Customizing USS tables

You can customize VTAM® messages, commands, and the translation table by coding your own USS table. For example, you can change messages to provide non-English text, change characteristics of a message, or change the syntax or default values for a command.

Any changes to VTAM messages or commands should be made with supplementary user-defined USS tables. The IBM-supplied USS tables should not be changed or removed because they are used to define all commands and messages that are not defined in a user-written table. The name of the user-defined USS table should be different from any of the default tables.

If you plan to make extensive changes in your user-defined USS table, you might find that the easiest way to generate the table is to copy the IBM-supplied USS tables and make changes to the new copies.

Note: Because some program operator applications depend on VTAM messages, changes to an operator message could disrupt the functioning of a program operator application.

A USS table can be associated with a particular resource by the following items:

Terminal operator

LANGTAB operand on a USS command
USSTAB operand on the logical unit's definition statement

VTAM operator

USSTAB start option
MODIFY TABLE command
For more information about the MODIFY TABLE command, see z/OS Communications Server: SNA Operation.

Program operator

USSTAB operand on the application definition statement
SSCPFM operand on the application definition statement