Write PDM Scans to Database Files

Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here.

My shop licenses a documentation package that tells us all sorts of useful information, such as which programs use which files and which programs call which programs. Nevertheless, we still use PDM string searches to search source code. I wrote a utility that makes such searches more powerful. Maybe you’ll find it beneficial.

How To Search Using PDM

You have two ways to search source code with PDM. You can use option 25 from the WRKOBJPDM and WRKMBRPDM displays, or you can use the Find String Using PDM (FNDSTRPDM) command. In either case, you’re presented with a display in which you can specify:

• The string you’re looking for
• The range of columns of text to search
• Whether to match or ignore case
• What to do when the system finds a match
• How to format printed output from the search

See Figure 1 for an example.

Figure 1.

Limitations of the Search

PDM searches are useful, but they’re limited.

• You can only search for one string at a time. What if you want to find all members that contain any of two or more strings?
• You can’t search more than one library in a single search.
• The system outputs the results to display or print only.

For a recent project, my shop needed to search for various strings in source files in several libraries. We wanted to put information about the matched source members in a database file. For these reasons, I wrote the LOGSCANSRC utility.

The Utility

LOGSCANSRC consists of these objects:

In addition, we defined a PDM option to invoke the LOGSCANSRC command when the system finds a match. You can use a combination that is not in use on your system. I’ll use LZ for this example. Here’s the command string for the PDMoption.

LOGSCANSRC SRCFILE(&L/&F) MBR(&N) TYPE(&T)

How To Search Using the Utility

To write search results to the database files, you’ll use the usual PDM option 25 to start the scan. You’ll get the usual search display, shown in Figure 2, but you must fill in some of the entry fields in a certain manner.

Figure 2.

Fill in the first four fields just as you would for any search. In the Option field, enter the PDM option that you defined to run LOGSCANSRC. We’re using LZ in this example. Last, in the Parameters field, enter the CMT parameter that you want passed to LOGSCANSRC. I load this parameter with the find string so that I will know which search strings are found in each source member.

After you press Enter, the scan precedes as normal, except that each “hit” causes an invocation of LOGSCANSRC, which writes to the database files.

Since each match adds to the database files, it is up to you to clear the database files when appropriate.

Querying the Results

Use tools of your choice to view the results of the scan. Here’s the SCANMBRS file after searching all the source members of a library for two strings, HOUSE and WHS.

LIBRARY     FILE        MEMBER      TYPE
SOMELIB     QCLSRC      AP200C      CLP
SOMELIB     QCLSRC      IN390C      CLP
SOMELIB     QCMDSRC     SETAPHZN    CMD
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   AMM62       RPGLE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   AP002R      RPGLE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   AP009R      RPGLE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   IN925R      RPGLE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   MRP488R     RPGLE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   MRP620R     RPGLE
SOMELIB     QRPGSRC     IN037R      RPG

And here is the comments file:

LIBRARY     FILE        MEMBER       SEQUENCE   COMMENT
SOMELIB     QCLSRC      AP200C              1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QCLSRC      IN390C              1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QCMDSRC     SETAPHZN            1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   AP002R              1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   AP009R              1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   IN925R              1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   MRP488R             1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   MRP620R             1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QRPGSRC     IN037R              1   HOUSE
SOMELIB     QCLSRC      AP200C              2   WHS
SOMELIB     QCLSRC      IN390C              2   WHS
SOMELIB     QCMDSRC     SETAPHZN            2   WHS
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   AP002R              2   WHS
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   AP009R              2   WHS
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   IN925R              2   WHS
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   MRP488R             2   WHS
SOMELIB     QRPGLESRC   MRP620R             2   WHS
SOMELIB     QRPGSRC     IN037R              2   WHS

Miscellaneous Information

I want you to know a few more things. First, PDM capitalizes the comment data before sending it to the LOGSCANSRC command. I don’t like it, but it’s beyond my control.

Second, program SCAN001R won’t write a duplicate comment, as there’s no need for it.

Last, you might want to add more fields to SCANMBRS for your own use. These are some additional fields that we included.

• A flag to tell whether or not we needed to modify the member as part of our project.
• A user profile to tell which developer was assigned to modify the member.
• A date when the member was deemed ready for production.

Use your imagination.

If you use string searches, then I hope you find LOGSCANSRC to be useful.

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