13 Overview to Program Design Language

This chapter contains these topics:

13.1 Objectives

  • To work with Data Item Formula Revisions

  • To understand Program Design Language (PDL) statements and syntax

  • To understand PDL editing, parsing, and source generation

13.2 About PDL

Use PDL to create specifications within the Detailed Programming Facility that causes specialized source code to generate. Use PDL for calculations or comparisons. When the program generates, the program generator converts the code into RPG source code.

Enter PDL code prior to the standard code that the program generator creates. If you want the PDL code to follow the standard code for a field, enter the PDL code on the field immediately following the field with which it is associated. The program generator creates all source code for fields in alphabetical order.

CASE stores PDL in the User Defined Procedures file (F93109) with one record per formula. The User Defined Procedures Detail file (F93110) divides the F93109 file into statements. The F93110 file contains multiple records for each formula.

PDL checks variable definitions as follows:

  • Checks the variable to see if it is a keyword

  • Checks for the variable in the RPG program

    • If not in the program, checks to see if it exists in the Data Dictionary Repository

    • If not in the Data Dictionary Repository, the user must define the variable

The PDL uses:

  • Data Item Formula Revisions screen

  • PDL Statements

  • Blocks of Statements

  • Comments

  • Assignments

  • Database Operations

  • Calls

  • Loops

  • Conditions

  • Miscellaneous Keywords and Syntax

Perform the following tasks:

  • Work with Data Item Formula Revisions

  • Understand PDL Statements and Syntax

  • Understand Additional PDL Operations