Re: Trigger program input buffer layout

Actually, that explains it exactly.  I wasn't aware that RPG
was passing parameters the same way C does, by giving a
pointer to the start of the memory location.  That explains
it totally, so now I know what I can do.

In C, I would define a pointer to a structure, and assign
that pointer the value passed by the parameter with an
offset.  I can do the same thing in RPG.

Thanks!

Regards,

Jim Langston

Scott Klement wrote:

> Jim Langston <jlangston@conexfreight.com> wrote:
> >
> > Scott,
> >
> > I thought about doing it something like this, but how do
> > you know the Parm1 size before hand?  Or does it matter?
> >
> > You are setting Parm1 up as 3072 bytes, how do you know
> > it is this size?  And does it matter?
>
> You don't need to know the size beforehand...  I picked 3072
> because I felt it'd always be long enough to allow me to get
> the address of the start of my record buffer.  Its possible that
> it won't work if I'm using a really large record format, (but you
> usually know at least the APPROXIMATE size of your record format
> at compile time)
>
> All the array is doing is proving me with a way of offsetting my
> pointer.   IF you're using a newer version of the operating system,
> and can do direct pointer arithmetic, you don't need the array at
> all, and then you don't have to worry about sizes at all...
>
> >
> > I thought that if I specified a parameter larger than my actual
> > parameter I would get problems.  For instance, say I had
> > 2 parameters I was passing as length 5 strings.  If I declared
> > them as length 10 in my program, wouldn't I actually get both
> > passed values in my first parameter?
>
> You might -- but you can't rely on that fact.  Parameters are passed
> by "reference".  This means that for each parameter, the program
> making the call passes the memory address that the paramter is
> stored in, and the program thats being called puts its parameters
> into the area of memory that the calling program passed.
>
> Does that make sense?
>
> Here's a (somewhat oversimplified) example:
>
> The calling program has two strings declared, 5 bytes each.  Lets
> call them String1 & String2.  At startup, it asks OS/400 for two
> areas of memory, each 5-bytes long.  The operating system
> tells the program that it can use (for example) area 1A amd area 27
>
> So the memory might look like this (purely an example)
>                      1               2               3
>      0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABDEF
>      ---already-used-memory----XXXXX--used--XXXXX--free-memory----
>
> Where XXXXX denotes the areas of memory that were given to the
> program to use.
>
> Now, the program puts some data into those areas.
> c                   eval      String1 = 'Data1'
> c                   eval      String2 = 'Data2'
>
> Memory now looks like this:
>                      1               2               3
>      0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABDEF
>      ---already-used-memory----Data1--used--Data2--free-memory----
>
> Now it calls another program:
>
> c                   call      'PGM2'
> c                   parm                    String1
> c                   parm                    String2
>
> Because String1 is area 1A, and String2 is area 27, what its actually
> doing is telling the program that its to put its first parm in area
> 1A, and the 2nd parm in area 27.
>
> So as Pgm2 starts up, it checks its parameter definitiions, and it
> has this:
>
> c     *entry        plist
> c                   parm                    EntParm1         10
> c                   parm                    EntParm2          5
>
> Because these are parameters, rather than requesting an area of
> memory from the operating system, it takes the area that was given
> by the calling program.   EntParm1 is in area 1A, EntParm2 is in
> area 27.
>
> Memory still looks like this, so:
>                      1               2               3
>      0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABDEF
>      ---already-used-memory----Data1--used--Data2--free-memory----
>                                XXXXXXXXXX   XXXXX
> This is where the parms would be...
>
> So, because we made EntParm1 10 bytes long, it'll be pointed at
> the "Data1" but then will go on to look at whatever is in the area
> of memory beyond that...   (which is unknown to us)
>
> If (by luck) the operating system had placed String1 in area 1A,
> and String2 in area 1F, then we would've gotten both strings in one...
> and this probably happens frequently, but its not something we can
> rely upon.  If we did, we'd have "random crashes" (much like we
> associate with Windows programs) when the area of memory allocated
> didn't happen to be contiguous.
>
> >
> > Perhaps this is a good time to use the VARYING length
> > definition?
>
> If you're using a release of OS/400 new enough to use a VARYING
> length field, you can probably do direct pointer manipulation,
> as well.   If this is the case, you don't need to define a field
> there at all, just offset the pointer "NewOffset" bytes from the
> beginning of the data structure.
>
> It doesn't matter that "NewOffset" takes you beyond the length of
> "Parm1" because when you declare parameters, you're not allocating
> the memory for them.   The CALLING program is.   In this case, the
> operating system declares the memory, and you can trust it to declare
> enough memory that the offset that its sending you won't exceed that
> space.
>
> Of course, if you're worried about it, the length of the data is also
> passed to you in the 2nd parm.   You can double check it by doing
> something like this:
>
> c                   if        NewOffset+%SIZE(dsRecord) > Parm2
> c***   .. handle situation where not space was allocated for the
> c***      size of the externally defined data structure ..
> c                   endif
>
> Hope that helps...  (If it doesn't, I'm not sure how to explain it)
>
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