Can I pass a value from a jobdef directly to an alert proc?

[Michael Bieganski]

Hello Forum,

Given jobdef for job XYZ that triggers alert MPB if overdue:
JOB XYZ
   MAXRUNTIME=1
   NOTIFY OVERDUE ALERT(MPB) USERS(yada)
   RUN ANY
ENDJOB

 

Here is the MPB alert's proc below;
It passes values like CI QUEUE etc from the
alert proc intto the SENDMAI4 jcl:

 

MPB alertproc:

IF %MNJOB EQ 'XYZ' THEN -
  DO
  CI = 'ca workload automation (jss)'
  QUEUE = 'racf'

  IMPACT = '4'
  TITLE = 'Mainframe Job Overdue %MNJOB'
ENDDO
SUBMIT 'A#B.ESPMAINT.CNTL(SENDMAI4)'

 

But we'd like to be able to set variables like QUEUE, IMPACT etc inside the XYZ jobdef  rather than inside the alert's proc so that the alert itself has something like QUEUE = %yadayada   IMPACT = %impct

Thus we can use the alert proc for many jobs by amending each of the jobdefs that invoke it as appropriate;

Is there anyway that I can pass values like
QUEUE etc from the XYZ jobdef to the MPB alert proc
rather than  having to hardcode all the
values in the alert proc?  (sort of like how the alert uses %MNJOB...

 

eg looking to be able to do something like this:

JOB XYZ
   MAXRUNTIME=1
   NOTIFY OVERDUE ALERT(MPB) USERS(yada)

   CI = 'ca workload automation (jss)'

   QUEUE = 'racf'

   IMPACT = '4'

  RUN ANY
ENDJOB

 

and in the alert's proc be able to glean the values from the invoking jobdef and

then pass along CI and QUEUE into the sendmai4 jcl

IF %MNJOB EQ 'XYZ' THEN -
  DO
  CI ='%CI
  QUEUE = %QUEUE

  IMPACT = '4'
  TITLE = 'Mainframe Job Overdue %MNJOB'
ENDDO
SUBMIT 'A#B.ESPMAINT.CNTL(SENDMAI4)'

 

thanks 

[Lucy Zhang]

Hi Michael,

 

Generally there are two possible solutions:

#1 utilize TAG and jobname/job qualifier in the job definition to store the variable values, and then retrieve them from MNTAG, MNFULLNAME and/or MNQUAL. This doesn't seem work for you, since value 'ca workload automation (jss)' is too long for TAG (limited to 16 chars) and contains blanks so can't be on JOB name or qualifier.

 

#2 Define global variables and set values by VSET in job definition, then retrieve them by VGET in monitor event. For example, you can define a global variable table for JOB XYZ, it will contains variable CI, QUEUE and IMPACT.  Or you can define one global variable table for all similar jobs, and add job name like XYZ as part of the variable names.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Lucy

[Michael Bieganski]

Thanks for the caveat on the MNTAG 16 char limit as that could definitely bite us.   The ‘'ca workload automation (jss)'  is actually a real-life example that all 100 jobs would have to have coded so we could probably just hard-code that particular value as a constant in the alert’s proc.   I’ll just need to see if QUEUE values ever would be > 16 char length or not.  If they all are < 16 char length, then that would allow us to explore both of your recommendations (though we’ve no experience at all in our shop with these TAG-MN* constructs you cite, so maybe an opportunity to try something brand new.  (Can you point us to some doc that would clearly illustrate how one would put these TAG-MN* constructs together??)

 

Otherwise, we do utilize quite a bit of globals here so we can look at that as well.

 

thanks for the suggestions Lucy!!  Happy Thanksgiving!

[Michael Bieganski]

found some nice TAG examples in the Command Reference.  Just might do the trick Lucy!...thank you!!!

[Michael Bieganski]

I think TAG might work for the job defs that only need 1 string passed to the alert proc.   there may be some that require 2 values passed (queuename  and impact value)  so those i fear would have to utilize the global vars paradigm

[Lucy Zhang]

Hi Michael,

 

If the variable values combined are less than 16 chars, then TAG can be used to store multiple variable values.

 

For example, define following in the job definition:

TAG 'racf 4' 

 

Then in the monitor event:

QUEUE = %MNTAG(4)

IMPACT = %MNTAG(6:6)

 

Following is the online doc on variables, scroll to the middle on Use Substring Notation":

Substitute Using Symbolic Variables - CA Workload Automation ESP Edition - 11.4 - CA Technologies Documentation 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

 

Lucy

[Michael Bieganski]

sweet.    what if you have a queue name with a space in it, such as ‘mf support’ and the impact of 4

 

TAG ‘mf support’ 4            <<<  note I would not want the single quotes passed as part of the queue name…just the value mf support.

 

would that be legal?

 

would QUEUE = %MNTAG(10)    resolve to  mf support   or would I need to compensate for the single quotes and make it QUEUE = %MNTAG(2:11)  or something?

 

IMPACT = %MNTAG(12:12)  ?? if I ignore the single quotes around ‘mf support’    else (14:14)  if I count the single quotes

 

 

Michael Bieganski

Technical Analyst

Exelon C&I Network, Infra & Cloud Ops -Mainframe

 

Chase Towers

10 S. Dearborn, 45th Floor

Chicago, IL 60603

Office:779 231-7707

[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>

[Lucy Zhang]

Hi Michael,

 

The TAG is ONE char string. In your case, you may put the IMPACT value first if it's always one char long, then the rest of the string will be the value for QUEUE.

 

For example:

- In job definition:

TAG '4 mf support' 

 

Then in the monitor event:

INTEGER X

X=LENGTH(MNTAG)

IMPACT = '%MNTAG(1)' /* first char will be the value for IMPACT*/

QUEUE='%MNTAG(%X-2:%X)' /*from 3rd char the value is for QUEUE*/

 

If you need more complex value on TAG, then you may need to use REXX function to retrieve it properly. This means, in monitor event you will need to code REXXON/REXXOFF.

 

If more help is needed, please open a support case.

 

Thank you,

 

Lucy