Understanding Classic Control-M XML Definitions | Generated by AI

Home 2026.01

Question: How to understand Control-M XML?

Answer:

Control-M XML files define job scheduling definitions (jobs, folders, SMART folders, calendars, etc.) in a structured format used by Control-M/Enterprise Manager (Control-M/EM) utilities like defjob, exportdefjob, updatedef, and others.

These files are plain text XML and follow Control-M’s specific schema (historically validated against .dtd files in older versions).

Two Main Contexts for Control-M XML (important to distinguish)

  1. Classic Control-M/EM XML (older versions, pre ~9.0.20, still widely used)
    • Used with utilities: emdef, defjob, exportdefjob, copydefjob, etc.
    • Structure uses uppercase tags like <JOB>, <FOLDER>, <INCOND>, <OUTCOND>, <AUTOEDIT2>, <DOMAIL>, etc.
    • Attributes define parameters (e.g. JOBNAME="MyJob", NODEID="agent-host")

    Typical root elements:

    • <JOB>
    • <FOLDER> or <SMART_FOLDER>
    • <CALENDAR>

    Common child elements:

    • Scheduling: <DAYS>, <WEEKDAYS>, <MONTHS>, <CAL rule-based calendars>
    • Dependencies: <INCOND>, <OUTCOND>
    • Execution: <CMDLINE>, <SCRIPTNAME>, <NODEID>, <CREATOR>
    • On-do actions: <ON CODE="COMPSTAT=0">, <DO MAIL>, <DO OK>
    • Variables: <AUTOEDIT2 NAME="%%VAR" VALUE="value"/>
  2. Modern Control-M JSON / Automation API style (Control-M 9.0.18+, SaaS, Automation API)
    • Uses JSON, not XML (although XML support existed earlier and is now deprecated in many places)
    • Structure: "Type": "Job:Command", "Command": "echo hello", "RunAs": "user1", etc.
    • Folders/jobs defined as nested JSON objects

If your XML file starts with tags like <JOB JOBNAME="..." ...>, it’s the classic XML format.

How to Understand / Read Classic Control-M XML

Step-by-step approach

  1. Open in a good editor
    • VS Code, Notepad++, IntelliJ, Oxygen XML Editor, etc.
    • Use XML syntax highlighting and folding
  2. Look at the top-level structure 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<JOB
    JOBNAME="MyApp_Daily_Report"
    TABLENAME="DAILY"
    APPLGROUP="Finance"
    APPLIC="Reporting"
    NODEID="server-prod-01"
    ...
>
    <CMDLINE>run_report.sh</CMDLINE>
    ...
</JOB>

    or folder style:

    <FOLDER NAME="Finance_Daily">
    <JOB ...> ... </JOB>
    <JOB ...> ... </JOB>
</FOLDER>
  3. Key sections to focus on
    • Identification — JOBNAME, TABLENAME (table/dataset), APPLGROUP, APPLIC, DESC
    • Agent / Execution — NODEID (agent), CREATOR, RUN_AS, CMDLINE / SCRIPTNAME / TASKTYPE
    • Scheduling — DAYS, WEEKDAYS, MONTH, DATES, CAL rules
    • Prerequisites — INCOND (waits for these conditions)
    • Outcome — OUTCOND (sets these conditions when finished)
    • On actions — ON CODE=”…” DO MAIL / SHOUT / OK / NOTOK / RERUN / …
    • AutoEdit variables — <AUTOEDIT2 NAME="%%MY_VAR" VALUE="xyz"/>
  4. Practical ways to make it readable
    • Load into Control-M/EM Planning domain → File → Open (or drag & drop XML) → view graphically
    • Use Control-M Desktop (older versions) or Control-M Workbench
    • Export from Planning domain to workspace XML → easier to read visually first
    • Apply an XSLT stylesheet (if you can find an old community one) to convert to HTML

Quick Mapping Table (classic XML → meaning)

XML Tag/Attribute Meaning / Equivalent in GUI
JOBNAME Job name
TABLENAME Table / Data set name
APPLGROUP Group
NODEID Run on Agent / Host
INCOND NAME=… SIGN=DEL Waits for condition (predecessor)
OUTCOND NAME=… SIGN=ADD Creates condition (successor trigger)
AUTOEDIT2 AutoEdit variable (%%VAR)
ON CODE=”COMPSTAT≠0” If action: when job fails / specific code
DOMAIL Send email notification

Note: Since ~2022–2024, BMC has been deprecating XML in many places (Automation API, exports, etc.) in favor of JSON. If you’re starting new work, prefer JSON definitions via Automation API.

References:

Back

x-ai/grok-4.1-fast

Donate