Writing a small Windows script to talk to the mainframe and/or Endevor

I am trying to optimize my work process in my day to day life as an it developer in a larger bank. Right now, all development is done using Rational Developer for System Z (RDz), working with files on the Endevor reposity, and there are several issues with this solution that I would like to develop a work-around for in my spare time.

Right now I am very much in the blind about how communication with the mainframe and Endevor is done from a PC. As I can see, it is possible to do so, since RDz does exactly that.

What I really need may not be so complex. I need to understand how clients like RDz or Personal Communications are able to communicate with the mainframe. Alternatively, I could try and generate some sort of script to retrieve files from Endevor on the host, since I am able to FTP to an MVS and get files that way. But I have no way of FTP'ing to an Endevor repository.

Basically I would like a way to get files from Endevor and on to my desktop, so I can edit them there in my favorite text editor, and then a way to put them back again.

Any suggestions as to how I should get started on this?

Solution

Here are the basic building blocks for your desktop script:

Build a file containing JCL to extract target source code from Endevor into a staging PDS. You need to parameterize the JCL build process to accommodate different source file designations.
Submit the JCL to run on the mainframe using FTP (Filetype=JES)
Wait for the job to complete (watch the FTP log file)
Use FTP (Filetype=SEQ) to retrieve the file from the mainframe staging PDS to your desktop
Edit on desktop using your favourite editor

When done, just reverse the process.

Technically this is not a difficult process to build. The potential glitch is that you probably do not have the authority to submit high priority batch jobs. If your submitted batch job ends up queued for a couple of minutes (hours) then this process becomes unworkable. If you can submit high priority batch jobs, then the rest should not be all that difficult. I have done something very similar to this using Open Object Rexx as the desktop scripting language - and it works very well.

You can get a pretty good idea as to what the JCL needs to look like by using the Endevor: Build batch SCL option to construct example JCL for extract/check-in functions. Interacting with JES trough FTP is described pretty well in: Interfacing with JES.

Have fun...