Use CICS bridge vectors

 

You use vectors to represent EXEC CICS commands in request and reply messages. Vectors are identified in bridge messages by strings of numeric characters known as vector descriptors. Each vector descriptor is the CICS EIBFN value of the EXEC CICS command that it represents. For example, 0402 is the EIBFN value for EXEC CICS RECEIVE, and also the vector descriptor of the RECEIVE vector. Vectors are further qualified by the letters I and O to show whether they are inbound (to the bridge) or outbound (from the bridge).

An outbound message can contain a request vector or a reply vector. These descriptions do not mean that they go to the request queue or the reply queue; all outbound messages go to the reply queue. A CICS transaction uses a request vector to request data from the WebSphere MQ bridge application that is acting as the virtual terminal. A CICS transaction uses a reply vector when it does not expect any data back. No such distinction is made for inbound vectors.

The following vectors are available. To get the CICS command that each represents, prefix the vector name with EXEC CICS.

Outbound reply vectors (no further data is required in the next inbound message):

  • SEND

  • SEND CONTROL

  • SEND MAP

  • SEND TEXT

  • ISSUE ERASEAUP

Outbound request vectors (further data is required in the next inbound message):

  • RECEIVE

  • RECEIVE MAP

  • CONVERSE

Inbound vectors:

  • RECEIVE

  • RECEIVE MAP

  • CONVERSE

  • RETRIEVE

Each of these vectors is an architected structure followed by variable length data. For details of the structures, refer to the CICS External Interfaces Guide.

 

Parent topic:

Using CICS transactions with the bridge


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