Difference between revisions of "Slash COPY"

Revision as of 22:21, 6 December 2018

/copy members are a way to include other source members in a RPG program.

They are quite often used to pull in external descriptions, such as Procedures or Data Structures.

The syntax for a /copy is:

/COPY [[<library>/]<source file>,]<member>

If the library isn't specified, then the library list will be searched.

If the source file isn't specified, then the source file the program is being compiled from will be used.

Often /IF, /DEFINE, and /ENDIF are used in the copied source member to conditionally define source so that source lines are not duplicated.

For example (in the copy member):

/IF NOT DEFINED <somevariable>
/DEFINE <somevariable>
// code goes here
/ENDIF

Thus, if the member is copied in more than once, the code that is in the member will only be actually included once.

To exclude the entire member on the second reference, code it as follows.

/IF DEFINED <somevariable>
/EOF
/ENDIF
/DEFINE <somevariable>
...code here...

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 </pre>
-Thus, if the member is copied in more than once, the code that is in the member will only be actually included once.  TO exclude teh entire member on the second reference, code it as follows.
+Thus, if the member is copied in more than once, the code that is in the member will only be actually included once.
+To exclude the entire member on the second reference, code it as follows.
 <pre>
 /IF DEFINED <somevariable>