IBM1936I S Invocation of compiler backend ended abnormally.

This is a severe error message issued while compiling a PL/1 pgm


Explanation:
The back end of the compiler either could not be found or else it detected an error from which it could not recover. The latter problem can sometimes occur, on Intel, if your disk is short of free space and, on the z/Series, if your job's region size is not large enough. Otherwise, report the problem to IBM.

REXX - TRACE command

TRACE is an interactive debugging facility

Syntax : TRACE

A - All => Traces all clauses before execution
C - Commands => Traces all commands before execution
E - Error => Traces any command resulting in an error
F - Failure => Traces any command resulting in a failure . This is same as 'Normal'.
I - intermediates => Traces all clauses along with the intermediate results during evaluation of expressions and substituted names
L - Labels => Traces any labels passes during execution
N - Normal => Traces any command resulting in a negative return code after execution. This is the default setting
O - Off => Traces nothing
R - Results => Traces all clauses before execution. Displays final results of evaluating an expression
S - Scan => Traces all remaining clauses in the data without them being processed

Prefix:

! - inhibits host command execution.
Ex: TRACE !C => Causes commands to be traced but not processed. As each cmd is bypassed, the REXX RC is set to zero. You can switch off command inhibition, when it is in effect, by issuing a TRACE instruction with a prefix "!."

? - Controls interactive debug.
During usual execution, a TRACE option with a prefix of ? causes interactive debug to be switched on.

How do I test a ISPF panel?

"Perform Dialog Testing" ==> "Dialog Services" ==> Execute the following commands

LIBDEF ISPPLIB DATASET ID ('PDS in which the panel is present')
ISPEXEC DISPLAY PANEL(Panel name)

ISRROUTE - ISPF command

The command is used in Panel design to invoke the SELECT service in the pull-down menu

ACTION RUN (ISRROUTE) PARM('SELECT CMD(panel name)')

DB2 datatype - DATE

Date is a three part value (year , month and day)designating a point in time using the Gregorian calendar.
Range:
Year - 0001 to 9999
Month - 1 to 12
Date - 1 to 28 / 31/ 30 depending on the month

The internal represenation of date is a string of 4 bytes. Each byte consists of two packed decimal digits.
1st 2 bytes represent the year
3rd byte represents the month
4th byte represents the date

The length of a DATE column as described in the catalog is the internal length (4 bytes). The length of a DATE column as described in the SQLDA is the external length, which is 10 bytes unless a date-exit routine was specified when your DB2 system is installed. In that case, the string format of a date can be up to 255 bytes in length. Accordingly DCLGEN defines fixed-length string variables for DATE columns with a length equal to the value of the field LOCAL DATE LENGTH on installation panel DSNTIP4 or a length of 10- bytes if a value for the field was not specified

RECFM for Print files

FBA stands for Fixed Block Ansi. This means that the dataset is of Fixed block and contain ANSI printer carriage control character in the first position of the record. In MVS, we put the output-report to a file of format FBA and record length 133. Then, use the utility IEBGENER to print out the report.

Other record formats used for output-print datasets are FBM (Fixed block Machine: Has machine print-control codes), VBA(Variable block ANSI) and VBM (Variable block Machine).The one byte field in the first position of the dataset is used to tell the output device how to handle the output. The types of values it can contain are:
*Page feed / Form feed: Print after advancing to top-of-form
*Sigle space: Print after advancing one line
*Double space: Print after advancing 2 lines
*N spaces (N= 1 to 12): Print after advancing N lines
*Overstrike: Print after advancing no lines