IZ76428: CMCI Context and Scope does not handle APPLID with a # character

APAR status

• Closed as duplicate of another APAR.

Error description

• Context and Scope in a CMCI request is not being URL-encoded and
  so can't handle characters such as # (pound signs) in them due
  to their meaning in a URL.
  

Local fix

Problem summary

Problem conclusion

Temporary fix

Comments

• This APAR is being closed as a duplicate of IZ79765 since it
  includes the fix for this problem in the CICS Explorer update
  (1.0.0.7) being delivered by it.
  
  An explanation of the issue raised by this APAR and how it has
  been fixed in IZ79765 is described below:
  
  Problem:
  The CICS Explorer is being used to connect to a standalone CICS
  TS 4.1 region set up as an SMSS. The CICS region's APPLID
  contains a '#' character in its name. Although the initial
  connection was successful when attempting to display the
  associated CSD definitions, or installed resources the request
  fails and one of the following messages may be displayed:
  
  CNX0220E A connection error has occurred: INVALIDPARM, PARM
  CNX0220E A connection error has occurred: INVALIDPARM, CONTEXT
  
  The reason the request fails is because the CMCI URL request
  constructed has not URL-encoded the context and scope elements
  of the URL, and for an SMSS request the APPLID is always used
  for both of these. As a '#' character has a specific meaning in
  a URL denoting a fragment, or anchor identifier which is only
  applicable to the client, CICS truncates any web request on
  encountering a '#' character. This is correct behaviour as
  documented in RFC 2396 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt)
  section 4. This truncation leads to an invalid CMCI request and
  so the CNX0220E message is returned to the CICS Explorer.
  
  Conclusion:
  RFC 1738 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt), section 2.2
  states that '#' characters should always be URL encoded when not
  denoting a fragment identifier. Therefore the CICS Explorer has
  been updated to URL-encode the context and scope in the CMCI
  request URL so that '#' characters and any other unsafe URL
  characters are encoded before connecting to CICS with it.
  
  In order for the requests to succeed a co-requisite CICS APAR
  (PM15358) is required to be applied to the CICS region being
  connected to if that region APPLID contains a '#' character or
  any other unsafe URL characters (such as '?' for example). If
  the CICS region being connected does not contain any unsafe URL
  characters in its APPLID the CICS APAR does not need to be
  applied to the CICS region before connecting to it using the
  CICS Explorer.
  

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

Applicable component levels