OA07765: HOD BROWSER HANGS IF A 0-BYTE *.DF FILE EXISTS

Obtain the fix for this APAR.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• When a HOD client is performing some customization with pages
  from the Deployment Wizard, somehow a 0-byte *.df file is
  resulting. If the user tries to right click on the session icon
  and enter properties, the browser hangs if there is a 0-byte
  *.df file. HOD has no code to gracefully continue when there is
  a 0-byte .df file.
  

Local fix

• A workaround if the user is experiencing this hang in the
  browser is to rename the 0-byte .df file so that it cannot be
  found by HOD.
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED: All HOD clients                              *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: When the user tried to enter the        *
  *                      session properties of a 3270 session,   *
  *                      the browser instance would hang. The    *
  *                      hang was due to a 0-length *.df file.   *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  There are really two problems, one is the hang being caused by
  the 0-length *.df file. The second problem and more serious is
  the fact that we can write a 0-length record in the first
  place. At this time, it is unknown how the file was a 0-byte
  length.
  

Problem conclusion

• The fix addresses both the hang and the 0-length file.
  The fix has several aspects:
  
  1.  Changed the write of the file to do retries, in case
  whatever error occurs is transient (3 retries).
  2.  If all 3 retries fail, then write out 2 different files,
  an error file and a backup of the config. The error file is
  named filename + "err", for example cfg0.dferr, and contains
  what went wrong, including a stack trace.  The backup config
  is named filename + "bk", for example cfg0.dfbk, and is the
  same as the original file would have been.
      The error file should be very useful to get information
  about what went wrong on the Write. Users would always
  experience a problem with the Read, and any error info in the
  java console from the previous invocation of the Write would
  be gone.
  3.  On startup, if HOD finds a 0-length df file, check to see
  if there is a backup, and if so, use it.  If there is no
  backup, skip it.  The information is lost anyway. This removes
  the issues that cause the "hang" which was reported.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Modules/Macros

• hod
  

Fix information

Applicable component levels

• R800 PSY IP22808

     UP04/08/26 I 1000

Fix is available

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