Chapter 27. Execution diagnostic facility (EDF)
The CICS Execution Diagnostic Facility (EDF) can be used with the OS/400
COBOL and ILE C debugging tools to debug CICS application programs. See either the
COBOL/400 User’s Guide
or the
WebSphere Development Studio: ILE COBOL
Programmer’s Guide
for debugging information.
You can use the execution diagnostic facility (EDF) to test an application program online, without modifying the program or the program-preparation procedure. The names of your programs must not begin with the letters “AEG” or “DFH” because these prefixes are used for CICS system modules and samples. Attempting to use the CEDF transaction on a CICS-supplied transaction has no effect. However, you can use the CEDF transaction with CICS sample programs.
EDF intercepts the execution of CICS commands in the application program at various points, allowing you to see what is happening. Each command is displayed before execution, and most are displayed after execution is complete.
Screens sent by the application program are preserved, so you can converse with the application program during testing, just as a user would on a production system.
Each time EDF interrupts the execution of the application program a new CEDF task is started. Each CEDF task is short lived, lasting only long enough for the appropriate display to be processed.
Getting started
You can use EDF on the same terminal as the transaction you are testing or on a different one. On the same terminal, you
must
start by clearing the screen and entering the transaction code CEDF, otherwise you may get unpredictable results.
The message:
THIS TERMINAL: EDF MODE ON
is displayed at the top of an empty screen. You clear the screen again and run your transaction in the normal way.
If you are using two terminals, you enter:
CEDF tttt at one, naming the second in “tttt”. Then you run your transaction on the second
terminal. “How to use EDF” on page 238 gives all the details.
Restrictions when using EDF
Before you start using EDF, you should be aware of the following points: v
EDF can be used to test only user application programs that use the CICS application programming interface (API). v
EDF can be used only in single-screen mode when running a remote transaction. v
User application programs that are to be debugged using EDF must be compiled with *DEBUG as one of the CICSOPT options on the CRTCICSCBL or
CRTCICSC CL command. If *DEBUG is specified, the translator inserts additional COBOL/400 or ILE C statements used to interface the application program with EDF.
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