Interpreting binder ecodes

Although supplying a complete list of binder ecodes is beyond the scope of this document, providing a general guideline for reading such ecodes is necessary and may prove useful when trying to diagnose a binder problem.

An ecode is a fullword bit string in the hexadecimal format MMEEGGGG. The three subfields are used as follows:

MM - Module identifier (00-FF). It identifies the module in which the event took place.
EE - Event number within the module (00-FF).

GGGG - Generic event code. This number varies as follows:

    GGGG                        meaning
    -----------------------------------------------
    A0XX                        Module entry.  XX is usually 00, but
                                if a module has multiple entry points,
                                it may be 01, 02, etc.
 
    A1XX                        Module exit.   XX is usually 00, but
                                if a module has multiple exit points,
                                it may be 01, 02, etc.
 
    B000                        Returned to caller, trace, etc
 
    XXXX                        Message number of associated message

All modules have both an entry and an exit trace record, and the exit trace record gives the return and reason codes. Most modules also trace calls for entry and return to system services.

The following specific ecodes may be of help:

FFA6B000
Contains a copy of a message to be issued (some of these messages might not actually appear in SYSPRINT because of the MSGLEVEL setting).
0040XXXX-005CXXXX
Trace parameters passed on binder API calls.
A200A001/A200A101
Trace additions of symbol names to the binder's Namelist. Contains the name, its category code, and the assigned name list index.
8000A000
Traces the addition of an element index record to the binder's workmod. It contains the pertaining class and section names.

There is normally a DEND entry at the end of the trace of a complete binder execution. If it is not there, the trace was truncated due perhaps to a program check in the binder. In this case, the trace would probably not be very useful as it would not show the complete binder logic sequence.

If you know that the binder did not end normally, then backing up from the DEND entry may show a binder terminal error message. For normal termination you will see the IEW2008I message.