Output disposition options: TERMINAL, SET, and PAGING

The output disposition options specify what BMS should do with the formatted output stream. The only disposition option we have described up to this point is TERMINAL, which sends the output to the principal facility of your task. TERMINAL is the default value that you get if you do not specify another disposition. There are, however, two other possibilities; SET and PAGING.

  1. BMS can return the formatted output stream to the task rather than sending it to the terminal. You use the SET disposition option to request this. You might do so to defer transmission or to modify the data stream to meet special requirements. Acquiring and defining storage for the maps explains how and when to use SET.
  2. You can ask BMS to store and manage your output in CICS® temporary storage for subsequent delivery to your terminal. This option, PAGING, implies that your message may contain more than one screen or page, and is useful when you want to send a message to a display terminal that exceeds its screen capacity. BMS saves the entire message in temporary storage until you indicate that it is complete. Then it provides facilities for the operator to page through the output at the terminal. You can use PAGING for printers as well as displays, although you do not need the operator controls, and sometimes TERMINAL is just as satisfactory.
When you use PAGING, the output still goes to your principal facility, though indirectly, as just described. Full BMS also provides a feature, routing, that lets you send your message to another terminal, or several, in place of or in addition to your own. We tell you about routing in Message routing, after we cover the prerequisites.
Note: Both PAGING and SET and related options require full BMS. TERMINAL is the only disposition available in minimum and standard BMS.