Re: Program standards

[Denis Robitaille <denisr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I have read with great interest the tread regarding DOW/DOU and named
indicator. Here is how we see it at my shop:

I use DOU if and only if i want to do at least 1 pass in the loop (1,n
relation). I use DOW otherwise (0,n relation). in the DOW loop, i use
the ITER with a READ before. This way, no change inside the loop can
cause trouble.

For the indicator thing. First, all are new development is done in ILE
RPG. To test the result of a read or a chain, we use an INFDS data
structure for each file, this way i have code like:
...
F FILE IC  E       K DISK    INFDS(i@FILE)
...
d @eof           c                   00011
d @NotFound      c                   00012
d @Found         c                   00000
...
d i@FILE    e ds       extname(geinfds) prefix(xxx_)
...
c     c@FILE     chain   FILE                 55
c                if      xxx_sts = @NotFound
....

Note: geinfds is an external DS that define the content of a data base
file infds.

      we use the prefix keyword to make sure that they are unique names
per file.

      we define constants for the differant possible outcome of a
read/chain operation.

we always use indicator 55 (for no particular reason).

this way, the code is indicator independant and, i think, clearer.

When we need other indicators (to controls subfile, display attribute
...) we use the technique that i first saw in NEWS/400 february 1997
page 65. In short, we overlay the array *IN with variables that have
more meaininful names. Ex: @sfldsp instead of *in42 to control the
sfldsp dds keyword. pc#fielda instead of *in29 to specify the position
cursor display attribute for the feild FIELDA.

With those 2 techniques, i can program indicatorless program without to
much fussing around.
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