Using the binder application programming interfaces (APIs)

This topic describes how an application program, system service, or utility can request binder services under program control. Your program can use the binder application programming interface to invoke individual services such as Include, Set Option, Get Data, and Get ESD. By combining calls to these services in a logical order, your program can perform operations on program modules.

The binder also provides two sets of higher level interfaces which perform all operations in a single call, but without the same level of control or function. The IEWBFDA service described in IEWBFDAT - Binder Fast data access API functions provides a very efficient way to extract data from an existing program object. Invoking the binder from a program (Invoking the binder program from another program) is similar to executing the binder as a batch program, but with your program controlling options and DD names.

The low level binder application programming interface consists of assembler macros and user exit points. The IEWBIND macro provides the invoking program with access to the binder services. The IEWBUFF macro provides maps of data areas passed as parameters on the IEWBIND macro invocation. The message user exit allows you to suppress printing of a message. The save user exit allows you to retry a failed attempt to store a member or alias name. The interface validation exit allows your exit routine to examine descriptive data for both caller and called at each external reference.

The binder can be called from programs written in assembler and in other languages. If your program is written in a language other than assembler, you will need to encode the parameter lists for each binder call. See Invoking the binder without the macros for tips on how to invoke the binder from non–assembler language programs.