Commands HEADOFF thru LISTF

Header and trailer information appears before and after a file when it is printed. This information is not a part of the file's text. This information identifies the file by session number, output spoolfile number, session name (if any), user, and account. It also lists the date and time the file was printed.

If output is directed to a line printer, MPE/iX automatically prints header and trailer pages identifying the job that produced the file.

If the device is in use and a header has already been printed when you issue the HEADOFF command, your request to suppress header/trailer output takes effect after the corresponding trailer is printed.

This command may be issued from a session, job, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break has no effect on this command. It may be executed only from the console unless distributed to users with the ALLOW or ASSOCIATE command.

To stop header/trailer output to logical device number 6, enter:

 HEADOFF 6

Header and trailer information appears before and after a file when it is printed. This information is not a part of the file's text. This information identifies the file by session number, output spoolfile number, session name (if any), user, and account. It also lists the date and time the file was printed.

When the header/trailer facility is enabled, output is directed to a line printer, and MPE/iX automatically prints header and trailer pages identifying the job that produced the file.

If the device is in use, your request to resume header/trailer output takes effect after the current output is complete.

The header/trailer facility is always enabled at system startup.

This command may be issued from a session, job, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break has no effect on this command. It may be executed only from the console unless distributed to users with the ALLOW or ASSOCIATE command.

To resume header/trailer output to logical device number 6 enter:

 HEADON 6

The HELLO command initiates an interactive session and must be entered from a terminal; no other device can be used for this command. You must supply both a valid username and acctname in your logon command or MPE/iX rejects your logon attempt and displays an error message. If your logon attempt is accepted, MPE/iX displays specific logon information and prompts you for your next MPE/iX command. In the following example, a user has logged on under the username USER and the acctname TECHPUBS:

 MPE XL:HELLO USER.TECHPUBS
 HP3000 Release: X.50.40  User Version : X.50.40  THU, DEC 8, 1994, 1:15 PM
 MPE/iX HP31900 B.78.11 Copyright Hewlett-Packard 1987. All rights reserved.
 :

When you first access an MPE/iX system to log on, the MPE iX: prompt is displayed. When you log off using the BYE command, the following message is displayed:

 CPU=1. CONNECT=1. THU, DEC 8, 1994, 1:50 PM

The RELEASE: V.UU.FF number in the logon banner is determined by Hewlett-Packard at operating system build time and provides an identity for software releases (also known as the MIT). This number may not be changed. (Prior to MPE/iX release A.11.70, this was referred to as BASE.)

The USER VERSION: V.UU.FF can be assigned a value during a SYSGEN and allows you to identify any changes to your total software package such as patch level, third party software, or other specifics. Any ASCII character can be used. In prior releases, this number was printed out immediately after the MPE/iX product number HP31900.

The PRODUCT V.UU.FF, which now immediately follows the product number HP31900, is determined by Hewlett-Packard when a new version of MPE/iX is compiled. This V.UU.FF number cannot be changed and is used when entering a service request (SR) against the MPE/iX operating system product for that particular release.

If the system operator has set up a welcome message, it is displayed after the MPE/iX verification of your logon.

The session number assigned by MPE/iX uniquely identifies your session to MPE/iX and to other users. MPE/iX assigns such numbers to sessions in sequential order as they are logged on. If you are on a modem and do not log on within the system-configured time, the line is dropped. You must redial and press Return again. If you are already logged on and you issue the HELLO command, you will be logged off your current session and logged on to a new session.

In certain instances, you may be required to furnish information in addition to the user and account names in your HELLO command. This information includes:

This command may be issued from a session. It may not be used from a job, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break does not abort the execution of this command, but may prematurely terminate the printing of the welcome message or the execution of any logon UDCs. If you are already in a session, HELLO terminates that session before beginning a new one.

The group you select at logon for your local file domain is known as your logon group. If your account manager has associated a home group with your username, and if you want this group as a logon group, you need not specify it. MPE/iX automatically assigns the home group as your logon group when you log on. But if you want to use some other group as your logon group, you must specify that group's name in your logon command in this way:

 MPE iX:HELLO USER.TECHPUBS,MYGROUP

If your user name is not related to a home group, you must enter a group name in your HELLO command, or your logon attempt is rejected.

Once you log on, if the normal (default) file security provisions of MPE/iX are in force, you have unlimited access to all files in your logon and home groups. Furthermore, you can read files and execute programs stored in the PUB (public) group of your account and the PUB (public) group of the SYS (system) account. You cannot, however, access any other files in any way. Further information about files and file security can be found in the Accessing Files Programmer's Guide (32650-60010).

To enhance the security of an account, and to prevent unauthorized accumulation of charges against the account, the system manager may assign a password. Similarly, an account manager may associate passwords with the user names and groups belonging to his account. If you are using an account, user name, or group (other than your home group) that has a password, you must furnish that password when you log on. Include the password after the name of the protected entity, separated from that name by a slash mark (/). (In MPE/iX, the slash denotes security.)

For instance, if the group XGROUP requires a password, and if you use this group as your logon group, you could enter the password in this fashion:

 MPE iX:HELLO USER.TECHPUBS,XGROUP/XPASS

Note that when you specify your home group as your logon group, you need not enter a password, even if that group has such a password.

Sometimes, when logging on to the system, it is more convenient to have MPE/iX prompt you for any required passwords. You do this by omitting the passwords from the logon command. When you log on, the command is printed in the normal way; MPE/iX prompts you for the password, then turns echo off so that the password is not printed. If you enter the password incorrectly, the prompt reappears and you have two more chances to enter the password correctly. After the third incorrect entry, the message INCORRECT PASSWORD (CIERR 1441) is displayed. You must then press Return to receive a new prompt and then enter the HELLO command to start a new logon process. Echo is turned on after all passwords are read.

MPE/iX must be able to determine certain characteristics about your terminal, such as input and output speed, in order to conduct a session. If you log on using a different type of terminal than the type the system manager has configured, you must specify your terminal type when you log on. Refer to appendix C, "Terminal and Printer Types."

 MPE iX:HELLO USER.TECHPUBS;TERM=10

When you initially log on to access MPE/iX, the system prompt appears as:

 MPE iX:

When you subsequently log on to another account or group, the system prompt by default is a colon (unless you have altered it with the SETVAR HPPROMPT command) and appears as:

 :

To start a session named ALPHA, with the user USER, the account TECHPUBS, the group XGROUP, and the group password XPASS, enter:

 MPE iX:HELLO ALPHA,USER.TECHPUBS,XGROUP/XPASS
 HP3000 Release: X.50.40  User Version : X.50.40  MON, DEC 12, 1994, 7:15 AM
 MPE/iX HP31900 B.78.11 Copyright Hewlett-Packard 1987. All rights reserved.
 :

Direct access:

Interactive (subsystem) access:

   HELPMENU
   SUMMARY
   CLASS
   HELP
   HELPSTUDY

You use the HELP command to display information about MPE/iX in one of two ways: by omitting command parameters to enter the Help subsystem or by getting information about a single command from the colon prompt.

Using HELP as a subsystem

Enter the HELP command without specifying any parameters to invoke HELP as a subsystem. You will see the first screen of Help, called HELPMENU. It lists the choices available to you so that you can review the operation of Help and get a brief overview of the changes found in the MPE/iX operating system.

Once you are in the Help Subsystem, you display information by entering the name of the command, UDC, error message, variable, expression, function or other item that you want at the greater-than (>) prompt. For example:

 :HELP
 >FINFO
 
 Syntax:   FINFO(filename, option)
 
 Defn:    A CI evaluator function that returns information about
       the specified file.
 Type:    String, integer, or Boolean depending upon option.
 Example:  FINFO('x.pub',"EXISTS")
 Result:   TRUE
 Example:  FINFO('jeff',"eof")
 Result:   71495
 
The following table summarizes the options of the FINFO function.
The description includes the option number, one or more aliases,
the data type, and a brief description of the option.
Num  Alias            Data Type   Option Description
-  -            -   
 
 0  EXIST            Boolean    Existence of file
 1  FILENAME ONLY        String    File name
(24/225) Continue?

To display information up to the next keyword or command, press Return. HELP provides a page break for every 23 lines of output and pressing Return allows you to continue.

Do not precede the command or item name with HELP, or you will get an error message. For example:

 :HELP
 >HELP FINFO
    ^
    Can't find this keyword.

To exit the Help Subsystem, enter E or EXIT' or press Break. To stop the display and return to a system prompt, enter CTRL Y. temporarily stops the display, enter CTRL S. Use CTRL Q to resume.

Using HELP in direct mode

Enter HELP followed by the name of the command, UDC, error number or other keyword to display the information you need without entering the Help Subsystem. Entering any command name produces the syntax for that command and a list of the keywords. Entering a keyword such as PARMS produces a listing of all the items for that keyword.

For example:

 HELP ABORT
 ABORT
 Aborts current program or operation.
 Syntax
   ABORT
 KEYWORDS: PARMS,OPERATION,EXAMPLE
 :

Notice that in direct mode, MPE/iX displays the CI prompt (:) once it has displayed the information you wanted.

This command may be issued from a session, job, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break aborts the execution of this command.

To see the parameters for the LISTFILE command, enter:

 :HELP LISTFILE PARMS

To see examples of the STORE command, enter:

 :HELP STORE EXAMPLES

To see the same information from within the Help subsystem, enter:

 :HELP
 >STORE EXAMPLES

To see a list of predefined variables in MPE/iX, at the colon prompt enter:

 :HELP VARIABLES
 
 Several global variables have been pre-assigned by the command
 interpreter. They may be used anywhere you would use your own
 variables.
 All global variables are listed in the table below. To get help
 with a specific variable, at the colon (:) prompt type "HELP"
 followed by the variable name, for example, "HELP HPCIDEPTH".
 At the Help facility prompt (>), simply type the variable name,
 for example, "HPCIDEPTH".
 Global Variable Types
 =================================================================
       R      READ ONLY variable (cannot be modified).
       W      READ/WRITE variable (can be modified).
       JCW     A standard MPE/iX JCW.
       I      Integer format.
       B      Boolean format (TRUE/FALSE).
 (24/225) Continue?

If LINKALL is a command file, HELP displays the file as follows:

 HELP LINKALL.TEST.UI
 User-Defined Command File:LINKALL.TEST.UI
    Parm streamflag=...

....

If VERSION.PUB.SYS is a program file, HELP displays:

 HELP VERSION.PUB
 program file: VERSION.PUB.SYS

If the UDC LISTF contains the NOHELP option (as shown in the sample below) the HELP command will suppress the listing of this UDC, and displays the text for the built-in command LISTF instead.

 listf
 option NOHELP
 showme
 *****

If the UDC MYUDC (which is not the name of any MPE/iX command) contains the NOHELP option, then the Help facility displays an error.

The allowed operands are any variable, integer, string, or Boolean constants, and the MPE/iX reserved words are WARN, FATAL, SYSTEM, and OK.

Compound logical expressions can be formed using the AND, NOT, XOR, and OR logical operators, and nested within parentheses.

The THEN keyword is optional. It may be used or omitted and has no effect on the results.

This command begins an IF block consisting of all the commands after the IF command up to, but not including, the next ELSE. ELSEIF, or ENDIF statement. The ELSE, ELSEIF, or ENDIF must have the same nesting level as the IF statement. Another similar block can follow the ELSE statement.

Nesting of the blocks is allowed to 30 levels so long as IF is used alone. In a case where IF is used with WHILE the total nesting of IF and WHILE blocks cannot exceed 30 levels. Each IF or WHILE block read by the Command Interpreter increments the nesting count even if it resides within a different UDC or COMMAND file.

The ENDIF statement ends the IF block. The logical expression is evaluated and, if the expression evaluates to TRUE, the IF block is executed; if FALSE, the ELSE or ELSEIF block (if one exists) is executed.

	NOTE: You may not write an IF construct in such a way that it physically crosses from one user command (UDCs or command files) to another.

This command may be issued from a job, session, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break has no effect unless expression contains the INPUT evaluator function.

The following job listing illustrates the use of an IF statement with ELSE and ENDIF statements:

 !CONTINUE
 !PASXL MYPROG,MYUSL
 !IF JCW>=FATAL THEN
 !  TELL USER.TECHPUBS;COMPILE FAILED
 !ELSE
 !  TELL USER.TECHPUBS;COMPILE COMPLETED
 !ENDIF

This command allows the user to assign a value interactively to a variable. It also allows the user to create an optional prompt message that is displayed on the standard list device ($STDLIST) before the value is read. This command provides a way to establish an interactive dialog with an executing UDC or command file. If it does not already exist, the variable varname is always created by INPUT. If you want to delete varname before ending a session, job, or program, use DELETEVAR varname. Refer to the DELETEVAR command.

CI input redirection can be used to set varname to a record in a file.

	NOTE: If a colon (:) is read by the INPUT command at any level other than the root level CI, the error message END OF FILE ON INPUT. (CIERR 900) is returned.

INPUT reads a value from the standard input device ($STDIN) and stores it as a string in the variable named varname. If varname does not exist, INPUT creates it. If prompt is omitted, nothing is displayed, and INPUT waits for an input value to store in varname. The variable varname can be used as you would use any other MPE/iX string variable.

CI input redirection can be used to set varname to a record in a file.

	NOTE: The INPUT command does not evaluate an expression before assigning its value to varname. The command recognizes only strings. Expressions such as 9 + 3 are treated as strings, even though they are not surrounded by quotation marks (" or ").

The user may optionally specify a timed read by creating a value for seconds. The pending read prompt is canceled after seconds. The INPUT command recognizes the HPTIMEOUT variable. The length of the timed read is seconds or HPTIMEOUT (in minutes), whichever is smaller. If a timed read (using seconds or HPTIMEOUT) expires, then the pending read terminates.

This command is available in a session, job, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break aborts the execution of this command, without creating or modifying varname.

The INPUT command does not evaluate expressions, it stores them as a string. For example, the command INPUT bleep accepts and stores input (somevalue). If you want somevalue treated as an expression and evaluated and the result assigned to bleep (as opposed to assigning the string representation of somevalue), use the SETVAR command after using the INPUT command:

 INPUT bleep
 SETVAR bleep !bleep

The first command reads whatever value you enter and sets bleep to the string representation of that input. The second command assigns bleep the (evaluated) value that you entered.

INPUT MYVAR <FILEONE

The above example reads the first record in FILEONE into the CI variable named MYVAR. In order to read the entire contents of a file INPUT must be in a WHILE loop and the while loop must have its $STDIN redirected to the file. Eg: READFILE <FILENAME , where READFILE looks like:

 SETVAR EOF FINFO(HPSTDIN, 'EOF')

  WHILE SETVAR (EOF, EOF-1) >=0 DO 

   INPUT MYVAR

    ...

  ENDWHILE

Table 7-2 “INPUT Command Function” illustrates how the INPUT command functions.

* The result is an error if the user responds with an unquoted string:

  INPUT BLEEP,>
 >ABC Return
  SETVAR BLEEP !BLEEP
 

ABC is not a number. And, without quotes around it, ABC is not a string, either. If ABC is not a defined variable, it has no value to extract. So, the attempt to evaluate the result of explicitly dereferencing, !BLEEP produces an error. Refer to the SETVAR command.

The JOB command is not used at the colon prompt (:). Rather, it is used in interactive mode with the STREAM command at the > prompt, or within an input jobfile, created to define a batch job. The job defined with this command is then activated (executed) with the STREAM command.

The JOB command is preceded by an appropriate substitute prompt character for the colon prompt. By default, MPE/iX expects the exclamation point (!) to be used. The JOB command must be terminated with an EOJ command. Refer to the STREAM command.

When MPE/iX begins the job, it displays the following information on the list device:

In the JOB command, as in the HELLO command, you must always supply your username and acctname, which you obtain from your account manager. If you omit either of these parameters, or enter them incorrectly, MPE/iX rejects your job and prints error messages on the standard listing device and the console. If your job is accepted, MPE/iX begins job processing. The job is entered with the STREAM command or through a spooled input device. Then the job is copied to an input spoolfile. The job is initiated from that spoolfile rather than the originating diskfile (in the case of the STREAM command) or device (in the case of the input spooled device). If the standard listing file is a line printer, MPE/iX prints a header page prior to listing the JOB command. (The system operator can disable the printing of this header page with the HEADOFF console command.)

The job number assigned by MPE/iX always uniquely identifies your job to MPE/iX and other users. MPE/iX assigns such numbers in sequential order as jobs are accepted. Sometimes, the job acceptance information includes a message from the system operator following the standard display. When present, this is the same message output in the logon information for sessions.

The minimum information needed for job initiation is the user and account name. However, the following also may be required:

The cases in which this information is required, and the rules for supplying it, are the same as those for the HELLO command for sessions, except that:

The STREAM command prompts for any necessary passwords that are not supplied in the command syntax if:

All UDCs are available from a job. Any subsystem or UDC that expects input from $STDIN requires that input within your job stream file.

This command may be issued only from a job file. It may not be used from a session, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break has no effect on this command.

The following example illustrates creating and using an ASCII file to define a batch job and then executing it with the STREAM command:

 RUN EDITOR.PUB.SYS
 /ADD
      1 !JOB WXYZ,WRITER.TEC
      2 !EDITOR
      3 TEXT ABC
      4 LIST ALL,OFFLINE
      5 EXIT
      6 !EOJ
       //
 /KEEP MYJOB
 /EXIT
 :
  STREAM MYJOB

The following example shows using the JOB command in interactive mode with the STREAM command:

  STREAM
 >!JOB USER.TECHPUBS;OUTCLASS=12

MPE/iX does not dispatch jobs or sessions with an input priority less than or equal to the priorityfence until their input priority is raised with the ALTJOB command, or until the jobfence is lowered. System managers and system supervisors may override the jobfence setting by logging on with the HIPRI parameter of the JOB or HELLO commands. Or, they may log on with an input priority greater than the jobfence as reported by the SHOWJOB command.

This command may be issued from a session, job, program, or in BREAK. Pressing Break has no effect on this command. It may be issued only from the console unless distributed to users with the ALLOW command.

To defer all non-HIPRI jobs and sessions, first set the jobfence to 14, as shown below:

 JOBFENCE 14
 16:18/#J7/34/DEFERRED JOB INTRODUCED ON LDEV #10
 16:18/#J8/35/DEFERRED JOB INTRODUCED ON LDEV #10

Then enter the SHOWJOB command to display the effect of the new jobfence.

 SHOWJOB
 
 JOBNUM  STATE IPRI JIN  JLIST INTRODUCED JOB NAME
 #S26   EXEC     20  20   THU 4:17P OPERATOR.SYS
 #J7   WAIT  D 8  10S 12   THU 4:18P JOB1,FIELD.SUPT
 #J8   WAIT  D 8  10S 12   THU 4:18P JOB2,FIELD.SUPT
 3 JOBS:
   0 INTRO
   2 WAIT; INCL 2 DEFERRED
   1 EXEC; INCL 1 SESSIONS
   0 SUSP
 JOBFENCE= 14; JLIMIT= 5; SLIMIT=16

Finally, reset the jobfence to 6 to allow waiting jobs to log on:

 JOBFENCE 6
 
 16:21/#J7/34/LOGON FOR: JOB1,FIELD.SUPT ON LDEV #10
 16:21/#J8/35/LOGON FOR: JOB2,FIELD.SUPT ON LDEV #10

The maxsubqueue parameter specified in the JOBPRI command takes precedence over defaultsubqueue. Therefore, selecting a default parameter greater than the value of maxsubqueue parameter does not affect job execution. Jobs are still initiated with the maximum priority parameter.