The statements described in this manual are processed by the command processor SDF (System Dialog Facility). The product thus offers various forms of guided or unguided dialog with the facility for requesting help menus for the statements and commands. In the case of an incorrect input, a correction dialog can be executed.
Detailed information on various options provided by SDF can be found in the “Introductory Guide to the SDF Dialog Interface” [1 (Related publications)].
Abbreviation of names
SDF permits inputs to be abbreviated in interactive and batch modes and in procedures, provided the abbreviations used are unambiguous within the related syntax environment. Note, however, that an abbreviation that is currently unambiguous could potentially become ambiguous at a later date if new functions are added to the product. For this reason, it is best to avoid abbreviations entirely, or at least to ensure that only guaranteed abbreviations are used. In the statement formats, these guaranteed abbreviations are shown in boldface.
Command and statement names, operands and keyword values may be abbreviated as follows:
Complete name components may be omitted from right to left; the hyphen preceding the dropped name component is also omitted.
Individual characters of a name component may be omitted from right to left.
An asterisk (*) preceding a keyword value is not considered a valid abbreviation for that value. As of SDF V4.0A, keyword values are always represented with a leading asterisk. The asterisk may be omitted only if there is no possible alternative variable operand value with a value range that includes the name of the keyword value. This form of abbreviation may be restricted due to extensions in later versions. For reasons of compatibility, operand values that were previously represented without an asterisk are still accepted without the asterisk.
Example
Unabbreviated command format:
/MODIFY-SDF-OPTIONS SYNTAX-FILE=*NONE,GUIDANCE=*MINIMUM
Abbreviated command format:
/MOD-SDF-OPT SYN-F=*NO,GUID=*MIN
The guaranteed abbreviations are only intended as recommendations for abbreviated input; they may not always be the shortest possible input in your syntax environment. They are, however, clear and easy to understand and are designed to remain unique in the long term.
In some cases, an additional abbreviation is documented in the manual next to the command or statement name. This abbreviation is implemented as an alias for the command or statement name and is guaranteed in the long term. The alias consists of a maximum of 8 letters (A...Z) that are derived from the command or statement name. Aliases cannot be abbreviated further.
Default values
Most operands are optional, i.e. need not be explicitly specified. Such operands are preset to a specific operand value, the so-called default value. In the syntax, the default value for each operand is shown underscored. If an optional operand is not explicitly specified, its default value is automatically inserted when executing the command or statement. If some default values do not correspond to the values most suitable for your purposes, you can temporarily assign your individual default values for your task as of SDF V4.1A.
Positional operands
SDF permits operands to be specified either as keyword operands or as positional operands. However, it is quite possible that the positions of operands may change in future versions of the product. It is therefore advisable to avoid the use of positional operands, especially in procedures.
XHCS support
Every terminal works with a particular character set. A coded character set (CCS) is the unique representation of the characters in a character set in binary form. Extended character sets can be used when working with the software product XHCS. SDF interprets inputs in accordance with the standard code table EBCDIC.DF.03 (e.g. when converting uppercase/ lowercase letters).
The coding of the following characters in an extended character set must be the same as the coding used in the standard code table:
$ , # , @ , ! , ” , ? , ^ , = , : , / , * , - , ( , ) , [ , ] , < , > , comma, semicolon, single quote.
SDF does not interpret any additional characters from an extended character set unless they appear within the data types <c-string> and <text>. In other words, the conversion of uppercase/lowercase letters is handled using a code table supplied by XHCS for the extended character set. Any additional characters used within other data types are rejected as syntax errors.
When statements are entered, the CCS used is the one specified in the appropriate macro (RDSTMT/CMDRST, TRSTMT/CMDTST or CORSTMT/CMDCST). If no CCS was specified, the one used for entering commands is assumed.
For further details on XHCS support, see the manuals “Introductory Guide to the SDF Dialog Interface” [1 (Related publications)] and “XHCS” [11 (Related publications)].