IBM Mainframe Forum

Hi guys, I'm a programmer with decades of experience but only on PCs (Windows, Unix/Linux). I'm given a set of files from mainframe. There is a file I can read without any problem. It has teh following accompanying infromation:

DCB:
RECFM = VBM
LRECL = 12284
DSORG = PS

The file is AFP. I can view it OK. However, it refers to external resources, which are:

RECFM = VBM
LRECL = 12284
DSORG = PO
DSNTYPE = LIBRARY

I have no idea how to read those files on Windows or Unix. I understand they are some kind of library, like tar on Unix. But how do I access individual members of those libraries and list their directory? I'm sure there are no executables there, just AFP resource files.

If you are going to read them on Windoze then you have to download the individual members within the library not the library itself..

Nic - I think the PDS is AFP resources, not a "printable" data set.

I can't say I ever understood how AFP is supposed to connect resources to the print. I do know each logical record is usually a page image, but that's about it.

Just to confirm Steve's point: AFP (Advanced Function Printing) is a format understood ONLY by specific printing software on the mainframe. If you browse an AFP dataset it is gobbledegook. You have no chance of "reading" these files on any other platform.

vern wrote:... AFP (Advanced Function Printing) is a format understood ONLY by specific printing software on the mainframe. If you browse an AFP dataset it is gobbledegook. You have no chance of "reading" these files on any other platform.

Well, almost. Text data is EBCDIC and can be seen if you browse it in ISPF. In Windoze, as Vern says, it will be junk.

If you really want to view the data on your workstation, Google AFP viewer. You will get a wide variety of links. I don't know which are good as I lack any AFP data to try them on. At least one link talks about the ability to convert AFP to PDF.