CICS Transaction Debugging

This CICS/TS Transaction Debugging course explains how to find the storage areas and new COBOL structures within a CICS transaction dump.

• COBOL Application Programmers using CICS
• Systems Programmers supporting CICS applications
• Developers in the CICS Environment

Attendees should have 2 or 3 years experience coding CICS Command Level Applications, and should have some knowledge of programming. Cobol is desirable.

Enterprise COBOL V6 have dramatically changed how COBOL defines and locates its Working Storage and Linkage Sections. The traditional methods of locating these areas via the Task Global Table are gone. The TGT has been removed.

COBOL has introduced new areas called the PPAs. Program Prolog Areas. There are 4 of them. There is a new Static Map that has also been created. The new COBOL Compiler listing V6 is fully explained.

This CICS/TS Transaction Debugging course explains how to find these storage areas and these new COBOL structures within a CICS transaction dump.

Upon completion, attendees will be able to confidently debug transactions dumps, to be more self-sufficient with application problems and to understand the methodologies of dump solving.

The attendees will be given a road-map of problem solving and taken through a number of transaction dumps. Data Exceptions and Protections Exception are fully covered, as is a CICS LINK. Methodology is included to debug a looping transaction.

The attendee will understand the important of CICS Control Blocks – EIB, PESA, TCA and the Trace table. The attendee will also be able to describe how to use the Program Status Word and the General Purpose Registers to assist in debugging.

Day 1
Introduction to CICS Transaction Dumps
Understanding Data/Protection Exceptions
• 0C4 and 0C7 Program checks
Analysing the dump information
• Exec Interface Block
• Transaction Abnormal Condition Block
• The Program Status Word
• The General Purposes Registers
CICS Internal Design

Day 2
Setting CICS Dumping options
Specifying the CICS System Dump and Transaction Dump table on the CSD using CEDA
Printing transaction dumps
Understanding the Transaction Dump Utility
Debugging a Program Check – Mainline
• Using the Cobol Programming Listing
• Understanding the PPAs and how to use them
• Understanding the new Static Map
• The CEEDUMP
Debugging a Program Check – Cobol Subroutine
• Understanding Save Areas
• Using AMBLIST utility to determine the structure of the Load Module

Day 3
Debugging a Program Check – Exec CICS Link
• Understanding the PESA
• Understanding the step by step methodology of Debugging
CICS Tracing Facilities
Controlling the Trace – CETR
Setting Trace options
Printing the Trace with the Trace utility
Finding any EXEC CICS command in the COBOL source from the Trace table

Day 4
Debugging a Program Loop
• Using Exec CICS Enter Tracenum
Understanding CICS Abend codes
Debugging using Execution Diagnostic Facility
Using CEDF to solve the Program Check while the transaction is still abending