Invocation and rules for the operations and control panels

We can control IBM MQ and issue control commands through the ISPF panels.

How to access the IBM MQ operations and control panels

If the ISPF/PDF primary options menu has been updated for IBM MQ, we can access the IBM MQ operations and control panels from that menu. For details about updating the menu, see the Task 20: Set up the operations and control panels.

We can access the IBM MQ operations and control panels from the TSO command processor panel (typically option 6 on the ISPF/PDF primary options menu). The name of the exec that you run to do this is CSQOREXX. It has two parameters; thlqual is the high-level qualifier for the IBM MQ libraries to be used, and langletter is the letter identifying the national language libraries to be used (for example, E for U.S. English). The parameters can be omitted if the IBM MQ libraries are permanently installed in your ISPF setup. Alternatively, we can issue CSQOREXX from the TSO command line.

These panels are designed to be used by operators and administrators with a minimum of formal training. Read these instructions with the panels running and try out the different tasks suggested.

Note: While using the panels, temporary dynamic queues with names of the form SYSTEM.CSQOREXX.* are created.

Rules for the operations and control panels

See Rules for naming IBM MQ objects about the general rules for IBM MQ character strings and names. However, there are some rules that apply only to the operations and control panels:

• Do not enclose strings, for example descriptions, in single or double quotation marks.
• If we include an apostrophe or quotation mark in a text field, we do not have to repeat it or add an escape character. The characters are saved exactly as you type them; for example:

  This is Maria's queue
  

  The panel processor doubles them for you to pass them to IBM MQ. However, if it has to truncate your data to do this, it does so.

• We can use uppercase or lowercase characters in most fields, and they are folded to uppercase characters when you press Enter. The exceptions are:
  • Storage class names and coupling facility structure names, which must start with uppercase A through Z and be followed by uppercase A through Z or numeric characters.
  • Certain fields that are not translated. These include:
    • Application ID
    • Description
    • Environment data
    • Object names (but if we use a lowercase object name, you might not be able to enter it at a z/OS console)
    • Remote system name
    • Trigger data
    • User data

• In names, leading blanks and leading underscores are ignored. Therefore, we cannot have object names beginning with blanks or underscores.
• Underscores are used to show the extent of blank fields. When you press Enter, trailing underscores are replaced by blanks.
• Many description and text fields are presented in multiple parts, each part being handled by IBM MQ independently. This means that trailing blanks are retained and the text is not contiguous.

Blank fields

When you specify the Define action for an IBM MQ object, each field on the define panel contains a value. See the general help (extended help) for the display panels for information about where IBM MQ gets the values. If you type over a field with blanks, and blanks are not allowed, IBM MQ puts the installation default value in the field or prompts you to enter the required value.

When you specify the Alter action for an IBM MQ object, each field on the alter panel contains the current value for that field. If you type over a field with blanks, and blanks are not allowed, the value of that field is unchanged.

Parent topic: Operations and control panels for IBM MQ for z/OS