CICS Program Control

Code Example

## CICS Program Control

Manage program execution flow in CICS.

### LINK Command
Call program, expect return:
\`\`\`cobol
EXEC CICS LINK PROGRAM('name') COMMAREA(area) END-EXEC
\`\`\`

### XCTL Command
Transfer control, no return:
\`\`\`cobol
EXEC CICS XCTL PROGRAM('name') COMMAREA(area) END-EXEC
\`\`\`

### RETURN Command
End program/transaction:
\`\`\`cobol
EXEC CICS RETURN END-EXEC
EXEC CICS RETURN TRANSID('xxxx') COMMAREA(area) END-EXEC
\`\`\`

### COMMAREA
Communication area passed between programs:
- Max 32K bytes
- Preserved across pseudoconverse
- Shared between linked programs

### DFHCOMMAREA
Linkage section definition for received commarea.

### Transaction Chaining
RETURN with TRANSID chains transactions.