IDMS: How to verify USERID and PASSWORD programmatically.

Products

• IDMS
• IDMS - Database
• IDMS - ADS

Issue/Introduction

This article describes the extent to which the USERID and PASSWORD can be verified programmatically in IDMS.

Environment

Release: All supported releases.

Resolution

It is not possible to only check the validity of the USERID and PASSWORD. However, the signon process can be conducted under the control of a user-written program.

Typically, an IDMS signon is handled by the SIGNON task code entered interactively by a user at the ENTER NEXT TASK CODE: prompt. Note particularly the part after the sub-heading Supplying your password. Users can enter the password on the same command as the SIGNON, or after hitting ENTER (in which case the entered password will not be visible). If optional bit 220 is enabled in RHDCOPTF, then IDMS will enforce that the password must be entered after hitting ENTER, by ignoring the one entered on the same command as the SIGNON.

This process can be customized by invoking the process from an online ADS dialog or dc-cobol program. This is done by invoking the system supplied program RHDCSNON, passing the provided userid and password and examining the return code. The signon will be carried out as any other signon would be in the IDMS CV, according to the RESTYPE=SGON setting in your RHDCSRTT. The example given in the documentation in the above link is only assembler, but the same thing can be done in dc-cobol or ADS.

The ability to change the password provided by the interactive SIGNON task code is not available to a programmed call to RHDCSNON. If you want to do that then you would need to use the #SECSGON macro in an assembler program.