Specifying shift-out, shift-in (SOSI) codes

To change from one kind of character code to another in a data set, PSF provides special SOSI processing. PSF uses the process mode values SOSI1, SOSI2, SOSI3, and SOSI4 to print data sets containing both single-byte and double-byte fonts. You can specify the SOSI codes on one of these:

See PSF for z/OS: Customization for information about specifying PRMODE on the PRINTDEV statement, specifying a default PRMODE in Exit 7, or specifying the Default process mode parameter in the Printer Inventory.

You can specify a particular single-byte and double-byte font pair for a line or field, or you can use the same single-byte and double-byte font pair for the entire page. If you specify a specific single-byte and double-byte font pair for a line or a field, you must use the font list in a page definition to specify the single-byte fonts and double-byte fonts you want to use for the page. Then, you can use more than one single-byte font and more than one double-byte font per page.

If you use the same single-byte and double-byte font pair for the entire page, you must specify the single-byte font first and the double-byte font second. Using the JCL CHARS parameter or the font list in a page definition, specify a single-byte font as font 0 and a double-byte font as font 1. If you do not place font 0 and font 1 in this sequence, PSF generates an error message and stops the printing process. You can also use the SOSIFONTS subcommand on the PPFA PAGEDEF or PAGEFORMAT command to ensure that a single-byte font is mapped first and a double-byte font is mapped second. See Page Printer Formatting Aid: User’s Guide.

The following example indicates that PSF uses a particular data-scanning mode when printing line data. Both single-byte fonts and double-byte fonts are to be used for printing. The first font specified is 60D8, a single-byte font; the second is G24F, a double-byte font. The single-byte coded font is named X060D8, and the double-byte font file is named X0G24F.

Example:

This example uses the PRMODE parameter in the OUTPUT statement to specify that the SOSI1 process mode is to be set up for a data set that is printed on a specific 3820 printer:

//OUT1 OUTPUT CHARS=(60D8,G24F),PRMODE=SOSI1
//DD1 DD SYSOUT=B,DESTINATION=(REMOTE1),OUTPUT=(*.OUT1)

Notes:

The SOSI process must be started when the printer is started. If you are using the Page-Printer Defaults form (see Figure 34), it shows whether the process is active or not.
For the process to work correctly, the first font specified in the CHARS parameter (or in a page definition font list) must be the single-byte font, and the second font must be the double-byte font.
When you use the same single-byte and double-byte font pair for the entire page, IBM® recommends you do not mix the use of shift-out, shift-in processing with the use of table reference characters in line data. This recommendation is because of the rules used in the scanning process and because the fonts used for the shift-in and shift-out codes are always font 0 and font 1.
When you use the same single-byte and double-byte font pair for the entire page, IBM does not recommend mixing the use of shift-out, shift-in processing with the use of font lists in page definitions, for the reasons given in Note 1. If you follow this, you must know exactly what the data and the font list contain.
If your print job consists of multiple steps that alternate among PRMODE=SOSI1, PRMODE=SOSI2, PRMODE=SOSI3, and PRMODE=SOSI4, JES2 and JES3 reorder the steps to group together all those with the same PRMODE value. The resulting output is different for JES2 and JES3 systems.
IBM recommends that shift-in codes and shift-out codes alternate in a given record.
When the PRMODE parameter is specified in the OUTPUT JCL, it overrides the default process mode specified in the Printer Inventory, Exit 7, or the PRINTDEV statement.
When a default PRMODE is specified for both the initialization call and the begin-data-set calls (BDSC) in Exit 7, the BDSC specification overrides the initialization specification of PRMODE.

For more information about SOSI codes, including the data conversion that PSF makes for SOSI1, SOSI2, SOSI3, and SOSI4, see Shift-out, shift-in (SOSI) codes.