Begin Print File (BPF) and End Print File (EPF) structured fields
MO:DCA-P data that ACIF processes might contain BPF and EPF structured fields, which define the boundaries of a print file. The BPF structured field is at the beginning of the MO:DCA-P input file and the EPF structured field is at the end of the file.
Some products concatenate the ACIF resource file (RESOBJDD) to the front of the output file (OUTPUTDD). However, if any data, such as a resource group, is found before the BPF structured field or after the EPF structured field in the ACIF output file, the MO:DCA-P data stream is not valid. By default, ACIF removes the BPF and EPF structured fields from the MO:DCA-P input file before it processes the file. Also, if the input file contains an index object, ACIF ignores it and does not pass it to the output file.
The EXTENSION=PASSPF parameter indicates that ACIF passes the BPF and EPF structured fields to the output file when they are found in the input file. This parameter also controls whether a BPF/EPF structured field pair that the input record exit tries to insert is actually inserted. If PASSPF is not specified and the input record tries to insert a BPF/EPF pair, the attempt fails and the pair is discarded.
- Note:
- Be careful when you use PASSPF. If the output file contains BPF and EPF structured fields and it is concatenated with the resource file, the resulting MO:DCA-P data stream is not valid.
- When PASSPF is specified and there is a BPF and EPF structured field pair in the input file, ACIF passes all Begin Document (BDT) and End Document (EDT) structured field pairs from the MO:DCA-P input file to the output data stream without adding the normal comment and time stamp triplets.
- ACIF issues an error message if PASSPF is specified with the IDXCPGID parameter. If EXTENSIONS=ALL is specified, PASSPF is ignored and IDXCPGID is used.
- ACIF does not verify whether the input file is MO:DCA IS/3 compliant.
Before ACIF discards or passes the BPF and EPF structured fields, it checks the placement and format of the pair in the input file; for example, if the input file contains a BPF structured field, it must also contain an EPF structured field. If the BPF/EPF pair is incorrect, ACIF issues an error message. If the placement and format is correct, ACIF discards or passes the pair.