Conference vaxaxp::vmsnotes

411.0. "$request not displaying 255 character in V6.2 (6.1 works OK)" by COMICS::SUMNERC (OpenVMS Counter Intelligence) Wed Apr 02 1997 09:48

    Hi,
    
    A customer of mine raised the following issue between V6.2 and V6.1,
    which I managed to reproduce here at the UK CSC.  Can anyone offer any
    explanation for this change ?
    
    This is her command procedure (well my interpretation of it)
    $ lf[0,7]=10
    $ cr[0,7]=13
    $ linea = "***************************" + cr+lf
    $ lineb = "** CINCOM BATCH FAILURE  **" + cr+lf
    $ linec = "**   INVESTIGATE NOW!    **" + cr+lf
    $ lined = "WHILE RUNNING ''f$environment("procedure")'" + cr + lf
    $ test = cr + lf + "''linea' ''lineb' ''linec' ''linea' ''lined'"
    $request/to=oper1 "''test'"
    $exit
    
    On a V6.2 system we get the following output:
    %%%%%%%%%%%  OPCOM   2-APR-1997 14:27:06.55  %%%%%%%%%%%
    Message from user SUMNERC on REPLAY
    _REPLAY$TNA2:,
    ***************************
     ** CINCOM BATCH FAILURE  **
     **   INVESTIGATE NOW!    **
     ***************************
     WHILE
    
    
    On a V6.1 system we get the following output:
    %%%%%%%%%%%  OPCOM   2-APR-1997 14:29:25.00  %%%%%%%%%%%
    Message from user SUMNERC on TOPPER
    _TOPPER$VTA5:,
    ***************************
     ** CINCOM BATCH FAILURE  **
     **   INVESTIGATE NOW!    **
     ***************************
     WHILE RUNNING DISK$USERS2:[SUMNERC.UTILS]LIZ_BURN.COM;1
    
    
    I can't think what's causing the problem, but even with the CR/LF's you
    only get about 133 characters output.
    
    I'd appreciate any help/advice on this.
    
    Thanks in advance,
    
    Chris Sumner
    Enterprose Server Support, UK. (01256 373667)
    
    

    I'm fairly certain this question was asked recently -- try a COMET search.

    Steve,
    
    I'd already tried STARS and COMET, but couldn't find anything.  I had
    another check just now, and still can't see anything.
    
    Can anyone point me in the right direction.
    
    Regards,
    
    Chris Sumner

:    I'd already tried STARS and COMET, but couldn't find anything.  I had
:    another check just now, and still can't see anything.
:    Can anyone point me in the right direction.

   I *knew* I'd seen this before.  The answer is in the documentation for
   the REQUEST command: "The [REQUEST] string can be up to 128 characters". 
   The customer was relying on undocumented behaviour, and -- if memory serves
   from the previous discussions -- this limit was not being enforced in
   previous releases, and these larger messages were found to cause some
   problems.

    I asked the question last fall -- see note 1838 in VMSNOTES_V12.

    Thanks :-)