Re: SUBROC

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

a) Yes, you can call an ILE RPG program from RPG II in the S/36 
environment.  But, if you pass numeric parameters, make sure you 
understand at which times the RPG II language uses zoned and at which 
time it uses packed.

b) No, an ILE RPG program cannot open/close a file that's open in 
another program.  (Nor can any other language).

My suggestion is that you upgrade this particular program to ILE RPG 
(or, at least RPG/400) which can easily use the OPEN and CLOSE op-codes 
to open and close the file.

Minor changes to the RPG II program should make it into an RPG III 
program.  Then you can use the OPEN and CLOSE operations -- or run 
CVTRPGSRC to make it into an RPG IV (ILE RPG) program.  It's really 
easy, and the code doesn't have to change significantly.

But, RPG II is a programming language that hasn't been enhanced in 30 
years.  Don't be too surprised if it's missing features.



Kevin Nunn wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I've searched the vast internet and my problem is just too old to show up
> anywhere :)
>
> I used to be a consult for 4 clients on Advanced/36 machines, I know RPG2
> inside out. 2 Years ago I took a full time job with one of my clients as
> work was way to slow. I finally got them on a used AS400 and I am working on
> rewriting their software in RPGILE (love it!).
>
> Two of my other clients have converted over to an AS400 with the help of a
> consultant company in my area. The last client has finally decided to get an
> AS400, but they want to completely retain the programs as is. No, problem,
> they'll be just run in a S/36 environment.
>
> The problem is, several of their programs use an IBM supplied subroutine
> called SUBROC to open/close a file. We used it to open/close the spool file
> in order to print without exiting the program. For on demand checks for
> instance.
>
> Does anyone know of a work around for this? My first thought was to write an
> ILE program that would be called from the S36 program, but 1) Not sure if a
> ILE program can be called from a S36 RPG program, I think CL can, so it
> should work; 2) Would the called ILE program have the access to the file and
> be able to CLOSE the file, and then re-OPEN it.
>
> Or is there some other way I could do this without exiting the program,
> which would in effect, clear all the temp fields that are used?
>
> Thanks - and I wanted to say I have really been enjoying reading the
> discussions, it's been helping my learning process :)
>
> Kev