AdagerHome Your Adager Guide (Section 9 of 13)
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Running Adager
At first (and whenever you need a refresher), we recommend running Adager on-line with its default novice mode:

:run Adager.Pub.Rego

If you want a more direct approach to the task at hand, without the social graces, run Adager with its optional expert mode by adding a run-time parm value:

:run Adager.Pub.Rego; parm=1


Run-time parms
There are other parm values besides "; parm=1" that you can use to control various aspects of Adager. These parm values are additive (for instance, "; parm=48" tells Adager to do whatever parm=16 does and to do whatever parm=32 does). These are the meanings:


Job-Control Words (JCWs)
In addition to run-time parms, there are several Job-Control Words (JCWs) that you can use to control Adager's behavior.

To specify a value for a JCW, issue the command SetJcw X n before you run Adager ("X" is the Adager JCW that you want to specify and "n" is the value you desire for it; for example, to allow Adager—in batch mode—to establish a dialogue with the operator through the system console in case of difficulties, do SetJcw AskOperator 1).

Adager automatically places appropriate JCWs in the StreamFiles it creates (if you approve).

These are the meanings of Adager's JCWs:


Communicating with Adager
Adager guides you at every step with sensible [DEFAULTS] displayed in brackets.

If you want context-sensitive help on the spot, answer any Adager prompt with a question mark "?"

At any Adager prompt, you may issue an MPE command—which can be a user-defined command (UDC)—preceded by a colon ":" (the command, in turn, can even run other programs or invoke UDCs). For instance:

Capacity [NO CHANGE] ? :show job

In this example, the underlined ":showjob" is your answer to Adager's prompt. Adager passes your request directly to MPE's Command Interpreter. After the operating system returns control to Adager, Adager re-issues its original prompt to you; you can then answer with Adager-related information or you can issue another MPE command or a UDC such as this:

Capacity [NO CHANGE] ? :qc

In this case, ":qc" stands for a user-defined command (UDC) that, in turn, stands for ":run QueryCalc" (from AICS) and may contain indirect references to other UDCs and MPE commands.


Adager commands
You may answer the "Adager command?" question with an Adager verb (add, change, copy, decompile, delete, erase, examine, fix, move, reblock, redefine, rename, repack, replace, report, shuffle) and a database object (capacity, chain, database, date, field, item, path, primary, schema, security, set, sort).

For example: Add Path, Change Capacity, Fix Chain, Repack Dataset, Field Add.

The verb may come before or after the object. If you specify only the verb, Adager then asks for the appropriate object. If you specify only the object, Adager then asks for the appropriate verb.

For nostalgic reasons, Adager understands its original one-word function names, such as DetPack, MastCap, PathAdd, FieldDel, etc.

You do not have to type the whole name of an Adager command, as long as your partial command is unambiguous. For instance, "f a" means "Field Add."


Adager menu
If you prefer, you may answer the "Adager command?" question with the word menu for a menu-oriented interface to Adager functions.


:pscreen
You may use Adager's special ":pscreen" command to capture any part of your screen to a printer or to a disc file.


Comments
You may append <<comments>> to your answers to Adager prompts.


Running Adager in batch mode
According to MPE requirements, you need to stream a StreamFile to launch a job. Your StreamFile logs on in batch mode to invoke Adager. Because there is no interactive dialogue in batch mode, your StreamFile must contain correct responses to all of the prompts that Adager issues at job run time.

Automatically creating a StreamFile
You may certainly create a StreamFile manually, with an editor, but this is a tedious and error-prone task. Adager provides a way which is simpler and safer. Log on in session mode and:

:run Adager.Pub.Rego; parm=8

With parm=8, Adager opens your database in shared, read-only mode and lets you specify changes without actually applying them. In the process, Adager builds a StreamFile on your behalf, with the appropriate job statement and the necessary Adager dialogue (but without passwords, so that unauthorized people who may happen upon the StreamFile will not be able to submit it as a job).

For documentation purposes, you may ask Adager to include its prompts as comments within the StreamFile.

Adager lets you create a Qedit StreamFile file which you can launch as a job from within Qedit (MPE's command interpreter does not recognize Qedit StreamFiles).

System Managers or Account Managers creating StreamFiles
By running Adager with parm=8, a user with special capabilities can save some time:

In either case, the StreamFile will logon as the database's creator in the database's group and account without any further work on your part.

Adager's philosophy is: If you are authorized (by MPE and by IMAGE) to do something in a complicated way, Adager helps you do it in a simple way.

For instance, there is no reason for Adager to force you to go through hoops if you already have the necessary MPE capabilities to use restricted commands (such as "listfile -3" or "listuser; pass" or "listacct; pass") that let you find out passwords that you can then use to logon—in session or in batch—as the creator of a given database.



AdagerHome Your Adager Guide (Section 9 of 13)
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