RE: Multi Occurrence Data Structure returned from a procedure

 >> Is it possible to declare a multi occurrence data structure as the
return value from a procedure in a RPG/COBOL program.

Sort of - but you may not want to.  Also I'm not sure what you mean about
COBOL since there is no such thing in the language.

Three points:

1) You will (I'm fairly certain but don't have time to check) only be
returning one occurrence.  If you want to return multiples you should use a
DS array rather than a MODS.  They are much more useful anyway.

2) It is generally a bad idea to return anything as large as such a DS would
usually be.  All return values are just that - they are returned by _value_
i.e. copied.  OK for a 200 byte record - really bad idea for a honking great
DS.

3) If you must use a MODS then I would suggest you return a count of the
number of entries returned and pass the actual MODS itself as a parm.  If
you do this with a MODS you must ensure that the occurrence is set to 1
before you make the procedure call.

Jon Paris
Partner400

www.Partner400.com
www.RPGWorld.com