Accessing Storage Information

This topic describes the methods for accessing storage information. Topics presented in this section include the following:

• Displaying storage
• Displaying control block information
• Locating data in storage
• Tracking storage navigation
• Running control block chains.

Displaying Storage

To display storage, you can do the following:

• Execute the CORE command from any Abend-AID Viewer screen.
• Execute the HEXD command on any field listing a table entry, a symbol, or a control block address.
• Specify a storage location in the Display Memory at Address field on the Control Blocks/Storage screen.
• Select a table or control block from the ones listed on the Control Blocks/Storage screen.

These methods are described in this section.

CORE and HEXD Commands

With the CORE command, you can display storage from any Abend-AID Viewer screen. Simply enter CORE, a period, and an address, symbol name, or table entry as a fast-path command. Entering CORE.00012B90, for example, displays the storage located at hexadecimal address 00012B90. For more information about this command, including specifics about its syntax, see CORE.

The HEXD command, in comparison, displays storage directly from any data field listing a control block address, a symbol, or a table entry.

To display the storage associated with a specific field, perform one of the following procedures:

• Type HEXD in the COMMAND field, position the cursor on the field, and press the Enter key.
• Position the cursor on the field and press the HEXD PF key. (PF18 is the default.)

The Abend-AID Viewer displays the requested storage on the Memory Display screen. For information about this screen, see Memory Display screen.

Control Blocks and Storage

Available for SVC dumps only, the Control Blocks/Storage screen, which is a selection on the Report Menu, gives you direct access to the storage you want to display. As Figure shows, this screen also gives you access to the paperclip table and the paperclip list. For information about the paperclip facility, see Tracking storage navigation (Paperclip function)  .

Control Blocks/Storage for SVC Dumps

To display the Control Blocks/Storage screen from any Abend-AID Viewer screen, enter CB as a fast-path command. To display specific storage areas from this menu, perform the following steps:

1. In the Display Memory at Address field, type the symbol or control block address whose storage you want to display:
   • Precede the symbol name with S/, for example, S/JOBNAM.
   • Type the address in hexadecimal format, for example, 0045FD34
2. Press Enter to display the Memory Display screen for the storage specified.

The Control Blocks/Storage screen also lists all applicable control blocks and tables. To display dump information in interpreted, DSECT, or hexadecimal format, tab the cursor to the desired table or control block name, for example, CVT or PSA. Then press Enter or the applicable PF key. (The initial defaults are PF18 for the HEXD command and PF19 for the DSECT command.)

For single occurrence control blocks, such as the CSA or the domain anchor blocks, the Abend-AID Viewer displays the associated storage or DSECT. For chains, the Abend-AID Viewer displays a list of individual entries in the chain. Using the Enter, HEXD, or DSECT PF key to select an entry from the list displays the appropriate display for that entry.

Memory Display

The Memory Display screen, shown in the following figure, displays storage in hexadecimal format. To display this screen for a table entry, a symbol, or a control block address, use the CORE or HEXD commands as described in Displaying Storage. For an SVC dump, you can also access this screen from the Control Blocks/Storage screen.

Memory Display for Batch Entries

High Half 64-bit : Abend-AID users can directly input the higher half of a 64-bit address in the ‘High Half 64-bit’ field. This will guide them to the start of the corresponding 64-bit address. 

Once the screen is pointed at the start, users can now easily access the full 64-bit storage by accessing the lower half of the address, just as they would when working with a 31-bit address.

For instance, if a user wants to access the address 00000050_00000100 (located at offset +50 in the above example), they can directly click or place the cursor on 00000100, and press Enter. This action will immediately take them to the full 64-bit address, 00000050_00000100, simplifying the process.

Primary Commands

The following commands have applications for the Memory Display:

SMAP (storage map) is a fast-path command that displays the Storage Map Display screen, which lists all allocated and unallocated storage segments for the current dump. To access a specific address from any Abend-AID Viewer screen, use the CORE or HEXD command.

For information about CORE and the remaining commands, see Abend-AID-Viewer-Commands. In addition,  Locating Data in Storage  and  Running Control Block Chains  provide detailed information about the FIND and CHAIN commands, respectively.

Scrollable Information

UP (PF7) and DOWN (PF8) commands scroll information on the Memory Display, but LEFT (PF10) and RIGHT (PF11) commands are not applicable. The output lines that you can scroll consist of the following fields:

Locating Data in Storage

To locate hexadecimal or character data in the Memory Display, use the FIND command.

Issuing a FIND Command

To issue a FIND command, enter FIND (or F) and a search string as a primary command. You also have the option to include a search direction parameter (FIRST, LAST, NEXT, or PREV). For example:

FIND c’CIB’ – Finds the character string CIB.

F x’D010’ PREV – Finds the previous occurrence of the hexadecimal string D010.

F t’program=TCP’ LAST – Finds the last occurrence of the mixed-case character string program=TCP.

For specifics about FIND command syntax, see FIND.

Setting FIND Command Parameters

All standard IPCS FIND command parameters are supported on the Memory Display. To set and maintain these parameters, enter FIND or F as a primary command. The Abend-AID Viewer displays the Find for Storage Display screen shown in the following figure.

Find for Storage Display

Once you set the defaults for the FIND command, the Abend-AID Viewer maintains them between sessions as part of your user profile. To change your defaults or issue a FIND command from the Find for Storage Display screen, type over the displayed values and press Enter.

Navigating by Offset

To scroll the Memory Display forward or backward to a specified offset from the Start Addr address, enter + offset or - offset in the COMMAND field, where offset is a numeric value. See +offset  and -offset  for more information.

Enter @ offset to position the Memory Display at the address at the specified offset. The address must be in allocated storage. See  @offset for more information.

Enter # offset to scroll the Memory Display forward to the specified offset relative to the start address. See  #offset  for additional information.

To reposition the display to offset zero, enter the RESET primary command. See RESET for additional information.

Tracking Storage Navigation

The paperclip facility keeps track of your navigation through the Memory Display. The two screens comprising this facility are the Current Paperclip Table and the Saved Paperclip List.

Current Paperclip Table

The Abend-AID Viewer maintains a paperclip table for each user accessing a dump. This table, which is shown in Current Paperclip Table, is a wraparound table displaying the 389 most recently accessed storage locations in the Memory Display. When the limit of 389 paperclip entries is exceeded, the table overlays the oldest entry with the newest. (Entries are listed in chronological order from oldest to newest.) To prevent an entry from being overlaid, use the L (Lock) line command. You can also use the LOCK keyword parameter of the CLIP command on the Memory Display to lock the current paperclip entry.

Current Paperclip Table

The Abend-AID Viewer adds an entry to the bottom of the paperclip table each time the displacement shown on the Memory Display equals zero. You may also add an entry to the paperclip table by placing the cursor on any address in the Memory Display and pressing Enter.

To display the paperclip table from any Abend-AID Viewer screen, enter PCLP as a fast-path command. You can also display it directly from the Control Block/Storage screen, which is a selection on the Report Menu. For information about this screen, see Control Blocks and Storage.

Line Commands

The following line commands are valid on the Current Paperclip Table screen:

Saved Paperclip List

The Saved Paperclip List, shown in the following figure, displays the paperclip tables that all users have saved for the current dump. The Abend-AID Viewer maintains one saved paperclip list per dump.

Saved Paperclip List

Displaying the Saved Paperclip List

To display the Saved Paperclip List from any Abend-AID Viewer screen, enter SACLIP as a fast-path command. You can also display this screen directly from the Control Blocks/Storage screen, which is a selection on the Report Menu. For information about this screen, see Control Blocks and Storage.

Adding the Current Paperclip Table to the Saved Paperclip List

To add the current paperclip table to the saved paperclip list, enter SAVE and a one-to-eight character name in the COMMAND field. For example, typing SAVE TABLE1 saves the current paperclip table under the name TABLE1.

Restoring a Saved Paperclip Table

You can restore any saved paperclip table as the current paperclip table, even those created by other users. Enter REST and the table name in the COMMAND field. For example, typing REST TABLE2 restores the paperclip table named TABLE2.

Resaving the Current Paperclip Table

To resave the current paperclip table under its existing name, enter SAVE in the COMMAND field. If the current paperclip table has no preexisting name, the SAVE command uses your user ID.

Line Commands

The following line commands are valid on the Saved Paperclip List:

Running Control Block Chains

The CHAIN command enables you to run control block chains based on parameters specified on the following CHAIN Command Parameters screen. To display this screen from any Abend-AID Viewer screen, enter CHAIN as a fast-path command.

CHAIN Command Parameters Screen

When you press the Enter key from the CHAIN Command Parameters screen, the Abend-AID Viewer runs the control block chain based on the current parameters, displays the Memory Display screen, and positions the cursor on the first occurrence of a control block in the chain. Entries are created in the current paperclip table for the other occurrences of the control block in the chain. To move forward through the entries in the paperclip table, enter CLIP NEXT in the COMMAND field. To move backward, enter CLIP PREV in the COMMAND field or position the cursor on the Prev or Next fields on the memory display.

The Abend-AID Viewer bypasses the CHAIN Command Parameters screen if you type the CHAIN command with address and offset parameters. For information about these parameters, see CHAIN.