Software contributions to the MVS 3.8J enthusiasts and hobbyists community are listed below in chronological order with most current announcement at top. Also, current development workload in progress is listed for awareness purposes to be published and announced at a later date. This post serves as an archive of announcements. Dates are in the format MM/DD/CCYY or monthname-day-ccyy. Thanks,Larry Belmontes…
Category: ISPF 2.x
GGUESS in KICKS
Overview KICKS is a transaction processing system for CMS and TSO enabling execution of CICS programs directly under TSO and provides a high level of source code compatibility with CICS. Compilers supported (not an exhaustive list) include MVT COBOL and MVS GCC. KICKS is owned and authored by Mike Noel. Complete information on this product available at http://www.kicksfortso.com/ This post…
Pretty-TERMSIZE in MVS38J
Overview ISPF v.2.2 (ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin) provides two specific Z-variables to expose terminal size, ZSCREEND and ZSCREENW, screen depth and screen width, respectively. Each variable is 4-bytes, zero-filled. For example, to display terminal size on a panel (e.g. primary menu, ISP@PRIM), one row (line) could be defined in the )BODY section as shown below: 1 2 3 4…
PRTSCR in MVS 3.8J
Overview PRTSCR – ISPFv2.2 Print Screen Utility(current version 0.9.01 2025-02-08) ISPF v2.2 (ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin) does not include a print screen function (i.e. PRINT, PRINT-HI) as provided by the IBM ISPF product. ISPF maintains several system Z-variables for developer use. Some Z-type variables for screen information include ZSCREENW (screen width, e.g. 80), ZSCREEND (screen depth, e.g. 24) and…
GGUESS in MVS38J
GGUESS – Number Guessing Game across technology stacks from PC BASIC to MVS 3.8J TSO / ISPF / KICKS /Hercules to HTML JavaScript(current version 0.9.00 2024-05-01) One of my first programs to write (during the late 1970’s) was a number guessing game using interactive BASIC interpreters on the Altair 8800 and TRS-80 Model I microcomputers (Intel 8080 CPU). The program…
TASKLIST in MVS38J
Preview Using a daily planning application under ISPF to conveniently manage and maintain a to-do calendar list was a brilliant idea, especially in the 1980’s, before the availability of personal digital assistants (e.g. PalmPilot or Newton MessagePad)! On CBTTAPE.ORG, CBT231 contains such an application named TASKLIST written by Joe Veilleux from APC contributed circa 1985. Download CBT231 for reference and…
VSI in MVS38J
Overview VSI – VSAM Information ISPF add-on for MVS38J / Hercules(current version 0.9.00 2023-11-15) VSI provides a function to display VSAM file information on one screen as an ISPF add-on. The single display screen offers a HELP screen, but has no other processing options. This original tool (VI) has been rewritten as a TSO CLIST for MVS 3.8J and ISPF…
CATMGT in MVS38J
Overview CATMGT – Catalog Management ISPF Add-on for MVS 3.8J TSO / ISPF / Hercules(current version 0.9.01 2023-11-15) While searching for miscellaneous MVS information, I stumbled across an article from the early 1980s that described the CATLOG Management function as a TSO/ISPF option. Although limited in the use of IDCAMS commands utilized by the option, I decided to embark on…
Tutorials for ISPF v2.2 / MVS 3.8J
Overview Tutorials for ISPF v2.2 / MVS 3.8J using LBTUTOR(current version 0.9.01 2023-11-15) Based on various ISPF manuals, while using ISPF, the HELP function is triggered by PF1/PF13 (default PF keys) to display additional information about a displayed message or transition into a tutorial mode displaying a help (tutorial) panel and/or a series of help panels. The term help and…
Using ISPF v2.2 with MVS 3.8J
Overview The current ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin enhances the MVS 3.8J / TSO landscape on your personal mainframe! Like with any other hobbyist / enthusiasts designing, developing, testing and distributing developer tools / utilities, one must finalize on what features and/or functions to offer end users for a particular release. The focus may center on previously used tools behavior…