Natural access to native z/OS or VSE file system

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1

Welcome to the new Com-plete forum!

To get it started, let me share with you one of Natural-4’s best-kept secrets when running in Com-plete:

:idea: You can now read and write sequential files and PDS/PDSE members as well as VSE sublib members, simply by defining them as Natural workfiles:

:arrow: Start Natural with parameter WORK=((2),AM=SMARTS)
:arrow: The dataset/member name must be specified in path notation like this:
DEFINE WORK FILE 2 ‘/MY/PDS/MEMBER’ :!: The PDS or VSE sublib must exist.
For a sequential file:
DEFINE WORK FILE 2 ‘/MY/SEQ/FILE/’

If it doesn’t work for you, check these pitfalls:
:!: Make sure module NCF42APS (or NCF82APS) from the NCF load library is available in the COMPLIB library chain.
:!: If you get a S0C1, then probably an INCLUDE for module PAEAINT is missing from your Natural frontend link job.

2

(I apologize if this is duplicate msg, I thought I posted but can’t find it anywhere!) :oops:

We tried this suggestion but SMARTS was rejected as invalid AM parm. Does AM=SMARTS work for NAT316 under Com-Plete?

If not, is there a way to access datasets from Natural since we are still at NAT316? (We will be upgrading to NAT4 later this year but need to support online file access under Com-Plete prior to the upgrade). We need this functionality to replace CICS temp storage.

Thanks
Chris Walsh

3

Do you have Entire System Server already in-house? It’s an NAT add-on product that is/was sometimes thrown in during negotiations.

4

Thanks for the suggestion. We are exploring possibility of ESS. It just seemed like overkill (and another product to support) especially considering we’ll only need it for 2 or 3 months until we get onto Nat4. Unfortunately, we are not in position to defer Com-Plete installation until Nat4 goes in. :?

We have Communicator (Broker) in-house for our web application. Maybe there’s a (simple) way to leverage Broker to transfer the datasets to and from Natural? :idea:

5

I don’t know if this really helps, but I think if you get ESS you will find other uses for it. So it might not be such overkill—you’ll probably want to keep it even after the Natural upgrade.

6

If I hadn’t been in Las Vegas last week, I would have replied with something similar to what Curtis said above. But Curtis speaks so eloquently, I can’t add to his comments!

ESS is one of those products that makes you wonder what you can really do with it, and when you start exploring its possibilities, you’re surprised how you ever lived without it! :smiley:

7

If you have ESS you should be happy. It not only offers access to sequential files, it is an essential tool for development, too:

  • multi-session editing with cross-session copy/cut/paste
  • ispf-like editor
  • macro features
  • program generation/regeneration
  • file browser
  • output browser(workpool)
  • editing/starting/following/viewing jobs/output
    and much more. I love it!
8

[quote="Wilfried B