• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Accurate Program References

    May 7, 2008 Ted Holt

    I came across a situation recently that I thought some of you might find of interest. It has to do with program references (i.e., which objects a program uses) and conditional compilation. If you use a documentation package, whether homegrown or commercial, you may rely on program references without being aware of it.

    Here is my situation. As part of a conversion project, I have an RPG program that uses conditional compilation directives to select one of two SQL commands, like this:

    D zKey            s              3a
    D zData           s              5a
    
     /free
         *inlr = *on;
     /if defined(SomeCondition)
         exec sql
            select key, data
              into :zKey, :zData
              from table1
             where key = '1A';
     /else
         exec sql
            select key, data
              into :zKey, :zData
              from table2
             where key = '2A';
     /endif
         return;
    

    I used the CRTSQLRPGI command to compile my program. Guess what? No matter how SomeCondition was set, the DSPPGMREF command showed that my program used both files–TABLE1 and TABLE2. For my project, reporting that both files are in use is unacceptable.

    My problem is that I was using the default RPGPPOPT(*NONE) on the CRTSQLRPGI command. A value of *NONE causes the SQL precompiler to process the source before the RPG compiler sees it. Since the SQL preprocessor doesn’t understand conditional compilation, it was passing both SQL commands to the compiler.

    The solution is to add the RPGPPOPT(*LVL1) parameter to the CRTSQLRPGI command. Doing so forces the RPG compiler to process the conditional directives before sending the source to the SQL precompiler.

    My project is back on track. Thanks to Barbara Morris of the RPG Compiler Team at IBM Toronto for her help with this tip.

    –Ted



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    New Generation Software

    Put your IBM i Data to Work

    NGS-IQ makes it easy to securely access, format, analyze, and share critical business data across your organization.

    Join us for a look at the top challenges companies attending COMMON NAViGATE at TechXchange 2026 shared when it comes to getting reliable reports from their DB2 data — and how NGS-IQ can help provide the answers you need without breaking the budget.

    Register for the Webinar

    www.ngsi.com – (800)824-1220

    Share this:

    • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

    Sponsored Links

    COMMON:  Join us at the Focus 2008 workshop conference, October 5 - 8, in San Francisco, California
    MoshiMoshi:  An Interactive Experience for the System i Community. See Episode 1 now!
    Help/Systems:  Explore operations automation and BI, June 17 - 20, 2008, Minneapolis, MN

    IT Jungle Store Top Book Picks

    Easy Steps to Internet Programming for AS/400, iSeries, and System i: List Price, $49.95
    Getting Started with PHP for i5/OS: List Price, $59.95
    The System i RPG & RPG IV Tutorial and Lab Exercises: List Price, $59.95
    The System i Pocket RPG & RPG IV Guide: List Price, $69.95
    The iSeries Pocket Database Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Developers' Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket SQL Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Query Guide: List Price, $49.00
    The iSeries Pocket WebFacing Primer: List Price, $39.00
    Migrating to WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    iSeries Express Web Implementer's Guide: List Price, $59.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries: List Price, $79.95
    Getting Started With WebSphere Development Studio Client for iSeries: List Price, $89.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    WebFacing Application Design and Development Guide: List Price, $55.00
    Can the AS/400 Survive IBM?: List Price, $49.00
    The All-Everything Machine: List Price, $29.95
    Chip Wars: List Price, $29.95

    TallyGenicom Introduces Hybrid Thermal Barcode Printer Replace the Contents of a Physical File That Has Triggers

    Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Volume 8, Number 18 -- May 7, 2008
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Help/Systems
Profound Logic Software
WorksRight Software

Table of Contents

  • Accurate Program References
  • Replace the Contents of a Physical File That Has Triggers
  • Admin Alert: How to Recreate/Restore a System Distribution Directory

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • Fall TRs Expected Next Week At Combined IBM-COMMON Conference
  • GenAI Brings A New Kind Of Agile Computing That Needs Controls Even More
  • IBM i, AI, And The Cost Of “We’ve Always Done It That Way”
  • Infor Says IBM i Customers Are Welcome To Use New AI
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 28, Number 36
  • Help Us Understand The IBM i Marketplace By Taking The Survey
  • IBM Goes GA With Power Autonomous Operations
  • IBM Wheels And Deals To Sell Power Systems, Storage, and Software
  • Guru: When RNF0722 Won’t Let Your Legendary RPG Program Compile
  • A Read-Only MCP Server For Db2 for i

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle