AOP Overview

The Automation Options facility is comprised of the following components:

• Menu Definition Members

  Each menu definition is written in a member containing parameters (keywords and values) that describe the options in the menu. The following are defined for each option:

  • the name of the option
  • parameters that define the format of the display line
  • the name of the program to be executed or, for a submenu, name of the member containing the submenu definition

  Each Automation Option must have a menu definition member in the IOA MSG library. The name of this member must be the name of the menu, prefixed by ##. For example, the definition for menu OPER must reside in member ##OPER.

  • The main Automation Options menu is defined in member ##AOP.
  • To update or add an Automation Option, it is necessary to access the appropriate menu definition member and modify it.
• Format Members

  Formats describe how lines provided by a client program are to be displayed on the screen. The format of the primary Automation Options screen provided by Control‑O is specified in member $$AOP in the IOA MSG library. The user can write new formats and save them as members in the MSG library.

  Note: To avoid problems in the execution of the Automated Options facility, do not modify member $$AOP.

• Client programs

  Client programs can be any independent load module, TSO CLIST, or REXX EXEC, which the Automation Options facility invokes either to perform functions or to provide lines to be displayed.