Re: Operational Descriptor for Data Structure using CEEDOD

[boldt@xxxxxxxxxx]

Dave wrote:
>When I pass a string to CEEDOD it correctly describes the parameter.
>When I pass a character data structure it says "Missing operational
>descriptor" .  Of course, I can copy the data structure into a string
>and pass it as a parameter (which works), but I am curious, how do
>others handle data structures with options(*varsize) with opdesc in the
>prototype?

Originally, operational descriptors were supposed to be much
more functional than they ended up as.  One intention was to
be able to describe all of the subfields of a structure.
This was not to be, but hope remained.  As a result, it was
decided at the time not to do anything for data structures
in the expectation that the full design would someday be
realised.

But the other way of looking at RPG data structures is that
they are simply character fields.  We've been fantasizing
about improved DS support ourselves, but that can't change
the way existing DS's work.

The bottom line is that even if no other improvements to
operational descriptors happen, we should probably at least
consider DS's as character fields in the OD.

Cheers!  Hans

Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com


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