Appendix B. CICS Smalltalk classes

The CICS Smalltalk classes correspond to the CICS commands that can be used in either CICS for workstation or CICS Transaction Server. The reference section that follows lists the commands in alphabetic order. The methods for each class represent the parameters you can issue on the CICS commands.

For more information about how to write Smalltalk code to invoke these commands, or to learn more about the types of methods you will find in the tables, see Accessing CICS services using Smalltalk.

For the syntax of any command or for a description of each method supported by VA Smalltalk Server, see CICS Application Programming Reference.

The table for each command indicates the mode of each option; that is, whether it is an input, output, or input/output option.

The table also provides the type of each option:

Binary

The option refers to a 32-bit or a 16-bit integer.

Fixed

The option's maximum allowable length is predefined by CICS. A program name, a file name, and a queue name are examples of fixed-type input. Although Smalltalk does not require a program name to be eight characters long, CICS places the program name in an eight character area in storage, padded with blanks.

Smalltalk pads blanks for you if the length of the data supplied is less than the maximum length defined for the option.

OSMemory

The option must be a subclass of either OsPtr or CICSObject.

Packed

The option is a packed decimal whose maximum allowable length is predefined by CICS.

Switch

The option is an input option for which no data value is supplied but whose presence affects the behavior of a command. A switch is a zero-argument message, one in which the command option as specified by CICS does not define input data.

Variable

The option is one in which the value inserted can be variable length. CICS often requires that length information be supplied. The arguments recognized with a variable-type input are strings, byte arrays, and OsPtr derivatives.