Re: convert to service program -- RPG400-L

Hi Rick -

I'm on my lunch hour so I don't have time to go in depth ...

where do you specify files in a service program?  just under the H specs
like an OPM program?

Yes.

  What if this file is only needed in one of the
service program procedures?  is there a way to make the file local to that
procedure only?

No.  Neither files nor their fields can be local.

can service program procedures have subroutines?

Yes.

 or do you have to create
sub-procedures?  if both, recommendations?

It depends.  If the code does not need any of the special capabilities of
procedures (like recursion) and it is used only within this procedure, I
would probably make it a subroutine.  Subroutines are local to the
procedure that they are in, so if it needs to be available to multiple
procedures, it will need to be a procedure itself.  You can have procedures
in a service program which cannot be called from the outside.  Only
procedures that are exported can be called from outside of the module in
which they reside.

  if just sub-procedures, are
variables defined at the main procedure level global to the sub-procedure
(like a subroutine) or do I have to define them up with the files to make
them global?

If by "main procedure" you are talking about mainline (detail) calcs, this
is not applicable to service programs.  If by "main procedure" you are
talking about what I have been calling the "first procedure", then the
following applies.

Local variables are local to the procedure that they are in.  If a
procedure calls another procedure, the local variables in the first
procedure are not visible to the second procedure.  You would need to
either: 1. make them global (define them in d-specs right under the files),
2. export/import, or 3. pass them on the call to the second procedure.  I
would stay away from #2 as exporting them will make them visible to the
outside world unless you use binder language to prevent it.

Ken
Opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of
my employer or anyone in their right mind.