Re: Identifier Does Not Exist

If the field (COBOL element) is not referenced in the program, the
compiler does not generate the necessary debugging information for it.
When you try to debug, it will yield the "Identifier does not exist"
message. You can compile the program with OPTION(*UNREF) and the compiler
will generate the necessary debugging information. The default is
OPTION(*NOUNREF) to reduce the size of the compiled program object.

CRTBNDCBL testlib/testpgm SRCF(srclib/srcfile) OPTION(*UNREF)

It can be a little deceptive as data can be received and passed through
these variables when calling another program, but if they aren't
referenced in your program you can't see it when debugging--although the
data is really there.

cobol400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 08/07/2009 05:26:08 AM:

----- Message from "RWMunday" <rwmunday@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on Thu, 6 Aug
2009 20:52:31 -0400 -----

To:

"'COBOL Programming on the iSeries/AS400'" <cobol400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject:

[COBOL400-L] Identifier Does Not Exist

Greeting from sunny Florida.


I'm a trained but infrequent COBOL programmer working in a multilingual
shop. I must utilize a routine to get a sequence number from a data

queue

which was written in 1993 and has no documentation. I attempted to

rewrite

it in RPG /Free but gave up and tried a different approach... modify an
existing functioning COBOL program and call it from my RPG program. By
copying out only the routines I needed, I've created a program which

does

precisely what is necessary to get this number from the data queue. My
problem is that it doesn't work and gives a really nasty error when one

of

the internal routines makes a call to an outside program and passes

parms.

While running it through debug and checking the values of each field

each

step of the way, I discovered that elements of the parms in the

offending

call `do not exist`. They are arranged thus:

05 Parm-Field-One.
10 Subfield-One Pic X(10) Value("PROGRAM")
10 Subfield-Two Pic X(10) Value("*LIBL")
10 Subfield-Three Pix X(10) Value("*ALL")

When I run the program through debug, subfield one is blank and the

other

two list as "Identifier Does Not Exist". I thought it may have been the
positioning of subfields two and three but I have another parm field

with

four elements... it finds one and four but two and three do not exist.

My clone has all of the necessary elements of the original which works.

Why

would 10 level defined fields not be available to my program?

If you reply after 7am eastern Friday, please write to me at
RMunday@xxxxxxxxxxxxx as I do not have access to online e-mail at work
(company directive).

Thanks,



Robert Munday
Munday Software Consultants
Montgomery, AL
On assignment in Jacksonville, FL