Notes on subselector rules

You can define one or more subselector rules for a selector rule. Subselector rules enable report administrators to assign different archive attributes to subsets of the SYSOUT that is selected by a single selector rule.

The fields specified in the selector rule are passed to JES by means of the SAPI interface. JES returns SYSOUT data sets to Output Manager one at a time. When Output Manager is ready to create a new archive file for a SYSOUT data set, it examines the subselector rules that are defined for the selector rule from top to bottom to determine if any match the SYSOUT. As soon as a matching subselector rule is found, Output Manager stops the matching process. If no matching subselector rule is found, the control field values from the selector rule are used.

Because the order of subselector rules on the Sub Selection Rules panel list is important, ensure that your most specific subselector rules appear at the top of the list. Subselector rules should be listed in specific-to-general order. This way, when Output Manager scans the list of subselector rules from top to bottom to find a match, it will evaluate the more specific subselector rules first. This arrangement prevents a more general rule from being selected before a more specific rule can be evaluated. For example, assume that you need to create three subselector rules that contain the following selection criteria:

  • Subselector1 - Job name is ABC.
  • Subselector2 - Job name is ABC, and DD name is DDD.
  • Subselector3 - Job name ABC, DD name is DDD, and Step name is A23.
You would arrange these subselector rules, using the (M) Move and (A) After line commands, in the following order:
  1. Subselector3 - Job name ABC, DD name is DDD, and Step name is A23.
  2. Subselector2 - Job name is ABC, and DD name is DDD.
  3. Subselector1 - Job name is ABC.

Subselector rules are used to specify a subset of results of a selector rule for all non-blank fields in a parent selector. Therefore, the values of the equivalent fields in the subselector must be derivatives of the values in the parent. This enhancement enforces this rule, preventing inaccurately defined subselector rules. Values specified in the parent selector rule are initially displayed in the subselector rule (except in the case of multiple values specified in the selector for FORM or PRMODE, in this case the subselector must be shown as blank). If an invalid value is specified in a subselector rule, an error message is displayed.

A subselector field is non-editable only in the case where only one value can match the selector. This is the case when no wildcards are used, when Job Type or JES Queue is not "All", when the jobclass or sysout class is only one character long, and when only one value is specified for FORM or PRMODE and that one value does not use wildcards.

When you specify a wildcard pattern in a parent selector (with "*" or "?") the value specified in the subselector must match a subset of the values matched by the parent selector's pattern for that field. For example, if the Destination value of the parent selector is DEST*, valid Destination values for the related subselector rules must begin with the character string DEST, but can be more specific, such as DEST1, DEST2, etc.

If one or more values are specified in the PRMODE or FORM fields of the selector rule, leave the FORM or PRMODE field of the subselector blank in order to match all values that the parent selector would match. If the parent selector includes wildcards in these fields, the subselector values must be compatible with (a subset of) the selector values.

Because multiple values are allowed in the FORM and PRMODE fields of parent selectors, if more than one pattern is specified in the parent selector you must leave the FORM or PRMODE field of the subselector blank in order to match all values that the parent selector would match. If only one FORM value or only one PRMODE value is specified in the parent selector, the FORM or PRMODE value specified in the subselector must be a derivative of the parent FORM or PRMODE value, respectively.

If the parent selector specifies a set of classes in the SYSOUT CLASS field, the subselector can contain any subset of the values specified in the selector. For example, if the selector specifies ABC, valid values in the subselector include: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC.

If "ALL" is specified as the job type or jes queue of the parent selector, any value is valid for the subselector.

In addition, you can replace any wildcard in the selector's pattern for a field with anything more specific. That is, you can replace any "?" (question mark) with any character except "*", and you can replace any "*" (asterisk) character in the selector's pattern for a field with any pattern, or you can just remove any "*" in the selector's pattern. You can do this with some, all, or none of the wildcards in the selector's pattern.

Note: A subselector rule includes some fields that a selector rule does not provide, for example, Step Name, DD Name, Programmer Name, Job Accounting fields, Job Class, and Account. Fields that are read-only in the subselector are the fields that are fixed in its parent selector.