IBM Support

How to use BINARY(8) field from API format and convert it to a character

How To


Summary

This document pertains to IBM i CL Programming.
The binary built-in function (%BINARY or %BIN) interprets the contents of a specified CL character variable as a signed binary integer.
The starting position begins at the position specified and continues for a length of 2 or 4 characters.
CL Programming built-in function %BIN works with 2 or 4 bytes signed integers.
There are certain APIs that use a BINARY(8) field in the format of the data to return and it is not obvious how to convert the value to a character.

Objective

In this example, 8-byte integer is being used.
The CL program needs to be an ILE CL program compiled by using CRTBNDCL.
This sample uses Retrieve Partition Information (dlpar_get_info) API to return information about configuration and CPU usage of the logical partition where this API is called. IBM Knowledge Center IBM i api dlpar_get_info
The sample is obtaining the value for Defined memory that is at offset 353 and is defined as binary(8).
The following notes help clarify the composition of the CL program.
  • STG(*DEFINED) - Storage: the value for this variable is specified in the variable defined in the DEFVAR parameter.
  • DEFVAR(&DATA ?) - Defined on variable: specifies the variable that contains this field, and its starting position.
  • %CHAR converts logical, decimal, integer, or unsigned integer data to character format.
               PGM               DCL        VAR(&Return) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(4)               DCL        VAR(&Receiver) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(368)               DCL        VAR(&Format) TYPE(*INT) LEN(4)               DCL        VAR(&Length) TYPE(*INT) LEN(4)               DCL        VAR(&Message) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(38) VALUE('DEFMEM:                       -          ')               DCL        VAR(&MsgDta) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(30) STG(*DEFINED) DEFVAR(&Message 9)               DCL        VAR(&DefMem) TYPE(*INT) LEN(8) STG(*DEFINED) DEFVAR(&Receiver 353)               CHGVAR     VAR(&Format) VALUE(1)               CHGVAR     VAR(&Length) VALUE(368)               CALLPRC    PRC('dlpar_get_info') PARM((&Receiver) (&Format *BYVAL) (&Length +                            *BYVAL)) RTNVAL(&Return)               DMPCLPGM               CHGVAR     VAR(&MsgDta) VALUE(%CHAR(&DefMem))               SNDPGMMSG  MSGID(CPF9898) MSGF(QSYS/QCPFMSG) MSGDTA(&Message)               ENDPGM
Compile the CL :- CRTBNDCL PGM(<libname>/<pgmname>) SRCFILE(<libname>/<srcfile>)
Run the program and view the result.
> call binapi2                                                                                                   
  DEFMEM: 30976.                                                       
Sample result of running the CL program.

Document Location

Worldwide

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SWG60","label":"IBM i"},"Component":"CL Programming","Platform":[{"code":"PF012","label":"IBM i"}],"Version":"All Versions","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB57","label":"Power"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
19 December 2019

UID

ibm11137904

Page Feedback