The "sockdev" option allows you to submit cards directly to a Hercules card reader from outside of Hercules. What you do is define your reader with the "sockdev" keyword and either a TCP/IP port number or the name of a Unix Domain Socket. Then whenever you want to submit a card deck to that particular card reader, you use an external program to connect to the socket and transmit the cards to the reader.
Socket readers were implemented by Fish, based upon code originally contributed by Malcolm Beattie.
Socket readers are defined in the Hercules configuration file like this:
devnum devtype sockspec sockdev [option ...]
The socket specification sockspec can take any of the following formats:
ipaddr:portThe reader listens on the specified IP address and port number. ipaddr must be the IP address of an interface on the local system. For example,
127.0.0.1:1234to accept only jobs submitted locally via the loopback interface.
hostname:portSimilar to the previous example, where hostname must resolve to an IP address belonging to the local system. Example:
localhost:1234.
portThe reader listens on the specified port number and accepts jobs submitted to any IP address defined on the local system. Example:
1234.
sockpath/socknameThe reader listens on the specified Unix Domain Socket. Example:
/tmp/hercrdr.00C.
000A 2501 127.0.0.1:2501 sockdev ascii trunc eof
000C 3505 localhost:1234 sockdev ascii trunc eof
0012 3505 3505 sockdev ascii trunc eof
0014 2501 /tmp/hercrdr.014 sockdev ascii trunc eof
The "HercRdr" program, distributed as part of Fish's GUI Package, allows you to send jobs to a socket reader via TCP/IP. Simply enter "HercRdr" from the command line to submit your file(s). Here's the "help information" that's displayed whenever you enter "HercRdr" without any parameters:
C:\WINDOWS>hercrdr
Submits card file(s) to a Hercules card reader bound to a given socket:port.
Format:
HERCRDR [-nnn] [host:port] file [file...]
Where:
-nnn timeout value in seconds (1-999; default is 3)
host:port sock_spec of target reader (if not specified,
value of HERCRDR environ var is used, if set)
file file(s) to be submitted
Examples:
HERCRDR localhost:1234 fileone.txt filetwo.txt
set HERCRDR=localhost:1234
HERCRDR file3.txt file4.txt
HERCRDR override:5678 filefive.txt
HERCRDR 192.168.0.1:5678 666.txt 777.txt 888.txt 999.txt
Returns:
-1 unclassified error
0 file(s) successfully submitted
1 no route to host (bad sock_spec or connection refused)
2 timeout value exceeded while trying to connect
3 transmission error (e.g. connection prematurely closed)
4 file not found (or other file error)
If you are lucky enough to have a copy of SPF/PC Version 4 or SPF/Pro (produced by CTC but unfortunately no longer available), then you can capture the authentic mainframe experience by submitting jobs directly from your edit session. The SUB command can be implemented by means of a REXX macro, such as this one provided by Volker Bandke:
/* +----------------------------- REXX -----------------------------+ */
/* */
/* Name: D:\APPS\SPFPRO\REXX\USER\SUB.SPF */
/* */
/* Type: SPF edit macro */
/* */
/* Desc: submit JCL to MVS 3.8 */
/* */
/* Creation date: 24 Aug 1999, creation time: 18:49:40 */
/* */
/* Author: (c) Volker Bandke */
/* */
/* +----------------------------------------------------------------+ */
'isredit macro (p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9)'
"ISREDIT (member) = MEMBER"
"ISPEXEC CONTROL ERRORS CANCEL"
parse upper var member file '.' ext
do
'ISREDIT REPLACE' $$$$$$$$.SPF '.ZF .ZL'
ADDRESS "CMD" "HERCRDR 192.168.1.102:3505 $$$$$$$$.SPF"
zedsmsg = 'File submitted'
zedlmsg = 'The member '||member||' has been submitted to MVS'
'ispexec setmsg msg(isrz000)'
ADDRESS "CMD" "DELETE $$$$$$$$.SPF"
end
EXIT 0
Malcolm Beattie has provided a simple Perl script which can submit jobs using either TCP/IP or Unix Domain Sockets.
The script is invoked using one of the following command formats:
hercsub 192.168.1.102:3505 dummy.jcl
hercsub /tmp/hercrdr.00C dummy jcl
Here is the sample script:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use Socket;
use IO::Socket::UNIX;
use IO::Socket::INET;
if (@ARGV < 1) {
print STDERR "Usage: hercsub socket_spec [job]\n";
exit 2;
}
my $spec = shift @ARGV;
my $sock;
if ($spec =~ m{^/}) {
$sock = IO::Socket::UNIX->new(Peer => $spec);
} else {
$sock = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr => $spec);
}
die "Failed to connect to socket $spec: $!\n" unless defined($sock);
while (<>) {
print $sock $_;
}
The netcat (nc) program can also be used to submit files to a Hercules reader via TCP/IP.
Install netcat (which is useful for innumerable other things as well) and use:
nc -N localhost 1234 < dummy.jcl
It is important to use the -N option to prevent the Hercules
card reader from hanging due to netcat failing to close its connection.
The -N option tells netcat to close the socket connection
once EOF is reached on stdin (i.e. once the entire file has been sent
to Hercules).
If your version of netcat does not support the -N option,
then, as an alternative, the -q option should be used. If
your version of netcat does not support either option, then you should
probably not be using netcat to submit jobs to Hercules.
For more information, type man nc.