The MVS™ message service (MMS) provides a method of
translating message text, and provides a convenient method of storing
message text.
- MMS enables you to translate U.S. English messages into other
languages. These messages can be IBM-supplied messages or application
messages. An application can format message text for any language,
including English, by issuing the TRANMSG macro.
- MMS enables you to store message text in MMS message files rather
than in the application code. By using MMS to store message text,
you eliminate the need to include the message text as part of the
application code. Any program that needs to issue a particular message
can get it from one place: a run-time message file. A run-time
message file contains messages in a format that MMS can use. You can
also update your messages in the install message files rather
than in the source code. An install message file is a partitioned
data set (PDS) that contains message skeletons. A message skeleton
contains message text and substitution data.
Applications running on TSO/E can have their messages translated
automatically if the primary language associated with the TSO/E session
is the same language as the language of the run-time message file.
A primary language is one that is defined in your TSO/E profile. Therefore,
even if you are issuing messages by using the WTO macro, you can present
a message in the primary language associated with the TSO/E session.
If you are routing system messages to a TSO/E extended MCS console,
and MMS is active, users of extended MCS consoles on TSO/E can select
available languages for message translation and the system will display
translated messages on the user's screen.
Applications based on products not already using MMS must translate
their own messages by invoking the TRANMSG macro.
MMS can handle multi-line and multiple format messages. Multi-line
messages are messages displayed over a number of lines on an output
device. Multiple format messages are messages that have the same
message ID, but have differing text content depending on the circumstances
under which they are issued.
Preparing IBM-supplied messages for translation: To
prepare IBM® messages for translation, perform the following
tasks:
- Ensure that the appropriate IBM-supplied system install message
files have been installed on your system.
For MVS messages
(MVS,
JES2, TSO/E), IBM provides an install message file for U.S.
English messages. IBM will also supply Japanese versions
of those messages, if requested. When you install MVS, these
messages are automatically put into install message files. The U.S.
English file is called SYS1.MSGENU.
- Create a system run-time message file for each language by running
the system's install message files through the message compiler. See Compiling message files for details on using the compiler.
Preparing application messages for translation: To
prepare an application's messages for translation, perform the following
tasks.
- Create a PDS for the English version, and a PDS for the translated
version of the application's messages. To make it easy to locate and
update messages, group messages for each program, component, or other
category into separate PDS members. These data sets are the application's
install message files. The logical record length of the data set should
be variable length of 259, and the block size 23476. IBM recommends that
you put IBM messages first in a PDS concatenation. If
you are not translating IBM messages, you can still use
the same recommended logical record length and block size.
- Validate the application's install message files by running each
PDS through the message compiler. See Compiling message files for
details on using the compiler. The MMS message compiler replaces the
entire run-time message file, so create a test run-time message file
for each language, using names different from those containing IBM-supplied
messages. Creating a test run-time message file enables you to verify
the new messages without disturbing the existing system run-time message
files and current message translation.
- After a clean compile, add your PDS members into the system's
install message files as new members.
- Update the system run-time message files by running the system's
install message files through the message compiler. See Updating the system run-time message files for details on updating the system run-time
message files.
Figure 1 illustrates the process of preparing
messages for translation.
Figure 1. Preparing
Messages for Translation
Translating application messages using the MVS message
service: To use MMS in an application, modify the application
to exploit the translation service that MMS provides:
The installation can translate messages into more than one language.
See Support for additional languages.