Re: Confused about cycle-main procedure calls.

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi David,

> When a cycle-main procedure is called through a bound call, I thought
> that meant using the CALLP, and that a prototype would then have to
> be defined for the call.

Yes, that is correct. CALLP means "call with prototype", and a prototype 
must always be defined to use CALLP.

Prototypes can be used to make *any* type of call.  This includes 
dynamic calls (aka "program calls") when the ExtPgm keyword is used, JNI 
calls (aka "java method calls") when Extproc(*JAVA) is specified, or 
bound calls (aka "procedure calls") when ExtProc() is specified without 
*JAVA.  When no ExtProc/ExtPgm keyword is given, a bound call is done by 
default.

CALLP with EXTPGM replaces the old (deprecated) CALL/PARM.
CALLP without any keywords, or with ExtProc, replaces the old 
(deprecated) CALLB/PARM.


> In this case, what actually gets bound to
> the caller when the module containing the CALLP is compiled?

Nothing is ever bound when you compile a module.  Binding is a separate 
step that's done after compiling the module.  (aka CRTPGM or CRTSRVPGM)

If you mean "what gets bound when I create a program/srvpgm containing 
the CALLP" the answer is "the modules and service programs you told it 
co bind".  Or if it's using a binding directory, the answer is "the 
first module that has a procedure name that matches what the one you 
tried to call".

None of this is really related to cycle-main vs. main vs. subprocedure 
calls... binding/calling works exactly the same for the 3 types of 
procedures.  The only difference between them is what code gets executed 
when you call them...