Welcome to the Spring edition of the Pathlore Mainframe e-News for 2005.

This edition of the Pathlore Mainframe e-News for users of PHOENIX and PREFERENCE presents a new technical tip for PREFERENCE customers, a sneak peek at one upcoming enhancement to be included in the next release, and much more.

In this issue:

Winners Announced: $50 Amazon Gift Certificates

Technical Tip for PREFERENCE Rules Writers

Coming Soon: Terminal & ID Listing for Supervisors

Pathlore Professional Services

It's a Mainframe World
 

Winners Announced: $50 Amazon Gift Certificates

Thanks to all users who completed our recent Mainframe Survey! We appreciate the valuable feedback provided by all PHOENIX/PREFERENCE survey contributors to help us better understand your company's needs. 

As promised, each participant was automatically entered into a drawing for a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate. We are happy to announce the drawing winners are ...

• Mark Godfrey (EDS)

• Eric Grimmer  (State of LA Division of Administration)

• Pamela Jeroszko (United Healthcare)

• Uttam Rathi  (National City Bank)

Congratulations to all of the winners! Your gift certificate is on its way to you. If you didn't get a chance to complete the survey, it's not too late – visit www.pathlore-mainframe.com/survey.

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Technical Tip for PREFERENCE Rules Writers

PREFERENCE Help Requests are failing.  Could it be due to the jobname of the application region?

This new ‘Technical Tip’ for PREFERENCE rules writers can also be found on the mainframe Pathlore website for PHOENIX and PREFERENCE users at www.pathlore-mainframe.com/customer/technical_tips.asp. 

If your PREFERENCE help requests are failing and you can’t figure out why, you may want to check on the status of your Jobnames table(s). There can be one Jobname table per volume, and it can be accessed in the volume rules facility. Use of a Jobnames table is not required for rules processing, but if utilized can be the source of a special set of problems:

When PREFERENCE writers define the rules for a transaction descriptor entry, they may optionally specify that this rules processing is only available for specific application regions. This is accomplished by specifying the jobnames associated with specific application regions. If no jobnames are specified, then the help will not be restricted by jobname. If any jobnames are specified, then to match on the transaction descriptor entry the help request must have originated from an application region whose jobname is in the list.

The following situations may cause this issue to occur:

• A new application region is created and enabled for PREFERENCE help but its jobname is not added to the table

• Existing application regions may have their jobname changed due to an upgraded release of CICS without updating the corresponding PREFERENCE volume jobname table

• When a rules volume utilizing jobnames has been migrated from a test PREFERENCE region to production without changing the jobnames from the test application region jobname to the production

When help requests fail due to a faulty Jobname table, users are often navigated to the sign-on frame.

If you are experiencing a problem with help requests not finding a rules match, perform the following steps to determine if the problem is due to jobname specification:

1. Identify the application transaction ID and application jobname where PREFERENCE help is defined and previously worked.

2. Sign-on to PREFERENCE as a supervisor.

3. From the Supervisor Type Command line type "rules" and press ENTER.

4. From the Supervisor Rules Administrator screen, press "F10 Transid Search".

5. When prompted, enter the transid name (this is case sensitive) and press ENTER.

6. If the transid is found, you will be taken to a screen with a list of volumes containing the transid.

7. Record the volume name(s) and press "F3 End" to return to the main Rules Administration screen.

8. Press "F6 Trans Table".

9. When prompted, enter a recorded volume name and press ENTER.

10. This will take you to the Transaction Descriptors Table for your specified volume. Press "F10 Jobnames".

11. This will display the list of jobnames that are entitled to receive help from this volume.

12. If there are any jobnames present, ensure that the application region jobnames are present, if appropriate.

13. If more than one volume is listed in step 6, you may have to repeat steps 8-12 for each.

You should now retry help for the transaction having problems with help requests. If it is still unsuccessful and you don’t know how to proceed, contact Pathlore technical support at techsupport@pathlore.com.

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Coming Soon: Terminal and Printer ID Listing for Supervisors

With the next version of PHOENIX/PREFERENCE (tentatively version 8.0) supervisors will be able to:

• Quickly generate and view a list of Terminal IDs defined to their system. Included in the display will be terminal features assigned to each ID, such as color, highlighting, display height, and width. 

• Use a search tool to identify Terminal IDs with specific features.

Previously, supervisors could look up specific Terminal IDs using the TID facility, but only for one Terminal ID at a time. Besides this ‘one-at-a-time’ limitation, supervisors had to know beforehand the specific Terminal identifier.  Additionally, supervisors were unable to quickly scan a Terminal ID list for terminals with features that may cause problems down the road.

As planned, the new Terminal ID List will be available as an option from the current TID screen. The purpose of this enhancement is to assist supervisors in solving problems related to Terminal and Printer IDs. For example, supervisors will be able to identify all Terminal IDs with features that are incompatible with specific emulators, or simply see if any Terminal IDs exist with settings different from those specified by the dynamic terminal allocation settings.

There’s more to come in PHOENIX/PREFERENCE version 8.0! Stay tuned to your Mainframe Pathlore e-News for the latest information and updates.

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Pathlore Professional Services

	Do you have a PHOENIX or PREFERENCE project, but find yourself at a roadblock for lack of staff or lack of product knowledge?
	Have you suddenly been given responsibility for PHOENIX and/or PREFERENCE but don’t know where to begin?
	Want to learn how Pathlore can help you leverage your PHOENIX and/or PREFERENCE system?

Pathlore Professional Services are here to help! Service offerings include:

• Training: For users not familiar with PHOENIX or PREFERENCE, Pathlore offers Supervisor level training, as well as training in authoring (for PHOENIX courses and PREFERENCE volumes) and PREFERENCE rules writing.

• Course and Volume Writing: For customers who need PHOENIX or PREFERENCE projects carried out in a timely manner, but who lack personnel for doing so, this service will help you get the job done!

• On-site Consulting: When your system needs a tune-up or when you need to address a specific problem, turn to Pathlore's Professional Consulting Services.

• A System Audit can be useful if you are responsible for PHOENIX or PREFERENCE and need to understand the big picture, but don’t know “what’s out there”.

Learn more! Contact Christie Durham, 888-PATHLORE x7270 or email cdurham@pathlore.com, and learn how Pathlore professional services can assist your organization.

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