IBM Mainframe Forum

Well, Beets-kun, the COBOL II compiler has been obsolete for twenty years, so why are you referring to it?

Hello and welcome to the forum,

I disagree SET TRACE ON does work for Cobol on the Mainframe.

You can disagree if you want, but SET TRACE ON is NOT something standard and available on all systems.

On one of my systems:
is returned. after receiving the message
COMMAND SET NOT FOUND

You might be using some custom tool that is site-specific - we have no idea what might be available on your system.

If can't answer the question, why answer ?

What nonsense. People have answered as well as they can given the mostly useless info you have posted.

You might be using some custom tool that is site-specific - we have no idea what might be available on your system.
It is no custom tool it is standard TSO/ISPF on an IBM MAINFRAME.
No, I'm not new at this, I've been on the Mainframe box for 30 years.

I don't need anymore replies, obviously, noone on the Forum has an answer.

On your reply, what nonsense, people have answered as well as they can.

What would you say to this 'Moron" that replied:
Well, Beets-kun ?

Hello,

What would you say to this 'Moron" that replied:
Well, Beets-kun ?

I'd say you should not be so antagonistic when you are brand new and have not a clue about who you are "talking" to.

I don't need anymore replies, obviously, noone on the Forum has an answer.

Wrong again. People have correct answers - they are just not what you want to hear.

It is no custom tool it is standard TSO/ISPF on an IBM MAINFRAME.

More wrong. What gives you the impression this is standard? If this is standard on "an IBM MAINFRAME", post the IBM Manual Reference to it.

I'd say you should not be so antagonistic when you are brand new and have not a clue about who you are "talking" to.
I'm asking a question to a Forum, I.E. a group of Technical bodies that perhaps would have the answer.
New has no bearing on the question.

Wrong again. People have correct answers - they are just not what you want to hear.
Your wrong, if it was the correct answer, I would have replied, thank you.
So obviously, it was not the correct answer.

My definition of standard would be if you worked in this profession on the Mainframe Box for 30 years, 25 consulting
you would know the definition of standard.

If this is standard on "an IBM MAINFRAME", post the IBM Manual Reference to it.
If I had the IBM Manual, obviously I wouldn't be wasting my time replying to such stupid comments.
What a waste of time.............................
Stop with the answering the questions with another question.

LaBeets wrote:It is no custom tool it is standard TSO/ISPF on an IBM MAINFRAME.

To be charitable, Beets-kun, you are completely wrong. On Mr. Scherrer's machine, "SET" is not a valid ISPF Edit command; on mine, it is passed through to IPT and allows manipulation of the shell. You seem to have a rather narrow experience.

<snip>

SET is a valid valid ISPF Command.

<snip>

Infantile ranting excised

LaBeets wrote:I'll be charatible with you, you rookie.
SET is a valid valid ISPF Command.

Wrong, Beets-kun; as you will see in the z/OS ISPF User's Guide, Volume 1, Chapter 4, topic "ISPF System Commands", there is no SET command in ISPF; moreover, as you see in z/OS ISPF Edit and Edit Macros, Chapter 10 "Edit primary commands", there is no SET command in ISPF Edit.

I disagree SET TRACE ON does work for Cobol on the Mainframe.

Prove this statement -- post something (using Code tags) showing you using the command in COBOL or TSO. Unless and until you prove it, it remains a pure opinion from you.

There are products for which trace is available -- even products using the specific command SET TRACE ON. However, these products do not interact with COBOL and hence by no means could you make the statement that "SET TRACE ON does work for COBOL on the Mainframe".

I have been using Enterprise COBOL and its predecessor products for 38 years now. After the demise of the READY TRACE function, I have not seen -- in years of application programming as well as systems programming -- any use, ever, of a SET TRACE ON command in COBOL much less TSO or TSO/ISPF. Your statement that it is supported is not validated by the manuals nor experience nor actual tests in TSO. Hence, you need to prove your statement since senior members on this forum with a combined total of well over 150 years of experience on mainframes and COBOL have not seen any use of this command. It may well be something specific to your site, in which case only someone working at your site will be able to help you.

Go to ISPF on the IBM MAinframe.
Go to the EDIT screen and bring up some source code.
Once there, on the COMMAND Line type in 'SET TRACE ON'

This sounds too obvious... you are editing the program and you issue a command that enables tracing... you will still need to:
1. save the modified source
2. re-compile and
3. linkedit before
4. executing the program.

It is not clear that you did all of those things.

I think SET TRACE ON is an editor macro that is local to your site. Such editor macros are just a easier way to add stuff to your program that you could have added manually. Your program will be modified from the original source. My suggestion is to save a copy of the source, issue SET TRACE ON, then compare with the copy. In this way, you will be able to determine what changes were made by the macro and it will help you to learn how the tracing is performed. You may wish to add your own trace lines for some particular situation.

What would you say to this 'person" that replied:
Well, Beets-kun ?

The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics
It was not intended to be derogatory.