Concepts of IMS Database table of contents OBJECTIVE 2 INTRODUCTION 2 HOW DOES AN APPLICATION PROGRAM ACCESS IMS 2 PARAMETERS 3 POSSIBLE

FUNCTIONS IN IMS 3 FORMAT OF A PCB MASK TO BE SPECIFIED IN THE LINKAGE SECTION 4 IO AREA 5 SSA 5 IMS CONTROL BLOCKS 6 FORMAT OF A DBD 6 FORMAT OF A PSB COMMAND CODES 7 7 SECONDARY INDEXING 8 OBJECTIVE This document aims to introduce the concepts of IMS database from application programmers' and designers' perspective. There are live examples of data model taken from our client. This is part of work aimed at introducing the client to alternate database options. It provides, as does the option to port the database to relational DB, a perspective to look away from proprietary technologies and go in for standard technologies and the superior features and support it offers.

INTRODUCTION IMS is a Hierarchical database and it consists of data contained in segments. Data represented by tree structure. The database manager is referred to as DLI and it can interface with IMS-DC and CICSVS. Application programs Use standard CALL statements and parameter lists to communicate with IMS. A segment may contain one or more fields. Maximum number of segment types is 255.A Segment can be both a PARENT & CHILD with the exception of the ROOT segment and the lowest level segments. No child segment can exist without its parent. model article custom barcodes color

HOW DOES AN APPLICATION PROGRAM ACCESS IMS This entry statement makes the database connection. IMS is given control first by invoking the batch initialization module DFSRRC00.DLI first loads the relevant control blocks and modules, then loads the application program and passes control to it by supplying the addresses of PCBs. PROCEDURE DIVISION. ENTRY DLITCBL USING PCB1-MASK PCB2-MASK Finally, the GOBACK statement transfers control back to DLI. DLI deallocates its resources and closes the database data sets. Application programs request IMS services by issuing Calls to IMS. Parameters coded on the Call Statement specify the details of the operation that the program wants DLI to perform.

E.g. CALL 'CBLTDLI' USING GU Model-pcb Ws-article-ioarea Model-ssa Article-ssa PARAMETERS Function (GU) PCB mask (Model-pcb) IO area (Ws-article-ioarea) Segment search area (SSA) { Model-ssa Article-ssa }

POSSIBLE FUNCTIONS IN IMS GU Retrieve a segment occurrence randomly GN Retrieve next segment occurrence from the current position. GNP Retrieve next segment occurrence under the current parent from The current position. GHU } GHN } Identical to GU, GN & GNP respectively, except with Update intent GHNP } ISRT Add a new segment occurrence

REPL Update on existing segment occurrence DLET Delete a segment occurrence along with all its dependents ROLL Roll back and exit ROLB Roll back and continue FORMAT OF A PCB MASK TO BE SPECIFIED IN THE LINKAGE SECTION LINKAGE SECTION. 01 PCB1-MASK. 05 PCB1-DBDNAME PIC X(8). 05 PCB1-LEVEL-NUMBER PIC X(2). 05 PCB1-STATUS-CODE PIC X(2). 05 PCB1-PROC-OPTIONS PIC X(4). 05 PCB1-JCB-ADDRESS PIC X(4). 05 PCB1-SEGMENT-NAME PIC X(8). 05 PCB1-KEY-LENGTH PIC S9(5) COMP. 05 PCB1-NUMBER-SEGS PIC S9(5) COMP. 05 PCB1-KEY-FEEDBACK PIC X(26) DBDNAME : name of database manipulated by the last DLI call. (MODEL) LEVEL NUMBER : the level number of last segment which satisfied the CALL.(2) STATUS CODE : a 2 character code indicating result of the last DLI execution.(GE) PROC OPTIONS : the processing options which describe what types of calls are valid against the database. (G) JCB ADDRESS : used by DLI for its own internal linkage to an operating system control block. SEGMENT NAME : the name of the last segment which satisfied the call. (ARTICLE) KEY LENGTH : length of the concatenated key.(27) NO. OF SEGMENTS : the number of key fields that are stored in the key feedback area.(3) KEY FEEDBACK AREA : the concatenated key values of all the segments along the retrieval path.(W1234 216789 ABCD) IO AREA To be defined in the working storage. This is the copybook structure used to retrieve data into or to send data from into the database. 01 WS-MODEL_IOAREA. 05 MODEL-NO PIC X(15).

01 WS-ARTICLE-IOAREA. 05 ARTICLE-NO PIC X(08). 05 STATUS PIC X(02). 05 ORDERLOCK PIC X(01). 01 WS-COLOR_IOAREA. 05 COLOR-CODE PIC X(04). 05 DESCRIPTION PIC X(20).

SSA unqualified SSA contains only the segment name qualified SSA () e.g. 01 SSA-ART. 03 SSA-ART-SEGNAME PIC X(08) VALUE 'DSGART '. 03 SSA-ART-COMMAND PIC X(04) VALUE '*---'. 03 SSA-ART-QUALIFY PIC X(01) VALUE '('. 03 SSA-ART-KEY-FLD PIC X(08) VALUE 'ARTNO'. 03 SSA-ART-OPERATOR PIC X(02) VALUE 'EQ'. 03 SSA-ART-KEY-VAL PIC X(16) VALUE '216789'. 03 FILLER PIC X(01) VALUE ')'.

IMS CONTROL BLOCKS But as explained earlier, DLI first needs to load the relevant control blocks and modules, then only can it load the application program. DBD (Data Base Definition) is used to define the physical nature of an IMS database. It describes the way in which data is stored on the storage device and the way in which it can be accessed. PSB (Program Specification Block) describes the database as a particular application program views it. It identifies which pieces of data a program is allowed to access and the types of functions it can perform on it. Group of segments that one or more applications can access. Each PCB in a PSB identifies the database that the application program can access and defines its logical data structure.

FORMAT OF A DBD PRINT NOGEN DBD NAME=MODDB,ACCESS=(HISAM,VSAM) DATASET DD1=PRIME,OVFLW=OVERFLOW,DEVICE=3380 *

SEGM NAME=MODEL,PARENT=0,BYTES=280 FIELD NAME=(MODEL-NO,SEQ,U),BYTES=20,START=1 FIELD NAME=MODADMN,BYTES=20,START=61 * SEGM NAME=ARTICLE,PARENT=MODEL,BYTES=140 FIELD NAME=(ARTICLE-NO,SEQ,U),BYTES=8,START=1 FIELD NAME=STATUS,BYTES=02,START=9 FIELD NAME=ORDERLOCK,BYTES=01,START=11 * SEGM NAME=COLOR,PARENT=ARTICLE,BYTES=70 FIELD NAME=(COLOR-CODE,SEQ,U),BYTES=4,START=1 FIELD NAME=DESCRIPTION,BYTES=20,START=5 * DBDGEN FINISH END FORMAT OF A PSB PCB TYPE=DB, NAME=MODDB,KEYLEN=27 SENSEG NAME=MODEL,PARENT=0,PROCOPT=K SENSEG NAME=ARTICLE,PARENT=MODEL,PROCOPT=K SENSEG NAME=COLOR,PARENT=ARTICLE,PROCOPT=G PSBGEN LANG=COBOL,PSBNAME=PATGET END

COMMAND CODES Command Codes are an efficient way to code. It allows programs to request useful IMS functions to save programming & processing time. Some of the frequently used command codes are: D - Put this segment into the IO-AREA (path call) N - Do not replace this segment C - Concatenated key in this SSA F - Locate first occurrence L - Locate last occurrence P - Establish parentage at this level U - Maintain current position at this level V - Maintain current position here & higher

- - Null Command code. The asterisk (*) in the 9th position of the SSA tells IMS that one or more command codes follow until the left parentheses. e.g. .articlebbbb* P(ARTICLENOb=04) SECONDARY INDEXING Programs use secondary indexing to search for segments in a sequence other than key sequence. For e.g. In finding the models for given articles A secondary index is a database containing pointers which point to segments in the data base being indexed. Using secondary indexes is advantageous in sequential processing of data in non key field sequence, for producing reports in different sequences and for accessing a segment without having to navigate the full hierarchical path. The disadvantages are Performance overheads in updating the secondary index database, Administrative overheads in setting up, monitoring, backing up and tuning the secondary index database. -*-