Installing Software AG Editor on z/OS

The Software AG Editor is an optional Natural component that is required by several Natural utilities (for example, SYSRPC and SYSBPM), Natural add-on products (for example, Natural ISPF) and other Software AG products (for example, Predict).

This document describes the steps for installing the Software AG Editor on z/OS.

Related Topics:

Notation vrs or vr:

When used in this document, the notation vrs or vr represents the relevant product version (see also Version in the Glossary).

Prerequisites

See General Prerequisites and System Support in the section Overview of the Installation Process.

Support of a Parallel Sysplex Environment

The Software AG Editor must run without a buffer pool to support a Parallel Sysplex environment under CICS, that is, to be able to switch the z/OS host during a Natural session.

For this purpose, the Natural profile parameter EDPSIZE (described in the Parameter Reference documentation) is supplied where you can specify the size of an auxiliary editor buffer pool. All editor data is kept in the user storage thread. The total editor work space per user is limited by the EDPSIZE parameter. No editor work file is required. The recovery feature mechanism of the Software AG Editor is not supported.

Installation Procedure

Be sure to read Installation Process and Major Natural Features before you start the installation procedure.

The System Maintenance Aid (SMA) parameter SAG-EDITOR is set to Y (Yes) by default to allow installation of the Software AG Editor.

Step 1: Adapt the Editor Buffer Pool Parameter Macro NTEDBP

  1. Modify the editor buffer pool settings supplied with the NTEDBP macro in the Natural parameter module to meet your requirements. For a description of this macro, see the corresponding dynamic profile parameter EDBP.

  2. Assemble the Natural parameter module and link it to the Software AG Editor work file formatting utility (NATEDFM) contained in the Natural load library. The Software AG Editor work file formatting utility is described in Editor Work File in the Operations documentation.

    The editor buffer pool parameters contained in the Natural parameter module are stored in the editor buffer pool work file control record during formatting (see Step 3: Format the Editor Work File).

For the Initial Installation:

You can leave the defaults. In this case, it is not necessary to assemble and link the Natural parameter module.

Step 2: Allocate the Editor Work File

(Job I008, Steps 1900, 1901, 1903, 1905)

Under Com-plete, this step is only required if you want to use a global editor buffer pool.

A VSAM RRDS is used as the editor work file. To best exploit the VSAM data set space, the record length should be defined 8 bytes less than the control interval length; see also Editor Work File in the Operations documentation.

  • Depending on your TP monitor environment, execute the following steps to allocate the data set: 

    Step 1900 ALLOCATE EDITOR WORK FILE BATCH 
     1901 ALLOCATE EDITOR WORK FILE CICS  
     1903 ALLOCATE EDITOR WORK FILE TSO   
     1905 ALLOCATE EDITOR WORK FILE GLOBAL

Step 3: Format the Editor Work File

(Job I081, Steps 1900, 1901, 1903, 1905)

Under Com-plete, this step is only required if you want to use a global editor buffer pool.

  1. Use the Software AG Editor work file formatting utility (NATEDFM) to format and load the control record in the editor work file.

  2. Depending on your TP monitor environment, execute the following steps to format the data set: 

    Step 1900 FORMAT EDITOR WORK FILE BATCH
     1901 FORMAT EDITOR WORK FILE CICS
     1903 FORMAT EDITOR WORK FILE TSO
     1905 FORMAT EDITOR WORK FILE GLOBAL

You may receive error message IEC070I 203-204, which can be ignored.

Step 4: Modify the Startup JCL and Subsystem Definitions

You can specify the data set for the work file by using the keyword subparameter DSNAME or DDNAME of the parameter macro NTEDBP (see EDBP - Software AG Editor Buffer Pool Definitions in the Parameter Reference documentation).

The data set name specified with DDNAME must correspond to the data set definition in your JCL.

  • Under TSO and in Batch Mode:

    Add a DD statement for the work file: 

    //CMEDIT DD DSN=data-set-name,DISP=SHR

    where data-set-name is the name of the data set to be used for the work file.

    You can skip this step if you have specified the correct data set name in the editor buffer pool's parameter macro in the Natural parameter module; Natural then allocates the file dynamically.

  • Under Com-plete:

    • If you want to use a global editor buffer pool, add a DD statement for the editor work file: 

      //dd-name DD DSN=data-set-name,DISP=SHR

      where:
      dd-name is the name of the work file to be used by the global editor buffer pool,
      data-set-name is the name of the data set to be used for the work file.

      In addition, the DD name has to be defined to Com-plete by using the UUTIL utility function FM (described in the relevant section of the Com-plete documentation).

    • If you want to use a local editor buffer pool, define an SD file as the editor work file. The name of the SD file is indicated in the keyword subparameter DDNAME of the NTEDBP macro. Therefore, the keyword subparameter DSNAME has no significance.

      The number of work file records is set with the keyword subparameter RECNUM and the work file record length is set with the keyword subparameter LRECL of the NTEDBP macro.

      For a local editor buffer pool, add the definitions of the editor buffer pool to the SERVER parameter of your startup parameters as indicated in Define the Natural Com-plete/SMARTS Interface Server in the section Installing Natural Com-plete/SMARTS Interface.

      For explanations of the keyword subparameters and macros mentioned above, see EDBP - Software AG Editor Buffer Pool Definitions in the Parameter Reference documentation.

  • Under CICS:

    Add an entry in the CICS File Control Table (Job I005).

Step 5: Build the Natural Parameter Module

(Job I080)

  1. Add the following parameter to your Natural parameter module to specify the size of the editor area: 

    SSIZE=nn

    where nn must be set to at least 54 (the default is 64).

  2. The Software AG Editor requires either a local or a global editor buffer pool (see also Natural Buffer Pools in the Operations documentation).

    Under IMS TM, the use of a global editor buffer pool is mandatory.

    • If you want to use a local editor buffer pool, specify the NTBPI macro as follows: 

      NTBPI TYPE=EDIT

      The size of the region must be large enough to allocate the local buffer pool.

      For more information on NTBPI, see NTBPI Macro Syntax in the Parameter Reference documentation.

    • If you want to use a global editor buffer pool, proceed as follows:

      Specify the NTBPI macro as follows: 

      NTBPI TYPE=EDIT,NAME=gbp-name

      where gbp-name is the name of the global editor buffer pool to be used.

      Supply the following parameter with the NTPRM macro (described in the Operations documentation): 

      SUBSID=subsystem-name

      where subsystem-name is the name of the Natural subsystem specified when creating the global buffer pool.

      For detailed information on SUBSID, see SUBSID - Subsystem ID under z/OS and z/VSE in the Parameter Reference documentation.

  3. Assemble and link the Natural parameter module.

Step 6: Define the Global Editor Buffer Pool

The global editor buffer pool can be shared by several regions. It is defined and started using the same procedure as for Natural global buffer pools; see Natural Global Buffer Pool under z/OS in the Operations documentation. The parameter setting TYPE=EDIT identifies the buffer pool as an editor buffer pool.

All users of the same global editor buffer pool must share the same editor work file; otherwise, an error occurs.

Step 7: Link the Software AG Editor to the Nucleus

(Job I080)

  • Link the following Software AG Editor module to either the environment-independent nucleus or the environment-dependent nucleus by using the corresponding INCLUDE statement: 

     INCLUDE NATLIB(NATEDT)

  • Instead of linking the Software AG Editor module to the nucleus, you can dynamically load it during initialization of a Natural session. In this case, the NATEDT editor module must be linked as EDITOR load module and the Natural session must be started with the profile parameter setting RCA=EDITOR (see also RCA - Resolve Addresses of Statically Linked Modules described in the Parameter Reference documentation).

Installation Verification

You can verify the successful installation of the Software AG Editor by performing the following:

  • Invoke Natural and enter the following system command:

    SYSEDT

    The SYSEDT Utility Main Menu appears which can be used to display all buffer pool parameters and usage statistics; see SYSEDT Utility - Editor Buffer Pool Administration in the Utilities documentation.

You can only test the full operation of the Software AG Editor if another Software AG product (for example, Natural ISPF or Predict) that uses Software AG Editor functionality is installed.