TDM-how to work with datasets extracted from IMS

Products

• CA Test Data Manager (Data Finder / Grid Tools)

Issue/Introduction

When using ordered (hierarchical/IMS) input files, the child SYSRECxx.DAT files from GTXTMT contain extra data, causing the BCP to fail.

See https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/continuous-testing/test-data-management/4-8-1/mainframe/mainframe-test-match-data-extract/examples.html

Steps I did:

1. Mocked up copybook , making all fields PIC X , just for simplicity in editing – the datatypes are irrelevant to this issue.
2. Mocked up some data on mainframe, with 3 parent rows, each with 1 child row of each type.
3. Use File Definition Manager, from 5.4.18 (2377.zip) (same as 5.4.17),  and described the layout of the file;  I made up data for the segment identifying values as seen in pictures below.  Important – include the PARENT identifier on SEG2 and SEG3, to point to SEG1 as parent.
4. SEG1 – identified by string “IAMROOT”  in first field. Parent record field is left blank, as this is the root/parent segment.

Environment

Release : 4.8

Component : CA Test Data Manager

Resolution

Workaround:  Modify the generated control file.

 There were 2 options – change the data to remove the extra data, or change the BCP to ignore the extra data.  Changing the BCP format file was 100x easier than trying to mess with data.