Press Release
 
 

Mr. Chuck Arney Telephone: 214-296-6166
Arney Computer Systems Fax: 214-296-5468
P.O. Box 382511 Internet: arney@metronet.com
Duncanville, TX 75138

*** Product Update Announcement ***

Dallas, Texas, February 1, 1996 -- Today Arney Computer Systems is pleased to announce the availability of Auto-MPF/VSE release 1.1. Auto-MPF/VSE is a console message processing facility for the VSE/ESA 2.1 mainframe operating system.

In addition to its ability to alter message color, message text and routing information, provide automatic operator replies, suppress messages from the console display and its message statistics facility, Auto-MPF/VSE can now be used to dynamically alter the routing codes that are received by VSE consoles. It also allows users to specify messages that are to be held on the console display until deleted by the operator. This new release also includes a utility that may be used to issue WTO requests for any combination of routing codes, descriptor codes and console names. Both single line and multiple line WTO requests are supported by the utility.

Since the introduction of message routing, in VSE/ESA 2.1, VSE consoles could either receive all routing codes or no routing codes. Master consoles always receive all routing codes, and therefore, all messages. User consoles receive no routing codes, and therefore, only display messages specifically directed to the user console. Many VSE sites provide user consoles to programmers and end users so they can only issue console commands that affect their own jobs. However, users often want to see the entire set of console messages, not just their job messages. The MPFROUTE operator command now makes this possible. User consoles may receive all route codes or any combination of route codes without having master console authority. The routing codes of user consoles that do have master console authority may also be altered. The MPFROUTE command may be used to specify the route codes which a console is to display. A true console message routing environment may be established. For example, a tape operator console could be used to display only messages which have route code 5 assigned. Installation options are provided to secure the MPFROUTE command.

Normal console messages which do not require operator input are scrolled off the console screen when it becomes full. The Auto-MPF/VSE message processing facilities may be used to select messages which are to be held on the console display until the operator manually deletes them, or until the issuing program terminates. This feature can be used to ensure operators don't miss extremely important messages. When a console is in hold mode and the screen becomes full, other messages will scroll off the display, but messages with the hold attribute will remain on the console screen. Operator action is required to remove the message from the display screen. Held messages may also be displayed in a highlighting color such as red or white.

The Auto-MPF/VSE batch utility program can be used to issue Write-To-Operator (WTO) and Delete-Operator-Message (DOM) requests. Messages containing user specified text, routing codes, descriptor codes and console name may be issued using the VSE WTO macro. The issued message may later be deleted from the console using a DOM request. This facility can be used to produce operator messages utilizing console routing, from production jobs, or to simulate the occurrence of a message to test Auto-MPF's processing of the message. In addition, a wait for a user specified time interval may be performed to simulate a time period between a WTO and a DOM request. WTO requests may specify a single line message or a multiple line message. A multi-line message may contain a control line, heading lines and text lines.

Auto-MPF/VSE requires VSE/ESA version 2. It uses only documented and supported VSE system interfaces. It contains no code hooks or system phase renames. It operates as an extension of the operating system and therefore does not require a partition. Auto-MPF/VSE places most of its code, tables and buffers into system storage above 16 megabytes. It uses only 4K of storage below the 16 megabyte line.