· What is XmitManager?
· What is an Xmit file?
· Getting Started
· Info panels
· Viewing data
· Extracting data
· Send to Ftp2Jes
· Options
· Miscellaneous

Xmit Manager is a Windows based tool that allows for the manipulation of IBM Mainframe created Xmit format files. With Xmit Manager you can open Xmit files and view or extract the data within them, whether that is binary or text based. Xmit files with Partitioned datasets or Sequential datatsets content can be dealt with similarly through the Graphical Interface.

Origins
The xmit file format was developed by IBM as a means of packaging various data types into a sequential dataset which could then be transmitted over the network to another system. Xmit is actually short for Transmit.

The feature is a part of TSO/E and is called Interactive Data Transmission Facility.

Through issuing TRANSMIT commands through TSO/E you can send a dataset or just a message to other users on your system or to users on different systems linked through Network Job Entry (NJE) under JES.
The RECEIVE command is used to receive the xmit data at the target end , this would decode the sent xmit file and restore the data on the target system in the original format.

Common use
What is of interest to many mainframe users and especially developers and systems programmers is the Xmit format itself.

This format can package Partitioned datasets (PDS) into a sequential file which keeps all the PDS information, which is The following shows the basic syntax required to create an xmit file on an TSO/E system. In order to use this created xmit file with Xmit Manager it should be FTP’d as a binary file to the Windows system.

Transmitting (creating an Xmit file)
There are a great many parameters that can be used in under the TRANSMIT command, but here is the basic usage:under TSO/E

TRANSMIT node.user DA(source.dataset.name)
(Where node = JES2 target node id , user = TSO/E userid , DA( is the dataset to be transmitted))

If you want to just package a dataset into an Xmit format file on the same system then use the following:

TRANSMIT *.user DA(source.dataset.name) OUTDATASET(output.xmit.dataset)
Note: the output dataset does not need to be pre allocated, it will be created as a sequential dataset with a record length of 80.

Optionally a message can be included with the xmit file either appended as a sequential dataset with the parameter MSGDATASET(dataset.name) or interactively through a prompt edit screen with the parmMSG.

Receiving an xmit file
This is not so important in the context of Xmit Manager because we are interested in decoding the xmit file through the program itself. Receive is used when you send an Xmit file through the transmit command to a user. It decodes the Xmit file and saves the data in its original format on the target system.

To receive a previous transmission from the target system’s JES spool

RECEIVE

You will be prompted from there on.

To receive an Xmit file from a previously created file in Xmit file format:

RECEIVE INDATASET(xmit.file.name)

More Information on Xmit format
To find out more detail on the xmit file format consult the IBM manual “TSO/E CUSTOMISATION” manual number SC28-1872

For information on file formats that may be contained in the Xmit file (such as PDS) then consult the IBM DF/SMS Manual “USING DATASETS” manual number SC26-4922.

These books can be obbtained through the internet at IBM’s softcopy online web site:

http://www.s390.ibm.com/os390/bkserv/find_books.html

Use the manual number as a search argument.

Xmit Manager is pretty simple to use.

Here is a simple walk through which highlights the various aspects of the display and how to use Xmit Manager.

Open an Xmit file
Click on the button in the top left hand corner of the screen, (or use the file menu pull-down, select open)

Open Dialog
Navigate the open dialog to select one of the verification files found in the directory ‘Test Xmits’ which should be a sub directory off of where Xmit Manager was installed. Select the file PDS test.xmt and click on Open. The default file extension for Xmit files (xmt) will be displayed, and only these files will show in the directory panel. Select a different type from the selection box at the bottom if you want other files to show.

Information panels
The Xmit file is decoded and on the left hand side of the screen in on the Tab Pages you can see information about the xmit file, its content PDS file and the message enclosed. Click on each tab to bring up the relevant information about the Xmit file and it’s data.
Information is left blank if it wasn’t present in the file or could not be decoded for some reason.

Member Listview
On the right of the screen the members within the PDS file are displayed. These can be selected by clicking on them. To select a group of members click once on the first member you wish to select and hold down the shift key while clicking on the last one you wish to select. Alternatively, holding down the cntl key and selecting members will toggle selection on on/off.
Double clicking a member will automatically open that member in a view screen. Otherwise the selections will be processed by any subsequent action buttons.

Viewing members
Double click on a member and a window will open displaying that member in the relevant format (in this case text). The view window has a menu with options such as printing and copy to clipboard.
To open more than one window at once, select more than one member and click on the view button.

Extracting members to a file
Select a member and click on the extract button. You will be prompted for a save location for the file (which is defaulted to the member name and the file type extension). Chose a destination and click on save. The file should be copied to that location.

Closing the Xmit file
This can be done explicitly by choosing the File menu and exit, or implicitly by opening another Xmit file. Closing an Xmit file does not close any view windows.

The information panels are located on the left hand side of the screen. You can vary the width of them to allow more information to be shown by selecting the splitter line between the info panels and the member listview and dragging it left or right as desired. This size will be maintained between invocations of Xmit Manager.

Click on the named tabs to select the desired information and the panel will be changed accordingly.

Details are split into various categories:

Xmit File
This panels shows the details of the Xmit file itself (as a container file) such as size, file name, date created.

Xmit Content
This panel describes the file that is contained within the Xmit file such as it’s size, format and dataset name.

Transfer Info
Contains the xmit transmit details when the xmit file was created such as the userid that created it and the jES node which it was sent to (if applicable)

Message
If the Xmit file was created with the message option then that message will be displayed here.

The data contained within the Xmit file can be viewed in a separate window. For a sequential dataset content then the whole sequential file is opened for view in the window. For a partitioned dataset content then individual members are selected for view.

The type of view is determined by the format type of the data to be viewed.
Data with a record format of Fixed (F or FB) will be treated as text and viewed as Ascii text. Data that has a record format of Undefined (U) will be viewed as binary data, this will be in the form of a formatted hex dump.

These automatic detection’s can be overridden - see options for more details.

Different ways to view data
Viewing Sequential datasets
Once the dataset is open click on the View button (or select the Xmit menu, then view). The sequential dataset will be opened in a separate window.

Viewing a single member of a PDS
1. Double click on the member to be viewed.
2. Select the member and click on the View button (or select the Xmit menu, then view).

Viewing Multiple members of a PDS
Select the members to view and click on the View button (or select the Xmit menu, then view). Each member will be opened in a separate window. The current progress is displayed in a box.

The viewing Window
The data that is viewed will appear in a separate window. This has some basic menu options such as printing and printer setup, as well as the ability to save the screen data and to select text for copying to the clip board.
The windows will remain open as long as Xmit Manager is open or until you close them.

The type of extract is determined by the format type of the data contained in the xmit file.
Data with a record format of Fixed (F or FB) will be treated as text and extracted as Ascii text. Data that has a record format of Undefined (U) will be extracted as binary data and will not be converted in any way.

These automatic detection’s can be overridden - see Options.

Different ways to extract data
Extracting Sequential datasets
Once the dataset is open click on the Extract button (or select the Xmit menu, then extract). A save dialog will come up where you can select a directory and filename to save the data to. The default will be the name of the sequential dataset.

Extracting a single member of a PDS
Select the member and click on the Extract button (or select the Xmit menu, then extract). A save dialog will come up where you can select a directory and filename to save the member to. The default will be the name of the member selected

Extracting Multiple members of a PDS
Select the members to extract and click on the Extract button (or select the Xmit menu, then extract). A save multiple dialog will come up allowing you to select a destination directory. On the filename line there should appear a default file extension for the detected type (such as .txt or .bin). This is what will be appended to each member name when saved, creating individual filenames.

For example: the extension of .txt in the filename box of the save dialog will produce README.txt as an output file. This default extension can be over written or the default option changed - see Options.

This allows a member to be selected, extracted to the unzip directory and opened into Ftp2Jes (if you have it installed). Ftp2Jes is another product written by me that allows JCL batch jobs to be submitted to JES on a mainframe host from your PC.

The benifits of this wil be limited unless the xmit file you are working with contains members with JCL. A further benifit of this may be the format of xmit files from the CBT tape. If a common install batch job could be included with each file of the CBT tape then this process would be streamlined.

In order to use this feature you must have the following:

• Ftp2Jes correctly installed.
• Ftp2Jes program associated with .jcl files (under Ftp2Jes options panel)
• Not have changed the default installed unzipped directory in any way (renamed or moved).
• Read the Ftp2Jes Help for more info on how to use that product.

This ability to send straight to Ftp2Jes is new and pretty much provided as a prototype for a later more advanced interface to this functionality, therefore it will change in the future for the better. For now, see if you get any benifit from it.

The options dialog can be shown either by selecting the menu Options | xmit options or by clicking on the options button.

All options are saved in the Windows registry between invocations of Xmit Manager unless the registry cannot be accessed (for example when the user has not got the correct authority commonly on NT systems) then an Options.ini file will be created to store the options.

The options are as follows

Prompt for extraction type
When selected this option will provide for a selection dialog before every Extraction or View action which will allow you to select how you want the data to be processed. You will be able to select Binary, Text or automatic when prompted. You may also reduce the record length to truncate the end of records. This is useful when removing trailing line numbers.

Note: The automatic detection of file type is determined by the format type of the data contained in the xmit file. Data with a record format of Fixed (F or FB) will be treated as text and extracted as Ascii text. Data that has a record format of Undefined (U) will be extracted as binary data and will not be converted in any way.

Date format
This will determine whether dates are displayed in US (mm/dd/yyyy) format or UK (dd/mm/yyyy) format.
Any changes will take affect the next time you open an Xmit file.

Default Extraction extensions
These determine what extensions (if any) are appended to the data names when extracting data to files. - See Extracting to files for information on how these are used.

Registered file extensions
These 4 common Xmit file extensions can be registered with XmitManager (when Checked) or de-registered (when unchecked).

Zip Options
The Automatic open check box will determine how zip files behave when opened in Xmit Manager. If checked then any zip files containing only one xmit file (although may contain other file types) will be automatically unzipped to the default unzip directory and opened from there.

Default Open
The default Open edit field allows a directory to be specified that will be opened when you select to open an Xmit file.
The Use last File directory check box will override the default directory setting and use the directory of the last opened file if it still exists, if not then the default directory will be used.

Working with Zip files
Xmit Manager version 2 supports zip files. Any number of Xmit files can be contained in a zip file in a compressed format. Xmit Manager will either automatically extract the xmit file or prompt the user for which file to extract depending on the zip options under Xmit Options menu.

Automaticaly opening an xmit file from a zip file
If the Automatic open checkbox is checked in the Xmit options panel then any zip files selected for open (either through the file dialog or from a remote connection) will be automatically unzipped and opened if they contain only one Xmit file. The unzip will be done to the default defined unzip directory as defined in the Xmit Options panel.

Manual extraction of the xmit file from a zip file
If there are more than one xmit file in the zip file or if the auto open checkbox under the Xmit Options panel is not checked then a panel will be displayed showing the contents of the zip file. Select one of the xmit files and either click on the open button or double ckick the selected file and the xmit file will be extracted to the default directory and opened in Xmit Manager.

Error Messages
There are no error message ID associated with errors under Xmit Manager, instead an error message box is displayed showing details at the point the error was detected and a brief description.

Click on the DETAILS>> button for more information from the point of error.

If the error is due to a corrupted Xmit File then use the Debug function to provide a hex formatted dump of the Xmit headers and control information so that the point of error details can be cross referenced for a fuller picture.

You will need to refer to the IBM manuals while debugging.

Debugging
Click on the Debug button (or select the menu option Xmit | debug headers).

The Debug function provides a break down of the Xmit headers and any IEBCOPY headers relating to PDS file contents.

A brief description of the Headers:

INMR01 - Main Header Record
Contains information about the Xmit file such as name, and source node.

INMR02 - File Utility Control Record
Information about the utility used to package the data into the Xmit file, such as IEBCOPY for IEBCOPY unloaded PDS files.

INMR03 - Data Description Control Record
Information about the data such as record format.

COPYR1 - IEBCOPY UNLOAD Descriptor record - File format info
Contains info about the file such as the file type and the Tracks per cylinder of the device type the file was on.

COPYR2 - IEBCOPY UNLOAD Descriptor record - Extent info
Contains information about the extents that the file is in. Such as start offset (CCHHR) and end offset of each extent.

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