Handling VSAM status code 35 in JCL

Question

My COBOL program reads a VSAM file that may or may not be empty. When the file is empty i get a status code 35 while opening in INPUT/I-O mode. I do not want to handle it in program but in a JCL. Is there any way by which VSAM file can be checked if it is empty or not...if it is not possible through a JCL then can we handle it in program without having to check status code 35?

Answer 1

I seem to recall that you could use IDCAMS to repo the file into a dummy dataset and you would get an RC=4 if it was empty.

That is from memory a few years ago, but then you could put that check in your job stream before running your program and control execution of the next step using the IDCAMS return code.

Answer 2

Add OPTIONAL to the SELECT clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph.

SELECT OPTIONAL fdname
    ASSIGN TO ddname
    ...

Answer 3

When you get a starus "35" exit the program with a

MOVE 8 TO RETURN-CODE.
GOBACK.

[example here][1]

http://ibmmainframes.com/about60344.html

You can then test for a non-zero return code in your JCL with a COND=8 on the next step which will only execute when your program detected an empty file.