I am assuming you are speaking of DASD based data sets rather than those on tape or any other medium.
I would have said use EXCP until recently. In addition you would need to be APF authorised in order to open VSAM datasets using EXCP. However, I understand however that there are some undocumented issues running EXCP against data sets that are extended format. The DFP Advanced Services manual states the following, "The EXCP and EXCPVR macro instructions allow you to control the data organization based on device characteristics. The exceptions to this capability are partitioned data sets extended (PDSEs), extended format data sets, spooled and dummy data sets, TSO terminals, and z/OS UNIX files and file systems. They are not supported for user-written applications using EXCP." It seems likely to me that there are ways of circumventing these restrictions. There is a low level interface called the media manager which may do what you need. But the manual for this is not available to us mere mortals. As others have said, use ADRDSSU. Lennie Dymoke-Bradshaw https: //rsclweb.com -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Billy Ashton Sent: 14 December 2023 15:44 To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Can this be done? Hey everyone! I have a little down time here at the end of the year with our freeze, and I wanted to play with some ideas I have had. I would like to write a program that can open any kind of file - PDS, Sequential, Panvalet, loadlib, and maybe even VSAM components. I want to open the file in "raw" format, as if I were going straight to the disk pack and scooping up the bytes from the beginning of the allocation to the end. Is there any way to do this without caring about the catalog RECFM? Obviously, the easiest way is through some JCL parameter that says "force as PS" but I doubt that is likely. I can't go into more detail at present, sorry! What do you think? Thank you and best regards, Billy Ashton ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
