HANDLE ABEND

HANDLE ABEND is the safety net of CICS error handling. While RESP and HANDLE CONDITION deal with expected conditions, HANDLE ABEND catches the unexpected: abends. When the task is about to abend, CICS gives control to your abend handler instead, so you can write an error log, send a friendly message, and end the task cleanly.

What is HANDLE ABEND

• Syntax: EXEC CICS HANDLE ABEND LABEL(label) END-EXEC. When an abend occurs later in the task, control branches to the label instead of terminating the task immediately.
• Instead of LABEL you can code PROGRAM(name): CICS links to a separate abend-handling program. Or code CANCEL to remove a previous HANDLE ABEND.
• The handler runs in a restricted state. Keep it short: log the error details, send a message to the terminal, and issue EXEC CICS RETURN or ABEND.
• Code HANDLE ABEND at the very start of the program, before any command that could fail.

What the handler can and cannot do

• The handler can read EIB fields such as EIBRESP, EIBTRNID, and the abend code, write to a TS queue or file log, and SEND a message to the terminal.
• The handler should not try to resume normal processing. The task state is unreliable after an abend; the safe action is to log and end.
• Some abends cannot be caught, for example abends forced by the operator with CEMT TASK PURGE. Do not rely on HANDLE ABEND for those.
• A second abend inside the handler itself terminates the task immediately, so keep handler logic simple and well tested.

Example: logging the abend and ending cleanly

• The example below sets the handler first, then does normal work. On abend it logs EIB details to a TS queue and tells the user:
  PROCEDURE DIVISION. 0000-MAIN. EXEC CICS HANDLE ABEND LABEL(9800-ABEND-HANDLER) END-EXEC. PERFORM 1000-DO-BUSINESS-LOGIC. EXEC CICS RETURN END-EXEC. 9800-ABEND-HANDLER. MOVE EIBTRNID TO LOG-TRNID. MOVE EIBTASKN TO LOG-TASKN. MOVE EIBRESP TO LOG-RESP. EXEC CICS WRITEQ TS QUEUE('ERRLOGQ') FROM(ERROR-LOG-REC) LENGTH(LENGTH OF ERROR-LOG-REC) END-EXEC. EXEC CICS SEND TEXT FROM('SYSTEM ERROR - PLEASE CONTACT SUPPORT') LENGTH(38) ERASE END-EXEC. EXEC CICS RETURN END-EXEC.

Cancelling HANDLE ABEND

• To remove abend handling, issue EXEC CICS HANDLE ABEND CANCEL END-EXEC. Any later abend then terminates the task normally.
• Use CANCEL when a section of code must abend loudly for debugging, for example during testing with CEDF.
• If you XCTL to another program, set HANDLE ABEND again in the new program if you want continued protection.