. Identify the failing HLL program
2. Identify the job stream that calls it
3. Find every program, display file, printer file, DB file, override, data 
area, user space, message queue and data queue in the job stream
4. DSPPGMREF on each program to find all the objects
5. CRTDUPOBJ for all the non-DB objects
6. CRTDUPOBJ all the PF's - no data
7. CRTDUPOBJ all the LF's
8. Isolate the "master" file for the failing record.  For instance, if the 
problem is in a journal entry, then the master file might be the chart of 
accounts file.  There can be more than one "master" file!
9. Use SQL to copy the single record from each production "master" to test 
"master" - insert into test/master (select * from prod/master where 
key=12345)
10. Use SQL to copy all the related records from the production 
"non-master" to test "non-master" based on the records found in test 
"master" - insert into test/journal (select * from prod/journal where 
jrnkey in (select key from test/master))
11. Copy the source for the failing program(s) to the test library for our 
intrepid programmer to work on
12. Track your DASD usage and clean up the test library!

The reason I posted this lot was to see if anyone else is doing anything 
similar to this...

Buck Calabro
Commsoft, Albany, NY
mailto:mcalabro@commsoft.net

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