Re: Exception vs function-check; ILE vs OPM -- RPG400-L

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for looking into it! You mention that CHGDTA does not *end* with an
escape message. I wondered about that - usually the sequence of messages
from a program with an exception is some diagnostic or info messages
followed by an escape message. In this case, the escape message DFU0275
comes first followed by CPF6A0B. DFU0275 is sent from QDZXCTL to QDZCPP, so
it appears to be handled internally by DFU. The CPF6A0B is sent from
QUICLOSE to QDZIEXIT apparently as DFU is shutting down after the error. I
also noticed that QRYDTA does not behave this way.

Since DFU seems to be the only culprit (at least at this customer), then I
think my solution will be to leave the vendor's program alone (the
customer's preference these days is to avoid any unneccesary modifications
to the package) and let the problem happen so the customer can identify all
their old Sys/38 DFU's that are still in use and either convert them to
AS/400 DFU or write a maintenance program. My customer will also notify the
software vendor.

Thanks again.

Peter Dow
Dow Software Services, Inc.
909 425-0194 voice
909 425-0196 fax


----- Original Message -----
From: <bmorris@ca.ibm.com>
To: <RPG400-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2000 8:28 AM
Subject: Re: Exception vs function-check; ILE vs OPM


>
>
>
> >Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2000 16:30:09 -0800
> >From: "Peter Dow" <pcdow@yahoo.com>
>
> Peter, you've run into one of the differences between RPG III
> and RPG IV regarding programs or commands that return with
> high return codes but no exception.  CHGDTA does not end with
> an escape message when if fails.  Instead, it gives a information
> message (there is an escape message in the joblog, but it's not
> the final message), and sets the languages-and-utilities return
> code to 2.  This is the return code you see on option 1 of
> DSPJOB.  It is set by RPG and COBOL and a few utilities.
>
> RPG III interprets this as an error, while RPG IV ignores the
> return code since it was unaccompanied by an exception.
>
> (For the documentation of the difference, see Appendix A of the
> Programmer's Guide, in the section called "Running", bullet #3).
>
> You could change the RPG IV program to also check the return
> code, and assume failure if the return code is not 0 or 1.
>
> D LUWRKA          PR              *   EXTPROC('_LUWRKA')
> D luwork          ds                  based(pLuWrkArea)
> D   lu_rc                        5i 0
>  * Initialization
> C                   eval      pLuWrkArea = LUWRKA
>  ...
>  * Try the command
> C                   call      'QCMDEXC'             10
> C                   PARM                    cmd
> C                   parm                    cmdlen
> C                   if        *in10 or (lu_rc > 1)
> C                       error ...
>
> Regarding some of the other responses to your question:
> 1. Jon Paris is correct in general, that exception handling
>    oddities are    possible in DFTACTGRP(*NO) programs, and
>    that DFTACTGRP(*YES) programs should behave the same regarding
>    exception handling.  But in this case, with an error indicator,
>    the activation group should not make any difference.
> 2. Even if there were a condition handler, it would never "beat"
>    the error indicator.
> 3. Using a prototyped call woudn't cause this problem.  (The
>    problem with prototyped calls to QCMDEXC is that you can't
>    code an error indicator, so failed commands cause the program
>    to crash.  (Solved in V4R2 with the (E) extender which takes
>    the place of the error indicator.))
>
> (Sorry not to have answered this on the Midrange List.  I noticed it, and
> meant to look into
> it, but forgot ...)
>
> Barbara
>
>
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