Re: o specs in sub procedure

On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Joel Fritz wrote:
>
> The from value comes from a data structure defined in the procedure.  It
> looks like the O specs want global variables.  That makes sense.  Seems like
> overkill to write a print file.  I can also define a global variable used
> only in the file update procedure.  That doesn't really excite me either.
>
>

Yes, files in RPG are global.   You need to use global variables if you
want to write data to them.

Here are a few thoughts:

1)  You could just have *one* global variable for printer output.   A
      string defined as 132A (for example) would work nicely.   Then
      populate it from your data structure with statements like:

        eval  printme = *blanks
        eval  %subst(printme: 1) = %editc(ds_value1: 'L')
        eval  %subst(printme: 10) = %editc(ds_value2: 'M')

      This is *almost* like having o-specs in your subprocedure.
      Of course, you'll want to do an EXCEPT once all of the fields
      have been populated.


2) use a service program or module that's just for printing.  Since
      global variables are global to the *module (as opposed to the
      entire program) you are restricting the variables to just the
      one procedure.   (This is awkward IMHO, but it's a thought)

3) use the ILE C routines to create files that *are* local to your
      subprocedure.  (This is probably too much work and/or too much
      of a learning curve -- but I thought I'd throw it out there)

4) write the output to a stream file instead of a spooled file.
      Of course, then it doesn't print without you doing extra work,
      but sometimes this is useful, like if the user wants to just
      grab the file and open it in notepad or something, and then
      print it from there...

I guess a lot depends on the application and/or why you don't want to
use global variables.