HP OpenVMS DCL procedures

Course overview

This course teaches techniques for creating DCL command procedures for automating user and operating system tasks on an OpenVMS system, including DCL syntax, design and implementation, batch processing, lexical functions, and running applications from a command structure. The course incorporates our Lab+Lecture format.

Prerequisites

• Attendees must have taken OpenVMS Utilities and Commands or have equivalent professional experience before attending this course.
• No prior programming experience is assumed; however, knowledge of some programming language (BASIC, C, FORTRAN, etc.) and programming language concepts is helpful.

Audience

• Advanced users of OpenVMS, application programmers, system programmers and system managers.

Ways to save

Benefits to you

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to create, modify and debug command procedures on OpenVMS systems. They will be able to understand how existing command procedures work. They will have experience with passing information between command procedures with symbols. They will understand how error handling works with DCL.

Next steps

• HP OpenVMS v8.2 internals differences (U8632S)
• HP OpenVMS v7.3 Alpha programming features I (U3717S)
• HP OpenVMS v7.3 Alpha programming features II (U3718S)
  

Course outline

HP OpenVMS DCL procedures

• DCL commands and command procedures
• LOGIN.COM
• @
• Syntax of DCL command procedures
• Design and implementation of command procedures
• Passing parameters to command procedures
• Batch processing
• Use of local and global symbols
• Locality of reference
• Modularity of command procedures
• Use of all OpenVMS lexical functions
• Use of ANSI escape sequences
• Error handling
• Saving and restoring session context
• Looping
• Recursion
• Processing list of files
• Using multiple search streams
• Running application programs (such as a text editor) from a command procedure