This week, I’m going to share a super-secret enhancement in the 7.3 release. The Display Job Log (DSPJOBLOG) command was enhanced with two new parameters: MSGF and DUPJOBOPT.
Display Job Log (DSPJOBLOG)
Type choices, press Enter.
Job name . . . . . . . . . . . . *_________ Name, *
User . . . . . . . . . . . . . __________ Name
Number . . . . . . . . . . . . ______ 000000-999999
Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . *_______ *, *PRINT, *APIDFN, *OUTFILE
File to receive output . . . . . __________ Name
Library . . . . . . . . . . . *LIBL_____ Name, *LIBL, *CURLIB
Output member options:
Member to receive output . . . *FIRST____ Name, *FIRST
Replace or add records . . . . *REPLACE *REPLACE, *ADD
Message file . . . . . . . . . . *MSG_ *MSG, *LIBL
Additional Parameters Duplicate job option . . . . . . *SELECT *SELECT, *MSG
Duplicate Job Option (DUPJOBOPT) Parameter
The duplicate job option parameter will allow you to select one job when there are several jobs with the same job name. It is the same parameter that is on many other job commands.
Message File (MSGF) Parameter
Multiple languages are supported on a single IBM i system with language libraries for each secondary language. The secondary language library is placed ahead of QSYS in the library list to use the other language. The secondary language library contains message files with translated operating system message descriptions.
The message file parameter was added to allow users on multilingual systems to view most operating system messages for other jobs in their language. When messages are formatted for display job log many of the current user’s job attributes such as date format and date separator are used. But prior to release 7.3 the message description used to format the message came from the message file found when the message was sent. The default value MSGF(*MSG) directs DSPJOBLOG to continue to use the message file found when the message was sent. The user’s current library list is searched to find the message file when MSGF(*LIBL) is used.
In this example, the system operator is using the QSYS2931 library containing Spanish language objects.
This is what the system operator is seeing for his job on device WS2931:

When we look at his joblog from our job using a primary English language this is how it looks with the different parameters:
> DSPJOBLOG JOB(WS2931) MSGF(*MSG)

> DSPJOBLOG JOB(WS2931) MSGF(*LIBL)

Work with Job option 10 (display job log) will use the current library list to find the message file.
This week’s blog was written by Mike Russel, who works on the IBM i work management team. Thanks Mike!
This blog post was originally published on IBMSystemsMag.com and is reproduced here by permission of IBM Systems Media.