TransactionParser

Parse files containing transaction data using COBOL copybooks into a TypeScript object.

Documentation is published on Github Pages.

Parse copybooks

This package supports parsing a copybook into a TypeScript object.

const parser = new CopybookParser('/path/to/copybook'); // Supports any extension
parser.parse(); // Load copybook as object

parser.getParsedCopybook(); // Retrieve copybook as object
parser.toJson(); // Retrieve copybook as JSON string

Want to use a different copybook? Just update the path to the copybook:

parser.updateCopybookPath('/path/to/another/copybook');

Note: This will clear previously parsed copybook data

Example

The following copybook:

       01 CUSTOMER-RECORD.
          05 CUSTOMER-NAME.
             10 FIRST-NAME             PIC X(15).

Will be parsed and represented as a JSON object:

[
  {
    "level": 1,
    "name": "CUSTOMER-RECORD",
    "picture": "group",
    "length": 0,
    "signed": false,
    "usage": "display",
    "dataPosition": {
      "offset": 0,
      "byteLength": 0
    },
    "decimals": 0,
    "children": [
      {
        "level": 5,
        "name": "CUSTOMER-NAME",
        "picture": "group",
        "length": 0,
        "signed": false,
        "usage": "display",
        "dataPosition": {
          "offset": 0,
          "byteLength": 0
        },
        "decimals": 0,
        "children": [
          {
            "level": 10,
            "name": "FIRST-NAME",
            "picture": "string",
            "length": 15,
            "signed": false,
            "usage": "display",
            "dataPosition": {
              "offset": 0,
              "byteLength": 15
            },
            "decimals": 0,
            "value": "               "
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

Transaction Packages and Transactions

This package uses the term transaction package to indicate a package containing zero or more transactions. A Transaction is the representation of the parsed copybook and it's values.

Usage

Create a new (empty) transaction package:

import { TransactionPackage } from 'transactionparser';

const copybookPath = '/Path/to/copybook';
const tp = new TransactionPackage(copybookPath);

Once a transaction package is created, you can either fill it with empty transactions:

tp.createEmptyTransaction();

Or load the contents of a Mainframe file downloaded in binary mode:

const dataFile = '/Path/to/binary/file';
tp.loadFile(dataFile);

Editing data from a transaction

The transactions property on the transaction package can be used to retrieve an array of all transactions in the package. Alternatively, helper methods like getFirstTransaction() or getLastTransaction() are also available.

To update the value for the FIRST-NAME field, you can:

tp.transactions[0].getCopybookItem('FIRST-NAME').setValue('Jules');

Saving data

The TransactionPackage class provides the functionality to write the package back to a file, that can the, for example using the Zowe CLI, be uploaded back to the Mainframe.

tp.save('/path/my_modified_transaction');

Note: This uses the TransactionPackage#toBuffer() method which will add the new line character, EBCDIC byte x'15' at the end of every transaction.

Alternatively, you can also use the toJson() or toBuffer() methods to convert the transaction package to a stringyfied JSON array or buffer.

CLI

This package also provides a Command Line Interface (CLI) to convert a (binairy) transaction file into a JSON or CSV file.

Installation

Install the package globally using:

npm i -g transactionparser

This will make the transactionparser (or the shorter traper version) available in your terminal.

Usage

• trapar -h Show Help info with available commands
• trapar parse -h Show help info for the parse command

Convert data to JSON

trapar parse 'path/to/data' -c 'path/to/copybook' -f 'JSON' -o 'output.txt'` 

Convert the data at path/to/data using the copybook located at /path/to/copybook and format it to a JSON string stored in output.txt

Convert data to CSV

trapar parse 'path/to/data' -c 'path/to/copybook' -f 'CSV' -o 'output.csv'