RE: User space -- RPG400-L

Raul,
FYI, in next week's "Midrange Developer" newsletter, I publish a RTVUSRSPC
(retrieve user space) CL command that has parameters similar to (identical
to?) the RTVDTAARA command.
-Bob


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Raul A Jager
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 11:58 AM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: User space

   My application needs to share the last event in a series. Anything that
   happens before is irrelevant, and in case two or more users finish at the
   "same time", any of them will do.  That's why I don't need to
synchronize.

   When I need to serialize, I use a data queue, if I need to lock, I can
use
   a data ara or a file.  In this case locking bothers, so the user space
   does the trick. The advice I received here saved me quite a bit of
   experimenting.  
 
__________________________________________________________________________
   Rusling, John B. (Alliance) wrote:

 I'm thinking out loud here...

 ...for those of us who are repelled by the idea of delving into
 mi to lock a user space however we do utilize user spaces where beneficial,
 wouldn't we derive the same anti-lock capabilities using the ALCOBJ
 command..?

 (We don't want to scare people away from user spaces :-)


 searched IBM site, from programming api's --

 <Snip>
 The Retrieve Pointer to User Space (QUSPTRUS) API retrieves a pointer
 to the contents of a user-domain user space. The data in that user space
 then can be directly manipulated by high-level language programs that
 support pointers, such as C or COBOL. The QUSPTRUS API will not return
 a pointer to a system-domain user space; you must use system APIs to
 access system-domain user spaces. If you attempt to retrieve the
 pointer to a system-domain user space, an error will be returned.

 The QUSPTRUS API even returns a pointer to an object that is subject
 to an exclusive (*EXCL) lock. If you create application programs using
 HLLs that can directly update user spaces using pointers
 (instead of using the Change User Space (QUSCHGUS) API), you should
 use your own synchronization data methods. You can use one of the
 following methods to avoid updates at the same time to the same location
 within a user space:

 CMPSW MI instruction
 CMPSWP MI instruction
 LOCK MI instruction
 LOCKSL MI instruction
 Allocate Object (ALCOBJ) command

 Use of the QUSPTRUS API does not update the object usage information
 (such as last changed date, last date used, and so on). You should use
 the Change User Space or the Retrieve User Space API to update the
 object usage information if needed.
 </Snip>

 John B.



 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 message: 1
 date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 13:08:38 -0500
 from: "Steve Richter" <srichter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 subject: RE: User space

 everything scott says in right on target. I would add that there is a way
to
 syncronize access to a user space amoung multiple jobs.

 
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r1/ic2924/tstudio/tech_ref/mi/LOCKSL
 .htm

 LOCKSL ( lock space location ) accepts a pointer to a space location and
 effectively locks it from use by other jobs that also use LOCKSL before
 accessing the space location.

 -Steve


 -----Original Message-----
 From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
 [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Scott Klement
 Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 12:29 PM
 To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
 Subject: Re: User space



 On Thu, 12 Feb 2004, Raul A Jager wrote:
  

 I need to share data between users.

 Can I use an "USER SPACE"?
    

 Sure.


  

 Will the system allow several users updating it?
    

 Yes, but IMHO, not gracefully.

  

  when will the upates be seen by others?
    

 As soon as they check for the updates.


 A user space is similar to a file, except for three things:

 a) It does not have any particular structure.

 b) Since there are no records, there's no record locks, etc.

 c) It's directly addressable with a pointer from an HLL program.
    (Technically, you can do that with any file, but you need to use MI
     tricks rather than normal HLL operations with non-userspaces)

 The big problem is making sure that two jobs don't conflict with one
 another.  You have to be very careful about any situation that could lead
 to two processes writing data to it at the same time.

 I recommend having the jobs communicate with each other using data queues
 so that they can synchronize their operations -- preventing them from
 conflicting with one another.

 But, since they can send data to one another via the data queues, the
 question becomes, do you still need the user space?   The only reason I
 can think of why you'd want to use a user space for something like this
 would be if the data that needs to be accessed is very large.  With a user
 space they are sharing a common piece of information, but with data queues
 the info is copied from one to the other -- so for very large pieces of
 information, user spaces would be quicker.

 Hope that makes sense...
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