Software contributions to the MVS 3.8J enthusiasts and hobbyists community are listed below in chronological order with most current announcement at top. Also, current development workload in progress is listed for awareness purposes to be published and announced at a later date. This post serves as an archive of announcements. Dates are in the format MM/DD/CCYY or monthname-day-ccyy. Thanks,Larry Belmontes…
Category: TSO
User-Wide Software in TK5
Overview Corrections applied to step 4 under Implement User-Wide level on TK5 section. Installation of third-party and/or in-house (home-grown) software is ‘normal business’ in computing platforms, regardless of technology stacks. Additionally, safekeeping of user software and/or customization after an OS upgrade is paramount. However, keeping this impact to ‘zero’ is nearly impossible! Therefore, some form of exception is necessary by…
KICKS in TK5
Overview KICKS is a transaction processing system enabling execution of CICS programs directly under TSO and provides a high level of source code compatibility with CICS. Compilers supported (not an exhaustive list) include MVT COBOL and MVS GCC. KICKS is owned and authored by Mike Noel. Complete information on this product available at http://www.kicksfortso.com/ Installing KICKS on TK5 is as…
PRTSCR in MVS 3.8J
Overview PRTSCR – ISPFv2.2 Print Screen Utility(current version 0.9.01 2025-02-08) ISPF v2.2 (ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin) does not include a print screen function (i.e. PRINT, PRINT-HI) as provided by the IBM ISPF product. ISPF maintains several system Z-variables for developer use. Some Z-type variables for screen information include ZSCREENW (screen width, e.g. 80), ZSCREEND (screen depth, e.g. 24) and…
GGUESS in MVS38J
GGUESS – Number Guessing Game across technology stacks from PC BASIC to MVS 3.8J TSO / ISPF / KICKS /Hercules to HTML JavaScript(current version 0.9.00 2024-05-01) One of my first programs to write (during the late 1970’s) was a number guessing game using interactive BASIC interpreters on the Altair 8800 and TRS-80 Model I microcomputers (Intel 8080 CPU). The program…
VSI in MVS38J
Overview VSI – VSAM Information ISPF add-on for MVS38J / Hercules(current version 0.9.00 2023-11-15) VSI provides a function to display VSAM file information on one screen as an ISPF add-on. The single display screen offers a HELP screen, but has no other processing options. This original tool (VI) has been rewritten as a TSO CLIST for MVS 3.8J and ISPF…
Using ISPF v2.2 with MVS 3.8J
Overview The current ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin enhances the MVS 3.8J / TSO landscape on your personal mainframe! Like with any other hobbyist / enthusiasts designing, developing, testing and distributing developer tools / utilities, one must finalize on what features and/or functions to offer end users for a particular release. The focus may center on previously used tools behavior…
ISPFPAP-n-CLGLST
Overview The CLGLST (ISPF v2.2 LOG / LIST alternative add-on) requires a task to execute after an ISPF user session is terminated (e.g. =X from ISPF) to process LOG and LIST datasets based on user set defaults. With the introduction of ISPFPAP (ISPF Autoexec-type alternative add-on), the application offers consolidated launch (trigger) points for pre-ISPF and post-ISPF processing. The CLGLST…
ISPFPAP-n-CALISPF
Overview The CALISPF (ISPF Calendar alternative add-on) requires a task to execute before an ISPF user session is started to initialize calendar variables stored in the users profile. With the introduction of ISPFPAP (ISPF Autoexec-type alternative add-on), the application offers consolidated launch (trigger) points for pre-ISPF and post-ISPF processing. The CALISPF pre-ISPF requirement can optionally be integrated into the ISPFPAP…
ISPFPAP in MVS38J
Overview ISPFPAP – Pre-ISPF and Post-ISPF Processing on MVS 3.8J TSO / ISPF / Hercules(current version 0.9.02 2025-02-18) When ISPF v2.2 (ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin) is installed on MVS 3.8J, the command ISPF is used to start ISPF under TSO as listed in ISPF v2.2 installation documentation. ISPF v2.2 can be started using various command syntax as referenced in…