Rational Developer for System z

Creating user-input variables for TSO commands

You can add user-input variables to a custom action that executes a TSO command. A user-input variable prompts users to specify or select a parameter value for a TSO command after selecting a custom action from the pop-up menu.

Before you begin

To enable users to specify input to TSO commands, you need to create a custom action.

About this task

To add user-input variables to a TSO command, do these steps:

Procedure

  1. From the Menu Manager New Action wizard, click the Variables button. The Substitution Variables window opens. This window contains two options that you can use to create a user-input variable for a TSO command:
    $input
    Collects input from the user invoking the custom action. When you add this variable to a custom action. The action prompts the user with a dialog box for specifying input or for selecting input from a drop-down list.
    $list
    Provides the option of including a list of values from which the user can select one.
  2. Select $input from the Substitution Variables window and click Insert.
  3. To include a list of possible values from which the user can select one, select $list from the Substitution Variables window and click Insert. This variable is optional and is used to construct a drop-down list of possible values for the action input.
  4. To use this variable in a custom action, you need to specify it as follows:
    $input(PromptString, DefaultValue, $list{string1,string2,string3, . . .,stringn})
    PromptString
    Specify the dialog box label that prompts the user for input. The prompt string can contain spaces but no commas (,) or dollars signs($). The prompt string is required.
    DefaultValue
    Specify the value to be used as the default if the user does not enter a value when prompted. The default value can contain spaces but no commas (,) or dollars signs($). The default value is required.
    $list{string1,string2,string3, . . .,stringn
    Specify a list of strings from which the user can select a value. This variable is optional. If you include it, the dialog prompts the user to select one of these strings from a drop-down list. If you omit it, the dialog prompts the user to type a value. Each value in the list can contain spaces but no commas (,) or dollar signs($).

Results

The following examples show the prompts that open when you create menu items with user-input variables. The examples illustrate a dialog with a text-entry field and a dialog with a drop-down list.

Example

The following example displays a dialog with a drop-down list labeled Parameter from which a user can select either SMSINFO or DIRECTORY. The default value is SMSINFO.
FEKFLDSI '$datasetname' $input(Parameter,SMSINFO,$list{SMSINFO,DIRECTORY})
User-input dialog with a drop-down list.

The following example displays a dialog with a text field labeled Parameter into which a user can enter data. The default value for the text field is SMSINFO.

FEKFLDSI '$datasetname' $input(Parameter,SMSINFO)
User-input dialog with a text-entry field.

The following example displays a dialog with a drop-down list labeled Data Set Name from which a user can select either the data set name HLQ.MY.DATASET or the name of the currently selected data set. The default is the name of the currently selected data set.

FEKFLDSI '$input(Data Set Name, $datasetname, $list{HLQ.MY.DATASET,$datasetname})'
User-input dialog with a combo box.

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