Message destinations

You can specify destinations for your routed message in three different ways:

Note:
If you need to know the identifier or operator class values for the operator signed on at your principal facility to specify the destination of your routed message, you can use the ASSIGN command with the OPID or OPCLASS options to find out.

Eligible terminals

To format a message properly for a particular destination, BMS needs to know the characteristics of the terminal for which it is formatting. This is true even for destinations that you designate by operator or operator class. The first step in processing a route list, therefore, is to translate your destinations to a list of terminals to which the message may be delivered. This "eligible terminal" list combines the information in your route list and your OPCLASS specification with the state of the terminal network at the time of the ROUTE command.

Later, when your message is ready for delivery, BMS uses this list to decide which terminals actually get your message. A terminal must be on the list to receive the message, but its presence there does not guarantee delivery. There may be operator restrictions associated with the terminal and, because delivery occurs later in time, the status or even the nature of the terminal may have changed.

Both at the time the list is built and at the time of delivery, BMS is restricted to the terminal definitions installed in its own CICS region (where the routing task is running, or ran) and may not have all of the terminal definitions you expect. First, terminals that are autoinstalled may not be logged on either at the time of the ROUTE, excluding them from inclusion on the list, or at the times sending is attempted, preventing delivery.

In a multiple-region environment, there is the additional possibility that terminals known to one region may not be known to another. (It depends on how they are defined, as explained in CICS Application Programming Reference.) In particular, if a terminal definition is shared among regions by designating it as SHIPPABLE in the region that owns it, the terminal is not defined in any other region until something occurs to cause shipment there. This usually happens the first time the terminal routes a transaction to the region in question. Consequently, a ROUTE in this region cannot include the terminal before the first such event occurs.

The following sections describe how BMS builds the list of eligible terminals. This occurs at the time of the ROUTE command:

Destinations specified with OPCLASS only

If you specified operator classes (the OPCLASS option) but no route list, BMS scans all the terminal definitions in the local system. Any terminal that meets all these conditions gets on the eligible terminal list:

The resulting entry is marked so that delivery occurs only when and if an operator belonging to at least one of the operator classes in your OPCLASS list is signed on. (This operator does not have to be the one that was signed on at ROUTE time.)

OPCLASS and LIST omitted

If you specify neither operator classes nor a route list, BMS puts every terminal that meets the first two tests above on the list, and sets no operator restrictions on delivery. In a network where many terminals are eligible to receive all routed messages, this is a choice you almost certainly want to avoid.

Route list provided

If you provide a route list, BMS builds its list from yours instead of scanning the terminal definitions. Each of your entries is processed as follows. Processing includes setting a status flag in the list entry to tell you whether the entry was used or skipped and why.

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