Set Comparison Options (VTAM)

To set comparison options, you must perform the following steps: 

1. From the Domain Traveler screen, type your Domain Destination and press Enter.
2. After you establish a destination, type PLAY on the Command line.
3. The Play Setup screen appears.

4. Type a slash (/) next to Alter Comparison Option(s) and press Enter. The Comparison Options screen appears.
   Comparison Options screen
   

                             .  ------------------------------ Comparison Options ----------------------------- .
                             .  Command ===>                                                                    .
                             .                                                                                  .
                             .  Please select an option:                                                        .
                             .    1  1. Stop on any compare check                                               .
                             .       2. Stop on alpha character differences                                     .
                             .       3. Stop only on field number mis-matches                                   .
                             .       4. Ignore all compare differences                                          .
                             .                                                                                  .
                             .  Initial mismatch . . . DELTA    (ACTUAL,DIFFER,DELTA)                           .
                             .                                                                                  .
                             .  Compare Processing Options (Enter "/" to select):                               .
                             .       Ignore numeric differences                                                 .
                             .       Compare Last Image Only                                                    .
                             .    /  Dub encrypted masks as character masks                                     .
                             .       Use encrypted masks during Compare                                         .
                             .                                                                                  .
                             .  Identify outputs whose compare processing should be bypassed:                   .

   
   

5. Select one of the four options to specify what constitutes a mismatch:
   • 1 — Stop on any compare check. If the character on the received screen does not match any character on the recorded screen, the number of fields on the received screen does not match, or an attribute byte does not match, a mismatch occurs.
   • 2 — Stop on alpha character differences. A mismatch occurs only if there are one or more alphanumeric character differences between the received and expected screens. Use this option to ignore differences in screen attribute bytes.
   • 3 — Stop only on field number mismatches. A mismatch occurs only if there is a difference in the number of fields on the received and expected screens.
   • 4 — Ignore all comparison differences during playback. Playback does not stop or display mismatch screens. However, differences are noted in the Compare Log or Exception Log if you chose to generate a log.
6. Specify ACTUAL, DELTA, or DIFFER in the Initial mismatch field. This sets the initial screen that appears when a mismatch occurs. Valid entries are:
   • ACTUAL — Displays the contents of the buffer that Performance Test received from the application.
   • DELTA — Displays an overlay of the positions that are different from the actual screen versus the expected screen.
   • DIFFER — Displays an overlay of the differences between the actual screen versus the expected screen. This overlay is on top on the ACTUAL screen.
7. Type a slash (/) to select the desired Compare Processing Options:

   • Ignore numeric differences causes Performance Test to consider the following conditions as equal (matching):

     • Actual character and expected character are both numeric.
     • Actual character is numeric and the expected character is blank or null.
     • Actual character is blank or null and the expected character is numeric.

     All other conditions are mismatches.
     

   • Compare Last Image Only compares the scripted screen image and the screen image received from the application only after the application has sent all data required to build the final screen. For example, many applications send a map filled with data followed by a map containing only a message. Enter a slash (/) in this field to eliminate comparison of the first data only map but to allow comparison when the full screen image is built from both the data and the message maps.
   • Dub encrypted masks as character masks dubs encrypted masks (<MSK>NNN tags) in the script being played back to the new script as both encrypted masks and as an additional record of “I” character masks. Deselect this field to prevent additional character masks from being added to your dubbed script.

   • Use encrypted masks during Compare. During comparison, encrypted masks (<MSK>NNN tags) are in effect and prevent miscompares on dark fields. Deselect this option to disable encrypted masks and allow identification of miscompares within dark fields.

     Success

     Tip

     Deselecting this option does not cause data within dark fields to appear on Actual/Expected screens. This option affects only encrypted masks. All other forms of masking are still valid and in effect for dark fields.

8. Identify outputs whose compare processing should be bypassed. Enter a range of <OUTPUT> groups for which you want to bypass compare processing. The groups within this range are not compared. For example, entering the range 1-2, 6, and 77 bypasses compare processing for <OUTPUT> groups 0000001, 0000002, 0000006, and 0000077.
9. After you have set all of the playback options, press Enter to process. Playback begins, and mismatches are handled according to the options you set.