How to write variable length records?

[DougInHuntValley]

After 16 years away from REXX, I have an assignment to do, and of course, a problem. The last problem, not getting any data in my output file took me an hour to find the missing period on the stem name.

Now, I am trying to write out a variable length file, but every record
is being padded with spaces to the maximum size. My max LRECL is
247, being set for me. When I set it in the ALLOC to 100, I had the same problem.

I am using ISPEDIT with HEX ON to see that I have spaces at the end of my records.

How do I make the EXECIO ... DISKW write out the entire stem as
variable length, only as long as the data I placed in it? Any
assistance or pointers to the page I missed in a manual would be most welcome.

Doug

ixformrec=ixformrec+1
formrec.ixformrec=mem||delim||delim||delim,
||formtag||delim||formvers||delim,
||formdate||delim||userid
IF debug = 1 THEN SAY "Output Rec:" formrec.ixformrec

END /* completes the do loop for trap.0 */
"DEL @WORK.HDR";
"ALLOC F(OUTHDR) DA(@WORK.HDR) NEW CATaLoG UNIT(TPUB) SPACE(20,20)",
" recfm(v b) lrecl(120) "
SAY formrec;
SAY "ABout to write out header file";
"EXECIO 0 DISKW OUTHDR (OPEN"
IF RC != 0 THEN SAY 'Open header failed' RC
"EXECIO " ixformrec " DISKW OUTHDR (STEM formrec."
IF RC <> 0 THEN SAY 'write header failed' RC
"EXECIO 0 DISKW OUTHDR (FINIS"
IF RC <> 0 THEN SAY 'close header failed' RC

 

[rexxhead]

In ISPF EDIT the editor always shows every record as if it were MAXRECL bytes. Think about it... There's no "end-of-record" marker in MVS; the length is held in the 2-byte length prefix and the record is as long as that prefix says it is. The next datum after the record is the next record's length-prefix.

So, just because it looks (on the screen) as if it's a fixed-length record doesn't mean it is a fixed-length record.


Frank Clarke
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-- Bring them home.

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