PL20098: VB RECORD IMBEDS FB RECORD CONCATENATE TEXTLIB LOOP

APAR status

• Closed as Permanent restriction.

Error description

• THE USER IS CONCATENATING TWO INPUT FILES OF DIFFERENT RECORD
  FORMATS AND LRECLS. THE ALLOCATE STATEMENT HAS A FILE ID OF
  'TEXTLIB'. THE MAIN INPUT FILE IS A VARIABLE BLOCKED RECORD
  (VB) AND CONTAINS AN IMBED FOR A FILE THAT IS A FIXED BLOCK
  RECORD (FB). WHEN SCRIPTING THE FILE DCF RUNS FOREVER.
  

Local fix

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED: ALL DCF MVS TSO USERS                        *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: LOOP CONCATENATION TXTLIB DIFFERENT     *
  *                      RECFM                                   *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
   THE USER HAS ALLOCATED A FILE CALLED TEXTLIB (EG. 'ALLOC
   FI(TEXTLIB) DS(XXXX1 XXXX2 ...)') WHICH IS A CONCATENATION OF
   PARTITIONED DATA SETS. THIS IS DONE IN ORDER TO IMBED MEMBERS
   OF THE DATA SETS INTO A DOCUMENT BEING SCRIPTED. THE FIRST
   DATA SET IN THE CONCATENATION HAS A RECFM OF VB. ANOTHER DATA
   SET IN THE CONCATENATION HAS A RECFM OF FB. WHEN TRYING TO
   IMBED A MEMBER OF THE FB DATA SET (EG. .IM MEMBER) DCF ENTERS A
   LOOP.
  

Problem conclusion

•  THIS APAR HAS BEEN REVIEWED WITH DCF DEVELOPMENT AND OUR
   CONCLUSION IS THAT THIS IS A PERMANENT RESTRICTION ON DCF. IF
   THE FILE 'TEXTLIB' IS USED AND IS A CONCATENATION OF DATA SETS,
   THE USER MUST INSURE THAT THE RECORD FORMATS OF THE DATA SETS
   ARE EITHER ALL FIXED OR ALL VARIABLE LENGTH. DCF CAN NOT
   DETERMINE THE ATTRIBUTES OF ANY BUT THE FIRST DATA SET IN A
   CONCATENATION OF DATA SETS. A NOTE WILL BE ADDED TO "DCF:
   SCRIPT/VS LANGUAGE REFERENCE" (SH35007004) PG. 26 INFORMING
   USERS THAT THE SAME RESTRICTIONS APPLY TO SEARCH LIBRARIES THAT
   APPLY TO MACRO LIBRARIES AND DIRECTING THEIR ATTENTION TO THE
   DISCUSSION OF SCRIPT/VS MACRO LIBRARIES IN THE TEXT
   PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE (SH350069). ALSO, FOOTNOTE 62 ON PAGE 306
   IN "DCF: SCRIPT/VS TEXT PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE" (SH35006904) WILL
   BE UPDATED TO SAY "UNPREDICTABLE ERRORS CAN OCCUR IF MACRO
   LIBRARIES ARE CONCATENATED THAT HAVE DIFFERENT RECORD
   FORMATS..."
  

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

•    NA
  

Fix information

Applicable component levels