How a COBOL edit routine interacts with CICS

The user edit program is called by using the standard CICS LINK command interface. Your program is executing on a different program level than the main QMF program. The user edit program must be translated using the CICS translator for COBOL. The CICS communications area DFHCOMMAREA is used to provide addresses to the user edit routine program parameters, DXEECS, input data, and output data as shown in the following diagram.

After translation, the CICS translator provides a procedure statement that describes the CICS environment block DFHEIBLK and the CICS communications block, DFHCOMMAREA, like the following example:

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING DFHEIBLK DFHCOMMAREA.

QMF provides addresses to the user edit routine control block DXEECS, input data, and output data in the CICS communications area DFHCOMMAREA. Provide your own description of the DFHCOMMAREA in the COBOL program linkage section as follows:

LINKAGE SECTION.
 
    01  DFHCOMMAREA.
        02 ECSADR   POINTER.
        02 ECSINADR POINTER.
        02 ECSRLADR POINTER.

To provide addressability to the user edit routine control block DXEECS, input data area ECSINPT, and the result data area ECSRSLT, set the addresses of these data areas to the values located in the DFHCOMMAREA as in the following example:

SETUP SECTION.
 
       SET ADDRESS OF DXEECS   TO ECSADR.
       SET ADDRESS OF ECSINPT  TO ECSINADR.
       SET ADDRESS OF ECSRSLT  TO ECSRLADR.

A COBOL copy book is shipped with QMF as DXEECSC, located in library QMF720.SDSQSAPE on OS/390 or as DXEECSC.C in the QMF sublibrary on VSE. Include this copy book in your program.

Return control to QMF using a standard CICS RETURN command such as the following:

EXEC CICS
 
          RETURN
 
     END-EXEC.