Debugging profiles

A debugging profile specifies a set of one or more application programs which are to be debugged together.

For example:
  • All instances of program PYRL01 running in system CICS1
  • All Java™ classes with names beginning setBankAccount
  • All programs with names beginning 'PYRL' run by user APPDEV02
CICS uses the following information in the debugging profile to decide if an instance of a program should run under the debugger's control. The parameters specify:
  • The transaction under which the program is running
  • The terminal associated with the transaction. You can specify the terminal identifier or the z/OS® Communications Server netname.
  • The name of the program
  • For COBOL programs, the name of the compile unit (the program or class name)
  • For Java objects, the class name
  • The userid of the signed-on user
  • The applid of the CICS® region in which the transaction is running
Many of the parameters can be generic, allowing you to specify a set of values which begin with the same characters (for example, TRN0, TRN1, TRN2, TRNA, TRNB, ...)
Debugging profiles contain the following additional information:
Status
The status of the profile: active or inactive:
  • When a profile is active, it is examined each time a program is started in a region for which debugging is required.
    Note: If you change a profile while it is active, the changes take effect immediately: the next time a program is started, the changed parameters are used to decide if the program should run under the debugger's control.
  • When a profile is inactive, it is ignored when a program is started.
Debugging display device settings
The debugging display device settings specify how you will interact with the debugger:
  • For a Java program, you can use a debugging tool on a workstation
  • For a compiled language program, you can use:
    • A3270 terminal
    • Adebugging tool on a workstation
The JVM profile name
For Java programs only, you can specify the JVM profile that will be used when a program is debugged
Debug Tool and Language Environment® options
For compiled language programs only, you can specify options to be passed to Debug Tool and Language Environment when a program is debugged
You can create debugging profiles for the following sorts of program:
  • Compiled language programs
  • Java application programs
The information stored in the profile is different for each type of program.

Profiles are stored in a CICS file which can be shared by more than one CICS region. A profile that is shared by several CICS regions is either active or inactive in all the regions: it cannot be active in some regions and inactive in others.

CICS provides a set of sample profiles which are optionally generated when your system is set up to use debugging profiles. You can use these profiles as a starting point for creating your own profiles.