A TRANSACTION resource defines transaction attributes that relate to functions provided by CICS®.
A CICS application consists of one or more programs written to perform a specific function. A particular invocation of such an application is known as a transaction, and the CICS transaction manager identifies it by its transaction identifier (TRANSID). You tell CICS how you want your transaction to run, primarily in a TRANSACTION definition, by providing such information as the transaction priority, security key, and the length of the transaction work area (TWA). The name of this definition, the TRANSACTION name, is the same as the TRANSID. You also link the transaction with other resources by coding the names of their definitions in the TRANSACTION definition. These other resources are PROGRAM, PROFILE, PARTITIONSET, REMOTESYSTEM, and TRANCLASS.
If you name a REMOTESYSTEM in a CONNECTION definition, you can also supply a REMOTENAME, which is the name of the transaction to be run in the remote system. The remote system decides which program it gives control to.
If you specify a REMOTESYSTEM name that corresponds to the system in which the definition is installed, CICS installs a local transaction resource. Otherwise CICS installs a remote transaction resource.
You can use a CICS bundle to create, edit, and install a TRANSACTION resource definition. If you create a TRANSACTION resource in this way, you must use the CICS bundle to manage the lifecycle of that resource, and you cannot manage the resource independently. You can inquire on a TRANSACTION resource that is dynamically generated by a CICS bundle, by using the EXEC CICS INQUIRE TRANSACTION or CEMT INQUIRE TRANSACTION command. However, you cannot issue SET or DISCARD commands against a TRANSACTION resource that is dynamically generated by a CICS bundle. You must issue the commands against the BUNDLE resource, and CICS applies them to the TRANSACTION resource.
For more information about defining resources in CICS bundles, see Defining CICS bundles.