Invalid data detection reports

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The invalid data detection scan is a dynamic scan that looks at the runtime messages in a specific COBOL batch application. The invalid data detection report shows any runtime messages found in the application and highlights invalid data related errors when compiler options like NUMCHECK, SSRANGE, and PARMCHECK are enabled. Address the runtime messages or invalid data problems using the source code linking functionality. Locate and fix invalid data runtime errors in the source code using AI code assistant.

Invalid data detection report

Important: For the best results, ensure that your application is compiled with COBOL 6 with the following invalid data detection options enabled:
  • NUMCHECK
  • SSRANGE
  • PARMCHECK

Runtime overview tab

Once an invalid data detection scan is complete, the invalid data detection report displays the runtime overview tab.

Application overview

This section shows basic information about the application, including:
  • Application name: The name of the application
  • Total COBOL programs: The number of COBOL programs in the application
  • Total runtime messages: The number of runtime messages detected in the application
  • Severity level: The highest severity level of runtime message detected in the program
  • CPU time: The total amount of time the CPU spent running the program

Runtime options

This section lists out all the runtime options settings used in the application.

Next steps

This section guides users in continuing the COBOL upgrade process.

Once all the runtime messages are addressed, users can use this section to return to the COBOL upgrade workflow diagram on the Welcome page for guidance on next steps.

Runtime messages overview

This section has a donut chart that shows the percentage of runtime messages separated by message severity level.

Hover over a section of the donut chart to see the percentage of messages in a severity level.

Runtime messages preview

This runtime messages preview table highlights 10 runtime messages in the application with the highest severity.

The table shows:
  • Runtime message: The ID of the runtime message
  • Program name: The name of the program the runtime message is found
  • Severity level: The severity level of the message

Program preview

This program preview table highlights 20 programs in the application with the most runtime messages.

The table shows:
  • Program name: The name of the program where the runtime messages are found
  • # of messages: The number of runtime messages found in the program

Runtime messages tab

This tab contains a program list table of all the programs included in the scan, with details of all the invalid data messages and other runtime messages found in the program. This table can be exported as a CSV file that can be used to view all invalid data issues at once, share with team members, and to track upgrade progress at any time.

The Programs list table shows:
  • Program name: The name of the program
  • Total runtime messages: The total number of runtime messages detected for the program
  • Compilation time: The time the program was compiled
  • Compiler version: The specific version of the COBOL compiler that was used
  • CPU: The CPU percentage of total program samples against the total number of program samples in the application
  • Severity level: The highest severity level of runtime message detected in the program
The drop down for each program shows:
  • Runtime message: The runtime message ID. Selecting a runtime message opens the Runtime message side panel.
  • Message type: Any runtime message grouping determined by COBOL Upgrade Advisor for z/OS®

    Groupings include:

    • Invalid data: Runtime data values or programs do not conform to the rules in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference manual
  • Data item name: The data item name that is involved in the runtime message
  • Source line: The line number in the source code where the message is found
    Note: Selecting a source line number in this table opens your source code.
    • If you are opening the source code for the first time, you must specify the source file location and the listing location before source code linking can be enabled.
    • You can use the AI code assistant to resolve invalid data runtime errors in the source code. For more information, see Fixing compilation and runtime errors using the AI code assistant.
    • The source line number listed here might differ from the source line number in your COBOL source file if copybooks are used. CUAZ will match the original source line number if a listing file is provided.

  • Message severity level: The severity level determined by the suffix of the message code
  • Documentation: A documentation link to more information about the runtime message

Runtime message side panel

This panel is displayed when a runtime message is selected from the programs list table.

In addition to what is shown in the drop down in the Program list, this panel shows:
  • The full message ID and message text
  • Explanation: Describes why the message was generated
  • System action: A record of what system action was taken when the error was encountered
  • Programmer response: How the programmer can resolve the runtime issue

Save reports

After the scan completes, select Save report to save the report. You can save the reports to an existing project or create a new project. All details in the report including the data sets and programs are saved to the project. The reports and projects can be accessed from the Side Bar.