MVS/QuickRef® has numerous “gems” of information, which it provides to you in a single keystroke. However, sometimes finding those gems can be a problem. If your shop is like most z/OS shops, there are several QuickRef® items that are used frequently. This article describes a method of making those frequently used items easier to locate.

While making a purchase from AMAZON.COM, I noticed they had a button called “Where’s My Stuff?” I thought how neat it would be if each company could have their own “My Stuff” item where they could put their frequently accessed items. With this in place, a person could use a QuickRef® fast-path to bring up “My Stuff” (that is, QW MYSTUFF), locate the item they needed to access, and then use cursor-driven invocation to quickly locate that information.

To implement this, you would first need to identify the MVS/QuickRef® items that were most frequently used. Then, using the Override facility, you would enter these items into the QuickRef® database.

To begin using the override facility, create a partitioned data set called SYS2.OVERRIDE.DATA using the recommended data set characteristics (RECFM=FB,LRECL=80,BLKSIZE=6160). In this PDS, create a new member called MYSTUFF, which should look something the text in Figure 1. Of course, you would want to enter the items your shop frequently uses in this member.

******************************** TOP OF DATA *******************************
THIS IS A LIST OF FREQUENTLY-USED MVS/QUICKREF ITEMS

CURSOR-DRIVEN DESCRIPTION
—————- ———————————————————-
3390 IBM 3390 DEVICE CHARACTERISTICS
DYNALLOC RETURN CODES AND S99INFO FROM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION
FILE-STATUS-KEY COBOL FILE STATUS RETURN VALUES
SMF_RECORDS SMF RECORD LAYOUTS
SVC_NUMBERS SVCS USED BY MVS
****************************** BOTTOM OF DATA ******************************

 

Figure 1

Next, create member QWPARM00 in SYS2.OVERRIDE.DATA using the information shown in Figure 2. Member QWPARM00 is a fixed name and cannot be changed.

******************************** TOP OF DATA *******************************
DATAPDS DSN=RSC004.OVERRIDE.CNTL
*
REPLACE MEMBER=MYSTUFF,
VENDOR=’your-company-name’, <—- tailor this
PRODUCT=’MY STUFF’,
RELEASE=V1,
ITEM=MYSTUFF,
TEXTLEFT=1,
TEXTRIGHT=80
****************************** BOTTOM OF DATA ******************************

Figure 2

Now, we have to let QuickRef® know where to find the override information, and this will depend on how it is invoked at your installation. You should have a QW CLIST available to all users. You will need to modify the QWPARMS DD statement in the QW CLIST as shown here:

ALLOC F(QWPARMS) DA(‘SYS2.OVERRIDE.DATA’) REUS SHR

And

FREE F(QWPARMS)

However, if your z/OS installation does not use LIBDEF, then you will need to modify and reassemble QWIKOPTS. In this case, modify the PARMDSN parameter as shown here:

PARMDSN=SYS2.OVERRIDE.DATA,

and then reassemble QWIKOPTS. You will need to get out of ISPF and then reenter before proceeding.

We are now ready to use My Stuff. To do so, issue the fastpath command:

QW MYSTUFF

which will bring up the information shown in Figure 1. Select the item you want to see by putting your cursor on the cursor-driven name and use your QW PF Key to invoke MVS/QuickRef®.

The final step in using My Stuff is to let the personnel on the staff know it is available. I’m sure they will have their own personal favorites they want to include on the My Stuff page. By the way, making updates to My Stuff is easy to do as any changes immediately become available as soon as you save the MYSTUFF member.

Chuck Davis is one of the developers of MVS/QuickRef® and has many years of programming and system design experience.