Review provides a batch utility that allows you to view the content structure of an Adabas or Review-created command log. It does not display the actual contents of the command log, only the structure. It will display the block size, record size, and a map of each segment of the command log. With this utility, you can see if there is a CLEX, and which buffers were logged. It also shows the length of each segment.

The output of this utility can be a printer or a dataset depending on your JCL. If it is a dataset, it can be downloaded and used as an Excel CSV file. Each segment is delimited with a semi-colon.

Below is a sample of CHECKLOGs output:

4;BDW;9646;<Block> 1247;REV;24;<BASIC>;344;<ACB>;48;<ABD>;640;<CLXD>;48;<ABD>;7;<SB>;48;<ABD>;8;<VB>;48;<ABD>;32;<FB>

Each new block is indicated in this example, and the block length is shown. The second line shows the length of the first record, followed by “REV” if the log was created by Review or if it was created by Adabas to be sent to Review. It will show “ADA” if it was written by Adabas, and the records are not being sent to Review.

Next is the length of the command log's basic portion, which is 24 bytes. This is followed by "<BASIC>". This is followed by the length of the ACBX (344 bytes), followed by the various buffers and their lengths. The record displayed above shows a 640-byte CLEX, a 48-byte ABD (Adabas Buffer Descriptor), a 7-byte Search Buffer ETC.

CHECKLOG only reads command logs written by Adabas or Review. TLOGs and other types of command logs are not recognized by CHECKLOG.

You can run CHECKLOG using the sample JCL located in the REVIEW.MVSJOBS library.

Example:

//CHECKLOG JOB   REVIEW,CLASS=X,MSGCLASS=X                   
//*                                                          
//***********************************************************
//*    This sample jobstream will execute the CHECKLOG      *
//*    utility. The Checklog utility is a simple batch job  *
//*    that reads commands logs and outputs the layout of   *
//*    each record.                                         *
//***********************************************************
//*                                                          
//STEP1    EXEC  PGM=CHECKLOG                                
//STEPLIB  DD    DISP=SHR,DSN=REVIEW.LOAD                    
//*                                                          
//CLOGIN   DD    DISP=SHR,DSN=COMMAND.LOG.DATASET            
//LINEOUT  DD    SYSOUT=X                                    
//SYSOUT   DD    SYSOUT=X                                    
//SYSUDUMP DD    SYSOUT=X                                    
//                                                           

As shown in the example, the CHECKLOG executable is in the Review load library.