z/OS ISPF Services Guide
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BROWSE—browse a data set

z/OS ISPF Services Guide
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The BROWSE service provides an interface to the Browse function and bypasses the display of the View Entry Panel. For a complete description of the Browse function see the z/OS ISPF User's Guide Vol II.

The BROWSE service allows you to use a customized panel for displaying data. Panel ISRBROB should be used as a model for your customized panel. You can also use the BROWSE service recursively, either through nested dialogs or by entering a BROWSE command while browsing. BROWSE allows you to browse up to a maximum of 99,999,999 records.

BROWSE can be used to look at any ISPF library, concatenation of ISPF libraries, or data set that can be allocated by using the LMINIT service. However, it cannot be used by a PL/I main program that also uses subtasking. The BRIF service allows you to browse data types not supported by ISPF.

Command invocation format

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
>>-ISPEXEC--BROWSE--DATASET(dsname)--+----------------+--------->
                                     '-VOLUME(serial)-'   

>--+----------------------+--+-------------------+-------------->
   '-PASSWORD(pswd-value)-'  '-PANEL(panel-name)-'   

>--+---------------------+--+------------------+---------------><
   '-FORMAT(format-name)-'  |        .-NO--.   |   
                            '-MIXED(-+-----+-)-'   
                                     '-YES-'       

or

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
>>-ISPEXEC--BROWSE--DATAID(data-id)--+---------------------+---->
                                     '-MEMBER(member-name)-'   

>--+-------------------+--+---------------------+--------------->
   '-PANEL(panel-name)-'  '-FORMAT(format-name)-'   

>--+------------------+----------------------------------------><
   |        .-NO--.   |   
   '-MIXED(-+-----+-)-'   
            '-YES-'       

or

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
>>-ISPEXEC--BROWSE--FILE(file-var)--+-------------------+------->
                                    '-PANEL(panel-name)-'   

>--+---------------------+--+------------------+---------------->
   '-FORMAT(format-name)-'  |        .-NO--.   |   
                            '-MIXED(-+-----+-)-'   
                                     '-YES-'       

>--+-----------------+-----------------------------------------><
   '-RECLEN(rec-len)-'   

Call invocation format

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
>>-CALL--ISPLINK--('BROWSEbb'--,--+--------+--,-+-serial-+------>
                                  '-dsname-'    '-'b'----'   

>--,-+-pswd-value-+--,-+-panel-name-+--,--+---------+----------->
     '-'b'--------'    '-'b'--------'     '-data-id-'   

                                           .-'NObbbbbb'-.      
>--,-+-member-name-+--,-+-format-name-+--,-+-'b'--------+--,---->
     '-'b'---------'    '-'b'---------'    '-'YESbbbbb'-'      

>--+----------+--,-+-rec-len-+-;-------------------------------><
   '-file-var-'    '-'b'-----'     

or

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
>>-CALL--ISPEXEC--(buf-len,--buffer);--------------------------><

Parameters

dsname
The data set name, in TSO syntax, of the data set to be browsed. This is equivalent to the "other" data set name on the View Entry Panel. You can specify a fully qualified data set name enclosed in apostrophes. If the apostrophes are omitted, the TSO data set prefix from the user's TSO profile is automatically attached to the data set name. The maximum length of this parameter is 56 characters.

For ISPF libraries and MVS™ partitioned data sets, you can specify a member name or pattern enclosed in parentheses. If a member name is not included, or a pattern is specified as part of the dsname specification when the DATASET keyword is used, a member selection list for the ISPF library, concatenation of libraries, or MVS partitioned data set is displayed. See the topic on naming ISPF libraries and data sets in the z/OS ISPF User's Guide Vol I for a complete description of patterns and pattern matching.

Note: You can also specify a VSAM data set name. If a VSAM data set is specified, ISPF checks the ISPF configuration table to see if VSAM support is enabled. If it is, the specified tool is invoked. If VSAM support is not enabled, an error message is displayed.
serial
The serial number of the volume on which the data set resides. If you omit this parameter or code it as blank, the system catalog is searched for the data set name. The maximum length of this parameter is 6 characters.
pswd-value
The password if the data set has MVS password protection. Do not specify a password for data sets that are protected by Resource Access Control Facility (RACF®).
panel-name
The name of a customized browse panel that you create, to be used when displaying the data. See z/OS ISPF Planning and Customizing for information about developing a customized panel.
format-name
The name of the format to be used to reformat the data. The format-name parameter is provided to support the IBM® 5550 terminal using the Double-Byte Character Set (DBCS).
YES|NO
For the MIXED parameter, if YES is specified, the BROWSE service treats the data as mixed-mode DBCS data. If NO is specified, the data is treated as EBCDIC (single-byte) data. This parameter is provided to support the IBM 5550 terminal using the Double-Byte Character Set (DBCS).
file-var
The name of an ISPF variable containing the path name for a z/OS® UNIX regular file or directory. If the path name is for a directory, a directory selection list is displayed.
rec-len
A numeric value specifying the record length to be used when browsing a z/OS UNIX file. This parameter causes newline characters in the data to be ignored as record delimiters.
data-id
The data ID that was returned from the LMINIT service. The maximum length of this parameter is 8 characters.
You can use the LMINIT service in either of two ways before invoking the BROWSE service:
  • You can use LMINIT to allocate existing data sets by specifying a data set name or ISPF library qualifiers. LMINIT returns a data ID as output. This data ID, rather than a data set name, is then passed as input to the BROWSE service.
  • The dialog can allocate its own data set by using the TSO ALLOCATE command or MVS dynamic allocation, and then pass the ddname to LMINIT. Again, a data ID is returned as output from LMINIT and subsequently passed to the BROWSE service. This procedure is called the ddname interface to BROWSE. It is particularly useful for browsing VIO data sets, which cannot be accessed by data set name because they are not cataloged.
    Note: Using the data ID of a multivolume data set causes Browse to look at all volumes of that data set. If you want to look at just one volume of a multivolume data set, use the data set name and volume number.
member-name
A member of an ISPF library or MVS partitioned data set, or a pattern. If you do not specify a member name when the MEMBER keyword or call invocation is used, or if a pattern is specified, a member selection list for the ISPF library, concatenation of libraries, or MVS partitioned data set is displayed.
buf-len
A fullword fixed binary integer containing the length of the buffer parameter.
buffer
A buffer containing the name of the service and its parameters in the same form as they would appear in an ISPEXEC invocation for a command invocation.

Return codes

These return codes are possible:
 0
Normal completion.
12
Zero-length data; empty sequential data set or z/OS UNIX file, or zero-length member of a partitioned data set.
14
Specified member not found.
16
Either:
  • No members matched the specified pattern.
  • No members in the partitioned data set.
18
A VSAM data set was specified but the ISPF Configuration Table does not allow VSAM processing.
20
Severe error; unable to continue.

Example

The first examples invoke the BROWSE service to give you a member list of all members beginning with ‘TEL’. A member name can be selected from this member list. The second example invokes the BROWSE service for z/OS UNIX file /u/user1/filea.

Command invocation

ISPEXEC BROWSE DATASET('ISPFPROJ.FTOUTPUT(TEL*)')

OR

ISPEXEC LMINIT DATAID(DDBROW)   +
               DATASET('ISPFPROJ.FTOUTPUT')

OR

ISPEXEC BROWSE DATAID(&DDBROW) MEMBER(TEL*)
FILEVAR = '/u/user1/filea'
ISPEXEC BROWSE FILE(FILEVAR)

Call invocation

CALL ISPLINK ('BROWSE  ','ISPFPROJ.FTOUTPUT(TEL*) ');

or

Set the program variable BUFFER to contain:
BUFFER = 'BROWSE DATASET('ISPFPROJ.FTOUTPUT(TELOUT)')';
Set the program variable BUFLEN to the length of the variable BUFFER. Enter the command:
CALL ISPEXEC (BUFLEN, BUFFER);

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