gtpg2m07General Macros


About This Book

The two macro books are the primary references for assembler language macro usage under the TPF system. They contain the detailed specifications for all TPF macros. Not included are system installation macros, system macros, data macros, structured programming macros, and macro groups that are related to specific functions or user tasks.

TPF General Macros contains descriptions of macros used by TPF applications programmers. Macros used by systems programmers are described in TPF System Macros. These macros comprise those that provide system services (such as performing alphabetic scans, using tape drives, or handling input and output), those that control application programming processing (such as entry creation), and controlling events for resource sharing (such as posting and waiting, queuing and dequeuing). The TPF Advanced Program-to-Program Communications (TPF/APPC) macros are also described in this book.

The application programming interface for TPF specifies that the interfaces to the general macros remain stable. Note in contrast that the interfaces to system macros are not guaranteed.

Macros restricted for use by the TPF system, those macros requiring authorization, or for macros for use in the control program only are documented in TPF System Macros.

In this book, abbreviations are often used instead of spelled-out terms. Every term is spelled out at first mention followed by the all-caps abbreviation enclosed in parentheses; for example, Systems Network Architecture (SNA). Abbreviations are defined again at various intervals throughout the book. In addition, the majority of abbreviations and their definitions are listed in the master glossary in the TPF Library Guide.

Who Should Read This Book

This book is intended for use by application and system programmers.

How This Book Is Organized

The first section of TPF General Macros contains a general introduction to macro usage and the usage conventions for the more common macro types. There is also information about how to read syntax diagrams. This is followed by the detail specifications for each macro. The detail specifications are ordered alphabetically by macro name.

General use macros are available for use by all programs. They provide the interfaces required to use various services of the TPF system.

TPF development pursues all feasible options to prevent making changes in these macros that would require any user changes in application code.

TPF Advanced Program-to-Program Communications (TPF/APPC) macros available for general use are provided in a separate section to preserve continuity in the book.

The following macros are described outside this book:

An index appears at the end of the book.

Conventions Used in the TPF Library

The TPF library uses the following conventions:

Conventions Examples of Usage
italic

Used for important words and phrases. For example:

A database is a collection of data.

Used to represent variable information. For example:

Enter ZFRST STATUS MODULE mod, where mod is the module for which you want status.


bold Used to represent text that you type. For example:

Enter ZNALS HELP to obtain help information for the ZNALS command.

Used to represent variable information in C language. For example:

level

monospaced Used for messages and information that displays on a screen. For example:
    PROCESSING COMPLETED

Used for C language functions. For example:

    maskc

Used for examples. For example:

    maskc(MASKC_ENABLE, MASKC_IO);
bold italic Used for emphasis. For example:

You must type this command exactly as shown.

Bold underscore Used to indicate the default in a list of options. For example:

Keyword=OPTION1 | DEFAULT

Vertical bar | Used to separate options in a list. (Also referred to as the OR symbol.) For example:

Keyword=Option1 | Option2

Note:
Sometimes the vertical bar is used as a pipe (which allows you to pass the output of one process as input to another process). The library information will clearly explain whenever the vertical bar is used for this reason.
CAPital LETters Used to indicate valid abbreviations for keywords. For example:

KEYWord=option

Scale Used to indicate the column location of input. The scale begins at column position 1. The plus sign (+) represents increments of 5 and the numerals represent increments of 10 on the scale. The first plus sign (+) represents column position 5; numeral 1 shows column position 10; numeral 2 shows column position 20 and so on. The following example shows the required text and column position for the image clear card.
|...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7...
 
LOADER   IMAGE CLEAR
 

Notes:

  1. The word LOADER must begin in column 1.

  2. The word IMAGE must begin in column 10.

  3. The word CLEAR must begin in column 16.

How to Read the Syntax Diagrams

This section describes how to read the syntax diagrams (informally called railroad tracks) used in this book.

Related Information

A list of related information follows. For information on how to order or access any of this information, call your IBM representative.

IBM Transaction Processing Facility (TPF) 4.1 Books

IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) Books

Online Information

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