Hi,

I posted this in IT ToolBox in response to another FOCUS person upgrading to Mainframe FOCUS 7.6.9:

We had a number of problems, which I documented in a Post Mortem document. Here are the details:

Problem 1: We have had a few Abend S0C1 and S878s, both of which stated “Insufficient Storage was Available”.
Resolution 1: Changed the Region parameter on the batch job’s jobcard to REGION=0M from whatever it was previously. It would have been either too low, or none stated, the latter meaning that the installation default would be used. By using REGION=0M, the job will grab as much resource as it needs.
All reruns worked successfully, with the REGION parameter changed permanently.

Problem 2: 3 programs are hanging. These are database updates. These are complex MODIFY programs, where a MODIFY is looping approximately 15 times, the first few loops are OK, and then the MODIFY freezes.
Resolution 2: We have pointed these 3 jobs only to use FOCUS 7.2.2. until we have fixed it. This can remain until we have resolved this issue, which allows us the luxury of time to investigate, test and implement.

Problem 3: Using a FOCUS Smart Date in a file JOIN using a DEFINEd field no longer works. The few programs that failed due to this were successfully amended to not use a Smart Date.
Resolution 3: Programs amended to use a normal Alphanumeric date and not a Smart Date.

Problem 4: The command to check if a FOCUS/SU started task/region is active (? SU) now gives allowable return codes of 0 (SU task running with no users) and 8 (SU task running with users allocated to it) instead of just 0 (SU task running). This stopped all users getting into the FOCUS online systems.
Resolution 4: Allow a return code of <=8 instead of =0.

Problem 5: The SUBSTR (Sub String) function won’t allow output field length specifications of 0.
Resolution 5: Amended the code surrounding the SUBSTR command in the offending program.

Problem 6: When you do a HOLD FORMAT FOCUS which has a pre-defined Master File Description, the Segname on that MFD must be called SEG01, which is what FOCUS will call it in the actual database itself. This must now match, whereas before the Segment Names didn’t have to match. This is a case of Information Builders tightening up on FOCUS code.
Resolution 6: Changed MFDs to SEGNAME=SEG01 on the Prod and Dev MASTER PDS’s.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

Colin, thanks for sharing your findings with us. I'm sure these hints will be helpful for anyone upgrading.