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Status Not under consideration
Workspace IBM i
Categories Languages - RPG
Created by Guest
Created on Apr 21, 2020

RELATED IDEAS

add the ability to specify scope of static variable in RPGLE sub-procedure

Request to allow developer to specify the scope of static variable in RPGLE sub-procedure. Currently, static variable has an Activation Group scope. I would like to request adding a parameter to the static keyword that will allow developer to specify the scope of the static variable. For example static(*job), static(*actGrpDfn), or static(*callLvl).


Use Case:

For example, a program might need an array to keep track of things within a sub-procedure. This array is only used in this sub-procedure. Declare it in this sub-procedure seems like a right thing to do, and the array needs to be dynamic because, depending on the condition, it could range from a few to possibly tens of thousands. The procedure will be repetitively called and elements in the array need to be kept in between called, so a static keyword will also be needed. But since most of our interactive programs run in QILE scope, the activation group can't be reclaimed when exiting the program. This means that this large array will continue to occupy the memory even after the user has exited the program. The memory will only be released when user signoff the system, which is quite a waste of memory.


Idea priority Medium
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Apr 28, 2020

    IBM does not intend to provide a solution to this request at this time, so it is being closed.

    This request is not technically feasible.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Apr 27, 2020

    Due to processing by IBM, this request was reassigned to have the following updated attributes:
    Brand - Servers and Systems Software
    Product family - Power Systems
    Product - IBM i
    Component - Languages - RPG
    Operating system - IBM i
    Source - None

    For recording keeping, the previous attributes were:
    Brand - Servers and Systems Software
    Product family - Programming Languages
    Product - Developer for Power Systems
    Component - RPG/COBOL Development Tools
    Operating system - IBM i
    Source - None

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Apr 21, 2020

    You can make the variable global scope to the module, and then add a procedure to perform cleanup. You could make a module that only contains procedures that access the array. That would be much like a static class in an object oriented language.

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