CICS Channels and Containers View

The CICS Channels and Containers view allows users to do the following when debugging a CICS transaction that involves container data:

• View a list of all channels that are active for a task.
• View a list of all containers in a channel.
• View data within a container.
• Set a preference for the maximum number of characters to show in the Data Preview column.
• Set a preference for the maximum number of characters to show in the CICS Channels and Containers view.

To view a list of channels and containers

1. Open and launch a debug session and select the desired configuration.
2. From the Xpediter perspective's Window menu, select Show View>CICS Channels and Containers. The CICS Channels and Containers view appears and is populated with all the channels that are available for the current task.
3. Optionally, toggle open a channel to view the containers within the channel.

To filter the list by channel, container, program, or data preview

Filter the list by channel, container, program, or data preview, by doing one or more of the following:

• To filter by channel, in the Channels field, enter the full or partial channel name.
• To filter by container, in the Containers field, enter the full or partial container name.
• To filter by program, in the Program field, enter the full or partial program name.
• To filter by data within a container, in the Data preview field, enter the text to be searched for. From the Encoding list, select either EBCIDIC or UTF8 to indicate which encoding to use to display data in the Data Preview column.

The contents of the view refresh to match the filter.

To view data within a container

Right-click the container and select Show Data. The Memory view appears showing the data within the chosen container.

Columns in the CICS Channels and Containers view

Name - The name of the channels and containers that match the entered filter

Program - The programs in the channel

Creator - The program that created the channel

Type - Whether the channel was input or output relative to the program in the Program field. Valid values are Input and Output.

Length - The length of the data in the container, displayed in KB

Data Preview - The chosen container's first 0-256 bytes of data (as determined by the preference), in character format

To set a preference for the maximum number of characters to show in the Data Preview column

1. From the Window menu, select Preferences>Compuware>Xpediter>CICS Channels and Containers. The CICS Channels and Containers preference page appears.
2. In the Maximum number of bytes to display as preview data field, enter the desired number of bytes to use when getting preview data for containers. The maximum is 256 bytes.
3. Click OK.

To set a preference for the maximum number of characters to include in a container

1. From the Window menu, select Preferences>Compuware>Xpediter>CICS Channels and Containers. The CICS Channels and Containers preference page appears.
2. In the Maximum number of bytes to display in the Memory view field, enter the desired number of bytes to use when viewing a container in the memory view. The maximum is 2 MB.
3. From the drop-down list, select the desired byte units (MB, KB, or B).
4. Click OK.