Re: Prototypes and parameters

[Barbara Morris <bmorris@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom Liotta wrote:
>
> When you prototype lookup() in the calling procedure, declare a pointer by 
>value for the second parm. When you call lookup(), pass %addr(terms_code) or 
>%addr(sh_state). Inside lookup(), you _could_ declare the second parm as 
>q_alpha_10 10A by reference if you really wish or you can again declare a 
>pointer and use it as a basing pointer for perhaps q_alpha_10. Just be sure 
>you never use more than the maximum left-most positions of q_alpha_10 than are 
>indicated by FORMAT.
>

The trouble with passing a pointer is that it would be possible to pass
the address of a varying length field, which would not work.  The
compiler doesn't know that the pointer is supposed to point to a
fixed-length character field.

I would define the output parameter as character options(*varsize).
There's still no protection against passing say a char(2) where the
format indicates a char(3), but the pointer wouldn't help that case
either.