Channels and containers

For introductory information about channels and containers, and guidance about using channels in non-Java applications, see the CICS® Application Programming Guide.

CICS provides the following JCICS classes that CICS Java programs can use to pass and receive channels:
Note: You can use channel- and container-related JCICS commands when writing CICS enterprise beans. However, CICS doesn't support the transmission of channels over IIOP request streams. This means that you cannot, for example, pass a channel to an enterprise bean on a remote region.

Table 1 lists the classes and methods that implement JCICS support for channels and containers.

Table 1. JCICS support for channels and containers
Methods JCICS class EXEC CICS Commands
containerIterator() Channel STARTBROWSE CONTAINER
createContainer() Channel  
deleteContainer() Channel DELETE CONTAINER CHANNEL
getContainer() Channel  
getName() Channel  
delete() Container DELETE CONTAINER CHANNEL
get(), getLength() Container GET CONTAINER CHANNEL [NODATA]
getName() Container  
put() Container PUT CONTAINER CHANNEL
getOwner() ContainerIterator  
hasNext() ContainerIterator  
next() ContainerIterator GETNEXT CONTAINER BROWSETOKEN
remove() ContainerIterator  
link() Program LINK
xctl() Program XCTL
setNextChannel() TerminalPrincipalFacility RETURN CHANNEL
issue() StartRequest START CHANNEL
createChannel() Task  
getCurrentChannel() Task ASSIGN CHANNEL
containerIterator() Task STARTBROWSE CONTAINER

The CICS condition CHANNELERR results in a ChannelErrorException being thrown; the CONTAINERERR CICS condition results in a ContainerErrorException; the CCSIDERR CICS condition results in a CCSIDErrorException.