PARMTBLEThe PARMTBLE option controls whether or not the PARMTABLE facility can be used. To enable the PARMTABLE facility, specify PARMTBLE. The default is not to specify PARMTBLE, and consequently to disable this facility.
The PARMTABLE facility allows you to alter MFX PARM values depending on the jobname, stepname, and/or procstepname of a sorting application.
To use the PARMTABLE facility, you must construct a load module containing one entry for each jobname/stepname/procstepname combination for which parameters will be specified. However, if you are specifying the same value for all sorts with the same procstepname (no matter what the jobname or stepname) or for all steps that have the same jobname, a single entry is used.
The load module must be a variable-length block of variable-length records, and each entry must be a variable-length record. An entry is composed of four fields. Each of the first three fields is eight bytes long and may contain, respectively, a jobname, a stepname, and a procstepname. The names must be left-justified and initialized with blanks. The fourth field of an entry may have a length from 0 to 256 bytes, and must contain only information that is valid in the PARM field of the sort EXEC job control statement.
Whenever the PARMTABLE facility is used, a comparison is made between the jobname, stepname, and procstepname of the task that is being executed (first three fields of the TIOT) and the first three fields of each entry in the load module table. If a match is found, the PARM data of the matching entry is used in the sort.
A blank (X'40') in the first byte of any of the first three fields of an entry causes that field to be considered equal to the corresponding field in the TIOT. If the first byte of the first field contains X'00', that entry is skipped.
The table must be assembled and should be link-edited with the RENT option into the main MFX load module library with the load module name of $ORTPARM. The name $ORTPARM can be changed with the PARMNME option.
An example below contains a sample macro definition for constructing a PARM table.
The sample assembly establishes a core value for STEP2 of JOB1, a DYNALLOC parameter for the jobs with the procstepname of SMLSORT, and a BMSG parameter for jobs with a jobstepname of TESTJOB.
The parameters passed through the PARMTABLE facility take precedence over the PARM field of the EXEC statement and the parameter list for a program-initiated sort. Parameters presented by means of the $ORTPARM DD statement take precedence over PARMTABLE PARM values.
The PARMTABLE and PARMEXIT facilities have similar functions, but the two facilities are mutually exclusive. Because of this, only PARMTABLE will be processed if both are specified.