Roy Brown wrote:
>
> In article <[log in to unmask]>, Jeff Vance
> <[log in to unmask]> writes
> >Hi all,
> >
> >Leonard Berkowitz asked me for a better description of the ESCAPE command
> >and with his permission here is my reply:
> >
> (Good stuff snipped)
>
> >Jeff Vance, CSY
> >
> Jeff, you certainly sent me off to HELP to have a look, and the example
> there reminded me of a problem I've had bubbling away on the back
> burner. If I put this in a jobstream:
>
> !IF FOO = BAR THEN
> !  TELLOP The FOOBAR job worked perfectly, and all is well
> !ELSE
> !  TELLOP Aaaargh! Critical FOOBAR failure! All is lost! Crash and burn!
> !ENDIF
>
> and FOO=BAR, as it should, then all is well. However, MPE insists on
> listing the ELSE, albeit with an EXPRESSION FALSE. The users read the
> StdList afterwards, miss the caveat, read the 'Aaaargh!' line, and
> worry, or worse.
>
> What I think I want is a variable, called for instance HPNOFALSEALARMS,
> that will suppress the printing of the non-executed JCL lines. Or
> something that has a similar effect. But I can't find one.
>
> I don't want to pepper the account with tiny command files, or use UDCs,
> because of the maintenance implications.
> Best I've come up with so far is a block of:
>
> !COMMENT * Define Possible Runtime Messages
> !
> !SETVAR MSG1 "*** Invoices are not complete! ***"
> ....
> !SETVAR MSG5 "*** Final Stock Rewind has failed!***"
> !SETVAR MSG6 "*** EODFINAL ALL FINISHED ***"
>
> separately at the beginning of the JCL, with something like:
>
> !IF  QEDJCW <> OK THEN
> !    TELLOP !MSG5
> !    ECHO   !MSG5
> !ELSE
> !    TELLOP !MSG6
> !    ECHO   !MSG6
> !ENDIF
>
> at the sharp end. But even this provoked a support call about the
> SETVARs!
>
> All help gratefully received.
>
> Roy Brown
> --
> Roy Brown                    Phone : (01684) 291710     Fax : (01684) 291712
> Affirm Ltd                   Email : [log in to unmask]
> The Great Barn, Mill Street  'Have nothing on your systems that you do not
> TEWKESBURY GL20 5SB (UK)      know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.'
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Here's one solution:

!COMMENT * Define Possible Runtime Messages
!COMMENT *(Note that the exclamation points must be doubled
!COMMENT * or MPE will think they're variables.)

!SETVAR MSG1 RPT("*** !!etelpmoc ton era seciovnI ***",-1)
!SETVAR MSG5 RPT("***!!deliaf sah dniweR kcotS laniF ***",-1)
!SETVAR MSG6 RPT("*** DEHSINIF LLA LANIFDOE ***",-1)
!
!COMMENT * Print Message
!
!IF  QEDJCW <> OK THEN
!    TELLOP !MSG5
!    ECHO   !MSG5
!ELSE
!    TELLOP !MSG6
!    ECHO   !MSG6
!ENDIF

A little cheesy, but unless you have a dyslexic user, it could work!

--Ken Kirby
  Vanderbilt University