Command definition process

This shows how a command is created.

The following illustration shows the steps to create a command. The text that follows the illustration describes each step.

Writing your own validity checking and prompt override programs are optional steps.

The command definition statements contain the information that is necessary to prompt the workstation user for input, to validate that input, and to define the values to be passed to the program that is called when the command is run.

• Create Command (CRTCMD) command
  The Create Command (CRTCMD) command processes the command definition statements to create the command definition object.
• Command definition object
  The command definition object is the object that is checked by a system program to ensure that the command is valid and that the correct parameters were entered.
• Validity checking
  The system performs validity checking on commands. You may also write your own validity checking program although it is not required.
• Prompt override program
  You can write prompt override programs to supply current values for parameter defaults when prompting the command.
• Command processing program
  The command processing program (CPP) is the program that the command analyzer calls to perform the function requested.
• Command exit programs and independent ASPs
  Command exit programs needed by a command cannot be in a different independent auxiliary storage pool (ASP).
• Authority needed for defining commands
  When creating a command, you need certain authorities to programs and libraries.
• Example: Create a command
  This example shows how to create a command to allow the system operator to call a program to start the system.