Re: How do I reclaim service program activation group and reuse

Hello Jerry,

You wrote:
>But this results in "MCH3402 - Tried to refer to all or part of an object that
>no longer exists"

In which activation group is your main program running?  Since the service
program is running in a named activation group you can always reclaim it (as 
long
as it is not in use).  The main program that invokes the service program
functions is also running in an activation group and the program leaves pointers
in that activation group which reference objects in the named activation group 
--
thus the MCH3402 exception when the service program activation group is
destroyed.

If your main program runs in the default activation group** then the pointers
cannot be reset until you end the job.  If it is another named activation group
(e.g., QILE) then you would have to reclaim that also.  The easiest solution is
to make your main program run in a *NEW activation group.

You could also write a new function in your service program -- reloadXrefCache()
-- which causes the service program to reload its cache thus avoiding any nasty
issues with activation groups.  You will probably find this path much more
flexible and useful in the long run.

You could also use a common cache-valid flag field EXPORTED from the service
program and IMPORTED into the maintenance program.  The maintenance program 
would
set the flag to invalidate the cache and the next access to the service program
would cause it to rebuild the cache.  I find this approach rather ugly and would
avoid it in preference to the reloadXrefCache() function.

**Normally it is not possible to run in the default activation group and use
service program procedures but a little creative effort can make this happen --
DFTACTGRP(*NO) ACTGRP(*CALLER) will do it if called from a program running in 
the
default activation group.  Note that this is a dumb thing to do.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.
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