CICS VSAM Transparency for z/OS, Version 1.2


Generic assembler FBEs

Generic exits written in assembler are available for some common scenarios. These have all been used in live customer situations.

The generic exits are as follows:
PACKC2F
Handles the conversion between unsigned packed decimal fields in VSAM and signed decimal columns in DB2.
PACKDEC
Handles invalid packed decimal field values in a START/STARTBR/POINT call.
NULLCOL
Enables a field containing a predefined value in VSAM to be stored as a null value in DB2.
NULLCOLS
Enables a field containing common values such as spaces or binary zeros to become null values in DB2.
BIT2CHAR
Stores bit data as discrete CHAR(1) values in DB2.
JULGREG
Transforms Julian date field values in VSAM to DB2 date column format.
These exits are available for downloading from the following link: This link opens in a new window

Minor modifications may be required to BIT2CHAR and JULGREG if your field attributes or lengths differ from those that these exits were initially written for. Comments in the exits define the characteristics of the supported fields.

There has been no benchmarking to compare the performance of assembler exits with the equivalent exits in COBOL.



Concept topic


Last updated: November 9, 2012 20:43:50