Please Archive This Rexx-Capable Version

[Monty Ealerman]

Originally Posted by prino

An archive copy?

Looks great, except for the fact that you cannot resize the window to 132x43 on XP.

How compatible are the macro's, will ISPF edit macro's run without modification, or are there any things to watch out for?

Robert

PS: Anyone needing me to hold a backup of Tritus TSPF?

I haven't seen the capability to increase the display line length to 132, as e.g. on a Mod 5 3270 terminal, but you can increase the lines to 43.

If you're testing the edit macros, you may want to look in the \REXX sub-directory to see some of the ISPF features, such as ISREDIT, that are supported.

Here's a REXX macro I use to submit jobs from SPFPC via the Hercules card reader emulator:

/* +----------------------------- REXX -----------------------------+ */
/*                                                                    */
/*      Name: ... \REXX\USER\SUB.SPF                                  */
/*                                                                    */
/*      Type: SPF edit macro                                          */
/*                                                                    */
/*      Desc: submit JCL to MVS 3.8                                   */
/*                                                                    */
/*      Creation date: 24 Aug 1999, creation time: 18:49:40           */
/*                                                                    */
/*      Author: (c) Volker Bandke                                     */
/*                                                                    */
/*                                                                    */
/* +----------------------------------------------------------------+ */
'isredit macro (p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9)'
"ISREDIT (member) = MEMBER"
"ISPEXEC CONTROL ERRORS CANCEL"
parse upper var member file '.' ext
do
'ISREDIT REPLACE' $$$$$$$$.SPF '.ZF .ZL'
ADDRESS "CMD" "HERCRDR P2:3505 $$$$$$$$.SPF"
/* previous line modified to my machine's netname                     */
/* in this case it's a P2, hence the netname P2                       */
zedsmsg = 'File submitted'
zedlmsg = 'The member '||member||' has been submitted to MVS'
'ispexec setmsg msg(isrz000)'
ADDRESS "CMD" "DELETE $$$$$$$$.SPF"
end
EXIT 0

[Nic Clouston]

1 - to get more cols in your display play around with the fonts and pitches

2 - you cannot create panels without a command line - found this when I wrote a script to convert a COBOL BMS map macro to an ISPF panel
3 - on pop-ups they have coded the lines,cols in the reverse to m/f
4 - syntax of ATTR is different - or, at least, I never put quotes around the character. Some attributes are not available
5 - there are other quirks but I now use SPFLite for my editing - does not support panels or rexx but as an editor it is on a par with SPF/Pro

[Monty Ealerman]

Has anyone here tested the SUPERC Utility included with this product?

[Nic Clouston]

Yes - here is a sample of the output from a matching file

 
NEW FILE: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\NIC\MY DOCUMENTS\PROGRAM SOURCE\REXX\PC\EASTER.RE
OLD FILE: F:\NICS DOCUMENTS BACKUP 16 AUG 2008\PROGRAM SOURCE\REXX\PC\EASTER.REX
 
Files are the same.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------ SUMMARY ------------------------------------
NEWFILE PATH: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\NIC\MY DOCUMENTS\PROGRAM SOURCE
OLDFILE PATH: F:\NICS DOCUMENTS BACKUP 16 AUG 2008\PROGRAM SOURCE\REXX\
 
05/02/09 14:55:51 INSERT DELETE MATCH
----------------------------------------------------------
EASTER.REX
EASTER.REX 000000 000000 000067
----------------------------------------------------------
SuperC File Comparison complete.

[Monty Ealerman]

Hi Nic,

Apparently you tested a different version of the product.
The 4.0 version doesn't support "long" file names.
Its report looks otherwise similar to yours.

Regards,

Monty

[stidwell]

A long time ago, just after CTC brought out SPF/SE I read they had dumped not only the venerable SPF/PC but they had had at one time more recent versions called SPF/Pro and SPF/WIN. Ever since then I've been looking for them. I sometimes think I was hallucinating. Can't find them anywhere. Can anyone confirm I'm deluded or not? See, I got very very sick in 2007 with a staph infection in my spine and was on heavy duty narcotics till recently. (That's why I haven't been around for a while.) I'm told I imagined a lot of things during all that that never happened. (Though the police raid DID happen, but that's another story.) So, if these products ever really existed, is there anyone who might be willing to share them, seeing that they're officially orphaned.

SPF/SE is okay as long as you just use it and don't try to roll your own apps. What was CTC thinking when they dumped REXX? In one move they alienated much of their hardcore base. They made KEDIT, THE, and REGINA a lot more popular.

I still maintain we need a real ISPF GUI (isn't there a 3rd party one?) and/or a TN3270 emulator that is truly Windows compliant instead of a dumb terminal imitation. And wither ISPF WS?

[Mickey]

Steve, Nice Revolver. Nice Dog.. Picture, not so nice...

Yes I remember SPF/pro and I too get them all messed up in a blurr...
one was way better than the other, but I forget which.

[stidwell]

Mickey, the picture was a National Lampoon magazine cover in 1973, the legendary Death issue, with articles like Suicide Letters to Santa, Ways To Tell A Kid His Parents Are Dead, Last-Aid (or how to make your best friend look great for his funeral if he would just quit trying to stop you), I think The Adventures of Dead Man, an incredible parody of James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, Playdead magazine with an interview with the late Dan Blocker who had nothing to say, and a photo spread on The Stiffs of Sweden. The cover title was "Buy this magazine or we'll kill this dog". The dog sure seemed to believe them. The next issue began with an editorial that said they had killed the dog because despite some people buying dozens of copies it just hadn't been enough and the whole thing was just Our Own Damn Fault. The same writers were the core of the original Saturday Night Live writers.

[don.leahy]

The GUI interface to ISPF CS is still around. However, it has been "functionally stabilized" so, as far as I know, no improvements have been made in the last decade or so.*

As for SPF/SE, the story that I heard that it resulted from a mass exodus of SPF/PC's original developers. If true, that would explain the radical change in direction they made in abandoning Rexx.


* I am referring to the GUI interface, not ISPF/CS in general. ISPF C/S includes many useful ISPF services such as FILEXFER and WSCMD, and also lets you seamlessly edit workstation files on the mainframe or mainframe files on your workstation. It is actually very cool, but the ugly GUI interface that went along with it (which you can suppress, thank goodness) gave the entire feature a bad reputation.

[Nic Clouston]

Monty
I am on version 5.0.3 (1997)

Steve T
I have never seen a reference to SPF/WIN - only SPF/PRO (for which I have the disks - if I could only find them!)

All
Another problem is that it keeps losing a visible cursor which is a pain but it eventualy comes back after a screen refresh or two. I just the use a mouse-click to position the cursor.