I've come across some jobs here that contain something like

        !STREAMX job2
        parm1
        ...
        parmN
        !...

where the number of parms is non-trivial (in this case, over 20), and are
in response to ::input...;prompt statements in job2. Many times, these are
"yes/no" types of questions.

The thing is, it seems very open to human error when going back to modify
this job, whether adding or deleting responses. I'd like to do something to
reduce the chance for error.

I have A solution (not necessarily the best), and I'd like to hear opinions
on whether or not it seems like a good idea, both for readability and for
maintainability.

I've changed this to the following:

        !FILE            ANSTEMP; temp
        !FCOPY from; to=*ANSTEMP; new
        parm1   ;comment
        ...
        parmN   ;comment
        :EOD
        !
        !RUN   MPEX.PUB.VESOFT; INFO=&
        !      "print ANSTEMP; format=token(R,'AN') >ANS"
        !
        !STREAMX job2  < ANS

The downsides (as I see them) are:

        1. The responses are listed BEFORE the job (or program, as this
              solution is not limited to a job) to be run.

        2. What you see is not necessarily what you get.
              For example, if one of the parms was a fully qualified
              filename, then only the UNqualified name would be used!
              Hence, particular attention has to be paid to the method
              used to strip off the comments.

I'm certainly open to other solutions.

Anyone?

--Glenn Cole
  Software al dente, Inc.
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