Re: Passing data structure to batch job

On 5/24/2012 9:35 AM, David Gibbs wrote:

On 5/24/2012 10:47 AM, Dave wrote:

I'm not following this interesting thread! The LDA of the second job
cannot use the LDA of the first job. Can it?

It can't use the specific INSTANCE of the LDA of the first job ... but the LDA of the first job is duplicated for the second job.

Exactly. If the LDA of the submitting job (either interactive or batch) is set to 'ABC' at the time of the SBMJOB command, then when the submitted job starts, its LDA will contain 'ABC'. That will be so even if the submitting job changes its LDA to some other value, e.g. 'XYZ', and it will also be so even if the submitting job ends.

I never liked using the LDA, in part because of a preference for individual parameters, and in part because it always seemed like a clunky RPG II sort of feature, and I first learned RPG as RPG III on the System/38 in an application that made no use of the LDA (I never liked the cycle, either.) The LDA strikes me as being opaque. I much prefer to use some kind of object - a file or a data area - that can be examined non-destructively even when the job isn't running. That's a reason I also don't much like data queues, unless speed is of the essence. For a single row or record, or for very few, speed can't be that essential.