Naming an IBM i Job

In Mobile RPG users can designate the names of IBM i jobs using the TerminalDeviceName property.

Implementation

The property is applied in the MobileRPGJob class:

myDatabase = new AVRRuntime.Database("", AVRRuntime.VirtualTerminal.MonarchWeb, AVRRuntime.OpenAccessDspF.MobileRPG);

myDatabase.TerminalDeviceName = "MYDEV??";

The TerminalDeviceName property takes any string the developer inputs, and as a special option the string can include up to three question marks (?) after the string (i.e. MYDEV??). When a sequence of 1question marks are used in the trailing position of the device name, a 10 character name is generated substituting the '?' sequence with a (sequential) hexadecimal number (e.g. MYDEV00010).

The string length must be 8 or fewer characters, including any question marks. If a job using the specified name already exists, Mobile RPG will loop, and attempt to create a job one hex-digit higher until it lands on a job name that does not exist. If the name specified in the database connection is not available (or exceeds 8 characters), DataGate will throw an exception with one of the following values:

Name	Value
dgEx	{"DeviceName Not Available"}
base	{"DeviceName Not Available"}
DefaultErrorClass	dgEC_Base
Error	dgEDEVICENAME
ErrorClass	dgEC_Base
Message	"DeviceName Not Available"
ErrorClass	dgEC_Base
Message	"DeviceName Not Available"
SystemError	0
Text	""

The same exception will be thrown if the device name specified contains a suffix of question marks and no device available satisfies the name (all 'numbers' have been exhausted).

If the application is going to be naming Jobs, it is highly recommended that the system value QDEVRCYACN be set to either *ENDJOB or *ENDJOBNOLIST. Please see IBM's documentation at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v7r1m0/topic/rzakz/rzakzqdevrcyacn.htm To support larger numbers of similarly named jobs without excessive wait times, Mobile RPG is compatible with Telnet exit-point programs that can dynamically fulfill that need without resorting to repeated calls to the IBM i.