Problem:

We are moving from Mainframe Express v2.5 to v3.0. We have noticed that our MFE25

executables, GNT code, are running fine but they are producing output that is not readable when viewed in the Data File Editor. We use a host dialect of Cobol for MVS and are passing an additional directive of OUTDD"SYSOUT 121 R E". In MFE 30, we do not find the option of 'E' available. It appears that the character set is wrong for MFE30. Can you tell us what is wrong?

Resolution:

  We made changes to the OUTDD directive in Mainframe Express v3.0 and documented the OUTDD directive in Nov 2006 Websync Readme (ALL09M30, RPI 514167), but the description is very general and does not mention the implications of this change for users of the OUTDD directive.

Normally, one would have to re-compile GNT code when moving from one release to the next newer release, but in this case even INT code will have to be re-compiled because the changes in MFE30 meant our file handler (XFH component) took over the task of doing character set translation. Previously, when the E/A option was used in the compiled code there would be a character set translation initiated by the compiled code for the output file, but since the File Handler component started taking over this task, we have done a second character set translation. This explains why the Data File Editor display looks so garbled and can not be viewed when using either ANSI or EBCDIC.

All user programs using the OUTDD directive must be re-compiled allowing for only the File Handler translation. You should OUTDD"SYSOUT 121 R" as the passed additional directive.