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MVS/Quick-Ref Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does the MVS/QuickRef DASD Free Space report display information for devices associated with 4-digit UCBs and UCBs above the 16mb line?

A: The DASD Free Space Report for MVS/QuickRef Release 5.1 and above displays all DASD devices including those that are dynamic, 4-digit UCBs, and those with UCBs above the 16 MB "line".

Q: Does QuickRef work with the new "RAMAC" DASD device?

A: During our final product verification, we check the MVS/QuickRef databases on IBM 3380 and 3390 devices. As long as the RAMAC device emulates 3380 or 3390 DASD, we would not anticipate any problems.

Q: When I hit the HELP PF key, I get an error message. What's wrong?

A: This is a difficult question to answer quickly because any one of several things could be causing the situation. Below are the various items that must be checked:

1. ISPF command table must be updated correctly with the QW command, including the NEWAPPL() paramter . If you cannot use an updated ISPF Command table, refer to member QWX in the MVS/QuickRef JCL library. Otherwise, follow these steps.

a. First, if you are using a site table, determine the applid of the site table.

b. Go to ISPF 3.9

c. If you are using a site table, enter the site table applid as the application ID. If you are not using a site table, use "ISP" as the application id. Then, press ENTER.

d. On the display, the QW, QWS, and/or QWSDSF entries must appear or the updated ISPF Command Table is not being accessed. If they do not appear, locate the updated ISPF Command Table and make sure it is the first library in the ISPTLIB concatenation.

e. The QW entries in the ISPF or site command table must have NEWAPPL(QWRF) for MVS/QuickRef R5.2 or prior releases, or NEWAPPL(QWIK) for MVS/QuickRef R5.3 or later, as shown in the following non-LIBDEF examples:

For MVS/QuickRef R5.2 or earlier:


       QWSDSF    0  SELECT CMD(%QWSDSF)
       QW        0  SELECT PGM(QWIKREF1) PARM(&ZPARM) NEWAPPL(QWRF)
       QWS       0  SELECT PGM(ISPSTRT)  PARM(PGM(QWIKREF1) PARM(&ZPARM)
                    NEWAPPL(QWRF))

For MVS/QuickRef R5.3 or later:


       QWSDSF    0  SELECT CMD(%QWSDSF)
       QW        0  SELECT PGM(QWIKREF1) PARM(&ZPARM) NEWAPPL(QWIK)
       QWS       0  SELECT PGM(ISPSTRT)  PARM(PGM(QWIKREF1) PARM(&ZPARM)
                     NEWAPPL(QWRF))

2. MVS/QuickRef command table must be present behind the ISPTLIB DD statement:

a. Go to ISPF 3.9

b. If you are using MVS/QuickRef R5.2 or earlier, enter "QWRF" as the application id and press ENTER; if you are using MVS/QuickRef R5.3 or later, enter "QWIK" as the ISPF application id and press ENTER;

c. The following MVS/QuickRef subcommands (including HELP) must be present and displayed (look for the PASSTHRU keyword).


       Verb      T  Action
       RFIND     0  PASSTHRU
       FIND      0  PASSTHRU
       CUT       0  PASSTHRU
       SETMARK   0  PASSTHRU
       SM        0  PASSTHRU
       GETMARK   0  PASSTHRU
       GM        0  PASSTHRU
       LISTMARK  0  PASSTHRU
       LM        0  PASSTHRU
       SEARCH    0  PASSTHRU
       SELECT    0  PASSTHRU
       SEL       0  PASSTHRU
       QPRINT    0  PASSTHRU
       QP        0  PASSTHRU
       SORT      0  PASSTHRU
       HELP      0  PASSTHRU

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3. The ISPF command table must not be bypassed by using "TSO QW" to invoke MVS/QuickRef. 4. If using LIBDEF, be sure the ISPTLIB DD name has not been added to the QW clist but does exist as an allocation in the logon proc or in a CLIST executed before ISPF is entered. For MVS/QuickRef, ISPTLIB cannot be LIBDEF'ed.

Q: Where can I find the COBOL FILE STATUS codes?

A: The COBOL FILE STATUS codes are located in the following item:


           Vendor  = IBM
           Product = COBOL370/VSCOBOL II
           Release = V1R1/V3R2
           Item    - FILESTAT

Q: Where can I find return codes for the VSAM macros?

A: The VSAM return codes are located in the following item:


       Vendor  = IBM
       Product = MVS REFERENCE INFO.
       Release = V5R2M2 & PRIOR
       Item    - VSAM*

Q: I'm new and lost. How do I know which installation method is being used for QuickRef?

A: There is not a short answer for this. You must do some research to figure out how the system is running. The basic thing you are looking for is the answer to "Is MVS/QuickRef LIBDEFed or running from libraries in the ISPxLIB concatenations?".

If your release of MVS/QuickRef is 5.3 or higher, begin by issuing the QINFO command. This will tell you if a site command table is being used and the application ID of the site command table. If you are running a release prior to 5.3, you must look to see if you can find evidence of a site command table.

If your release of MVS/QuickRef is 5.1 or higher, the QINFO command will show you the libraries where the QWIKREF1 load module was found and the DD Name associated with it. If the DD Name is a temporary DD name like this example S0000001, you are probably using LIBDEF. If the DD name is a permanent name like STEPLIB or ISPLLIB or PLPA or LINKLIST, you are probably using the regular, program invocation. In either of these cases, you can skip looking at the ISPF command table entry.

If you did not find QWIKREF1, then, go to ISPF 3.9. If you have a site command table, enter the application ID; otherwise, enter "ISP" for the system command table. You should see the QW or QWS command displayed. If you don't see QW or QWS, either your installation is not using the ISPF command table for MVS/QuickRef or there is an(other) site command table that you don't know about.

Assuming you find the QW or QWS command in the 3.9 display, see if you can find "PGM(QWIKREF1)" or "CMD(%QW)" in the display. If you see "CMD(%QW)", you are using LIBDEF to invoke MVS/QuickRef: this means there will be a QW CLIST in a library in the SYSPROC concatentation that calls MVS/QuickRef. If you see "PGM(QWIKREF1)", you are using regular, program invocation: this means MVS/QuickRef is in a library set up in your logon procedure or in a CLIST executed when you LOGON.

For LIBDEF users, use the LISTA ST command to list all data sets allocated to the SYSPROC DD name. Then, browse these libraries from the top one to the bottom one looking for the QW CLIST. This CLIST will can allocations for the panels, messages, linklib, and data base. Even a user data base or override dataset can be included in the QW CLIST.

For regular, program invocation users, first examine the logon proc. Look for a library in a STEPLIB or ISPLLIB concatenation that has the module QWIKREF1, MVS/QuickRef's entry point. If not found, look in the linklist concatenation. As a final resort, look in the PLPA.

Once you locate how the load module is invoked, the panels and messages should be close by. For example, if the QWIKREF1 load module is found in ISPLLIB in the user logon proc, then look for the panels in the ISPPLIB concatenation and the messages in the ISPMLIB concatenation.

The MVS/QuickRef data base may be allocated in the QW CLIST, in the logon proc, in a CLIST that executes at TSO logon, or it may be dynamically allocated. Check the QWIKOPTS member (look in the JCL or SOURCE data sets) to see if the data base name was specified there. If so, it is probably dynamically allocated.

Q: Why does SYSVIEW/E QuickRef interface no longer function as I expect?

A: The CA-SYSVIEW/E product makes a direct program interface call to MVS/QuickRef. When release 5.0 of MVS/QuickRef came out, the interface changed and Computer Associates did not find out ahead of the GA date. Consequently, they were unable to modify their interface call in conjunction with the release of 5.0 of MVS/QuickRef.

When the problem was discovered, a compatibility fix was developed for release 5.0 and 5.1 of MVS/QuickRef that allowed the program to use the "old" interface. This was not the best of solutions but did allow most users to "get by".

By the time release 5.2 of MVS/QuickRef was released, new releases of CA-SYSVIEW/E (and also OPS/MVS) were available; therefore, the compatibility fix was not implemented for 5.2.

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Q: The blocksize of the MVS/QuickRef database is not optimal for my device type. Can I change the QuickRef data base block size?

A: No. The block size of the MVS/QuickRef database cannot be changed. It has been chosen as a compromise between DASD efficiency and I/O speed.

Q: Can you send me the user guide?

A: The MVS/QuickRef User's Guide is available for downloading at the web site http://www.quickref.com/. It is in Adobe PDF format. In case you don't have the Adobe Acrobat reader, it is available on the internet at no charge.

Q: How can I determine if the install tapes were defective?

A: Locate the job used to download the data base from tape (usually QWLOAD or QWUPDATE) and look at the number of data blocks that were copied from tape (this is displayed by the QWIKSLCT program). Then, call technical support at 773-282-4777 to determine the actual block count.

Q: How do you return to the screen from which you invoked QuickRef and not to the Quickref main menu?

A: When you invoke MVS/QuickRef using cursor driven invocation, you can get out in two ways. One is to press PF3 (END) repeatedly backing out to the higher level panel each time. The best way is to press PF4 (RETURN) once.

Some users have asked for a zap so that PF3 behaves like PF4 when using cursor driven invocation. Although we do not feel it is in the best interests of all users to distribute MVS/QuickRef with this zap applied, it is available to all users who ask for it.

Q: How do you pass a fast path string that contains a blank (This questions usually comes up for LIBDEF installed sites)?

A: Most installations use the fast path string when they need to lookup information and cursor driven invocation is not available or handy. Usually, a person would enter something like the following

QW S0C4 when they want to find an occurrence of the item S0C4. However, many ISVs include instructions for S0C4 in their messages. Therefore, to avoid a selection list, somone may wish to enter the following

QW 'V=IBM I=S0C4' to restrict the search to IBM products. This command works correctly except when you are running MVS/QuickRef in a LIBDEF environment. When using LIBDEF, you would replace the single quote mark with two quote marks (not the quotation marks, ") like this QW ''V=IBM I=S0C4''

Q: When is the next version of MVS/QuickRef going to be released?

A: Two releases of MVS/QuickRef are prepared each year. Depending upon the amount of work required to fit all the ISV data into the data base, we may or may not ship exactly 6 months apart even though that is our goal. Thus, the best way to guess when a shipment is due is to add 6 months to the date when the last distribution tape was received. So, even though we have stringent target dates, we don't usually know an exact ship date until 2 or 3 weeks before the tape is shipped.

A better way (although it may still be a tentative answer) is to send an e-mail to support@quickref.com and ask technical support.

Q: Are new releases automatically shipped or do we have to request it?

A: New releases are always automatically shipped to those who are current with their maintenance fee.

Q: When is the next version of OS/390 going to be supported in MVS/QuickRef?

A: Two releases of MVS/QuickRef are prepared each year. Depending upon the releases of OS/390 that have been available for testing, we try to confirm that MVS/QuickRef works with each new release.

The best way to know when a certain release of OS/390 is supported is to send an e-mail to support@quickref.com and ask technical support.

Q: What enhancements are included in next release of MVS/QuickRef?

A: Our users have much influence in what the next release of MVS/QuickRef contains. We always try in incorporate any maintenance or problem corrections from the previous release. We always look at the suggests sent in via phone, e-mail, or the User Feedback Form; although we can't implement every suggestion, we choose those that are easiest to implement and offer the most "bang for the buck". Finally, we often add new capability for positioning future releases. The bottom line is that you should always make suggestions about new capabilities of MVS/QuickRef.

The best way to know the enhancements in the next release is to send an e-mail to support@quickref.com and ask technical support.

Q: Is MVS/QuickRef Y2K compliant?

A: All releases of MVS/QuickRef 5.0 and above are Year 2000 compliant.

Q: How do I get new expiration date zap?

A: Expiration date zaps are normally mailed out when payment for MVS/QuickRef maintenance is received. If you system is about to expire, call the expiration date co-ordinator at 773-282-4777 to find out why there has been a delay.

Q: I applied the new expiration date zap but am still getting messages.

A: There are many reasons why this can happen. Some of these reasons are as follows:

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1. You were already using MVS/QuickRef and the module was loaded into memory whenever the zap was applied. You must get out of ISPF and get a fresh copy of MVS/QuickRef.

2. The zap was applied to a library that is not the running system. Invoke MVS/QuickRef and issue the QINFO command which will list the libraries when the MVS/QuickRef load module was found. Reapply the expiration date zap to the correct library.

3. The zap was applied to a library which is in the link list but no LLA REFRESH was done. In this case, have the operator issue the F LLA,REFRESH command.

If you still having problems after checking all these things, you'd better give technical support a call at 773-282-4777 for assistance.

Q: How can I get an expiration date zap for Y2K testing?

A: Expiration date zaps for Year 2000 testing are available only if you call the expiration date co-ordinator at 773-282-4777. Your company name must be logged into a database and technical support cannot give Y2K expiration date zaps.

Q: How do you build a user data base?

A: Chapter 5 in the MVS/QuickRef User's Guide is dedicated to this topic. Please read this chapter and call technical support at 773-282-4777 if you need assistance.

Q: How do you convert a user data base from the pre-R5.0 format?

A: You can not convert the user data base; you must have the source that was used to build the pre-R5.0 database in order to convert the user data base. Although a convert utility QWIKCVRT is provided, the following is a discussion of the steps required.

In the pre-R5.0 source, you will find keyword indicators such as the following:


K1 PHONELIST PHONELIST FOR WEST COAST OFFICE data

In these records, the "1" of the "K1" indicates a topic code, the "PHONELIST" indicates the name of this data item in the user data base, "PHONELIST FOR WEST COAST OFFICE" indicates the title for this item, and "data" which is the actual data that resides in the PHONELIST item.

For Release 5.0 and above of MVS/QuickRef, all items in the data base will have a vendor name, a product name, release information, and an item name. In addition, the syntax is now keyword rather than positional. An example of the keyword indicators for R5.0 might be


K V='your company name'
K P='a description for the topic 1'
K R=' '
K I=PHONELIST
K T='PHONELIST FOR WEST COAST OFFICE' data

In these records, "V='your company name'" provides you a way of merging your user data along with the main data base data: all you have to do is look for your company name. The "P='a description for the topic 1'" gives you a way to spell out the pre-R5.0 topic code of 1. The R=' ' is blank because the release information is not important. The "I=PHONELIST" is the item name. The "T='PHONELIST FOR WEST COAST OFFICE'" is the title of the item. And "data" is the same as the pre-R5.0 data.

Once you have converted your source, you can rebuild your user data base; consult chapter 5 in the MVS/QuickRef User's Guide for additional information.

Q: Does the CA-ROSCOE interface to QuickRef support cursor driven look up?

A: Yes, however, QWHOTKEY may require tailoring.

Q: On my CA-Roscoe system, I have some (but not all) users who get error "ERR QW4 TC=7 AWS12". What is causing this?

A: Your CA-Roscoe user is exceeding the number of AWSs. The recommended number of AWSs IS 7; you must have at least 6 for full function; you must have at least 3 for bare minimum function.

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