Changes to CICS API

This section summarizes the changes to the CICS® application interface of EXEC CICS commands across supported CICS releases. Use this information to plan the impact on applications of upgrading from one release to another.

If you are upgrading from an end-of-service release, you can find information about the changes that are relevant to those releases in Summary of changes from end-of-service releases.

Highlights of changes across supported releases of CICS TS

Table 1 lists new and changed CICS API commands and macros in each supported CICS TS release.

The links provided for new commands take you to their reference information in the product documentation.

The links provided for changed commands and macros take you to the relevant tables below where brief descriptions of the changes are provided.

Table 1. Highlights of CICS API changes across supported releases of CICS TS
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW:
NEW (EXCI):

EXCI can issue these commands in batch.
NEW (EXCI):
NEW: None NEW:
CHANGED:
CHANGED with APAR:
CHANGED:
CHANGED with APAR:
CHANGED:
CHANGED with APAR:
CHANGED:

Changes to EXEC CICS commands and macros, by release of CICS TS

View changes by command or macro:

ASSIGN
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  NEW OPTIONS:
  • LOCALCCSID
  • TNADDR
  • TNIPFAMILY
  • TNPORT
   NEW OPTION:
  • GMEXITOPT

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CHANGE PASSWORD
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

PH51378: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 32.

 CHANGED:

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

CHANGED with APAR:

PH51378: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 32.

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CHANGE PHRASE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

PH51378: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 32.

 CHANGED:

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

CHANGED with APAR:

PH51378: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 32.

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DEFINE COUNTER and DEFINE DCOUNTER
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTION:
  • NOSUSPEND
      

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DELAY
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: New condition NORMAL with RESP2 value 23    

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DELETE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 57 THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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DELETE COUNTER and DELETE DCOUNTER
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTION:
  • NOSUSPEND
      

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ENDBR
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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FREEMAIN
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 3    

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FREEMAIN64
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 3    

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GET COUNTER and GET DCOUNTER
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTION:
  • NOSUSPEND
      

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GETMAIN
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
      NEW OPTION:
  • EXECUTABLE

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GETMAIN64
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
      NEW OPTION:
  • EXECUTABLE

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GETNEXT CONTAINER (CHANNEL)
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: The order in which containers are returned is changed.    

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LINK (EXCI)
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTION:
  • CHANNEL
      

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QUERY COUNTER and QUERY DCOUNTER
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTION:
  • NOSUSPEND
      

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QUERY SECURITY
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: Performance improvement. The number of TCB switches has been reduced if more than one access level is specified on the command.

NEW OPTION: USERID

    

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READ
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 57 THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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READNEXT
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 57 THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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READPREV
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 57 THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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RECEIVE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: The command behavior after a TERMERR condition is changed. Any action, other than a FREE, on the conversation that caused the TERMERR condition results in another TERMERR condition instead of an ATCV abend.    

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REQUEST ENCRYPTPTKT
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED:
  • New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 257
  • New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 260
      

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RESETBR
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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REWIND COUNTER and REWIND DCOUNTER
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTION:
  • NOSUSPEND
      

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REWRITE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 57 THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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SEND
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: The command behavior after a TERMERR condition is changed. Any action, other than a FREE, on the conversation that caused the TERMERR condition results in another TERMERR condition instead of an ATCV abend.    

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SPOOLWRITE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1    

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START
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED:
  • New condition INVREQ with RESP2 value 400
  • If the transaction to be started is defined as dynamic, the distributed router will be invoked only if a valid distributed routing program name is specified. If omitted, the DSRTPGM system initialization parameter assumes a value of NONE by default, and the distributed router is not invoked; while in previous releases the START command invoked the IBM®-supplied routing program DFHDSRP.

    If the transaction is defined with DYNAMIC(YES), then it is eligible for dynamic routing without the need to specify ROUTABLE(YES).

    

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START CHANNEL
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
      NEW OPTIONS:
  • NOCHECK
  • PROTECT

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STARTBR
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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STARTBROWSE CONTAINER (CHANNEL)
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: The order in which containers are returned is changed.    

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UPDATE COUNTER and UPDATE DCOUNTER
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTION:
  • NOSUSPEND
      

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VERIFY PASSWORD
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 NEW OPTION: GROUPID

CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED:

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

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VERIFY PHRASE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED: New option: GROUPID

CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED with APAR:

PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

 CHANGED:

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1

New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17

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VERIFY TOKEN
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
NEW OPTIONS:
  • OUTTOKEN
  • OUTTOKENLEN
   CHANGED: Enhanced to support JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) provided by RACF®.  

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WEB CONVERSE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: The body of an HTTP client request can be received into, and sent from, 64-bit (above-the-bar) storage.

CHANGED with APAR PH25067: The PATCH method is supported.

 CHANGED: The PATCH method is supported.  

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WEB OPEN
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
      CHANGED: WEB OPEN URIMAP uses the cached IP address and HTTP information obtained with the initial connection, for subsequent outbound web requests using the same URIMAP.

DEPRECATED: CIPHERS option no longer allowed on new compiles. The CIPHERS option is deprecated for existing programs when MAXTLSLEVEL is TLS12 and ignored for existing programs when MAXTLSLEVEL is TLS13.

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WEB RECEIVE (Client)
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: The body of an HTTP client request can be received into 64-bit storage.    

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WEB RECEIVE (Server)
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: The body of an HTTP server request can be received into 64-bit storage.      

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WEB SEND (Client)
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: The body of an HTTP client response can be sent from 64-bit storage.

CHANGED with APAR PH25067: The PATCH method is supported.

 CHANGED: The PATCH method is supported.  

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WEB SEND (Server)
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: The body of an HTTP server response can be sent from 64-bit storage.      

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WRITE
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value of 57 THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.    

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WRITE OPERATOR
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
      NEW OPTION: CONSNAME

CHANGED:

New INVREQs with RESP2 values of 7 and 8

New ERROR with RESP2 value of 1

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WRITEQ TD
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
  CHANGED: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 102    

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XCTL
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
CHANGED: New INVREQs with RESP2 values of 33 and 34.      

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DFHEIENT macro
5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1
      NEW OPTION: DATA_EXECUTABLE to request that dynamic storage is not protected from instruction execution.

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