RE: external *PRTF (was: RE: 'ILE RPG' or 'RPG IV' . What's the d ifference!!!)

Dan,

Sorry for the delay in responding, they keep wanting me to do something
called "work" here.  Looks like a 4-letter-word to me, but they can be
pretty persuasive...

Yeah, in a function-key world using that would be tricky at best.  It
wouldn't take much, though, for IBM to make it as effective as
program-described print files.  If they did, would you use it instead of DDS
display files?  Why, or why not?

Let me be honest for a moment - in reality I'm somewhat agnostic on where
report layouts are defined, in the program or in DDS.  I have a slight
preference for DDS, mainly due to the fact that my previous employer had a
habit of wanting reports changed to do things which are easy to do in DDS
but not easy to do in RPG.  You only go through the conversion hassle a
couple of times before you realize that it would have saved time in the long
run if it was coded in DDS in the first place.  This little side trip was
mainly to see if the display file analogy held up or not - I think it does.

Dave Shaw
Spartan International, Inc.
Spartanburg, SC

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bale, Dan [mailto:DBale@lear.com]
> Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2000 2:22 PM
> To: 'RPG400-L@midrange.com'
> Subject: RE: external *PRTF (was: RE: 'ILE RPG' or 'RPG IV' . 
> What's the
> d ifference!!!)
> 
> 
> O.K., well, um, that was ... neat!  I must admit I've never heard of a
> no-source display file before.  I think I know why.  I _did_ 
> qualify what I
> was after, though.  I asked if it was possible to do 
> _meaningful_ screen
> I/O.  I dunno, Dave, I'd be hard pressed to let a user work 
> with a screen
> like that.  <g>
> 
> - Dan Bale
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:       Shaw, David [SMTP:dshaw@spartan.com]
> > Sent:       Thursday, April 13, 2000 1:36 PM
> > To: 'RPG400-L@midrange.com'
> > Subject:    RE: external *PRTF (was: RE: 'ILE RPG' or 'RPG 
> IV' . What's
> > the d ifference!!!)
> > 
> > Dan,
> > 
> > Responses in-line.
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Bale, Dan [mailto:DBale@lear.com]
> > > 
> > > Dave,
> > > 
> > > I beg to differ.  QPRINT & QSYSPRT are indeed printer file 
> > > objects, but they
> > > are not externally described.  
> > 
> > DSPFD of QSYSPRT shows that it has 1 record format with 0 
> fields defined
> > in
> > it.  Hmm, I see the system allows me to create a display 
> file with the
> > same
> > type of setup.  Now, if I write a program to use that, what happens?
> >  
> > > Still, no one has answered the question.  Is it possible to 
> > > do meaningful
> > > screen I/O with a display file created with SRCFILE(*NONE) 
> > > using only RPG
> > > I-specs and O-specs?  If there is, I can't see how it could 
> > > be as simple to
> > > code as internal printer file O-specs; you and someone else 
> > > mentioned UDDS -
> > > enough said?
> > 
> > Well, based on a trivial test I just did, I must say YES!  
> I created a
> > display file named TEST using SRCFILE(*NONE), then wrote 
> this ugly little
> > RPG III program to use it.  I didn't use cycle control 
> <grin>, but I used
> > this display file just as I would QSYSPRT if I could read 
> it and LO!  IT'S
> > ALIVE!!! <vbg>  I'm not sure whether it could or how it 
> would support
> > function keys, since the display file doesn't provide for them, but
> > function
> > keys are a convenience that we've gotten used to, not a 
> requirement for a
> > practical screen-handling program.  Set up the hex 
> attributes that you
> > want
> > for the screen as constants and just go to program-described town!
> > 
> > Here's the RPG:
> > 
> >      FTEST    CF  F    1919            WORKSTN              
> >      ITEST    NS                                            
> >      I                                        1   1 DUMB    
> >      C                     MOVEL'TEST'    TEST1   4         
> >      C                     EXCPT                            
> >      C                     READ TEST                     90 
> >      C                     SETON                     LR     
> >      OTEST    E                                             
> >      O                         TEST1      4                 
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