Displaying DSECTs

This section describes how to display MVS control blocks in DSECT format. It also lists the default DSECT images that were created at installation time based on the information specified in the installation dialog.

You can also define your own user DSECTs to the Abend-AID Viewer. For example, you can define DSECTs for in-house or third-party vendor packages and then use Abend-AID to map storage into the DSECT maps you supply.

Refer to  Abend-AID Advanced Configuration for information about creating user-defined DSECTs.

Displaying Control Blocks in DSECT Format

The DSECT Support screen, shown in DSECT Support Screen, displays MVS control blocks in DSECT format. The screen includes address, offset, label, data type, data, and comment information. For equate statements, the OFFSET field lists the equated value.

DSECT Support Screen

Displaying the DSECT Support Screen

The DSECT Support screen is available from most Abend-AID Viewer screens that list a symbol, a table entry, a control block address, or an actual control block entry. (A DSECT display is not available for all control blocks.) To display the screen, use one of the following methods:

• Place the cursor on a control block field and press the DSECT PF key. (PF19 is the default.)
• Type DSECT in the COMMAND field, place the cursor on a control block field, and press the Enter key.
• Use the MAPD command to map storage displays into DSECT format. For specifics about this command, see MAPD.

Accessing Data on the DSECT Support Screens

Scrolling to the right on the DSECT Support screen displays the DSECT Label Expansion screen, which replaces the truncated LABEL field with an expanded LABEL field and deletes the COMMENT field. The expanded LABEL field lists the complete field names of the DSECT statements. Scrolling back to the left redisplays the original DSECT Support screen with the truncated LABEL and the COMMENT fields.

The following commands function on the scrollable portion of the DSECT Support and DSECT Label Expansion screens: UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, BOTTOM. For specifics about the TOP and BOTTOM commands, see Abend-AID-Viewer-Commands. For information about the remaining commands, see Default PF Key Definitions.

To view the contents of an address field in hexadecimal, use one of these methods:

• Place the cursor on the address field and then press the HEXD PF key. (PF18 is the default.)
• Type HEXD in the COMMAND field, place the cursor on the address field, and then press the Enter key.

For fields that are defined as an address type (A) or fullword (F), position the cursor on the actual field contents and press the HEXD PF key to display the data at that address.

Suppressing DSECT Equate Statements

By default, the DSECT Support screen displays all fields in the requested DSECT, including equate statements. To suppress the equate statements, tab to the EXCLUDE field and press Enter. The screen is redisplayed without equates. To refresh the screen to include the equates, tab to the INCLUDE field and press Enter.

Available MVS DSECTs

The Available MVS DSECTs table lists the MVS DSECT images that were created at installation based on the information specified in the installation dialog. The following information is provided in the table:

Available MVS DSECTs