Activating an extended MCS console
The MCSOPER macro with REQUEST=ACTIVATE defines and activates an
extended MCS console to the system. When control returns to the calling
program, the location specified on the CONSID parameter and the console
status area in MCSCSA contain a 4-byte console ID that represents
the activated extended console. You must specify the address of a
message ECB on the MSGECB parameter of the MCSOPER macro. MSGECB identifies
the ECB that the system is to post when a message is queued for the
extended MCS console. Issue MCSOPMSG when an ECB is posted. MCSOPMSG
returns a pointer to the queued message so that you can locate it.
See Specifying console attributes for information on specifying console attributes.
Note: For system performance reasons, IBM® recommends that the message ECB be in common
storage.
When you activate an extended MCS console, the system creates a data space to store messages. There is one data space for every address space with an active extended MCS console. Therefore, if an address space has two active extended MCS consoles, both share the same message data space. Note that the system deletes this data space upon deactivation of all the extended MCS consoles in the address space.
When activating an extended MCS console, you need to specify its attributes and determine how you want to store messages.