A step defines attributes to be used at runtime for a specified step program in the context of the specified procedure for an application group or node. The following parameters identify the attributes of a step:
Sequence number (SEQNBR) -The sequence number determines the order in which the step will be performed.
Action before step (BEFOREACT) - This parameter identifies what action is taken by all jobs for the procedure before starting the step. The default value *NONE indicates that the step will begin without additional action. Users can also specify *WAIT so that jobs wait for all asynchronous jobs to complete processing previous steps before the starting the step. The value *MSGW will cause the step to be started, then wait until all asynchronous jobs have completed processing all previous steps and an operator has responded to an inquiry message from the procedure which indicated the step has been waiting to run. Then the step takes the action indicated by the operator’s response to the message. A response of G (Go) will run the program specified in the step. A response of C (Cancel) will cancel the procedure.
Action on error (ERRACT) - This parameter identifies what action to take for a job used in processing the step when the job ends in error.
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The default value *QUIT will set the status of the job that ended in error *FAILED, as indicated in the expanded view of step status. The type of step program used by this step determines what happens to other jobs for the step and whether subsequent steps are prevented from starting, as follows:
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If the step program is of type *DGDFN, jobs that are processing other data groups within the same data resource group continue. When they complete, the data resource group job ends. No subsequent steps that apply to that data resource group or its data groups will be started. However, subsequent steps will still be processed for other data resource groups and their data groups.
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If the step program is of type *DTARSCGRP, no subsequent steps that apply to that data resource group or its data groups will be started. Jobs for other data resource groups may still be running and will process subsequent steps that apply to their data resource groups and data groups.
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If the step program is of type *AGDFN or *NODE, subsequent steps will not be started. Jobs for data resource group or data group steps may still be running and will process subsequent steps that apply to their data resource groups and data groups.
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For the value *CONTINUE, the job continues processing as if the job had not ended in error. The status of the job in error is set to *IGNERR and is indicated in the expanded view of step status.
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For the value *MSGID, error processing is determined by what is specified in a predefined step message identifier for the installation (see Step messages); if a step message is not found for the error message ID, the error action defaults to *QUIT.
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For the value *MSGW, an inquiry message issued by the job requires a response before any additional processing for the job can occur. A response of R (Retry) will retry processing the step program within the same job. A response of C (Cancel) will set the job status to *CANCEL as indicated in the expanded view of step status and any other jobs and subsequent steps are handled in the same manner described for the value *QUIT. A response of I (Ignore) will set the job’s status to *IGNERR as indicated in the expanded view of step status, and processing continues as if the job had not ended in error.
State (STATE) - the state determines whether the step runs when the procedure is invoked. The value *ENABLED indicates that a step is enabled to run. For user-defined steps and optional steps, users can specify *DISABLED to prevent a step from running. Steps shipped with a state value of *REQUIRED are always enabled and cannot be disabled.