Traces (option 7.7)

The Traces option (7.7) allows you to define, change, and delete trace specifications. You can trace processed dialog services, except for the VPUT or VGET service issued from a panel, and dialog variables to which are referred during dialog processing. Trace data is placed in the transaction log, where you can browse it by using the Log option (7.5) or print it when you leave ISPF. You can also print the log data set during an ISPF session by using the ISPF LOG command.

Since tracing can degrade dialog performance and create large amounts of output, you should be careful in setting the scope of trace definitions.

When you select this option, a selection panel is displayed (Figure 1) on which you can show the type of trace you want to define.

Figure 1. Traces panel (ISPYRI1)

   Menu  Utilities  Compilers  Options  Status  Help
 ─ ┌──────────────────────── Dialog Test ─────────────────────────┐ ───────────
   │   Menu  Utilities  Help                                      │
   │ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
 0 │                           Traces                             │ : SUEBURN
 1 │                                                              │ : 11:00
 2 │ 1  Function Traces   Monitor dialog service calls            │ : 3278
 3 │ 2  Variable Traces   Monitor dialog variable usage           │ : 1
 4 │                                                              │ : ENGLISH
 5 │ Option ===>                                                  │ : ISR
 6 │  F1=Help        F2=Split       F3=Exit        F4=Expand      │ : ISPF
 7 │  F5=Rfind       F6=Resize      F7=Backward    F8=Forward     │ : SUEBURN
 9 └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ : MVS8
 10 SCLM          SW Configuration Library Manager        MVS acct. : IBMGSA
 11 Workplace     ISPF Object/Action Workplace            Release . : ISPF 5.9
 12 z/OS System   z/OS system programmer applications
 13 z/OS User     z/OS user applications

      Enter X to Terminate using Log/List defaults


 Option ===> 7
  F1=Help      F2=Split     F3=Exit      F7=Backward  F8=Forward   F9=Swap
 F10=Actions  F12=Cancel

Subsequent topics describe the options shown at the top of the Traces panel.