Release notes for Model 204 version 7.5

These release notes list the enhancements and other changes contained in Model 204 version 7.5, which is still in development. Until the commercial release of the software, Rocket reserves the right to add to, remove, or change anything described herein.

Overview

These release notes contain installation and features information for the Rocket Model 204 version 7.5.0 release. Before beginning your installation, please read through this information about product installation and changes.

New in this release

This section summarizes the new features and enhancements for Model 204 version 7.5.0.

SOUL (User Language)

The significantly enhanced, object-oriented, version of User Language is now called SOUL. All existing User Language programs will continue to work under SOUL, so User Language can be considered to be a subset of SOUL, though the name "User Language" is now deprecated.

• Sirius object-oriented language extensions integration
• ECF statements can pass up to 60 parameters

System Management

• Writing records to the SMF data set without an SVC installed

Performance

• GTBL can be stored above the bar
• Support for physical field groups

Operating system requirements

Requirements for Model 204 version 7.5 are still being determined.

Model 204 version 7.5 requires the following operating system support:

• For IBM z/OS: Version 1 Release 7. V1R7 is sufficient for all new functionality except for the following features:
  • Large (1 MB) page support requires Version 1 Release 9.
  • Extended address volumes (EAV) requires Version 1 Release 12.
• For IBM z/VM: Version 5 Release 4.0 or later
• For IBM z/VSE:
  • Version 5 Release 1 or
  • Version 4 Release 3 or
  • Version 4 Release 2.1 or
  • Version 4 Release 2.0, with these program temporary fixes (PTFs) installed:
    • UD53436
    • UD53437
    • UD53438
    • UD53439

  Note: z/VSE V5.1 is required to take advantage of any 64-bit capabilities under VSE.

Hardware requirements

Requirements for Model 204 version 7.5 are still being determined.

Model 204 version 7.5 requires the IBM z/890 or above processor, except for the following feature:

The large (1 MB) page support feature requires the IBM z10 or above processor.

Model 204 compatibility with operating systems

Content for version 7.5 is still being determined.

For information on Model 204 certification with IBM operating systems, see: http://www.rocketsoftware.com/products/rocket-model-204/technical-information

Model 204 compatibility with Connect*

All supported versions of Connect* are compatible with Model 204 version 7.5.0.

However, CLOB/BLOB support requires Connect* version 7.4.0 or higher. Use of Connect* versions earlier than version 7.4.0 to SELECT, UPDATE, or INSERT CLOB/BLOB data will fail and might produce unexpected application behavior and/or return an error.

Connect* version 7.5.0 is compatible with versions of Model 204 that are earlier than version 7.5.0.

SOUL (User Language) enhancements

Much of the substantial new and enhanced functionality described in the following subsections is available as a result of the acquisition of Sirius Software. The functionality that is the subject of the initial subsection, "Object oriented programming," motivates the new name for User Language, SOUL, often thought of as Simple Objective User Language.

Object oriented programming

As of version 7.5 of Model 204 (and backward compatible with existing User Language applications), the SOUL language is equipped with Object-Oriented Programming(sometimes abbreviated OO) capabilities comparable or superior to other contemporary object oriented languages. The OO features were formerly contained in the Janus SOAP User Language Interface, and you can use Object oriented programming in SOUL as an entry point to the extensive SOUL OO documentation. In particular, you might want to begin with the OO tutorial.

Record capacity increase

In this version of Model 204, the record limit is increased from sixteen million records to forty-eight million records per file.

New SOUL statements

• Assert statement
• Loop Next statement
• Text and Html statements
  • AuditText, PrintText, TraceText, SetText, and ReturnText statements
• Trace statement

Non-OO enhancements in SOUL

• Mixed-case SOUL
• Longstrings
• Unicode
• Double quotation marks for quoted strings
• At sign (@) on right side of assignment
• Is Defined and Is Visible tests
• Copy qualifier for subroutine parameters
• Normal syntax for LOB fields
• Implicit concatenation
• Relative values for Model 204 numeric parameters
• SOUL macro facility
• External Call support for Stringlists and $lists

SOUL support for field groups

ADD (or INSERT or DELETE) FIELDGROUP statements

The ADD FIELDGROUP statement and the INSERT FIELDGROUP statement behavior parallels the behavior of the ADD and INSERT statements for simple fields. The DELETE FIELDGROUP statement handles more situations and is therefore more complex. See Updating field groups for details.

Statements for handling field groups

SOUL now provides several statements for handling field groups:

• FOR FIELDGROUP
• FOR ALL OCCURRENCES OF FIELDGROUP (FAO FIELDGROUP)
• FOR EACH OCCURRENCE OF FIELDGROUP (FEO FIELDGROUP)

See Special statements for multiply occurring fields and field groups for details.

Output statements for field groups

The following SOUL statements provide display output for Model 204 field groups:

AUDIT ALL FIELDGROUP INFORMATION (AAFGI) PRINT ALL FIELDGROUP INFORMATION (PAFGI)

See Output statements for fields and field groups for details.

Field group SORT support

You can use field groups in sorted sets. SORT statement support for field groups lets you sort records with field groups as well as reference field groups in the sorted sets. For example, you can issue a FAO FIELDGROUP statement or FEO FIELDGROUP statement against the sorted set.

EQ VALUE retrieval condition

SOUL now provides the EQ VALUE clause to support expressions in FIND statements.

See Using expressions in FIND statements for details.

EQ WITH retrieval condition for concatenated fields

SOUL now provides the EQ WITH clause for retrieving CONCATENATION-OF fields. Model 204 automatically builds the concatenated value.

See Using expressions in FIND statements and EQ with retrieval condition for concatenated fields for details.

External Call Facility (ECF)

EXTERNAL CALL statements can now pass more parameters. The maximum number of parameters that can be passed in an EXTERNAL CALL statement has been increased from 40 to 60. The maximum value setting for ECPSIZE is increased from 1310680 to 1966020 to accommodate the extra parameters.

ECF is available only on z/OS systems. For more information about the External Call Facility and the EXTERNAL CALL statement, see the Rocket Model 204 System Manager's Guide.

REPEAT statement UNTIL option

The REPEAT statement now supports the UNTIL option. In previous releases, only REPEAT WHILE was supported.

A REPEAT UNTIL statement enters the loop body prior to checking the condition.

New and changed classes and methods

New HttpRequest TranslateTable property

The TranslateTable HttpRequest property makes it possible to set the translate table to be used for EBCDIC to ASCII translation of data in an HttpRequest object.

New InvalidTranslateTable class

Objects of the InvalidTranslateTable exception class are thrown when a requested system translate table cannot be found. It is currently thrown only by the TranslateTable HttpRequest property.

New bit manipulation String functions

New bit manipulation functions BitClearString, BitCountString, BitFlipString, BitSetString, and BitValueString make it easier to manipulate the bits in a string.

New InvalidBitNumber class

Objects of the InvalidBitNumber exception class are thrown when an invalid bit number is requested by a bit manipulation function. It is currently thrown only by the BitClearString, BitFlipString, BitSetString, and BitValueString functions.

Disable base64 encoding in LoadFromRecord and related methods

The Base64Encode=False argument can be used with the LoadFromRecord method to disable any base64 encoding of field values.

Alternatively, the CharacterMap argument (with a non-null value) can be used to disable any base64 encoding of field values, and to specify translations, which can avoid request translation due to X'00' and/or untranslatable characters in field values.

These arguments are also added to the NewFromRecord and ToXmlDoc methods.

New option for AppendJournalData

The QT option is added to the AppendJournalData method, to include QT type audit entries.

New parameter for AddField

The Strip option is added to the Screen class method AddField to allow suppression of leading and trailing blank removal from input fields.

New System methods TODClock and UUIDTime

New System class methods TODCLOCK and UUIDTime have been created to facilitate generation of version 1 universal unique identifiers and to provide high precision time stamps for SOUL applications. These methods were actually added as a ZAP update to Model 204 7.5 (75Z109).

New and changed $functions

Former Sirius $functions

The $functions referred to by the link below are added to SOUL as a result of the acquisition of Sirius Software:

Sirius $functions

Among these $functions are integrated math $functions: high-performance, high-precision versions of the IBM mathematical functions. These functions eliminate the need to use external math libraries.

$SNDMAIL attachment ASCII translation

The $SNDMAIL function can now translate an attachment to ASCII before sending it. This translation is useful if the $SNDMAIL attachment is a CLOB (CHARACTER-LARGE-OBJECT) such as a text document.

The $SNDMAIL function now accepts an optional parameter after the name of the attached object. If this parameter is set to 'C' (or to a percent variable with the value 'C'), the object in the buffer is translated to ASCII before being attached to the email.

If this parameter is not specified, the object in the buffer is sent as a binary object.

In this example:

%RC = $SNDMAIL(%SUBJECT,,%BODY,%FROM,%TO,,,,'CLOB.TXT','C')

the CLOB.TXT attachment will be translated to ASCII before being attached to the email.

New function calls for field groups

When a field group is added, a field group ID is assigned to the field group.

• $FIELDGROUPID returns the ID of the current field group.
• $FIELDGROUPOCCURRENCE returns the current occurrence number of the field group.

Sirius products and product enhancements

The former-Sirius products are now available to Model 204 customers as separately purchased items as a result of the acquisition of Sirius Software.

Changes to Janus SSL support

Under Model 204 version 7.5, Janus products:

• Drop support for version 2 of the Secure Sockets Layer encryption protocol (SSL V2)

  You can use the SSLPROT parameter on the JANUS DEFINE command for a port to explicitly specify, or limit, the SSL protocols available for a connection. The SSLPROT documentation describes the SSL protocols that Janus supports.

  Janus support for SSL V2 also included an option to specify a larger than "legal" input buffer for connections not strictly conforming to the V2 standard. You specify that buffer size with the JANUS DEFINE SSLIBSIZE parameter, and the SSLIBSIZE maximum value as of Model 204 V7.5 is reduced (from 32767 bytes) to the SSL maximum allowed size of 16384.

• Add support for new ciphers and TLS levels

  You can use the SSLCIPH JANUS DEFINE parameter to specify the SSL ciphers available for a connection. The SSLCIPH documentation describes the SSL ciphers that Janus supports.

WEBOPT parameter change

The WEBOPT parameter default value is changed to X'03' from 0. WEBOPT affects the interaction of Model 204 and RACF security.

File-related enhancements

Support for physical field groups

Model 204 supports non-relational, de-normalized data structures. Many Model 204 sites have enjoyed significant cost and performance benefits from efficiently processing multiply occurring fields. This concept has been enhanced to introduce physical field groups that let you view and process groups of fields as a logical entity.

You can define a physical field group only for files with the FILEORG X'100' setting. To take advantage of field groups in files defined before Model 204 version 7.5, you must reorganize the files with a FILEORG setting that includes the X'100' bit.

Files with FILEORG X'100' can have up to 32,000 fields.

For more information, see Field group design.

Increased Table B record number capacity

Table B can now contain up to 48M possible record numbers. (The previous limit was 16M.)

Set the FILEORG X'200' bit at file creation time to allow for the increased record numbers.

Notes:

• The limit for BSIZE remains at 16M.

  BSIZE * BRECPPG must be less than or equal to 48M (actually decimal 50,331,648 to be exact).

  For example, if BSIZE is 16M, BRECPPG cannot be more than 3.

• The FILEORG X'200' bit cannot be set for files with hash key or sorted file organization.

Automatic fields

Model 204 now lets you define a field whose value is automatically maintained.
A field can count occurrences of another field so that every store or delete of the field occurrence changes the count in the automatic field. Automatic fields are defined with the following attributes:

• COUNT-OCCURRENCES-OF
• CREATE-TIME
• CREATE-TIMEUTC
• CREATE-USER
• UPDATE-TIME
• UPDATE-TIMEUTC
• UPDATE-USER

The value of an automatic field is updated at the start of a transaction by Model 204 and you cannot set it explicitly by a program. Any valid update statement causes the appropriate time and user stamps to be updated. For example, the time and user stamps will be undated when DELETE FOO(8) is processed, even if there are no occurrences of FOO in the record and an actual update does not take place.

Once you define an automatic value for a field, you cannot redefine the automatic value.

Concatenated fields

Model 204 now lets you define concatenated fields.

Fields that make up concatenated field values must be AT-MOST-ONE, EXACTLY-ONE, or OCCURS 1 and must all be in the same field group context (or not in a field group). Fields that occur in all field groups (FIELDGROUP *) cannot be used in a concatenation.

If a concatenated field becomes longer than 255 bytes after adding separator and escape characters, the update request is cancelled.

New field attributes

Model 204 version 7.5 introduces the new DEFINE FIELD attributes described in this section. These attributes apply to all fields in Model 204.

Note: These attributes all require that the FILEORG parameter X'100' bit be set on the file containing the fields.

Changes in the new field attributes are detected during the redefinition of an existing field. When such a change is detected, the following messages might be issued:

M204.1260: [FIELD | FIELDGROUP] WAS PREVIOUSLY DEFINED WITH DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES, NEW [FIELD | FIELDGROUP] OPTIONS IGNORED

or

M204.2884: [FIELD WAS PREVIOUSLY DEFINED AS A FIELDGROUP | FIELDGROUP WAS PREVIOUSLY DEFINED AS A FIELD], NEW DEFINITION IGNORED

The table below lists the new field attributes. For details on each attribute, click its name. For more information on how related attributes work together, see the Field design topic.

Attribute	Abbreviation	Description
CHUNK	CNK	Defines "OI chunks" of data in Ordered Index numeric range fields to enable more efficient searching.
CONCATENATION-OF	(CAT)	Lists the fields that make up a concatenated field
COUNT-OCCURRENCES-OF	(CTO)	Automatically maintains a count of the number of occurrences of the specified field.
CREATE-TIME	(CRTM)	Captures the time when the field was created, as of the start of the transaction.
CREATE-TIMEUTC	(CRTMU)	Captures the Coordinated Universal Time when the field was created, as of the start of the transaction.
CREATE-USER	(CRUS)	Captures the user ID of the user who created the field.
DATETIME	(DT)	Specifies the format of the date and time data stored in Table B. The default is YYYYMMDDHHMISSXXXXXX.
DATETIME-GE	(DTGE)	With DATETIME-GT, DATETIME-LE, and DATETIME-LT, used to establish a range for date/time values. Specifies that the date/time value must be later than or the same as the date/time value that follows.
DATETIME-GT	(DTGT)	Specifies that the date/time value must be later than the date/time value that follows.
DATETIME-LE	(DTLE)	Specifies that the date/time value must be earlier than or the same as the date/time value that follows.
DATETIME-LT	(DELT)	Specifies that the date/time value must be earlier than or the same as the date/time value that follows.
DEFAULT-VALUE	(DV)	Specifies the value to use for the field when the record is created and no value has been assigned to the field. (The value of the STORE-DEFAULT setting determines whether the DEFAULT-VALUE is physically stored on the record or if it is just used as the default value when the field is missing.)
ESCAPE	(ESC)	Specifies an escape character to insert before separator and escape characters in a concatenated field, differentiating those characters from real data. The default value is X�01�.
EXACTLY-ONE	(EXONE)	Specifies that a field always has exactly one occurrence in its record or field group context. EXACTLY-ONE fields always appear first when output by a Print All Information (PAI) statement.
FIELDGROUP	(FG)	Specifies the name of the field group that the defined field is associated with (contained in).
FLOAT-GE	(FLTGE)	With FLOAT-GT, FLOAT-LE, and FLOAT-LT, used to establish a range for float values when defining a field. Specifies that the float value must be greater than or equal to the value that follows.
FLOAT-GT	(FLTGT)	Specifies that the float value must be greater than the value that follows.
FLOAT-LE	(FLTLE)	Specifies that the float value must be less than or equal to the value that follows.
FLOAT-LT	(FLTLT)	Specifies that the float value must be less than the value that follows.
INTEGER-GE	(INTGE)	With INTEGER-GT, INTEGER-LE, and INTEGER-LT, used to establish a range for integer values when defining a field. Specifies that the integer value must be greater than or equal to the value that follows.
INTEGER-GT	(INTGT)	Specifies that the integer value must be greater than the value that follows.
INTEGER-LE	(INTLE)	Specifies that the integer value must be less than or equal to the value that follows.
INTEGER-LT	(INTLT)	Specifies that the integer value must be less than the value that follows.
LENGTH-EQ	(LEQ)	Used to set a length constraint when defining a field. Specifies the required length of a field.
LENGTH-GE	(LGE)	Specifies the minimum length of a field.
LENGTH-LE	(LLE)	Specifies the maximum length of a field.
LIKE	(LK)	Sets a pattern that a field value must conform to.
MINLOBE	(MLBE)	Defines the minimum size of a BLOB or CLOB field value that will be stored in Table E. This avoids wasting Table E pages on small values that could be stored in Table B (or Table X). The default is 0.
NO-DOMAIN-CONSTRAINTS		Specifies that the field has no content constraint attributes. Useful with REDEFINE to remove existing constraints on a field.
NO-DEFAULT-VALUE	(NDV)	Specifies that the field has no default value. Useful with REDEFINE to remove an existing default value on a field.
SEPARATOR	(SEP)	Specifies a separator character used between field values in concatenated fields. The default is X�00�.
STORE-DEFAULT	(SD)	Specifies whether to physically store the default value for the field in each record. The default option is LITERAL (LIT), which stores a literal string.
STORE-NULL	(SN)	Specifies whether to physically store the null value for the field in each record. The default option is LITERAL (LIT), which stores a literal string.
UPDATE-TIME	(UPTM)	Captures the time when the field was updated, as of the start of the transaction.
UPDATE-TIMEUTC	(UPTMU)	Captures the Coordinated Universal Time when the field was updated, as of the start of the transaction.
UPDATE-USER	(UPUS)	Captures the user ID of the user who updated the field.
UTF-8	(UTF8)	Data is stored in UTF-8 format and is treated as unicode data inside SOUL programs. The default is EBCDIC.
UTF-16	(UTF16)	Data is stored in UTF-16 format and is treated as unicode data inside SOUL programs. The default is EBCDIC.

System management enhancements

Writing records to the SMF data set

Having Model 204 write records to the SMF data set no longer requires the installation of an SVC.

Therefore, the SMFSVC parameter is no longer required and, if present, will be ignored and flagged with the following informational message:

M204.0204: PARAMETER SMFSVC OBSOLETE AND NOT RESET

However, the SMFLORN and SMFSLRN parameters must still be present in CCAIN if SMF records are required.

Performance enhancements

64-bit addressing and Above The Bar (ATB) storage

Model 204 moves above the (2G) bar to increase scalability, performance, and growth potential. With this release of Model 204, 64-bit addressing becomes the de facto standard for all subsequent versions.

In addition to the ATB support for FTBL released with Model 204 version 7.4, version 7.5 adds ATB support for GTBL, NTBL, and QTBL, using the same SERVNSA and SERVNSSZ parameters used for FTBL.

When using non-swappable ATB server space, each user will get SERVNSSZ bytes of ATB space, even if the thread is logged out or running resident requests. For greater efficiency, Model 204 version 7.5 also provides swappable ATB server areas that can supplement or replace the non-swappable areas. These swappable ATB server areas are controlled by the SERVGA and SERVGSZ parameters.

GTBL, NTBL, QTBL in above the bar storage

GTBL, NTBL and QTBL can now be placed into swappable or non-swappable server storage area above the bar.

In order to store a table in ATB storage:

• Increase the SERVNSSZ parameter by the corresponding table size.
• Set the proper bit in SERVNSA:
  • for GTBL set the second byte to X�80�, so the value of SERVNSA is X'00800000'
  • for NTBL set the third byte to X�40�, so the value of SERVNSA is X'00004000'
  • for QTBL set the third byte to X�20�, so the value of SERVNSA is X'00002000'

Note: The settings for each server table above the bar are independent of each other. So if FTBL, GTBL, NTBL, and QTBL are all placed above the bar, then SERVNSA should be set to X'02806000'.

XmlDoc pages in above the bar buffer pool

With this release, the CCATEMP pages used for XmlDoc objects use the above the bar buffer pool, which may allow the below the bar buffer pool to be reduced, perhaps providing more storage for server areas. It also may provide a reduction in CPU utilization, especially when the TEMPPAGE parameter is used to allocate CCATEMP in memory.

Improved range searching by Ordered Index (OI) chunk

The new CHUNK attribute for the DEFINE FIELD command enables more efficient range searching on Ordered Index numeric (ORDERED NUMERIC) fields. CHUNK improves performance of the FIND statement RANGE and BETWEEN terms. The CHUNK field attribute defines a subrange ("OI chunk") of the data range. Searching by OI chunks on a range of data requires fewer scans of the ordered index entries to find the desired data. Once OI chunk fields are defined, they are automatically used by FIND processing, so no application code needs to be changed.

After defining an ORDERED NUMERIC field, you define one or more related OI chunk fields containing data from the original base field rounded down by a specified CHUNK size.

Example:

DEFINE FIELD YYYYMMDD WITH ORDERED NUMERIC DEFINE FIELD YYYYMM WITH ORDERED NUMERIC INVISIBLE CHUNK 100 FOR YYYYMMDD DEFINE FIELD YYYY WITH ORDERED NUMERIC INVISIBLE CHUNK 10000 FOR YYYYMMDD

CHUNK requires the FILEORG X'100' bit setting and the INVISIBLE and ORDERED NUMERIC field attributes.

Debugging and testing enhancements

The SoftSpy debugging, testing, and performance tuning product is now included as part of the Model 204 core product. For more information on SoftSpy release 7.5, see the SoftSpy 7.5 release notes.

Connect* enhancements

Connect* for JDBC

Connect* 7.5 for JDBC now offers a "connection pooling" class to interface with other pooling infrastructures provided by pooling packages and web application servers. This new feature allows for a pool of connections that remain active and open during execution of an SQL and RCL (SOUL) statement. Using connection pooling helps eliminate the overhead of creating initial connections from scratch or trying to manage each connection via JDBC API.

Each Connection Pool can create a pool of active connections maintainable throughout the connection cycle of the pooling service.

For a sample program, see the "Connect* for JDBC" chapter of the Connect* Installation and Programming Guide.

Connect* 7.5 for JDBC has been tested with the JNDI, Apache DBCP�, BoneCP and C3PO pooling packages.

MQ/204 enhancements

Freeing MQ/204 subtasks and associated storage

The new MQDELDTP PST (pseudo subtask) checks for MQ/204 subtasks that are in a delayed detach state. MQDELDTP detaches MQ/204 subtasks that have finished their work and releases their associated storage areas.

Other features

AT-MOST-ONE and field groups

The AT-MOST-ONE attribute is now applicable to a field group definition.

Storing and updating LOBs

All large object data (LOBs) in a FILEORG X'100' file are chained. There are four bytes per Table E page overhead for chained LOBs. The pages used by a chained LOB are not contiguous.

Handling LOBs in FILEORG X'100' files also has the following effects:

• LOBs can be changed as needed. The RESERVE clause is ignored in a LOB field ADD statement processing, as well as the STORE RECORD statement processing of fieldname=value pairs. Consequently, the CHANGE statement does not fail because of insufficient reserved space. If the CHANGE statement requires that a LOB field be extended, it is.
• The value of the EHIGHPG parameter is always one less than the high water mark of the number of pages used to hold LOBs. (Unless none were ever added, in which case it is zero, not -1).
• The value of the EPGSUSED parameter is always the number of pages currently being used to hold LOBs.
• The COMPACTE command does not process FILEORG X'100' files, just as it does not process a file created in V6R1 or earlier. Thus, issuing a COMPACTE command for a FILEORG X'100' file produces an error message.
• The TABLEE command is effectively executing a VIEW ESIZE EHIGHPG EPGSUSED command for a FILEORG X'100' file. Consequently there are no TABLEE overhead pages in a FILEORG X'100' file.

Constraint attributes

You can set range constraints on fields using the constraint attributes. Each set of range attributes is comprised of four attributes (GE, GT, LE, LT) that you can use to establish a range for integer values, float values, or date-time stamp values. The types of range attributes are mutually exclusive. For example, you cannot define a field with the FLOAT-GE and INTEGER-LE attributes.

If a range constraint is redefined, it replaces the existing field constraint.

Note: The range constraints do not have to match the data type of the stored field. That is, you could have a date-time constraint for a STRING field or an integer constraint for a FLOAT field, and so on.

You can set the following constraint attributes:

• date-time value
• pattern for a field value
• length
• integer value

See Content constraints for details.

Changes to journal record layouts

Four bytes have been added to the journal record header for user statistic entries: 1 byte to hold the IODEV number and 3 bytes for future use.

All user since-last statistics (LAST=) lines will now show the IODEV value:

ST $$$ USERID='userid' ACCOUNT='accountname' IODEV='devicetype' LAST='acty'

For more information on journal records and user statistics, see the Rocket Model 204 System Manager's Guide.

Compatibility issues

This section describes any compatibility issues between V7.5 and prior versions of Model 204. An incompatibility arises if an operation that was previously performed without any indication of error, now operates (given the same inputs and conditions) in a different manner.

A normal bug fix resolving behavior that, although not indicating an error, was "clearly and obviously" incorrect, also introduces an incompatibility, but it might not be included below.

Change to the Ordered Index layout

Formerly all ORDERED NUMERIC fields came after all ORDERED CHARACTER fields in the Ordered Index. Now, the fields are interspersed in field code order.

ZFIELD Image

The ZFIELD image has been updated for this release. The image is used with $LSTFLD and $FDEF function calls. One change is that FDEF is now longer (to accommodate FDEF1, LOOPVAR, and FDEF2).

INTERCOMM is no longer supported

The INTERCOMM interface supports the use of Teletype and 3270 terminals in line-at-a-time mode, using the Model 204 IODEV=29 thread type.

INTERCOMM is no longer supported as of Model 204 version 7.5.

See the Rocket Model 204 Terminal User's Guide for a discussion of terminal interfaces.

User PDL overflow

The new SEQPDL parameter might require you to increase the size of the user Push Down List (using UTABLE LPDLST) by up to 3072 bytes, or more if you specify a value for SEQPDL that is larger than the 4096 default value.

LPDLST parameter maximum value

The maximum value for the LPDLST parameter has been increased from 32760 to 65536.

SSLIBSIZE parameter maximum value

The maximum value for the JANUS DEFINE command SSLIBSIZE parameter has been decreased from 32767 to 16384.

New and changed commands

DECREASE (new option: DYNAMIC)

The DYNAMIC option on the DECREASE command lets you decrease Table B dynamically, even if the file is open by others or has requests compiled against it.

DEFINE DATASET (new parameter: GDGRECNT)

The GDGRECNT parameter for the DEFINE DATASET command causes Model 204 to check the catalog information for the latest relative GDG generation number whenever allocating a GDG data set.

DEFINE FIELD (new or changed attributes)

In Model 204 version 7.5, the DEFINE FIELD command has new attributes information:

• the new CHUNK attribute, which improves the efficiency of range finds using ordered index processing
• many other FILEORG=x'100' related new or changed field attributes

DEFINE FIELDGROUP (new in V7.5)

The DEFINE FIELDGROUP command establishes the contents of a field group, including the fields and field groups associated with the field group being defined.

DELETE FIELD (changed to handle CAT and CTO fields)

The DELETE FIELD command has been changed to take CONCATENATION-OF (CAT) and COUNT-OCCURRENCES-OF (CTO) fields into account. DELETE FIELD does not allow deletion of fields referred to by an existing CAT or CTO field.

DELETE FIELDGROUP (new in V7.5)

The DELETE FIELDGROUP command deletes a field group from a Model 204 file.

DISPLAY FIELD (new option: COMMA)

In Model 204 version 7.5, the DISPLAY FIELD command has added the COMMA option, which uses commas to separate displayed field attributes.

DISPLAY MODMAP (new in V7.5)

DISPLAY MODMAP displays the Model 204 link map in address order. System manager privileges are required.

MSGCTL (new options: UP/UPPER, NOUP/NOUPPER)

The UP (or UPPER) option on the MSGCTL command indicates that the specified message should be converted to uppercase before display. Similarly, the NOUP (or NOUPPER) option on the MSGCTL command undoes the effects of UP or UPPER.

REGENERATE and REGENERATE ONEPASS (improved TO UPDATE option)

The TO UPDATE option of the REGENERATE and REGENERATE ONEPASS commands can now handle multiple files.

If TO UPDATE nn OF id is specified, it must appear only on the first FILE statement, and no other �TO� options are allowed on subsequent files.

All additional files will be recovered as though they each specified the same 'TO UPDATE' option. Once the 'end of transaction' is reached, further processing will stop and all inflight transactions will be backed out.

RENAME FIELDGROUP (new in V7.5)

The RENAME FIELDGROUP command changes the name of a field group.

UNICODE (new codepage: 1154)

The UNICODE command now accepts 1154 as a codepage name. This codepage has 92 Unicode characters in the range U+0400 through U+045F, representing the Basic Russian alphabet and all of the Cyrillic extensions excepting the four which have grave accents.

Reliability enhancements

SEQPDL parameter

The new SEQPDL parameter controls the amount of free space that must be present in the user's Push Down List (PDL) in order for the SOUL sequencer to proceed with the next quad code. The minimum and default value is 4096 bytes. The maximum value is 8192 bytes. SEQPDL is a user resettable parameter and can be set on the user's parameter line or reset with the UTABLE command.

Formerly 1024 bytes of PDL free space were hardcoded internally in the Model 204 core. With 1024 bytes there were edge cases where abends would break files, resulting in ERROR 2126 USER'S PUSHDOWN LIST OVERFLOWED. SEQPDL is provided to allow enough PDL space so that all of the lower level journaling routines can process error conditions without breaking files.

If your applications are using close to the amount of PDL space currently set by the LPDLST value, you might need to increase LPDLST to reflect SEQPDL's increase in free space.

New and changed parameters

In addition to the following specific parameter changes, Model 204 parameter descriptions, for example as displayed by the VIEW command, are now in mixed case (unless translated to uppercase due to UPCASMSG.)

Note: The Sirius Mods parameters are merged with the Model 204 base as of Model 204 version 7.5, and they are available to all version 7.5 customers. The combined set of parameters is displayed on the List of Model 204 parameters page. The former Sirius parameters in that listing are marked with an ^(S).

DEFCNTX and APDFCNTX (for $View function only, new in V7.5)

The string DEFCNTX or APDFCNTX can be used as an argument to the $View function to get the default file or group context. Using these strings is better than using $View('CURFILE') because:

• CURFILE returns a null string if the default context is a group.
• CURFILE is affected by the IN clause prior to a Begin command and can be affected by the In clause prior to many SOUL statements.

If there is no default context, $View('DEFCNTX') returns a null string.

Otherwise $View('DEFCNTX') returns the type of context (FILE, TEMP GROUP, or PERM GROUP) followed by the file or group name, with trailing blanks removed.

$View('APDFCNTX') returns the same information based on the default context when the APSY was entered, unless that is the same as one of the files or groups in the subsystem's definition; in that case, the null string is returned.

Note: These $View arguments were implemented as part of maintenance to version 7.5 (via zap number 54). They are not available as ordinary parameters on the VIEW command. In version 7.6 of Model 204, they will also be available with the VIEW command.

DSPOPT (change to default setting)

The default setting for DSPOPT has been changed from X'00' to X'01'. The X'01' setting allocates space for servers in memory in chunks of 4K pages, not as a permanent contiguous area. This allocation lets you move fewer 4K pages, keeping the virtual storage allocated for servers in memory less fragmented and possibly using fewer paging tables.

ECPSIZE (change to max value)

The maximum value setting for ECPSIZE has been increased from 1310680 to 1966020 to accommodate more External Call Facility parameters.

FILEORG (new settings)

• The FILEORG X'100' setting for enhanced data handling files is now available.

  X'100' enables a number of enhancements to the file structure, including:

  • Support for physical field groups
  • The definition of as many as 32000 fields in a file
  • System maintained Automatic fields
  • Field constraints providing content validation
  • Improved space management of fields containing Large Objects
  • New DEFINE FIELD attributes, such as CHUNK

  If X'100' is selected, the X'80' bit (optimized field extraction files) is automatically set.

• The FILEORG X'200' setting for large file support is now available.

X'200' allows files to hold up to 48 million records.

FISTAT (change to X'08' setting)

The FISTAT X'08' (file full) setting is now automatically cleared in a transaction back out file if table D is increased enough so that DSIZE is greater than or equal to DPGSRES+DPGSUSED.

LRETBL (setting increase may be necessary)

Because there might be a slight increase in record locking table usage in V7.5, an increase in the value of the LRETBL parameter is advised. The amount of the increase is best estimated by multiplying by 16 the HWM HEADERS value (from a MONITOR ENQ report), then dividing by the value of the NUSERS parameter. For example, if HWM HEADERS = 100000 and NUSERS=2000, the recommended LRETBL increase is 16*100000/2000, or 800.

MISCOPT (obsolete)

The MISCOPT parameter is now obsolete. In Model 204 version 7.5, MISCOPT is still viewable but is not resettable.

MODTIM (new in V7.5)

The MODTIM system parameter displays the most recent assembly date and time of the Model 204 load module.

OUTPUT (change to allow OUTPUT=DUMMY)

IODEV=3 threads definitions now allow OUTPUT=DUMMY. When defining IODEV=3 threads, if output is not required, the OUTPUT parameter can be coded as OUTPUT=DUMMY.

For example:

IODEV=3,INPUT=IOD3IN1,OUTPUT=DUMMY IODEV=3,INPUT=IOD3IN2,OUTPUT=DUMMY IODEV=3,INPUT=IOD3IN3,OUTPUT=DUMMY

and so on.

This means that no DD statement is required for the output data set, and in cases where many IODEV=3 threads are defined to simulate a large number of users, this enhancement will reduce the number of DD statements required by one half.

RECLOCKO (X'04' bit now ignored)

The RECLOCKO X'04' bit is now ignored, and the extra information of the conflicting user number and lock time are now always available.

RESPAGE (new in V7.5)

The RESPAGE parameter activates the APSY Precompiled Procedures in storage feature using above the bar pages by specifying a number of 4K operating system pages.

RETRVKEY (change to allow forward retrieve PF key)

New in this release, if you specify a non-zero setting of RETRVKEY:

• If you have set the X'01' or X'10' bits of the RETRVOPT parameter, you can use a forward retrieve PF key, in addition to the backward retrieve PF key specified by RETRVKEY.

  Note: If either of these bits is set, the X'02' bit is strongly recommended as well.

• The size of the allocated storage area, and hence the number and length of input lines available for retrieval, is specified by the value of the RETRVBUF parameter.

SEQPDL (new in V7.5)

The SEQPDL parameter controls the amount of free space that must be present in the user's Push Down List in order for the SOUL sequencer to proceed with the next quad code. SEQPDL allows enough PDL space for the lower level journaling routines to handle error conditions properly without breaking files and causing ERROR 2126 USER'S PUSHDOWN LIST OVERFLOWED.

SESMAXTO (new in V7.5)

The SESMAXTO parameter can be used limit the maximum session timeout value or to cause all current closed sessions to be immediately discarded.

SMFSVC (obsolete)

The SMFSVC parameter is obsolete as of Model 204 version 7.5.

UPCASMSG (new in V7.5)

The UPCASMSG parameter can be used to translate messages issued by Model 204 to uppercase; otherwise (depending on the message being issued) they are displayed in mixed (upper and lower) case.

Documentation conversion to wiki format

Rocket Model 204 documentation is being converted from individual manuals in PDF format to a set of cross-linked HTML articles in this integrated wiki, M204wiki.

As of Model 204 release 7.5, several manuals are now in wiki format and the rest remain in PDF format, available in the M204 folder of the Rocket Software Documentation Library.

For details, see Model 204 and Sirius documentation.

New and updated messages

Many messages have been updated and added in this release. See New and updated messages in Model 204 version 7.5 for details.