APIs By Example: Change Object Attributes Command

Article ID: 50892

Posted May 12th, 2005

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All OS/400 objects have a common set of attributes regardless of object type. You can display many of these attributes using the Display Object Description (DSPOBJD) command, yet very few of the attributes can be changed by the Change Object Description (CHGOBJD) command. In fact, the only things you can change are the object’s text description and its days used count.

To alleviate this shortcoming, this week’s API by Example offers a command interface to the Change Object Description (QLICOBJD) API. This API is capable of changing a number of object attributes that are not accessible otherwise.

The following command prompt documents the attributes that can be changed using the CHGOBJATR command:

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
                   Change Object Attributes (CHGOBJATR)                     
Type choices, press Enter.                                                    
Object . . . . . . . . . . . .           Name                         
  Library  . . . . . . . . . .    *LIBL  Name, *LIBL, *CURLIB...
Object type  . . . . . . . . .           *ALRTBL, *BNDDIR, *CFGL..   
Source file  . . . . . . . . .  *SAME    Name, *SAME, *BLANK          
  Library  . . . . . . . . . .           Name                         
Source member  . . . . . . . .  *SAME    Name, *SAME, *BLANK          
Source file last changed:                                                    
  Date . . . . . . . . . . . .  *SAME    Date, *SAME, *CURRENT        
  Time . . . . . . . . . . . .           Time, *CURRENT               
Allow change by program  . . .  *SAME    *NO, *YES, *SAME             
User-defined attribute . . . .  *SAME    Character value, *SAME...
Text 'description' . . . . . .  *SAME                                      
Days used count  . . . . . . .  *SAME    *SAME, *RESET                
Last used date . . . . . . . .  *SAME    *SAME, *UPDATE               
Changed date and time stamp  .  *SAME    *SAME, *CURRENT              
Reset member's days used count  *NONE    Name, *NONE          
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The individual attributes are explained in detail in the help panel group that is included, but of particular interest to this command is the ‘Allow change by program’ attribute. In the event that this is set to *NO, the QLICOBJD API will not be permitted to perform any further attribute changes.

Once you enter an object name and object type and press enter, the command’s prompt override program (POP) will retrieve the specified object’s current attribute values. The POP source member CBX135O can be used as a template, in case you want to add this feature to your own commands. To make a POP work, two things must be done:

a) Specify the POP on the CRTCMD command’s PMTOVRPGM keyword when creating the command –- as in the following example:

     CrtCmd     Cmd( CHGOBJATR )     
                Pgm( CBX135 )        
                SrcMbr( CBX135X )    
                VldCkr( CBX135V )    
                HlpPnlGrp( CBX135H ) 
                HlpId( *CMD )        
                PmtOvrPgm( CBX135O )

b) For each command keyword that is used to identify the entity from which the prompt override values are retrieved, you must specify KEYPARM( *YES ):

     Parm       OBJ         Q0001                         
                Min( 1 )                                  
                Choice( *NONE )                           
                KeyParm( *YES )                           
                Prompt( 'Object' )

Every key parameter is passed as a parameter to the POP. All in all, the following parameters will be passed:

     Command name      INPUT      Qualified command name        
     Key parameter 1   INPUT      Key parameter 1 identifying the
                                  entity for which to retrieve 
                                  prompt values.            
     Key parameter n   INPUT      Key parameter n. One parameter
                                  is passed for every specified
                                  key parameter.               
     Command string    OUTPUT     The formatted command prompt  
                                  string returning prompt values.

More details on the prompt override program concept can be found in the CL Programming manual –- from page 320 to 326. You can download this manual from the following link:
http://as400bks.rochester.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/books/c4157215.pdf

The selective prompting instructions used to compose the command string are described in the same manual, from page 168 to 171.

Apart from the above attributes, the QLICOBJD API also is capable of changing the following attributes:

-- Object control level
-- Licensed program
-- Program temporary fix (PTF)
-- Authorized program analysis report (APAR)
-- Product option load ID
-- Product option ID
-- Component ID

Please refer to the QLICOBJD API documentation (available at the link below) for further information about these attributes. If you need to be able to change some or all of these in your shop, it should be easy to adapt the CHGOBJATR command to support these attributes, too.

Here’s an example of changing an object's user-defined attribute:

CHGOBJATR OBJ(CBX135) OBJTYPE(*PGM) USRDFNATR(B_09.02.01)

The new attribute setting takes effect immediately and can be displayed by running the DSPOBJD ... DETAIL(*FULL) command, as follows:

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
                   Display Object Description - Full                        
                                                    Library 1 of 1 
Object . . . . . . . :   CBX135     Attribute  . . . . . :   RPGLE        
  Library  . . . . . :     QGPL     Owner  . . . . . . . :   GARY        
Library ASP device . :   *SYSBAS    Primary group  . . . :   *NONE        
Type . . . . . . . . :   *PGM                                                  
User-defined information:                                                      
  Attribute  . . . . . . . . . :   B_09.02.01                            
  Text . . . . . . . . . . . . :   Change Object Attributes - CPP        

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The CHGOBJATR command includes the following sources:

CBX135 –- Command processing program.

CBX135X -- Command definition source member.

CBX135O –- Command prompt override program.

CBX135V –- Command validity checking program.

CBX135H -- Command help text panel group.

Compilation instructions are found in the source headers.

This article demonstrates the following APIs:

Change Object Description (QLICOBJD) API:
http://as400bks.rochester.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/info/apis/qlicobjd.htm

Retrieve Object Description (QUSROBJD) API:
http://as400bks.rochester.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/info/apis/qusrobjd.htm

Normal End (CEETREC) API:
http://as400bks.rochester.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/info/apis/CEETREC.htm

Convert Type (QLICVTTP) API:
http://as400bks.rochester.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/info/apis/qlicvttp.htm