Compiling and link-editing EXCI client programs

All programs that use the external CICS® interface to pass DPL requests to a CICS server region must include the CICS-supplied program stub, DFHXCSTB.

Alternatively for COBOL programs, it is possible to call DFHXCSTB dynamically rather than link-editing the stub with the program.

The stub intercepts all external CICS interface commands, whether they are EXCI CALL interface commands or EXEC CICS interface commands, and ensures they are passed to the appropriate external CICS interface routine for processing.

DFHXCSTB is a common stub, designed for inclusion in programs written in all the supported languages. It is supplied in the CICSTS54 .CICS.SDFHEXCI library.

Note: The CICSTS54 .CICS.SDFHEXCI also contains entries for DFHXCIE and DFHXCIS, which are aliases for DFHXCSTB.

To help you ensure that the stub is included, CICS provides a number of procedures, one for each language, which you can use for translating, compiling, and link-editing.

You must specify AMODE(31) for your EXCI client program.

The CICS-supplied procedures for compiling and link-editing client programs include the following parameters on the PARM statement of the linkage editor job step:

 LNKPARM='AMODE(31),LIST,XREF'

Samples

To help with writing programs that use the external CICS interface, CICS provides sample MVS™ client programs and a sample CICS server program. The samples show you how to code client applications that use both the EXCI CALL interface and EXEC CICS LINK command. For more information, see EXCI sample programs.