Re: RPG Service Program vs Include Source for Shared Subprocedures and SQL Calls

I suspect procedure pointers could help with your use case, but would
likely be a significant refactor.

If nothing else, you'd need to remove the use of global variables from your
procedures.  IMPORT / EXPORT exists, but you generally want to stay away
from them.

Just to give you an idea..I've got a set of applications.  Most of the work
is done in a *SRVPGM.  The individual program objects contain the
procedures with unique functionality.  So each *PGM object has a small
mainline that sets up various variables and calls into the main *SRVPGM
procedure passing along the needed PROCPTRs to provide the service program
access to the needed unique functionality.

HTH,
Charles

On Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 8:20 AM Marco Facchinetti <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Most of the time the correct solution is *Srvpgm, but there are rare
> exceptions where it may be preferable to use the copy version.
>
> An example in (our) real life is the invoice printing program: since we
> serve multiple customers and each has a specific version that shares 90% of
> the code with the others, the use of copies solved the problem of
> maintaining a common structure and having specific functionality.
>
> Each shared routine or function contained in the copied members makes one
> or more calls to custom routines/functions at fixed points (start, body,
> and end). The return code of these calls determines whether or not to
> execute the corresponding code in the standard function. This allows custom
> code to replace or supplement the shared code.
>
> I haven't found a simple way to do this using service programs, especially
> since functions and routines in copied members make perfectly legitimate
> use of the main program's "global" variables.
>
> The problem with this kind of management where 90% of the code of a program
> is not in the main source is that RDi cannot handle it, this is the reason
> why I uploaded this idea:
>
> https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IBMI-I-4740
>
> Best regards
> --
> Marco Facchinetti
>
> Mr S.r.l.
>
> Tel. 035 962885
> Cel. 393 9620498
>
> Skype: facchinettimarco
>
>
> Il giorno ven 20 mar 2026 alle ore 22:13 Richard Schoen <
> [email protected]> ha scritto:
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > In the Python, Java and .Net world I usually create Python classes, jar
> > files or DLLs to contain shared functionality.
> >
> > Because most IBMi shops have an interesting mix of RPG code bases I'm
> > trying to determine whether I should create a service program or use
> > includes for shared functionality at a customer site.
> >
> > With service programs, write once, bind and use everywhere.
> >
> > With copy books, just include on-the-fly.
> >
> > In the past I've leaned towards copybooks, but I'm curious what others
> > think.  I'm a little cautious of burying SQL functionality into one or
> more
> > service programs.
> >
> > Real-world thoughts appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Regards,
> > Richard Schoen
> > Web: http://www.richardschoen.net
> > Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
> >
> > --
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