Receiving a message from a program or procedure that has ended

Occasionally, there is a need to receive messages from the job log that are sent to a call message queue that is no longer active.

For example, PGMA calls PGMB and PGMB sends a diagnostic message to itself and an escape message to PGMA. PGMA can easily receive the escape message that was sent to it, but sometimes it is necessary to also receive the diagnostic message. Because the diagnostic is on a call message queue that is no longer active, the message must be received by using a message reference key. This can be done, but it takes more work than one simple receive message command.

The following considerations are important in understanding how this works:

If the Receive Message (RCVMSG) command (or QMHRCVPM API) is coded to receive a message by key from its own call message queue, it will receive the message with that key (if it still exists) from the job log, regardless of what call message queue the message was sent to or whether that procedure is active.
The message reference key for messages in the job log can be treated as a 4-byte unsigned integer that is incremented for each message sent (even though it is documented externally as a 4-character value).

The following steps are required to obtain a message from a program or procedure that has ended:

Send a message (and optionally remove it) to obtain a starting message reference key.
Run the function that will send the messages you are interested in.
Send another message to obtain an ending message reference key.
In a loop, increment the message reference key between the starting and ending message keys identified in steps 1 and 3 and receive the message for each key. There can be gaps in the message reference key so the CPF2410 exception from the receive message function must be handled. The gaps can occur from a message that have been deleted or from internal exception handling.

Note: This topic provides a procedure and example for one way to receive a message from a program or procedure that has ended. There are other techniques that can be used to access some or all of the messages in the job log. These are summarized in the following list, but are not explained in detail, nor are sample programs provided:

Write the job log to an outfile. This can be done either by specifying OUTPUT(*OUTFILE) on the Display Job Log (DSPJOBLOG) command, or using the QMHCTLJL API to define the job log outfile specifications and either ending the job or specifying OUTPUT(*APIDFN) on the Display Job Log (DSPJOBLOG) command. When you do this all messages in the job log will be written to the outfile. So messages that are left on a call message queue when the program or procedure ends are included.
Use the List Job Log Messages (QMHLJOBL) API to copy messages from the job log into a user space. You can select all of the messages in the job log or a subset, and you can select which fields are returned for each message. There are APIs that can be used to access the contents of the user space. The QUSPTRUS API can be used to get a pointer to the data in the user space. Then the pointer can be used with languages that support pointers. API QUSRTVUS can be used to retrieve data from the user space in order to use languages that do not support pointers.

A sample program of the procedure described previously is provided as follows using the RCVMSG command and the QMHRCVPM API.

Note: By using the code example, you agree to the terms of the Code license and disclaimer information.

*******************************************************************************
 *
 * CL program example using the RCVMSG command                                                          
 * 
 *
 *******************************************************************************
 
 This has the advantage of being easier to code and is easier to follow.  
 It has the disadvantage of requiring the program to monitor for and handle 
 the CPF2410 exception, which is not a good thing if performance is important.


PGM
DCL &LOWKEY *CHAR 4
DCL &HIKEY *CHAR 4
DCL &MSGKEY *CHAR 4
DCL &MSG *CHAR 256
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* OBTAIN STARTING MESSAGE REFERENCE KEY                           */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
SNDPGMMSG  MSG(TEST) TOPGMQ(*SAME) KEYVAR(&LOWKEY)
RMVMSG     MSGKEY(&LOWKEY)
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* EXECUTE FUNCTION                                                */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/

  ---- Insert whatever command(s) or program call(s) you want ----
  ---- to handle messages for here                            ----

/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* OBTAIN ENDING MESSAGE REFERENCE KEY                             */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
SNDPGMMSG  MSG(TEST) TOPGMQ(*SAME) KEYVAR(&HIKEY)
RMVMSG     MSGKEY(&HIKEY)
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* LOOP TO RECEIVE MESSAGES ON INACTIVE INVOCATION                 */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
CHGVAR %BIN(&MSGKEY 1 4)  (%BIN(&LOWKEY 1 4) + 1)
LOOP:
RCVMSG     PGMQ(*SAME (*)) MSGKEY(&MSGKEY) RMV(*NO) MSG(&MSG)
MONMSG CPF2410 EXEC(DO) /* HANDLE MSGKEY NOT FOUND                 */
  RCVMSG     MSGTYPE(*EXCP) RMV(*YES) /* REMOVE UNWANTED EXCEPTION */
  GOTO       SKIP
ENDDO
     
    ---- Insert code here to do whatever processing is needed  ----
    ---- for the message.  You may need to add additional      ----
    ---- values, such as message ID, message type, etc., to    ----
    ---- the RCVMSG command.                                   ----

SKIP:
CHGVAR %BIN(&MSGKEY 1 4)  (%BIN(&MSGKEY 1 4) + 1)
IF (&MSGKEY *LT &HIKEY) GOTO LOOP
ENDPGM


 *******************************************************************************
 *
 * CL program using the QMHRCVPM API.  
 *
 *******************************************************************************

This sample is similar to the first sample.  The only difference is that 
it uses the QMHRCVPM API instead of the RCVMSG CL command.  By using the error 
code structure, it eliminates the need to handle the CPF2410 exception and the 
overhead required to send the exception in the case of the message key not 
being found.  This example shows how to extract the message text from the 
structure returned by the API.  If the message is an immediate message (i.e. no 
message ID), the message is in the 'Replacement data or impromptu message text' 
area; otherwise it is in the 'Message' area which follows the 'Replacement 
data' field.  The example checks the message length to determine which of these 
fields to use for the message.  

PGM
DCL &LOWKEY *CHAR 4
DCL &HIKEY *CHAR 4
DCL &MSGKEY *CHAR 4
DCL &MSG *CHAR 256
/*------------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* Some messages have a large amount of message data, in which case */
/* the size of the &MSGINFO variable will not be adequate.  If you  */
/* expect to receive messages with a large amount of message data,  */
/* you will need to increase the size of this variable accordingly. */
/* Be sure to also change the value that is put into &MSGINFOL to   */
/* reflect the size of the variable.                                */
/*------------------------------------------------------------------*/
DCL &MSGINFO *CHAR 1000
DCL &MSGINFOL *CHAR 4
DCL &ERRCODE *CHAR 16
DCL &MSGOFFS *DEC (4 0)
DCL &MSGLEN *DEC (4 0)
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* OBTAIN STARTING MESSAGE REFERENCE KEY                           */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
SNDPGMMSG  MSG(TEST) TOPGMQ(*SAME) KEYVAR(&LOWKEY)
RMVMSG     MSGKEY(&LOWKEY)
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* EXECUTE FUNCTION                                                */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/

  ---- Insert whatever command(s) or program call(s) you want ----
  ---- to handle messages for here                            ----

/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* OBTAIN ENDING MESSAGE REFERENCE KEY                             */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
SNDPGMMSG  MSG(TEST) TOPGMQ(*SAME) KEYVAR(&HIKEY)
RMVMSG     MSGKEY(&HIKEY)
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* LOOP TO RECEIVE MESSAGES WITH QMHRCVPM API                      */
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------*/
CHGVAR %BIN(&MSGKEY 1 4)  (%BIN(&LOWKEY 1 4) + 1)
CHGVAR %BIN(&MSGINFOL 1 4) 1000
CHGVAR %BIN(&ERRCODE 1 4) 16
LOOP2:
CALL QMHRCVPM (&MSGINFO &MSGINFOL RCVM0200 '*          ' +
               X'00000000' '*ANY      ' &MSGKEY X'00000000' +
               '*SAME     ' &ERRCODE)
IF ((%BIN(&MSGINFO 5 4) *GT 0) *AND (%BIN(&ERRCODE 5 4) *EQ 0)) +
  DO /* IF A MESSAGE WAS RECEIVED */
    IF (%BIN(&MSGINFO 161 4) *EQ 0) +
      DO /* IMPROMPTU MESSAGE */
        CHGVAR &MSGLEN %BIN(&MSGINFO 153 4)
        CHGVAR &MSGOFFS 177
      ENDDO
    ELSE +
      DO /* STORED MESSAGE */
        CHGVAR &MSGLEN %BIN(&MSGINFO 161 4)
        CHGVAR &MSGOFFS (177 + %BIN(&MSGINFO 153 4))
      ENDDO
    CHGVAR &MSG %SST(&MSGINFO &MSGOFFS &MSGLEN)

    ---- Insert code here to do whatever processing is needed  ----
    ---- for the message.  You can extract additional          ----
    ---- values, such as message ID, message type, etc.,       ----
    ---- from the message information structure if necessary.  ----

  ENDDO
CHGVAR %BIN(&MSGKEY 1 4)  (%BIN(&MSGKEY 1 4) + 1)
IF (&MSGKEY *LT &HIKEY) GOTO LOOP2
ENDPGM