Rational Developer for System z

A. Prepare for the flow recording

In this topic you will prepare for the flow recording.
To prepare for the flow recording follow these steps:
Note: Normally when you plan to record a loop, before you start recording, you should identify the critical application screens for the loop and create screen descriptions for these application screens (see Preparation for recording a loop). The critical application screens for the loop in this flow recording are shown in Table 1 in the topic C. Record the flow information).
  1. Set the options in the Service Flow Projects preferences window.

    1. On the main menu of the workbench, click Window > Preferences. The Preferences window opens.

    2. In the Preferences window:
      1. In the left pane, click Enterprise Service Tools > Service Flow Projects.
      2. In the right pane:
        1. In the group Recording in the Host Editor:
          1. Clear the check box Automatically capture new screens if it is not already cleared.
            Note: You do not need to capture new screens, because you have already created screen descriptions in the previous part of this tutorial (see Step 2.3: Create two screen descriptions for the Inquire Catalog application screen).
          2. Select the check box Do not prompt for name when automatically capturing screens.
          3. Verify that the input field Time to wait before attempting screen recognition (milliseconds) is set to 500 milliseconds.
        2. In the group Recording flow:
          1. Select the check box Do not prompt for variables when generating variable mapping.
            Note: Selecting this check box causes the host editor, each time you create an Extract action or Insert action or record a loop during flow recording, to automatically create and name a new variable to be used with the action or loop, instead of prompting you to do so. (This feature is a great convenience because it allows you to focus on creating the action or loop without being distracted by windows popping up to prompt you for information about a variable.)
          2. The check box Enable screen invoke creating wizard in flow editor can be selected or cleared. The default setting is selected.
      3. In the left pane, click Enterprise Service Tools > Service Flow Projects > Screen Recognition Settings.
      4. In the right pane:
        1. Clear the check box Fields checksum descriptor if it is not already cleared.
        2. Select the check box Number of fields descriptor.
        3. Select the check box Number of input fields descriptor.
        4. If any text-matching descriptors are defined, disable them by clearing the check box to the left of the text-matching descriptor.
      5. Click OK. The Preferences window closes.

  2. Connect to the remote z/OS® system and start the CICS® example catalog application (egui):
    1. Connect to the remote z/OS system:
      1. In the EST Project Explorer view, expand CatalogSample > CatalogSample.Terminal > Hosts.
      2. In the Hosts folder:
        1. Right-click the host connection file that you created in step 2.1 (for example, system.host) (see Step 2.1: Create a host connection).
        2. Click Open.

    2. When the session area shows that the session is connected to the remote z/OS system, follow these steps:
      1. Navigate to the CICS logon screen.
      2. Log on to CICS if required.
      3. The CICS command line interface should now be displayed -- a blank area of 24 lines with the hardware cursor displayed in row 1, column 1.

    3. In the session area, type the name of the transaction for the CICS example catalog application. In this tutorial the transaction is egui.

    4. Press Enter. The application should start and display the first page, with the heading CICS EXAMPLE CATALOG APPLICATION - Main Menu.

  3. Verify that the host editor correctly recognizes the screen descriptions that you created in Step 2.2 and modified in Step 2.3:
    Note: The name of the currently recognized screen description (that is, the screen description that matches the currently displayed application screen) is displayed in the information area of the host editor.
    • The information area is located immediately above the session area and to the right of the toolbar.
    • You may have to increase the width of the screen message editor window to see the entire area.
    • If the Main Menu application screen is displayed in the host editor area, then the currently recognized screen description in the information area should be: Dfh0xs1.Exmenu_Exmenu.
    • The format in which the name of the screen description is displayed in the information area is as follows:
      • The name of the screen message file in which the screen description is stored, without the file extension .sfmxsd.
      • An underscore character (_).
      • The name of the screen description itself.
    • Therefore the text Dfh0xs1.Exmenu_Exmenu indicates that:
      • The name of the screen message file in which the recognized screen description is stored is Dfh0xs1.Exmenu.
      • The name of the recognized screen description is Exmenu.

    To verify that the host editor correctly recognizes the screen descriptions that you created in Step 2.2, check the following application screens:

    1. To check the Main Menu application screen.
      1. Navigate to the Main Menu application screen if you have not already done so. This application screen is the first screen displayed when you start the application.
      2. Verify that the currently recognized screen description in the information area is: Dfh0xs1.Exmenu_Exmenu.

    2. To check the first page of the Inquire Catalog application screen:
      1. Navigate to the Inquire Catalog application screen:
        1. On the Main Menu application screen, in the Action input field, type 1.
        2. Press Enter.
      2. The first page of the Inquire Catalog application screen appears.
      3. Verify that the recognized screen description is: Dfh0xs2.Exinqc_Exinqc.
    3. To check the END OF DATA page of the Inquire Catalog application screen:
      1. Navigate to the END OF DATA page:
        1. On the first page of the Inquire Catalog application screen, press F8 to page forward.
        2. Continue to press F8 until the END OF DATA message appears on line 23 of the session area.
      2. For each screen that you display before the END OF DATA message appears, verify that the recognized screen description remains Dfh0xs2.Exinqc_Exinqc.
      3. When the END OF DATA message appears, verify that the recognized screen description is: Dfh0xs2.Exinqc_EndPage.

    4. Navigate back to the Main Menu application screen.


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