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Status Is a defect
Workspace IBM i
Categories Languages - RPG
Created by Guest
Created on Jan 20, 2025

RELATED IDEAS

Allow SND-MSG to use %target(*PGMBDY 1 ) more like the QMH* APIs.

See this idea on ideas.ibm.com

I was using SND-MSG with %target(*PGMBDY 1 ) the other day and noticed that it does not work correctly -- or, rather, it does not work as expected (like the message handling APIs do it). 

When using (*PGMBDY 1) via QMHSNDPM or other QMH apis, the message is sent to the call stack entry immediately preceding the first procedure called in the current executable (VERY handy for *ESCAPE messages).  

"For an ILE program, this option can be used to identify the first procedure of the ILE program that was called in the current sequence. If the ILE program was called using a dynamic call, this is the PEP (program entry procedure) of the ILE program. If sequence was started by calling by means of a procedure pointer, this is the call stack entry for the procedure that was pointed to.

For ILE service programs, this special value can be used to identify the call stack entry for the first procedure called in the specified service program."

When using SND-MSG, the message is sent to (from the RPG Ref) "the most recent procedure on the call stack that is in the same program or service program as the procedure with the SND-MSG operation."  This is not the same behavior as QMHSNDPM, especially when you're 5 call levels deep in the service program, so I find the need to mix in some QMHSNDPM calls instead of the more handy SND-MSG operation.

My point, then, is that *PGMBDY should represent the first procedure called in the current executable, and sending a message using (*PGMBDY 1) should cause the message to be sent to the first call stack entry that is NOT in the current executable.

 

Idea priority Medium
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Feb 14, 2025
    Correction: The last sentence in the proposed paragraph for %TARGET(*PGMBDY) will say:

    "Procedure PROC1 is also in program or service program PGM1, but procedure PROC2 is in PGM2, so procedure PROC1 is not considered when determining the program boundary for PROC5."
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Feb 14, 2025
    Thank you for your response.

    IBM has identified this as a defect requiring a documentation change.

    The 7.4 and 7.5 documentation for %TARGET(*PGMBDY) in the ILE RPG Reference will be changed to say the following:

    *PGMBDY:
    This represents the program boundary, which is the first procedure of the group of procedures on the call stack that are in the same program or service program as the procedure with the SND-MSG operation.

    For example, consider the following program stack, where PROC1 called PROC2, which called PROC3, and so on. If PROC5 sends a message with %TARGET(*PGMBDY), the message is sent to PROC3 because it is the first procedure in the contiguous group of procedures that are all in the same program or service program, PGM1, as PROC5. Procedure PROC1 is also in program or service program PGM1, but procedure PROC2 is in PGM1, so procedure PROC1 is not considered when determining the program boundary for PROC5.

    Procedure | Program or service program
    --------------------------------------
    PROC1 | PGM1
    PROC2 | PGM2
    PROC3 | PGM1
    PROC4 | PGM1
    PROC5 | PGM1

    -IBM Power Systems Development
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Feb 12, 2025

    Testing now indicates that it WORKS correctly, but the description in the ILE RPG Reference is still inaccurate. The *PGMBDY target is not the "most recent procedure in the call stack in the same executable", it is the "first procedure in the call stack in the same executable."  "First" is more clear and more in line with the description in the QMHSNDPM API documentation.

    What happened?  I don't know.  I swear I was coding something that was not working like QMHSNDPM and I fought with it all morning until I had to open the manuals and check.  I cannot locate that code now. Honestly, it was acting EXACTLY like the RPG Reference describes it -- which is wrong.  No matter how deep into a service program I was, it always sent the message to the immediate caller of the proc with the SND-MSG in it.  It drove me nuts because I had assumed you would code the compiler to emplace a call to QMHSNDPM, but it acted differently.

     

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Jan 24, 2025
    IBM needs more information to further assess your Idea.

    The SND-MSG operation code is implemented by generating a call to the QMHSNDPM API. In our testing, SND-MSG with %TARGET(*PGMBDY:stack_offset) behaves the same as coding a call to QMHSNDPM with '*PGMBDY' and the same stack_offset.

    Please clarify
    - whether you are requesting a correction for the documentation of the SND-MSG operation code
    or
    - whether you have found a scenario where SND-MSG behaves differently from a call to QMHSNDPM with the *PGMBDY and the same stack offset.

    If you have found a scenario with different behaviour, please also contact your service representative to open a Case, so IBM can request the code to reproduce the scenario, and investigate the problem.

    -IBM Power Systems Development

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