For z/OS COBOL this function is named

GETRNGES

.

Contained in the

Ranges Array

will be a set of "Start" and "End" Key values. These should be used by the calling program to form a set of SQL select statements, or one SQL select statement with a number of

OR’s

.

For example, the

Ranges Array

may contain the following Ranges:

Range #1: Y/$$$$$$ Y/$$$$$/
Range #2: WR$$$$$$ WR$$$$$/

In which case the calling program will select records from the SSA-NAME3 Key Table where SSANAME3 Key values are:

GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO "Y/$$$$$$" AND LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO "Y/$$$$$/"
OR
GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO "WR$$$$$$" AND LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO "WR$$$$$/"

When using

KEY_SIZE=5

, you will still allocate space for 8 byte key ranges (that is, 16 bytes), however the last 6 bytes of each range pair is unused (that is, only the first 10 bytes are used).

Required Ranges:

ssan3_get_ranges

will return a maximum of 1024 ranges. The

MAX_ENTRIES

Control can be used to specify a lower maximum value.

Key Size: 8 byte keys must be used in an application environment that uses the SSA-NAME3 server.