SYSOUT stuff
The things covered in other notes have been about input and output data sets for programs. But often you also want a sysout, which JES will store on the spool.
At minimum the type of SYSOUT created by your job includes condition codes produced from running of programs, resources allocated to the job, statistics and any significant messages. There are other types of SYSOUTs as well
- Formatted or unformatted reports of data extracted from input sources
- Information to be sent to customers that needs to be printed on special forms
- Dumps or other debugging stuff
Different organisations will have different standards regarding how different types of printed output are created. They will also have rules for how long it will remain on the spool.
if your job does not have a SYSOUT data set DD statement that a program requires, it will likely cause issues and cause errors. Some programs might still work and just include an error / warning in the log, while others, especially if their output is meant to be visual might just stop your job from working properly.
sysout parameter
The most common parameter when dealing with SYSOUT is the SYSOUT parameter
SYSOUT
This parameter in its simplest form is used to assign a class to output directed to that DD statement. Classes and their attributes are defined during JES initialization and any deviation from those are shown as overrides of the defaults.
The value of this parameter should be a valid JES class, however it can also be an asterisk *
When this happens, the class will be taken from the MSGCLASS JOB Positional parameters
This parameter can also take a few sub parameters to alter how it works. Those parameters are positional so you need a comma to skip them.
Writer-name
An external writer may be required to process the sysout that cannot be handled by JES. For example to esnd the data to a specific printer or data set not supported by JES
Form-name
If the sysout needs to be printed on a specific type of form, then you can specify a 1-4 character form name to be used. Once created it can only be printed when a printer definition has been configured to process that specific form name and class.
INTRDR
This instructs the system to use the sysout as an input job stream.
This can be used when your job creates some customized JCL to submit it to the internal reader (hence the name)
Code-name
The code name is used if you need to reference an earlier JES2 /*OUTPUT statement. If the name is not the name of one, the system will assume that it is a form name.
Nullification
you might encounter a situation where you have to code a SYSOUT statement but you need to nullify a sysout data set. You can just assign nothing or (,) to the parameter
If you assign an incorrect class to the sysout there are a few things that might happen
- output that would normally start printing might just sit on the output queue
- you might not be able to find the sysout from a job
- it might be automatically deleted
multiple copies
You might encounter a scenario where you need multiple copies of SYSOUT printerd. You can do that with the COPIES parameter
COPIES
If you want to print multiple copies of a SYSOUT, you can specify the number of copies you want to print with this parameter
Routing the output somewhere else
You can also achieve the same with a /* statement
Those JES2 statements are usually placed after the JOB statement so its easy to see them.
The advanced stuff
OUTLIM
OUTLIM
Sometimes you need to curb the enthusiasm of the output and limit how long it can be.
You can use the OUTLIM parameter to limit the maximum amount of records to be produced in the sysout data set before the system limit exit routine is called.
in most cases this will result in the job being terminated with the 722 system code
HOLD
HOLD
You can use this parameter to place a hold on sysout.
You might want to do this for a few reasons
- The output needs to be printed and should be inspected by a real person beforehand
- The output is very large and you don't want it to take over the printer for a long time when it is needed
- It needs a special form that might not be always handy
It has a very simple syntax with the value ofYESholding the output and the default ofNOnot doing that
FREE
FREE
If the output is to be printed the system will normally wait until the job has completed and then attempt to find an available printer.
If you have a job that runs for a very long time, you can use
FREE=CLOSE parameter which will un-allocate the sysout data set when it is closed.
This will let the output to be considered for printing immediately after it is closed, not after the job has finished
JES2 OUTPUT statement
This has been mentioned before, but you might see the JES2 output statement. 
This allows you to code the requirements only once and reference them later on.
The OUTPUT JCL statement is recommended over this approach, as it includes more parameters.
Note that when referencing the JCL statement the OUTPUT parameter needs to be included.
As well as being able to assign several extra attributes, this statement can be processed in multiple ways. You cna see the sysout being processed twice here
You can also merge inline parameters with the ones from the previous statement like this 
You can also make an OUTPUT statement default
and then only override what you need from there
When using the OUTPUT statement you can also extend the DEST parameter to include IP addresses
You can also include PRTY in the OUTPUT statement, this cannot be done with a usual DD statement!
You can also use it to tell the system what to do with the output after the job has finished
Some of the other parameters of the OUTPUT statement can be seen below
