Dynamic Scripting and CICS/TS 4.2

Are you using the new Dynamic Scripting Feature Pack? If so, you must be running CICS/TS 4.1 … There was only a limited SupportPac for CICS/TS V3, and IBM just announced that the Dynamic Scripting Featue Pack is not supported on CICS/TS 4.2.

CICS/TS 4.2 supports only 64-bit JVM’s, and the feature pack has environment variables set for using 31-bit JVM’s. We will be watching for an update from IBM soon, as supporting dynamic scripting was listed on the CICS/TS 4.2 Announcment Letter‘s Statement of Direction.

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Make CICS/TS V3 Function Like 4.1 (For Free!)

Still running CICS/TS 3.1 or 3.2, and cannot upgrade yet to the recently released 4.1 version due to budget constraints or other restrictions? You can still get some of the benefits available in 4.1 by installing these free SupportPacs for CICS available on the IBM web site!

Sending Email from CICS

If you are not sending email from CICS in your shop, you really need to add that capability. If you do not currently have a need for it, “build it and they will come” … The reasons for sending email from within CICS will start popping up like nobody’s business once it is in place.

Assuming you have SMTP set up on z/OS, sending email from CICS is a snap. If you do not have SMTP set up, I would recommend reviewing the info available on Lionel B Dyck’s site and Dave Alcock’s Planet MVS site. Once SMTP is set up, all you have to do is write records to the punch queue in the correct format, and SMTP will take care of the rest.

To get kick-started, I recommend reviewing three different products. They are all easy to use, and they are all FREE!

First, if you are not already running Lional B Dyck’s XMITIP, then go to his site now and download it. It is a facility to send email from batch, so you can integrate that into your batch processes and you can consider generating JCL from CICS that uses it to send email.

Next, take a look at IBM SupportPac CA1H. It shows how you can create the records in the correct format and send them to the punch queue so that SMTP will pick them up and send them out as an email message.

And if that’s too much work, grab a copy of XMITCICS. It is very easy to install, and with it you can just assign values to working storage and link to XMITCICS from your application to send email messages. It also has a convenient batch facility called XMITMAIL.

If you haven’t already done so, check these out and bring 21st century functionality to your CICS applications!