The Created State

A member in a created state is known to XCF, but cannot use XCF services. Specifically, the created member cannot:

Send or receive messages
Have a status field monitored by XCF
Be notified by XCF of status changes to other members of the group.

XCF does not associate the created member with a particular task, job step task, address space, or system. (If queried, XCF returns 0 for the system name and job name.)

Members in the created state do, however, have permanent status recording, and can:

Be queried (member name, member state, and user state field for a created member are available through the IXCQUERY macro)
Define a user state field on IXCCREAT
Have their user state field changed by an active member of the same group through IXCSETUS
Become active through IXCJOIN.

You might place members in a created state, with the intent that they will subsequently become active, under the following circumstances:

You want to prepare a member with some information before the member becomes active. For example, you can designate a primary member and a backup member by putting an indication in the user state field. As each member is started, it checks its user state field to determine if it is the primary member or the backup member. If it is the primary member, it can then issue IXCJOIN to become active with status monitoring. The backup member would also issue IXCJOIN with the intent of being notified through its group user routine if the primary member experiences problems.
You need a record of a member's existence even before the member becomes active, in the event that other members require a knowledge of all existing group members.

You might want to place a member in the created state with no intention of making it active. The created member cannot use XCF services, but the other members of the group can use the created member's user state field for shared virtual storage. Other members in a group could use the created member as a focal point for tracking a group state or attribute that is not specifically related to any one active member. (A complete explanation of the user state field appears in the topic "The User State Field".)