Allocating a session to the conversation

Initially, there is no conversation, and therefore no conversation state. By issuing an ALLOCATE command, the front-end transaction acquires a session to start a new conversation.

The RESP value returned should be checked to ensure that a session has been allocated. If successfully allocated, DFHRESP(NORMAL), the conversation is in allocated state (state 1) and the session identifier ( convid ) from EIBRSRCE must be saved immediately.

The convid must be used in subsequent commands for this conversation. Figure 1 shows a program fragment containing an example of the ALLOCATE command. You will notice that the PROFILE option has been omitted from the command.

If the PROFILE option is specified for an MRO link, CICS® ignores it at execution time. So none of the facilities selected through use of a profile (for example, RTIMEOUT and JOURNALING) are available. The front-end transaction has no control over its session processing options when an MRO session is being used.

A back-end transaction with an MRO session as its principal facility will be sent the INBFMH parameter by CICS, regardless of the what the front-end transaction specifies on the PROFILE option of the ALLOCATE command.