Training

CICS Advanced Programming

CICS Transaction Design
AUDIENCE: CICS command level application and system programmers. This advanced class should be attended by all CICS programmers! OBJECTIVE: Improve the individual's ability to design and write efficient and easily maintainable interconnected application systems. Illustrate how to design advanced user interfaces. DESCRIPTION: Most CICS programmers can write and design basic transactions. But today's large scale online systems are very complicated. Additional skills are required to implement the advanced features needed in such systems. Some important user functions covered in this class are: Screen jumping - used to get from any user screen to another screen. Help screens - which may be invoked at any time without interrupting the contents of the current screen. Transaction restart - which can control what happens when a transaction abends. Heavy emphasis is placed on communications between programs and application systems. Many other techniques that can improve the productivity of the programmer and flexibility of the system are also covered. Techniques that reduce storage and production errors are also discussed. WORKSHOP: None. PREREQUISITES: The CICS Command Level Programming class or equivalent experience is required.			TOPICS COVERED: Program design objectives and considerations Common transaction design problems Transaction design styles Functional modularity Technical modularity LINK considerations Storage reduction techniques COBOL POINTERS The LOAD command Storing and passing data via tables Command load module tables Command file tables Screen "jump" techniques Help screen implementation Using "controller" logic to manage flow control and common functions Dynamically acquiring storage via the GETMAIN command Simplifying the COMMAREA Passing multiple data areas between programs Passing multiple data areas between tasks Transaction restart implementation and considerations Evaluating transaction performance and resource utilization
DURATION: 2 days COURSE #: CS300		PUBLIC FEE: $500 Students Each 1 $700 2 $665 3-5 $630 6-7 $595 8-> $560		ON-SITE FEE: Students Each 10 $630 11-15 $472 16-> $315 Other Information

CICS Advanced Programming Techniques
AUDIENCE: CICS application and system programmers. OBJECTIVE: Improve the student's ability to design and write CICS programs requiring complex functions. DESCRIPTION: This class illustrates advanced programming techniques needed to implement most large scale systems. Although these techniques are not utilized in every program they certainly are required in most systems to provide specialized functions. Transaction performance and reliability are emphasized throughout the class. The material in this class is extensive. Every topic is illustrated with a commented sample program. Experienced CICS programmers will find this class invaluable. This class can improve programmer productivity and system resource utilization. WORKSHOP: None. Samples are provided. PREREQUISITES: The CICS Command Level Programming class or equivalent experience is required.			TOPICS COVERED: Performance and reliability considerations Condition checking for structured programming Review COBOL POINTERS Locate mode processing Loading and accessing tables Storing and passing data via tables Combining multiple tables in a single load module Dynamically acquiring and passing storage areas Single threading logic ENQ and DEQ commands Waiting for an event Mutiple task synchronization Task to task communication Multiple tasks at a single terminal Saving and restoring screen images Automatic restart of transactions after an abend Establishing abend routines Forcing transaction abends Permanent and automatic test logic Routing messages to terminals High volume journalling with synchronization Batch processing of journal datasets Multiple position VSAM dataset browsing VSAM alternate index processing Dynamic printer selection Printing to offline printers Requesting a timed interrupt Processor bound programs Spooler interface Submitting jobs from CICS Invoking control functions INQUIRE and SET commands Invoking CEMT from programs
DURATION: 3 days COURSE #: CS310		PUBLIC FEE: $500 Students Each 1 $500 2 $475 3-5 $450 6-7 $425 8-> $400		ON-SITE FEE: Students Each 10 $450 11-15 $337 16-> $225 Other Information

CICS High Performance Programming
AUDIENCE: CICS command level application and system programmers and program designers. OBJECTIVE: Improve the individual's ability to design systems with very fast response times. DESCRIPTION: This class was specifically developed to provide a detailed analysis of the performance impact of various CICS commands, design and programming techniques. The topics covered can drastically affect performance. Some highlights of this class are: Evaluate and assign weights to CPU, storage, I/O, and transmission performance factors. Discuss very common design problems and illustrate how to avoid performance problems with recoverable systems. Students will be shown actual execution timings of various CICS facilities. Important VSAM consideration will be covered. Important OS/390 and VSE CICS performance considerations are covered. We'll also discuss considerations for future releases of CICS. Even though our other classes cover performance considerations this class is a must for programmers wanting to write the fastest applications possible. WORKSHOP: None. PREREQUISITES: The CICS Command Level Programming class or equivalent experience is required.			TOPICS COVERED: Establishing performance objectives Effects of low storage and processor availability Effects of high database I/O and slow communication line speeds Internal locks and single threading Recovery performance problems Common file access design errors Temporary storage considerations Intrapartition transient data performance design considerations START command problems High volume START commands Print speed problems Terminal data optimizing techniques Review COBOL POINTERS Loading and accessing tables High speed table lookups High speed adds to a VSAM file High speed journalling Journalling with an ESDS Performance problems with extrapartition transient data Common VSAM design errors VSAM file options and alternate index processing VSAM C/I size considerations VSAM C/I splits and string locks CICS command timings Evaluating transaction performance and resource utilization
DURATION: 2 days COURSE #: CS370		PUBLIC FEE: $500 Students Each 1 $500 2 $475 3-5 $450 6-7 $425 8-> $400		ON-SITE FEE: Students Each 10 $450 11-15 $337 16-> $225 Other Information

CICS Advanced Printing Techniques
AUDIENCE: CICS application and system programmers. OBJECTIVE: Improve the student's design and printer control abilities, productivity and program development time. DESCRIPTION: The student is introduced to programming techniques that can greatly improve print speed, reliability, user satisfaction and programmer productivity. Advanced programming techniques such as interactive printing, automatic formatting, vertical and horizontal stacking, and many other very useful techniques are illustrated. The student will also learn how to take advantage of the PA keys on printers so that a user may interact directly with the print program. This allows functions such as page and document restart or cancellation without having to interact from a CRT terminal. We will also demonstrate how to implement fully automatic and recoverable print systems. If a system crash occurs the print programs can automatically void the print in progress, update records and resume without manual intervention. This unusual class should be attended by all CICS programmers. WORKSHOP: None. Examples are provided. PREREQUISITES: The CICS Command Level Programming class or equivalent experience is required.			TOPICS COVERED: Starting printer tasks Using intrapartition transient data Using temporary storage and the START command Dynamic printer selection Queuing data for multiple printers Synchronized printing Printing to offline printers Interactive print control from a CRT Printer PA key activation Interacting with the print program Automatic recovery and synchronization Printer data streams and buffers SNA character string advantages and disadvantages Buffer capacity considerations Initiating print operations Printing screen images Forms control Vertical and horizontal tabbing SNA character string programming Remote printer considerations Improving print time Physical and logical sizes Automatic formatting Automatic label printing Displaying a stream of text data Online report generation Printer device independence Interrogating printer characteristics
DURATION: 1 day COURSE #: CS330		PUBLIC FEE: $300 Students Each 1 $300 2 $285 3-5 $270 6-7 $255 8-> $240		ON-SITE FEE: Students Each 10 $270 11-15 $202 16-> $135 Other Information

CICS Programming for Recovery
AUDIENCE: CICS application and system programmers. OBJECTIVE: Improve the student's ability to design and write recoverable systems. Improve the reliability, availability and data integrity of CICS application systems. DESCRIPTION: This class illustrates how to design and write systems using the recovery, transaction backout and restart facilities of CICS. Online systems require a high degree of availability and data integrity. This can only be achieved by utilizing the built-in recovery mechanisms of CICS. Unfortunately, most systems developed today still do not make use of these facilities due to a lack of understanding. CICS recovery is still considered "systems" topic. CICS application systems must be designed from the ground up for recovery. This class simplifies the recovery processes for programmers. Transactions that automatically restart after an abend are also covered. Transaction restart can improve user friendliness and aid in debugging. The recovery considerations and options of each CICS facility and system table is covered. This also offers a technical overview of the recovery mechanisms provided by CICS. WORKSHOP: None. PREREQUISITES: Students should have attended the CICS Command Level Programming class or have equivalent programming experience.			TOPICS COVERED: Introduction to recovery CICS system startup options Emergency restart and transaction backout Dynamic transaction backout Recoverable resources Logical Units of Work Syncpoint processing Requesting dynamic backout VSAM file recovery Forward recovery Database recovery Journal dataset recovery Recovery of temporary storage Recovery of intrapartition transient data queues Recovery of START requests Recovery of online reports Handling conditions Handling abends Automatic transaction restart Recovery of the COMMAREA System design considerations Deadlocks from recoverable resources Recoverable print applications Recovery across MRO and ISC links How to make CICS resources recoverable Non-recoverable resources
DURATION: 1 day COURSE #: CS350		PUBLIC FEE: $300 Students Each 1 $300 2 $285 3-5 $270 6-7 $255 8-> $240		ON-SITE FEE: Students Each 10 $270 11-15 $202 16-> $135 Other Information

CICS Transaction Server Considerations
Although this class is primarily designed around TS 1.3, CICS/TS 1.1.1 for VSE is addressed. AUDIENCE: CICS systems programmers. Persons responsible for implementing or tuning CICS. CICS application programmers may also benefit from this class. Anyone interested in the changes from any prior version of CICS to CICS/TS should attend this class. OBJECTIVE: Students should understand the reliability and performance considerations of converting to CICS/TS 1.3. DESCRIPTION: This class is applicable to shops that are planning to use or are new to CICS/TS 1.3. Important conversion and tuning issues are covered. Some application issues are also discussed. This class provides information needed to plan a conversion to CICS/TS 1.3. It also provides an existing CICS/TS 1.3 shop important information regarding new features. WORKSHOP: None. PREREQUISITES: Students should have an understanding of the most commonly used CICS system tables such as the FCT and SIT. They should also understand RDO definitions. They should also be familiar with basic tuning if they are interested in the tuning aspects of the class. Since this class is customized to your environment, a copy of the existing CICS system tables should be sent to MG Technologies for review prior to the class.			TOPICS COVERED: Review existing CICS regions Overview Prerequisites and requirements Changes in control block structure Storage violation changes The CDSA, UDSA, ECDSA, EUDSA and ERDSA Changes in RDO Changes in the macro tables New system datasets JCL changes Selecting new SIT parameters Some obsolete SIT parameters Changes in performance statistics Demand MRO XRF Web capabilities COBOL/OS390 considerations Trace table changes Dynamic table updates Performance and tuning considerations Changes to system messages Message destinations Dynamic Program Link New application facilities Application conversion considerations Version 1.3 considerations
DURATION: 1 day COURSE #: CS900		ON-SITE FEE: $2000 This class is only taught on-site and has a limit of 15 people. Other Information