VARSUB – Control variable substitution

Use the VARSUB command to control how variable substitution is performed within Workload Automation Programming Language. You can specify VARSUB commands at any point in the Workload Automation Programming Language command stream, except within a Batch Loader construct for an object.

VARSUB [SCAN[(prefix,suffix)]|NOSCAN] [CLOSE[(table)]] [SEARCH(list)]
       [TABLE(table)] [VARFAIL(ASIS|FAIL|NULL)]          

SCAN[(prefix,suffix)]

Activates Workload Automation Programming Language variable substitution. Without any arguments, the variable prefix is set to an exclamation mark (!) and the suffix to a period (.). For example, VARSUB SCAN results in a variable convention like !MYVAR.

By setting prefix and suffix, you can modify the way variables are specified. For example, VARSUB SCAN(<,>) results in a variable convention like <MYVAR>.

Note: If you use the same character for prefix and suffix, you must specify both the prefix and suffix each time a variable immediately follows another variable, such as in %MYVAR1%%MYVAR2%

When a VARSUB SCAN statement is found, it automatically opens the Application and Global tables.If you want to open only specific tables, use the SEARCH keyword before the SCAN keyword, as in the following example:

VARSUB SEARCH(MYTABLE,NOAPPL,NOGLOBAL) SCAN

NOSCAN

deactivates Workload Automation Programming Language variable substitution. The table search sequence is left as it is; if variable substitution is activated again in the statements, the same search sequence is used.

If substitution is being deactivated and you don not plan to activate it again in the Workload Automation Programming Language statements, close all open tables by using the CLOSE keyword in conjunction with NOSCAN, as in the following example:

VARSUB NOSCAN CLOSE

CLOSE[(table)]

Closes a table and remove it from the search sequence. The variable definitions and any dependencies are dropped from storage, so it is good practice for systems with large tables or many dependent variable values. It does not drop the value of any variable that has already been referenced from the closed table, those values remain accessible for the remainder of the Workload Automation Programming Language process.

You can close a single table, for example VARSUB CLOSE(MYTABLE), or close all open tables, including the Application and Global tables, by not specifying a table name.

If you need to close multiple tables, the CLOSE keyword can be repeated, for example VARSUB CLOSE(MYTABLE1) CLOSE(MYTABLE2)

SEARCH(table,table,table,APPL|NOAPPL,GLOBAL|NOGLOBAL)

Sets the order in which tables are searched for variables. By default, Workload Automation Programming Language first searches tables opened with TABLE keywords, starting with the most recently opened. Then it searches the Application table (if one is specified for the occurrence running the Workload Automation Programming Language job) and the Global table.

If not specified in the SEARCH keyword, the Application and Global tables are automatically added as the last 2 tables in the sequence. Specifying NOAPPL means that the Application table is not searched, and specifying NOGLOBAL means that the Global table is not searched.

For example:

• VARSUB SEARCH(MYTABLE1,MYTABLE2) sets the search sequence to MYTABLE1, then MYTABLE2, then the Application table, followed by the Global table.
• VARSUB SEARCH(MTABLE1,APPL,MYTABLE2) sets the search sequence to MYTABLE1, then the Application table, then MYTABLE2, followed by the Global table.
• VARSUB SEARCH(MTABLE1,APPL,MYTABLE2,NOGLOBAL) sets the search sequence to MYTABLE1, then the Application table, then MYTABLE2. The Global table is not searched.

Tables already open but not specified in the SEARCH keyword, are automatically closed. Tables that were not open and are specified in the SEARCH keyword, are automatically opened.

VARFAIL(ASIS|FAIL|NULL)

Defines what to do if a variable referenced in a Workload Automation Programming Language statement is not found:

ASIS

The variable is left unresolved in the Workload Automation Programming Language statement.

FAIL

The parsing for the statement fails and it is not performed (default).

NULL

The variable is considered to have a null value and is assumed to belong to the first table in the table search sequence, at the point where it is referenced.

TABLE(table)

Opens a table and add it to the front of table search sequence. Opening a table loads the definition, including the dependencies, of each variable within the table, but it does not set any values of Workload Automation Programming Language variables. This occurs only when a variable is referenced within a Workload Automation Programming Language statement.

With the TABLE keyword you can open only one table at a time. To add multiple tables to the search sequence, you can repeat the TABLE keyword as in the following example:

VARSUB TABLE(MYTABLE1) TABLE(MYTABLE2)

Note: Because Workload Automation Programming Language first searches the latest opened table, the above command results in MYTABLE2 being searched before MYTABLE1.