Re: Another neat idea (well I think it is anyway)

As ILE continues to move forward all the languages will support all of the
same primitives so the prompter piece could be very generic. The prompter
object would provide the information concering size/type and also provide
the ability to specifiy text and keywords with possible value
substitution... all in all very similar to the CL prompter (which is the
greatest thing since sliced bread). Only the prompter object would be tied
to a procedure rather than an external program object. Perhaps the prompter
object could in fact provide the prototype defs... In C I would imagine it
would have to be in a #pragma section, In RPG I could see you referencing it
in a D-Spec or another special specification type.

As RPG moves into the CF spec (which is what I envison this being used for
primarily) I would think that it would not be astronomically difficult to
accomplish this. I know I am lazy and I HATE to have two or three terminal
sessions open (one track mind and all). But I say that the greatest
inventions of man have been motivated by laziness. An all the time I spend
flipping back and forth to make sure I have the parameters matching the
prototype... then switching gears again to get into programming mode
(sometimes up to 15 minutes to fully recover) I see alot of value to this
approach as I still after all these years on the S38-AS/400 use the command
prompter almost all the time except on DCL lines :-)

I just think that this would go a long way toward making life easier for the
average RPG programmer who is moving to ILE.

Eric

______________________________________________
Eric N. Wilson
President
Doulos Software & Computer Services
2913 N Alder St
Tacoma WA 98407


----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Bipes <rpg@cross-check.com>
To: <RPG400-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 8:30 PM
Subject: RE: Another neat idea (well I think it is anyway)


> Yes, this could save a lot.  But I have to ask, which language do you
create
> the prototype prompt for?  RPG, COBOL, C,...  Now for me to create
prototype
> in RPG and provide a source file to copy the prototype parameters from,
for
> our own in house use.  Well we only have RPG at our shop.  But someone
> creating utility type libraries to perform certain functions and sell,
what
> language should the create the prompts for?  Ok what language should they
> create the source for is the same question.  Most service programs create
> the parm source in the language that the service program was written in.
>
> If you create module, create the prototype source for that module.  If you
> bind it to a service program, put all the parm sources into one source
> member.  If you create a binding directory, put all the source members
into
> a source file.  Nice easy to follow and find relationship.  Now if SEU can
> read the Prototype and prompt you in the C specs when you are calling,
> ifing, evaling... the function, I would be all for it.  But I cannot
> envision it at this time and cut & paste the prototype to where I am using
> the function, then comment out.
>
> Neat but is it really going to add value?
>
> Christopher K. Bipes Mailto:rpg@cross-check.com
> Sr. Programmer/Analyst
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric N. Wilson [mailto:doulos1@home.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 6:58 PM
> To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Another neat idea (well I think it is anyway)
>
>
> Hello everyone
>
> You may remember that a while back I put forth an idea for SEU to be able
to
> do prompting for prototype parameters.
> Since the idea of dynamically building prototype prompts did not go
over...
> How about a prototype object similar to the *CMD object whose sole purpose
> is to provide parameter prompting in RPG (Which in CL I think is the most
> wonderful invention ever!)
>
> What do you all think. I especially would like to hear with the people who
> normally disagree with me :-)
>
> Thanks
> Eric
>
> ______________________________________________
> Eric N. Wilson
> President
> Doulos Software & Computer Services
> 2913 N Alder St
> Tacoma WA 98407
> +---
> | This is the RPG/400 Mailing List!
> | To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com.
> | To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com.
> | To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
> | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator:
david@midrange.com
> +---

+---
| This is the RPG/400 Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---