RE: Parameters Stepping on each other

Eric,

While I think the *CMD option sounds like a very good and effective one,
I think we went with the DS solution probably for the sake of
convenience and familiarity.  I've created commands for personal use,
but I don't think we've ever needed to make any for production purposes,
since our applications are all driven by menus or automated schedules. 

I'm not sure if you intended your question to imply a qualitative
distinction by referring to the *CMD option as a (or "the") remedy, and
all other options as "workarounds". It seems to me like all options here
are workarounds, including the *CMD option, as they are all trying to
get around the fact that CL programs can't accurately pass parms greater
than 32 bytes. 

You have a strong case that the *CMD option is the best option overall,
but when we have another option that will work perfectly well in the
situation we're in, without requiring the addition of another object to
the project, using tools that are more familiar to us, which require
fewer changes to the existing code, that's the one we're going to go
with.  I'm sure we may run into a situation in the future where the *CMD
option will prove ideal. For instance, had our final parm also been a
long one, as Tom pointed out, the DS would not have been a good option
here.  

Having said all that, I should note that I am neither the programmer
with the issue, nor the one who made the call on which option to take.
The programmer is one of my colleagues, and the decision was made by our
supervisor, probably based on what would be fastest and easiest for the
programmer.  (I seem to have fallen into the position of designated
poster of questions for our group).  

Nevertheless, I am glad for the exposure to the notion that a command is
not limited to use by people typing on command lines, but can prove
useful in a program to program context like this.  Another reminder to
always think outside the box. The hard part is realizing I'm in one to
begin with.  ;->

Greg

|-----Original Message-----
|From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
|On Behalf Of DeLong, Eric
|Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 10:07 AM
|To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
|Subject: RE: Parameters Stepping on each other
|
|Any call with parameters will be affected by this parsing issue.
Again,
|I'll reiterate that with a *CMD object, there is never any confusion by
the
|system as to the size and type of parameter data.  I can't understand
why
|this remedy is never adopted, but whenever this topic comes up, the
|solution taken is nearly always one of the workarounds.  Is there some
|problem with *CMD objects that I don't know about?
|
|Eric DeLong
|Sally Beauty Company
|MIS-Project Manager (BSG)
|940-297-2863 or ext. 1863
|
|
|