An application must use IDENTIFY to tell the system which data-in-virtual object it wants to process. IDENTIFY generates a unique ID, or token, that uniquely represents an application's request to use the given data object. The system returns this ID to the application. When the application requests other kinds of services with the DIV macro, the system supplies this ID as an input parameter. Specify DDNAME for a linear data set object and STOKEN for a hiperspace object.
An authorized application can also use IDENTIFY to request that data-in-virtual services bypass validity checking, and to assign ownership of the object's ID to another task.