Program Definitions

A PROGRAM definition tells CICS about each load module your application uses - which language it is written in, where it may load in storage, and whether CICS may reload a fresh copy while the region runs.

What a program definition contains

• PROGRAM - the 1 to 8 character name CICS knows the load module by. EXEC CICS LINK PROGRAM('ORDPGM') uses this name.
• LANGUAGE - COBOL, ASSEMBLER, PLI, C, or LE370 for Language Environment programs. Pick the one the module was compiled with.
• DATALOCATION - ANY lets the program load above the 16MB line (31-bit); BELOW keeps it under the line for old 24-bit code.
• EXECUTIONSET - FULLAPI allows all EXEC CICS commands; DPLSUBSET restricts a program that only runs distributed.
• RELOAD - YES lets CICS load a fresh copy after a NEWCOPY; NO keeps the first loaded copy.
• RESIDENT - rarely YES; keeps the program in storage permanently. Default NO is fine for almost everything.
• STATUS - ENABLED or DISABLED, like transactions.
• CEDF - YES means the execution diagnostic facility stops in this program during debugging.

Loading and refreshing programs

• The first LINK, XCTL or LOAD brings the module into storage from the DFHRPL concatenation.
• After you recompile, the running region still uses the old copy until you refresh it.
• Refresh with CEMT SET PROGRAM(name) NEWCOPY, or CEDA ALTER PROGRAM then INSTALL, or EXEC CICS SET PROGRAM(name) NEWCOPY from a program.
• With RELOAD(YES), CICS fetches a completely fresh copy; with RELOAD(NO) it reuses the loaded copy where possible.

Example - define a COBOL program and refresh it after a recompile: