PMDF provides a REXX interface that allows REXX EXECs to issue Dump Formatter commands and capture their output in REXX variables. EXECs are able to display output on PMDF's scrollable output window. command line and enter
EXECs are invoked by entering the REXX EXEC name, with optional directory information, prefixed with a '%' character from the PMDF command window. If the exec is not installed in a directory in the PATH or in the same directory as PMDF then it must be prefixed with the fully qualified path name. For example:
%SEGTAB 123
%C:\MYEXECS\TEST1 parm1 parm2
It is also possible to use relative path expressions thus:
%..\SEGATB 123
If a path has to be specified when passing an exec name as a parameter to another exec then quotation marks around the path and file name will be required.
PMDF implements its interface to the Dump Formatter by creating a REXX subcommand environment. The REXX address instruction allows an EXEC to execute and capture the output from a Dump Formatter command by addressing this subcommand environment.
The syntax and parameters for this implementation of the address instruction are:
address df 'CMD' <output> <df_cmd>
Where:
<output>
"output.0" will be set to the number of lines. "output.n" will contain the nth line of output.
Parameters following the EXEC name will be passed to the EXEC as a one parameter string.
A number of general purpose EXECs are provided in the OS2PDP package on the CD-ROM accompanying this book. These are:
There are also a number of example EXECs that format control blocks and illustrate how to use the REXX interface and the subroutines contained in TEMPLATE.