RE: Object overloading (data)

I vote that you're trying to do too much with one call.  Break it up
into multiple procedures, one for Zip code resolution and another for
address resolution, and make the API as simple as you can.  


-----Original Message-----
From: java400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:java400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Christen, Duane J.
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 9:19 AM
To: 'java400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: Object overloading (data)

In building an API on the i5 with RPGIV which is intended to be callable
from native and web applications I have come across a possible problem
that I have not encountered before. 
 
The API is used to select from a list of addresses, for a customer
location, from a USPS City/State/Zip table and a USPS Street address
table, scored by how well the address matches the user provided
information. Depending on the user provided information the city state
zip lookup may result in more than
1 match, e.g.. If the user only provides the city and state and that
city has more than one zip code the API needs to return the list (data
structure/object) to the caller which will display the list to the user
who will select the appropriate zip code and call the API again with the
additional information (zip code). The API will then find a single match
in the USPS City/State/Zip table and continue on to lookup the street
address from the user provided information, and return a list of matches
to the caller.
 
In RPGIV I am overloading the data structure by using the first 10 bytes
of the structure to "name" the format and using the larger of the two
structures as the procedure return variable definition. The calling code
looks a the first 10 bytes and determines if the API is returning the
City/State/Zip structure or the Address structure and does the
appropriate processing.
 
Now, finally, to my question. If the caller is a Java method can it
determine, using the first 10 bytes, if the object/structure returned to
it is a City/State/Zip or Address object?
 
Is there a better way to handle structure/object return value
overloading for RPGIV/Java?
 
Thanks
Duane Christen



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