Improvement to RPG compile listing

One thing that has always annoyed me within RPG compiler listings is how it handles long variables names. In the "Additional diagnostics messages" section of the listing it did not list the entire variable name, just the first seven characters followed by an ellipsis ( ... ). This could lead to some confusion if there is more than one variable that have the identical first seven characters.

I know this is an extremely simple piece of code, but it illustrates what happened:

01 **free 02 dcl-s Really_not_this_one char(1) ; 03 Really_long_variable_name = 'X' ; 04 *inlr = *on ;

Line 2: A variable is defined with the name Really_not_this_one.

Line 3: I then use a variable that has not been defined, Really_long_variable_name, that has the same first seven characters as the variable I defined on line 2.

When I compile this it fails with a level 30 error, as the variable on line 3 has not been defined.

When I look in the compile listing I see:

Msg id Sv Statement Message text *RNF7030 30 000300 The name or indicator REALLY_... is not defined.

I have the statement number; therefore, I can determine which variable caused the error. But it always annoyed me that the compiler knows the full name, but does not display it.

Within the PTF for RPG that accompanies the latest Technology Refresh for IBM i 7.6 and IBM i 7.5, is the fix for this problem. After the PTFs have been applied, now when I compile the RPG code my message gives me the complete name of the variable:

Msg id Sv Statement Message text *RNF7030 30 000300 The name or indicator REALLY_LONG_VARIABLE_NAME is not defined.

This is so much better. Now I know what variable has not been defined without having to go to line 3 of the source code.

I know that this was never an error, just an annoyance. Thank you IBM for fixing this oversight.

 

This article was written for IBM i 7.6 TR1 and 7.5 TR7.