Re: CONST and VALUE revisited

> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] De la part de Barbara Morris
> Envoyé : jeudi 29 janvier 2009 02:43
>
> There's one way a CONST parameter can be changed while the procedure
> is running. If you pass a global variable by CONST to a subprocedure
> in the same module, and the subprocedure modifies the global variable
> directly, then the value of the CONST parameter may reflect the
> change.

David FOXWELL wrote:

YES! That was it! That's the problem I have had come across from time to time.

I admit it, in this case VALUE instead of CONST is a quick fix. Normally, the program would be written in RPGLE and we'd use CONST and that'd be it.

I'm not sure I follow you David. You're concerned with the value of the parameter _after_ the procedure call is complete, right? Using VALUE instead of CONST isn't going to make a difference in the case Barbara mentions. The value of the variable will still be changed after the procedure has finished. If a procedure references a global variable directly, the only thing you can do is change the code in the procedure to fix it.

This is exactly why procedures are preferred over subroutines in new development. Changing (or even referencing) global variables in code that is intended to be reused is almost always bad practice.