Re: Prototypes, /COPY and LIKE()

[Joel Cochran <jrc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe,

Here's an idea, it follows some assumptions but you may be interested:

1. You'll need a "global" /copy.  I have one /copy that I include in all
my code.  By doing so, I have in essence "extended" RPG with my
procedures and constants.  This is, of course, just a convention but it
works great for me.  And you could have as many of these "global" /copys
as you want, but instead I put any necessary /copy statements inside my
one global.  The caveat here is that SQLRPGLE does not allow nested
/copy statements.

* A little more on the global /copy idea: I actually break this down
into two approaches.  The first is global like it sounds, all code that
I write uses this /copy.  The second is by application: I have
application wide /copy statements as well that only include things
necessary to that application.  You can even include the "global" global
/copy in the "application" global is you want to limit the number of
/copy statement in your application code.  So you can pick at what level
your "global" would apply. :-)

2. You'll need a REF file or data dictionary.

3. Add the external DS to your global /copy. Now prefix it with
something like 'ref_':

d myREF         e ds                extname(MYREF) prefix(ref_)

4. If you follow this convention, then you could always reference the
definition of any field in your DB.  This could be really handy in lots
of scenarios.

The name collision problem would be reduced but you would still have to
be diligent not to prefix anything else with (ref_).  Maybe you could
add qualified and double your protection?  I assume that would work
although I've never tried it.

d SccIOKWClear    pr                                       
d   ID                                like( myref.ref_KWDFID ) value 
d   Format                            like( myref.ref_KWFMT ) value

Your e-mail made me think of this: I may have to try this in my next
application.  

Joel
http://www.rpgnext.com