REXX Can Talk to Other Languages

October 5, 2005 Bruce Guetzkow

The code and figures for this article are available for download.

One of the most confusing aspects of using REXX can be how to pass data between a REXX procedure and a procedure that has been written in another programming language. What follows is an explanation of the many ways to pass data into a procedure and then extract it back out.

Calling a REXX procedure

Before you can pass data to a REXX procedure you need to know how to execute a REXX procedure. The first way is to use CL’s Start REXX Procedure (STRREXPRC) command.

     STRREXPRC SRCMBR(member)
                             

The Dangers of Dynamic SQL

October 5, 2005 Ted Holt

The term “dynamic SQL” refers to SQL commands that are interpreted at runtime. The SQL command is loaded into a statement string (host variable), then the PREPARE statement tells the SQL processor to compile the statement string into a prepared statement (an executable command). Here’s a short example of the process.

D SqlCommand      s           1024a

C                   eval      SqlCommand =
C                             'select * from qcustcdt +
C                              where state =''' +
C                             %trim(CtlState) + ''''
C/exec sql
C+  prepare SqlStmt from :SqlCommand
C/end-exec
C/exec sql
C+  declare Input cursor for SqlStmt
C/end-exec

Dynamic SQL provides great flexibility, since the statement string

Shutting Down WRKSBMJOB Options

October 5, 2005 Hey, Joe

I want to hide some of the options on the Work with Submitted Jobs command display (WRKSBMJOB) from my users. I don’t want certain user IDs to run option ‘2’=Change Job or option ‘3’=Hold job. I need to do this for specific user IDs belonging to a certain group profile. For other users, I’d like these options to be usable. Do you have any suggestions?

–Pankaj

The simple way to do this would be to limit authority to the commands that WRKSBMJOB calls when you type in option ‘2’ or option ‘3’. Option ‘2’ calls the Change Job command (CHGJOB)