IBM Support

PCL characters are printing when CICS application uses transparent code 35 with function 28 in the datastream

Troubleshooting


Problem

Your application is trying to use the SNA character stream (SCS) Transparent code x'35' to send Printer Control Language (PCL) printer commands in the datastream. Sometimes the PCL commands are printed as if they were part of the data.

Symptom

The application first sets up a BMS ROUTING environment then uses SEND TEXT ACCUM commands to build up the datastream one line at a time. It then does a SEND PAGE AUTOPAGE to route the message to the printer. The send page starts a CSPG BMS PAGING transaction on the printer, which delivers the datastream.

The problem of some of the PCL commands printing only happens when the data originates from CICS. A non-CICS program sending the same datastream works. The application uses the x'35' transparent command so the PCL codes would not be translated.

Most of the nonstandard functions that followed the transparency command had no problem. However, when certain functions are in the datastream, CICS removes them from the data. Specifically, if the function includes a x'28'. The x'28' and the two bytes that follow it are removed from the data stream. This means that three (3) bytes were removed from the data stream.

[{"Product":{"code":"SSGMGV","label":"CICS Transaction Server"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU048","label":"IBM Software"},"Component":"BMS","Platform":[{"code":"PF035","label":"z\/OS"},{"code":"PF038","label":"z\/VSE"}],"Version":"5.1;4.2;4.1;3.2;3.1;1.1.1","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB70","label":"Z TPS"}}]

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Document Information

Modified date:
08 October 2025

UID

swg21081334