The Spoolfile Interface Facility (SPIFF)

The spoolfile interface facility (SPIFF) allows you to list, manipulate, and transfer spooled device files (spool files) that are created and maintained by MPE/iX. SPIFF is an MPE/iX replacement for the MPE CM SPOOK5 program.

SPIFF supports many (but not all) of the commands of the SPOOK5 program. Several existing features have been enhanced, and new features have been added. Wherever this has been done, the default is the closest approximation to SPOOK5 behavior. Where differences exist, they are described here.

SPIFF commands summary

These are the commands you can use with SPIFF:

ALTER: Alters the priority, number of copies, target device, or any combination of these attributes, of one spool file or many spool files.
APPEND: Appends all or part of one or many spool files to a new spool file. The first spool file processed by the command creates the new spool file. Subsequent spool files are appended to it.
BROWSE: Invokes the HPBROWSE utility, if it is available.
COPY: Copies all or part of one or many spool files to a new spool file.
DEBUG: Invokes the MPE/iX DEBUG facility if the SPIFF user has Privileged Mode (PM) capability.
EXIT: Terminates SPIFF, returning control to its parent process.
FIND: Locates a specified pattern in a specified range of the current spool file.
HELP: Displays information about SPIFF and its commands.
INPUT: Inputs one or more spool files from a tape created by SPOOK5 or SPFXFER.
LIST: Lists a line range of the currently TEXTed spool file to SPIFFOUT.
MODE: Controls the width and format of the displayed output of the LIST and FIND commands.
OUTPUT: Outputs one or more spool files to a tape in SPOOK5/SPFXFER format.
PURGE: Deletes one or more spool files from the system.
QUIT: Terminates SPIFF, returning control to its parent process.
SHOW: Displays information about one or more spool files.
STORE: Stores one or more files to tape using the MPE/iX STORE subsystem.
TEXT: Accesses an output spool file for use by the ALTER, APPEND, BROWSE, COPY, FIND, LIST, PURGE, and SHOW commands.
XPLAIN: Displays a summary of SPIFF commands.

Operation notes

To run SPIFF, enter this:

   SPIFF

or this:

   RUN SPIFF.PUB.SYS

SPIFF displays an identifying banner and its > prompt.

   SPIFF A.00.00 (C) COPYRIGHT HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. 1992

   >

SPIFF is now ready to accept any of the commands listed above.

All user input is case-insensitive (except for the default case of quoted search strings in the FIND command). In addition, non-SPIFF commands are passed to MPE/iX as entered—there is no up- or down-shifting.

Major differences between SPIFF and SPOOK5

SPIFF represents an enhancement of SPOOK5. SPIFF supports most, but not all, of the commands accepted by SPOOK5. In addition, SPIFF accepts new commands not available to SPOOK5.

New or changed features

File equations for SPIFF's $STDINX.
Opens $STDINX rather than $STDIN; entering a leading colon (:) does not cause end-of-file.
MPE/iX command interface with or without a leading colon (:).
The INFO string on the command line.
Single letter command recognition of most commands.
Native mode output display.
Two new commands: STORE and BROWSE.
Enhancements to the PURGE, MODE, FIND, and HELP commands.

File equations and formal file designators

SPIFF opens the formal file designator SPIFFIN as its $STDINX and the formal file designator SPIFFOUT as its $STDLIST. You may redirect these files as desired with a file equation. However the record width of any redirected SPIFFOUT should not be less than 80 bytes; otherwise displays and messages may generate an error when SPIFF directs them to SPIFFOUT.

Do not specify a REC= parameter in a file equation for any tape file. The wrong combination of values may be rejected with an error message.

End-of-file on $STDINX

Because SPIFF opens $STDINX (SPIFFIN), a colon in column one does not produce an end-of-file condition. Entering :EOD, however, does produce an EOF.

When SPIFF encounters a colon in column one, it strips the colon and passes the result to the CI for processing. If the result is a valid MPE/iX command, the command is executed; otherwise, an error message is returned.

   SPIFF A.00.00 (C) COPYRIGHT HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. 1992

   >:listf



   FILENAME



   MYFILE



   >

The colon is not necessary with SPIFF. If it is not present, SPIFF processes a candidate command in the same way SPOOK5 did (local dictionary first, then the CI).

MPE/iX command interface

Any command not recognized by SPIFF, or any command preceded by a colon ( : ), is passed to MPE/iX's Command Interpreter through the HPCICOMMAND intrinsic, which will execute the command whether it is an MPE/iX command, UDC, command file, or program file. The RUN command is allowed by HPCICOMMAND.

Because some commands are not executed by HPCICOMMAND, SPIFF will not execute the following commands:

Table 5-1 Commands Not Executed within SPIFF

`ABORT`	`DO`	`HELLO`	`SETCATALOG`
`BYE`	`EOD`	`JOB`	`SHOWCATALOG`
`CHGROUP`	`EOJ`	`LISTREDO`	`REDO`
`DATA`	`EXIT`	`OPTION`	`RESUME`

Command line INFO string

You may specify one command in the INFO string (for example, SPIFF;INFO="SHOW @.@"). SPIFF executes the specified command before displaying the first command prompt. One and only one command is allowed in the INFO string. The entire INFO string is parsed. If it contains a syntax error, an error message is displayed and the command is ignored.

You may slso specify the file name of a file containing SPIFF commands (...INFO=^filename) and SPIFF will read (FREAD) the the file, one record at a time, and execute the commands. You may specify any number of SPIFF commands, but each command must be a separate record.




	NOTE: You cannot concatenate commands in the `INFO=` string or in the file of `SPIFF` commands.

Command recognition

With two exceptions, SPIFF recognizes the first letter or the full form of the command (for example, F or FIND). The two exceptions are APPEND and STORE. The abbreviations for these two commands require two letters (AP, ST) to distinguish them from the ALTER (A) and SHOW (S) abbreviations, respectively.

This differs from SPOOK5, which recognized commands by any leftmost subset of characters. For example, F, FI, FIN, and FIND all executed the FIND command in SPOOK5,.

Output display

SPIFF uses Native Mode Spooler (NMS) display routines and displays its output through the MPE/iX LISTSPF or the SPOOLF command. For example, the SHOW command executes through a LISTSPF display. SHOW;@ executes as LISTSPF;DETAIL.

Also, when you invoke MODE CONTROLS=ON, a subsequent LIST displays data using the MPE/iX PRINTSPF format.

New commands

STORE interfaces to the MPE/iX STORE facility.
BROWSE invokes the HPBROWSE utility, if it has been installed on the system.

Enhancements to FIND

Case-insensitive FIND (F ^ "string"). You may set this as the default by MODE ^ = ON.
Column-insensitive FIND without F@. You may set this as the default by using MODE @ = ON.
FIND and display all occurrences of a string in the specified range. For FIND + "ERROR"'' (the range defaults to ALL, as in SPOOK5). You may set this as the default by using MODE + = ON.
Unprintable characters, such as ESC and Shift are converted to dots by default (for compatibility with SPOOK5). This can be overridden with the MODE command. Note that such characters can cause unpredictable display operation if sent to an output device in their raw form. You may set non-conversion as the default by using MODE DOTS = OFF.
Entering CtrlY during a search aborts the search or the display, depending upon which is occurring when you enter CtrlY.

Other enhancements

Several other commands have been enhanced. For example, COPY and APPEND now support selection equations in determining their working fileset.
The HELP command operation has been changed to resemble that of the MPE/iX help facility. Entering HELP (or its abbreviation, H) with no parameters displays an introductory screen and places you in an interactive mode until you exit the help facility. The X[PLAIN] command operation has not been changed.

Error and warning messages

SPIFF error and warning messages roughly parallel the corresponding SPOOK5 messages, although the text has been changed.In many cases the error or warning number has also changed.

Control-Y

Entering CtrlY affects the operation of the COPY, APPEND, FIND, HELP, XPLAIN, LIST, and PURGE commands (refer to the entries for each of these commands).

At other times (and with other commands), entering CtrlY has no effect.

Retained (SPOOK-like) features

The command line syntax of all retained (SPOOK5) commands has also been retained. However, any displays that result employ the NMS command formats.

Features not retained (from SPOOK)

KILL command. SPOOK5's KILL command, used to terminate child SPOOK5 processes, is not supported, because SPIFF supports process creation with the MPE/iX's RUN command.
LOCKED state. The Native Mode Spooler does not support a LOCKED state for spool files. As a result, TEXTing in a file, or OUTPUTting it to tape does not change its state. If you TEXT in a spool file in the READY state, then issue the SHOW command, the file state continues to be displayed as READY.

Security

Console user

The SPIFF console user can access any spool file on the system, regardless of capabilities. This is consistent with the spool file access rights of MPE/iX commands.

By contrast, a SPOOK5 user at the console gained no additional spool file access rights by using the console. A user having neither SM nor AM capability could access only those files that she or he had created.

Other users

With SPIFF, a non-console user has spool file access rights that vary with the user's capabilities:

An SM or OP user can access any spool file on the system.
An AM user can access any spool file created by a user in the same account.
A user with none of these capabilities can access only spool files she or he has created.

Private spool files

Access rights to private spool files are the same as for non-private spool files. However, you can modify only the priority attribute of such spool files. A user with SM capability can also modify the target device.

SPIFF commands

The SPIFF commands outlined in “SPIFF commands summary” are described in detail in the sections that follow.