Re: Service Program or Stand Alone

[Charles Wilt <charles.wilt@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm with Brian...

Move the logic to a procedure, modify the existing "black box" program to
be a simple *PGM wrapper of the procedure call.

However, I'm not sure I'd bother to do this unless necessary.  Necessary in
my mind:
1) Needing to make changes to the black box logic
2) New code could benefit from taking advantage of procedure return values.

Charles

Charles



On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Brian May <bmay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The least disruptive way would be to extract the logic into procedures in
> a service program.  Then modify your black box program to call these
> procedures.  That way, new programs get the flexibility of using ILE, but
> your existing programs can continue to call the "black box" without change.
>
> As to the benefit, that is subjective.  Multiple variable scopes is
> usually enough to justify it for me personally.  Also, if you never advance
> your existing codebase, your new development will always be held back by it.
>
> Brian May
> IBM i Modernization Specialist
> Profound Logic Software
> http://www.profoundlogic.com
> 937-439-7925 Phone
> 877-224-7768 Toll Free
>
>
>
> Modernization Made Easy!
> www.profoundlogic.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RPG400-L [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jeff
> Young
> Sent: Monday, July 21, 2014 8:46 AM
> To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion; RPG programming on the IBM i
> (AS/400 and iSeries)
> Subject: Service Program or Stand Alone
>
> All,
> (Cross Posted to Midrange Systems / RPGLE) I have a number of systems that
> are mainly written in RPGLE that were converted from prior versions of RPG
> (RPG/36, RPG400) to the current RPGLE format, but most not using any ILE
> functions.
> I have a number of "Black Box" programs that are called to preform a
> specific function and return values.
> Newer programs are being written that *do* use ILE functions (where
> appropriate).
> In these programs, it is often necessary to call some of these "Black Box
> programs".
> Is there any benefit to converting them to Service Programs?
> If so, what would be the best method to use to avoid having to recreate
> the 100's if not more existing programs that currently call them as a stand
> alone program?
>
> I am just asking for my own information, but am very interested in all
> suggestions.
>
> TIA,
>
>
> Jeff Young
> Sr. Programmer Analyst
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