I did this using just standard MPE commands:

!PURGE SJ809,TEMP
!SHOWJOB JOB=B049809,MANAGER.!HPACCOUNT > SJ809
!SETVAR NUMRECS FINFO('SJ809',19)
!IF NUMRECS = 6
then work
!ELSE
don't run
!ENDIF

This uses standard i/o redirection to create a file with the output of the
showjob command.  When testing the created file, if it has 6 records, it
means that it didn't find anything (the six lines are the output from
showjob with no match).

We use this in several jobs that either need to run alone, or they need
another job to be running.

-------------------------------
Gary L. Paveza, Jr.
Technical Support Specialist
All opinions are mine and not those of my employer


        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Jeff Keepers [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:   Monday, August 09, 1999 10:44 AM
        To:     [log in to unmask]
        Subject:        Using MPEX to check job status

        All MPEX guru's hear my plea:

        I am writing pre-process MPEX commands for a job that will run in
batch.
        The job can be run multiple times by the end user but two requests
can't
        run at the same time.  I was looking for a MPEX command/variable
that would
        let me look and see if the job is currently running.  There is the
SHOWJOB
        command, but it doesn't return a variable that I can check.  I can
write
        code that will set my own flags, but I thought there was a way to do
this
        using MPEX commands.  Any assistance would be most appreciated.

        Please send replies directly to me since I only receive a digest
from the
        list.

        Sincerely,
        Jeff Keepers
        3M Valley, NE