Knowledge Base

Using PL/I Programs with COM Transaction Integrator

Article ID: 183179

Article Last Modified on 11/24/2004

APPLIES TO

This article was previously published under Q183179

SUMMARY

PL/I is not supported by Component Builder. Nevertheless, you can use COM Transaction Integrator for CICS and IMS (COMTI) with PL/I programs operating in CICS or IMS. To do so, code the programs with data declarations that define memory the same way that the equivalent COBOL declarations do.

For example, a CICS program can perform an EXEC CICS LINK to either a PL/I program or a COBOL program if the structure defining DFHCOMMAREA in the two programs is equivalent. Similarly, a COMTI component could be used equally well with either program using a CICS LINK Remote Environment (RE). The same mechanisms hold true by extrapolation for CICS and IMS REs.

All you need to know is how to achieve the same memory mapping in PL/I and COBOL. This article presents data type comparisons for the two languages.

MORE INFORMATION

Note that the developer who is responsible for creating components for PL/I transaction programs (TP) should be familiar with both languages.

Data alignment is an important issue. PL/I structures are ALIGNED by default; for example, a fullword integer (4 bytes) within a structure is ALIGNED on a mainframe fullword boundary. This can cause a discrepancy with similar COBOL statements and the PL/I structure should probably be declared as UNALIGNED. This is particularly important for the DFHCOMMAREA declaration. This data structure must be unaligned. You must, therefore, specify the UNALIGNED keyword on the structure declaration.

You should use care when dealing with the COBOL "OCCURS DEPENDING ON" clause. The following samples show a comparison of a COBOL construction with a similar PL/I construction.

COBOL Sample

   01   STRUCT1.
   02   X   PIC S9(4) COMP.
   02   Y OCCURS 1 TO 100 TIMES DEPENDING ON X PIC X(10).

PL/I Sample

   DCL   1   STRUCT1,
         2   X   FIXED BIN(15),
         2   Y (1:100 REFER(X)) CHAR(10);

COMTI Data Conversion Language Mapping Lists

      VB type          COBOL type                      PL/I type
      -------     --------------------              ---------------

      Integer        PIC S9(n) COMP                   FIXED BIN(15)
                     (n <= 4)
                     (see NOTE)

                     PIC S9(n) COMP-3                 FIXED DEC(n)
                     (n <= 4)                         (n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(n)                        PIC '9(n-1)T'
                     (n <= 4)                         (n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(n) LEADING                PIC 'T9(n-1)'
                     (n <= 4)                         (n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(n) SIGN SEPARATE           PIC '9(n)S'
                     (n <= 4)                          (n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(n)                         PIC 'S9(n)'
                     SIGN SEPARATE LEADING             (n <= 4)

                     (n <= 4)

      Long           PIC S9(n) COMP (n <= 9)           FIXED BIN(31)

                     PIC S9(n) COMP-3                  FIXED DEC(n)
                     (n <= 9)                          (n <= 9)

                     PIC S9(n)                         PIC '9(n-1)T'
                     (n <= 9)                          (n <= 9)

                     PIC S9(n) LEADING                 PIC 'T9(n-1)'
                     (n <= 9)                          (n <= 9)

                     PIC S9(n) SIGN SEPARATE           PIC '9(n)S'
                     (n <= 9)                          (n <= 9)

                     PIC S9(n)                         PIC 'S9(n)'
                     SIGN SEPARATE LEADING             (n <= 9)
                     (n <= 9)

      Single         COMP-1                            FLOAT BIN(21)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP-3             FIXED DEC(m+n,n)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(15,n)
                     (m+n <= 4) (See NOTE)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(31,n)
                     (m+n <= 9)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n-1)T'

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) LEADING            PIC 'T9(m-1)V9(n)'

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n)S'
                     SIGN SEPARATE

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC 'S9(m)V9(n)'
                     SIGN SEPARATE LEADING

      Double         COMP-2                            FLOAT BIN(53)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP-3             FIXED DEC(m+n,n)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(15,n)
                     (m+n <= 4) (Footnote.)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(31,n)
                     (m+n <= 9)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n-1)T'

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) LEADING            PIC 'T9(m-1)V9(n)'

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n)S'
                     SIGN SEPARATE

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC 'S9(m)V9(n)'
                     SIGN SEPARATE LEADING

      Currency       PIC S9(13)V99 COMP-3              FIXED DEC(15,2)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP-3             FIXED DEC(m+n,n)
                     (n <= 4)                          (m+n < 16)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(15,n)
                     (m+n <= 4 and n <= 4)
                     (See NOTE)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(31,n)
                     (m+n <= 9, n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n-1)T'
                     (n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) LEADING            PIC 'T9(m-1)V9(n)'
                     (n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n)S'
                     SIGN SEPARATE
                     (n <= 4)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC 'S9(m)V9(n)'
                     SIGN SEPARATE LEADING
                     (n <= 4)

      Decimal        PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP-3             FIXED DEC(m+n,n)
                                                       (m+n < 16)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(15,n)
                     (m+n <= 5)
                     (See NOTE)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               FIXED BIN(31,n)
                     (m+n <= 9)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) COMP               Not Supported
                     (m+n <= 18)

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n-1)T'

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n) LEADING            PIC 'T9(m-1)V9(n)'

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC '9(m)V9(n)S'
                     SIGN SEPARATE

                     PIC S9(m)V9(n)                    PIC 'S9(m)V9(n)'
                     SIGN SEPARATE LEADING

      Date           PIC S9(7) COMP-3                  FIXED DEC(7)
                     date in YYYYDDD format
                     PIC S9(7) COMP-3                  FIXED DEC(7)
                     time in HHMMSST format

                     PIC S9(7) COMP-3                  FIXED DEC(7)
                     date in YYYYDDD format
                     PIC S9(7) COMP-3                  FIXED DEC(7)
                     time in HHMMSST format

      String         PIC X(n)                          CHAR(n)
                     padded with spaces to n bytes

                     PIC X(n)                          CHAR(n)
                     padded with LOW-VALUE to n bytes

      Boolean        PIC S9(4) COMP                    FIXED BIN(15)
                     (1 = true, 0 = false)

                     PIC S9(9) COMP                    FIXED BIN(31)
                     (1 = true, 0 = false)

                     PIC  S9(n) COMP-3                 FIXED DEC(n)
                     (1 = true, 0 = false)

      Byte           PIC X                             CHAR(1)
                     (no translation performed)

                     PIC 999 COMP                      FIXED BIN(15)
                     (value between 0 and 255)

                     PIC 999 COMP-3                    FIXED DEC(3)
                     (value between 0 and 255)
NOTE: An appropriate COBOL compiler option must be set to allow numbers between 9,999 and 32,768 to fit in a PIC 9(4) COMP number.

Additional query words: COBOL PL/1 PL/I PL1 PLI

Keywords: kbinfo KB183179


Send feedback to Microsoft

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.