Z variables in TSO panels

Products

• TPX - Session Management
• Vman Session Management for z/OS

Issue/Introduction

When looking at TPX-panels, for example at the TPX Main menu there are variables 'Z' instead of 'real' Variable names. What is the explanation for this?

Environment

• TPX® Session Management for z/OS
• Vman Session Management for z/OS

Resolution

When you look for example at panel TEN0041, the TPX Main Menu. Here you find four variables 'Z':

  )MODEL                                                                 
   _Z:uentuser;   PF:Z +      <Z                          ¬z   +   
 )RESUME

They are related to the list starting with .ZVARS located below the marker )INIT:

.ZVARS=(UENTSLCT UENTPJMP UENTLAB UENTWSTS)                

The first Z is replaced with variable UENTSLCT, the second Z with UENTPJMP and so on - the pairs of Z and the relating variable name are marked with colors. The reason for using this ZVARS-list is that the names of the variables are longer than the values. The PF-key is only two bytes long but the variable name is UENTPJMP. This technique allows to keep the length of the fields as short as necessary.