AIX TO VMS command

[Michael Boynay]

Hello,

I have a task to convert a unix ftp connection string to a vms equivalent. I could not see what the print or "|" pipe equivalent would be.

Here is the unix connection string.

SET command = CONCAT ( "print " , quote , "open " , remote_domain , "\n user " ,
remote_username , " " , remote_password ,"\ncd Report_Test","\nput " , fname ,
quote , " | ftp -i -n" )

Any help or direction you can give would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Try help copy/ftp.

Wim

[Richard Whalen]

VMS has a PIPE command that performs the PIPE function.

It looks like what you really want to do is create a (temporary) command file that will start ftp, login as a specified user, change to the Report_Test director, and put a specified file.

In order to do this you first tell us what your internet stack is (TCP/IP Services, MultiNet or TCPware), so that the method that a command procedure interacts with FTP can be determined.

[Michael Boynay]

I would have to find out more regarding you questions about the internet stack from another resource. I did fail to mention the connection string is being called from the DCL command.

Thanks for your response

[Steven Schweda]

It might be useful to describe the problem
you're trying to solve, rather than asking
how to translate an implementation of
something from another environment.

I may be woefully ignorant, and I don't deal
with AIX much these days, but I don't
recognize SET and CONCAT as generic UNIX
shell keywords. I can guess what the intent
is, but it's still a guess, and to what
you're actually talking here is a mystery (to
me, at least).

If all you wish to do is use FTP to fetch a
file from somewhere, then I'd also suggest
COPY /FTP. Wget would be another
possibility, and probably cURL, too, but they
don't come with VMS, and you could probably
have been using them on AIX, too.

[Michael Boynay]

I am using Cerner CCL language. I have a program that currently generates a .dat file that I need to ftp over to a third party system. Here is a test program I have been working with to get the functionality down.

drop program a_test_dcl_commands_a go
create program a_test_dcl_commands_a

prompt
"Output to File/Printer/MINE" = "MINE" ;* Enter or select the printer or file name to send this report to.

with OUTDEV

select into $outdev

from person p

with counter,maxrec=1
;PHAMARDOWN_.PS

set fname = concat("test",".ps")

;set mar_rpt_data->output_device = fname
;call PrintMarRpt (0)

;Set Remote FTP domain
set remote_domain = "xx.xx.xx.xxx"
set remote_username = "xxxxx"
set remote_password = "xxxxxxx"
set quote = '"'

SET CD_CCLUSR = "set def ccluserdir:"
SET LEN =SIZE(TRIM(CD_CCLUSR))
SET STATUS=0
CALL DCL(CD_CCLUSR,LEN,STATUS)

FREE SET command
SET command = CONCAT ( "write " , quote , "open " , remote_domain , "\n user " ,
remote_username , " " , remote_password ,"\ncd Cerner_Report_Test","\nput " , fname ,
quote , " | ftp -i -n" )
SET LEN = size(trim(command))
SET status = 0
CALL DCL(command,LEN,status)

CALL ECHO(command)

end
go

When I run the above program I get this message from our backend prompt.

%DCL-W-UNDSYM, undefined symbol - check validity and spelling
\|\
write "open 10.101.227.81\n user cerner CernerUHS\ncd Cerner_Report_Test\nput test.ps" | ftp -i -n
76357:062684 A_TEST_DCL_COMMANDS_A Cost 1.24 Cpu 0.02 Ela 4.96 Bio 581 Dio 20 O0M0R0 P1R2Z2 S1,1
Command executed!
1)

I had changed "print" to "write" becuase I was getting this message.

Rec: 1, 2 Row: 1 Qual: 1 Len: 12
%DCL-W-MAXPARM, too many parameters - reenter command with fewer parameters
\|\
print "open 10.101.227.81\n user cerner CernerUHS\ncd Cerner_Report_Test\nput test.ps" | ftp -i -n
76357:062765 A_TEST_DCL_COMMANDS_A Cost 1.22 Cpu 0.02 Ela 4.54 Bio 581 Dio 15 O0M0R0 P1R2Z2 S1,1
Command executed!
1)

The "pipe" seems to be a problem. I am do not have the experience with command lang's with either vms or aix.

Thanks for your response

[marsh_1]

pipe commands in vms have to have 'pipe' at the start of the line of piped commands.

HTH

[Michael Boynay]

Thanks for your response. Are you saying like

ftp -i -n | print "open 10.101.227.81\n user cerner CernerUHS\ncd Cerner_Report_Test\nput test.ps"

[marsh_1]

e.g :-

$ pipe sh system | search sys$input "swapper"

[Steven Schweda]

> I am do not have the experience with
> command lang's with either vms or aix.

Apparently. Among other things, "ftp -i"
may not be the best way to start.

HELP FTP

> The "pipe" seems to be a problem.

Probably not the biggest one. The VMS DCL
command line interpreter differs from a UNIX
shell, and the VMS FTP client (most likely)
differs from an AIX FTP client. It might
make more sense to start with DCL, and try
to create a command which does what you want,
and _then_ try to figure out how to get the
Cerner stuff to execute that command.

For fun, try this, too:

TCPIP SHOW VERSION

[Jan van den Ende]

Michael,

Never ever even SAW Cerner system or application, but if

>>>
write "open 10.101.227.81\n user cerner CernerUHS\ncd Cerner_Report_Test\nput test.ps" | ftp -i -n
<<<
is what it seems to me: a sequence of commands to be executed at DCL level,
AND assuming Cerner generates a line break for "\n" (as it seems to have done)
then I would try putting the ftp command first, then a linefeed, then the various ftp sub-commands. Giving:
===
write "ftp -i -n \nopen 10.101.227.81\n user cerner CernerUHS\ncd Cerner_Report_Test\nput test.ps"
===
orth a try perhaps, but it IS a lot of assuming from my part!

Good luck

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[The Brit]

Jan,
Consider yourself fortunate (to have never heard of Cerner that is!)

Michael,
The simplest way to handle this is to write a dcl script (or have your program write the script) and then execute it.

e.g. If you are running TCPWare
HostName = "ftp.host.com" (or similar)
Par1 = Username
Par2 = Password
File_Name = Name of file to be transfered.

$ Open/Write FTP_Script FTP_Out_Script.com
$ Write FTP_Script "$ ftp ''HostName' ''Par1' " + Par2
$ Write FTP_Script "cd in"
$ Write FTP_Script "dir"
$ Write FTP_Script "binary"
$ Write FTP_Script "put ''File_name'"
$ Write FTP_Script "dir"
$ Write FTP_Script "bye"
$ Write FTP_Script "$!"
$ Write FTP_Script "$ Exit"
$!
$ Close FTP_Script
$ Set Verify
$!
$! Step 3. Execute the FTP script and transfer the file.
$!
$ @FTP_Out_Script
$ Write sys$output "''f$time()'>>> Transfer Process completed."

Note if you are using TCPIP Services, then first line would be;

$ Write Sys$Output FTP_Script "$ ftp ''Host_Name' /user=''Par1'" /pass=" + Par2

You will have to mess about with the syntax if username and/or password are mixed-case.

Good Luck

Dave

[Hoff]

The COPY /FTP command syntax was first available back in June of 1995, with the release of OpenVMS V6.2.

Something akin to the following one-line DCL command can easily and more reliably entirely replace the technique of using ftp prompting and building an externally-invoked DCL procedure.

The basic syntax parallels that of the DCL command COPY, including the ability to use a username and password and node specification and directory specification. To wit, the command structure:

$ COPY /FTP /BINARY file host"user pass"::file

The most interesting bit here is probably whether you need to double-quote the target filespec here. If it contains Unix syntax for the filename or the directory, then you typically will need to place that part of the parameter into double quotes. Foreign-format file specifications typically need to be double-quoted.

Another option is to install gnv and run a bash shell script within that. gnv is mostly compatible with a Unix bash shell, and can allow you to use the same code in both places. A variation of this approach is to use Perl on both platforms, or such; to use common languages and tools in both places.

And yet another option here (for the transfer itself) is sftp, which is rather more secure, far easier to punch through firewalls, and can be used with digital certificates and no-password logins and such.

[Bob Blunt]

Michael,

While it might sound overly simplistic, have you considered contacting Cerner directly to see if they have a solution to your question? Few of the folks here speak Cerner but there are still people who work in support at Cerner that have spoken OpenVMS at some time in their career.

If you had a set of pure AIX (or other platform) commands to use as a basis that might help, but wrapping your request in CernerSpeak really muddies the water. A few of us might have understood if you had asked for help using a MUMPS script as a basis, but Cerner is a whole different animal.

Can you even access a simpler AIX shell than the Cerner one on your system? I know that the Cerner systems I've supported that were OpenVMS-based could access DCL but I know nothing about their implementation on AIX. So far we've only been able to piece together that you're moving a ".dat" file of some nature...

bob