Expert: Concise Systems/Laird Scranton - 1/27/2005

Question
Hi.  I wonder if you can help with this problem.
I'm trying to create a single member logical file (ARCHLST3) which provides a view of data from a number of members of one physical file (CMMP01).  The members are named with two character codes e.g. IM or PP.

             PGM        PARM(&MBRLIST)
             DCL        VAR(&MBRLIST) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(35)           

             CRTLF      FILE(WCSCR40C/ARCHLST3) +                      
                          DTAMBRS((CMMDTA/CMMP01 (&MBRLIST)))          

/*           CRTLF      FILE(WCSCR40C/ARCHLST3) +                                 */
/*                        DTAMBRS((CMMDTA/CMMP01 (IM PP MC ED IT EP +  */
/*                        DA DE DT BM DP CC)))                                                */

If I use the commented out code above (which has a hard coded list of members) then the CRTLF works fine.  However, what I want to be able to do is determine that list of members at runtime via an RPG program, and pass them into this CL in the variable &MBRLIST.  When I do this I find that if &MBRLIST contains the two letter code for just one member e.g. IM or PP, then it works fine.  But as soon as &MBRLIST contains more than one member name (seperated by a space to try and replicate the format of the commented out code) the process fails with:
"CPF0001 received by UTLCRTLF at 1104. (C D I R)"

If I delve further into the job log I can see that it seems to treat the two member names as one:
"Value 'IM PP     ' for parameter DTAMBRS not a valid name.
Error found on CRTLF command."
i.e. the space does not seem to act as a seperator (it looks for a member called "IM PP" rather than one called IM and one called PP.

If you have any idea on how to resolve this it would be much appreciated as it's baffling everyone in our department!
Thanks very much,
Simon Keating.

Answer
My first guess would that when you key the member names on IBM's command line, IBM puts a separator character between the names.  I would enter the command into a CL program, then use the DSPPFM command to display the CL program as if it were a data file, then look for any possible separator character.  If it's there, you'll have to insert that character between member names in your &MBRLIST field.

If that doesn't lead you to an answer, write me at CONCISESYS@AOL.COM and I'll research it.

- Laird