Dynamic creation of job control language cards

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017010901-A1
Application number	US-201514794091-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 8, 2015
Priority date	Jul 8, 2015
Publication date	Jan 12, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to aspects of the present disclosure, a method for creating a JCL job card comprises obtaining job control language (JCL) function choices and parameters associated with the JCL function choices and transmitting the JCL function choices to a graphical user interface. A selection of a function choice is received from the user, and a customized panel for display is created based on the received function choice selection and the parameters associated with the received function choice selection. The customized panel is transmitted to the graphical user interface, and values for at least a subset of the parameters associated with the received function choice selection are received from the user. The received function choice selection and received values are mapped to an associated JCL command, and a JCL card is created based on the mapping.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
obtaining job control language (JCL) function choices and parameters associated with the JCL function choices; transmitting the JCL function choices to a graphical user interface; receiving a function choice selection in response to a user interacting with the graphical user interface to specify a job; customizing a panel for display based on the received function choice selection and the parameters associated with the received function choice selection; transmitting the customized panel to the graphical user interface; receiving values for at least a subset of the parameters associated with the received function choice selection via the graphical user interface; mapping the received function choice selection and received values to an associated JCL command; and creating a JCL card that instructs a mainframe computer to execute the specified job based on the mapping.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
presenting the JCL function choices via a dropdown box generated by the graphical user interface;
wherein:
receiving a function choice selection further comprises receiving the function choice selection in response to the user selecting a JCL function choice via the dropdown box.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein customizing a panel for display further comprises including text boxes for a user to enter the values for the parameters associated with the received function choice selection.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein customizing a panel for display further comprises generating a notification that a subset of the parameters associated with the received function choice selection are mandatory parameters.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying an expected value type for a select parameter associated with the received function choice selection;
comparing a type of the received value for the select parameter with the expected value type for the select parameter; and
transmitting a prompt to the graphical user interface indicating that the received value is of an incorrect type if the type of the received value does not correspond to the expected value type for the select parameter.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command further comprises mapping the values to the parameters using a keyword-parameter approach.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command further comprises mapping the values to the parameters using a positional-parameter approach.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein creating a JCL card further comprises:
determining if mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command requires more than one line; determining a destination operating system requires DOS JCL; and placing a character at space 72 if mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command requires more than one line and the destination operating system requires DOS JCL.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein creating a JCL card further comprises:
determining if mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command requires more than one line; determining a destination operating system requires OS JCL; and placing a comma at an end of the line if mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command requires more than one line and the destination operating system requires OS JCL.

10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
prompting, via the graphic user interface, the user to select one of: save, submit, and both for the created JCL card;
receiving a response from the user;
writing the JCL card to a file if the response indicates that the JCL card should be saved; and
submitting the JCL card for execution if the response indicates that the JCL card should be submitted.

11 . A system comprising:
a hardware processor coupled to memory, wherein the processor is programmed to create a job control language (JCL) card by:
obtaining job control language (JCL) function choices and parameters associated with the JCL function choices;
transmitting the JCL function choices to a graphical user interface;
receiving a function choice selection in response to a user interacting with the graphical user interface to specify a job;
customizing a panel for display based on the received function choice selection and the parameters associated with the received function choice selection;
transmitting the customized panel to the graphical user interface;
receiving values for at least a subset of the parameters associated with the received function choice selection via the graphical user interface;
mapping the received function choice selection and received values to an associated JCL command; and
creating a JCL card that instructs a mainframe computer to execute the specified job based on the mapping.

12 . The system of claim 11 further comprising:
presenting the JCL function choices via a dropdown box generated via the graphical user interface; wherein:
receiving a function choice selection further comprises receiving a function choice selection in response to the user selecting a JCL function choice via the dropdown box.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein customizing a panel for display further comprises including text boxes for a user to enter the values for the parameters associated with the received function choice selection.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein customizing a panel for display further comprises including a notification that a subset of the parameters are mandatory parameters associated with the received function choice selection.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the program code further instructs the processor to perform:
identifying an expected value type for a select parameter associated with the received function choice selection; comparing a type of the received value for the select parameter with the expected value type for the select parameter; and transmitting a prompt to the graphical user interface indicating that the received value is of an incorrect type if the type of the received value does not correspond to the expected value type for the select parameter.

16 . The system of claim 11 , wherein mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command further comprises mapping the values to the parameters using a keyword-parameter approach.

17 . The system of claim 11 , wherein mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command further comprises mapping the values to the parameters using a positional-parameter approach.

18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein creating a JCL card further comprises:
determining if mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command requires more than one line; determining a destination operating system requires DOS JCL; and placing a character at space 72 if mapping the received function choice selection and received parameters to an associated JCL command requires more than one line and the destination operating system requires DOS JCL.

19 . The system of claim 11 , wherein creating a JCL card further comprises:
determining i

Assignees

• Ca Inc

Inventors

• Parikh Ravish M
• Navani Richa

Classifications

• G06F8/34 Primary

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G06F3/0482 Primary

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F9/4843

  by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title