NetBatch Management Programming Manual

Glossary
NetBatch Management Programming Manual—522462-003
Glossary-2
command number
command number. A number representing a particular command to a subsystem. Each
subsystem or management process with a token-oriented programmatic interface can
have its own set of command numbers, represented in DDL by constants and in
programs by TAL LITERAL or DEFINE declarations, COBOL level-01 variables, C
#define directives, or TACL text variables. The command number is a header token in
command and response messages.
completion code. A status code returned by a process to its creator. The code indicates
whether the process terminated successfully or otherwise.
conditional token. A token that is sometimes, but not always, present in a particular event
message. See also unconditional token.
consumer distributor. An EMS distributor process that returns on request selected event
messages to management applications. See also forwarding distributor; printing
distributor.
context, context information. The information required by a subsystem to process a
command that requires more than one interchange of command and response
messages. Continuation of a response in multiple response messages from the
subsystem requires the subsystem to send the context information to the application
program. The application program must send that information back to the subsystem in
a new command message, so that the subsystem can continue with the response. See
context token.
context token. A token indicating (by its presence or absence) whether more response
messages are to come.
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If present in a response message, the response is continued in another response
message. To get the next message, the application reissues the original command
with the context token is included in the new command message.
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If absent from a response message, the application knows that the series of
response messages is complete.
The contents of the context token enable the subsystem to find its place and issue
the next response message. In a response, the context token is a type of
response-control token—the only response-control token that can be present in a
response as well as in a command. In event-message distribution, the GETEVENT
command returns the context token with the next event message. The context
token identifies the next event message, so the backup distributor process can
recover if the primary process goes down. The requester must send the context
token back to the distributor on the next GETEVENT call. (See context, context
information.)