LINK

What the LINK command does

• LINK transfers control from one program to another program.
• The called program runs at the next lower logical level.
• When the called program issues RETURN, control comes back to the program that issued the LINK.
• It works like a subroutine call. The caller waits while the called program runs.
• Data is passed with the COMMAREA or CHANNEL option.
• The program name must be defined to CICS unless it is already loaded.

Syntax of the LINK command

• PROGRAM(name) names the program to invoke. This option is required.
• COMMAREA(data-name) passes a communication area. Give LENGTH with it.
• CHANNEL(name) passes a channel instead of a COMMAREA.
• INPUTMSG passes the current terminal input message to the called program.
• Example:-
  EXEC CICS LINK PROGRAM('PROG2') COMMAREA(COMMA) LENGTH(COMMAL) END-EXEC.
• After the LINK, execution continues with the next statement in the calling program.

How the linked program returns

• The linked program ends with a plain EXEC CICS RETURN END-EXEC.
• This RETURN sends control back to the program that issued the LINK.
• Do not use RETURN TRANSID here. That would start a new task instead of returning.
• Check EIBRESP after the LINK to see if the called program was found and ran normally.