RE: /if, /define, binder language

rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>   4. /if, /define, binder language (Richard B Baird)
>
>I'm a little fuzzy on the /IF and /DEFINE declarations.
>
>I remember seeing them discussed before, and I think they have something to
>do with optionally defining portions of a copybook to your program......
>
>am i right?  what does it buy you other than the memory needed to define
>these specific specs?

Richard, one example... A lot of related APIs are used both for streamfiles and 
for sockets, others only make sense for streamfiles and still others only for 
sockets. Taking that a step further, some sockets APIs are useful when you're 
writing a server and others are useful for either server or client. In total, 
there's a LOT of prototypes in the whole bunch but you might only use a couple 
subsets in a given program.

By using /if defined()/endif pairs in your copy module for these APIs and 
defining the sets of condition names that tell which parts you want, you can 
get a compiler listing that is less than a couple hundred pages long and half 
of it isn't wasted with references you don't need.

A second example that I've used is to add report specs, expanded error 
procedures to do the printing and related definitions all blocked by /if 
defined(TESTING_ONLY)/endif pairs. Then when I compile for test runs, I define 
the TESTING_ONLY condition name and get the extra stuff added in. When I do the 
real production compile, the only change I have to make is to leave off the 
TESTING_ONLY condition name from the CRTRPGMOD command. In production, I don't 
have the extra stuff but it goes back in without changing a line of code.

Lots of other ways to use this once you've seen it work. In short, if the 
condition name doesn't match, then the compiler effectively doesn't even see 
those blocked lines of code.

Tom Liotta

-- 
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertechgroup.com


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