Re: Question about QSYGETPH and long passwords

[Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Vern,

a) TYPE(*INT) was added to CL in V5R3 (so you may not need V5R4).

b) Prior to V5R3, you could use a TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(4) and assign a binary 
value with the %BIN() function.

Granted, the %BIN() function isn't a true integer.  It's like data type 
B in RPG -- it'd be limited to 999999999 as the highest value.  However, 
that's probably adequate for the length of a password.  (Or, I pity the 
user who has to type a 1 billion character long password!)

So, I don't think the release is the most important issue here.

More important, I think, is to make sure the length parameter matches 
the actual length of the password.  Not the variable the password is 
stored in -- but the length of the password itself.

You see, we're used to passing in a TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(10) variable for the 
password, and then telling the API that the password length is 10. The 
system ignores the trailing blanks in the field.   However, with longer 
password support (and someone will correct me if I'm wrong) these 
trailing blanks are not ignored by the API.  To ignore them, you need 
the length that you pass to the API to match exactly the length of the 
password itself.  That way, the API won't even look at the trailing blanks.

Not sure if that description is any good -- I'm about half asleep -- but 
maybe you can figure out what I'm saying.

Another concern is the infamous 32 character rule for parameters.  If 
the password is coming in as a parameter, and the parm is longer than 32 
chars, there might be some really interesting issues if the data is not 
passed in a manner that's safe for longer variables.

Anyway, Jack... if you need more help, you need to provide more 
information.   How are your parameters defined?  What are the values in 
them?  Are those values supplied via parameters?  Or do you display a 
screen? or where do you get them from?

Vernon Hamberg wrote:
> What version of the OS are you on? Is it V5R4? Or earlier? I'm going 
> to take a shot at being Scoot K for a bit - you have integer 
> arguments for this API, you probably can't use it in CL before V5R4. 
> So make an RPGLE module and bind it to your CL.