IBM Mainframe Forum

what would happen if the timestamps are not placed while db2-cobol program compilation ? and why does the precomplier places host language calls while exxtracting SQL statements from Cobol Db2 program

Hello,

what would happen if the timestamps are not placed while db2-cobol program compilation ?

The timestamps are critical. . . There is no way to compile/bind without them. . . Possibly i misunderstand what you are asking.

and why does the precomplier places host language calls while exxtracting SQL statements from Cobol Db2 program

Because that is the way it is designed. . . Again, possibly i misunderstand . . .

You might talk with some of your co-workers and provide a more clear description of what you are looking for. When we understand this, we should be able to post more useful replies.

I'll give it a go :

A cobol compiler can't (couldn't) compile SQL : that is not its job. so you need to DB2 precompile.
The precompiler changes the SQL into something that the cobol compiler understands : CALL

Another output of the precompiler is the DBRM = the info that the precompiler got from the SQL-statements.
Think of it as a subroutine that does something like this (very very simplified):



the part in the paragraph the-frst-sql is "The accesspath".

To make sure that "the-first-sql-statement" in your cobol program is the same as what is in the DBRM, DB2 chose to use a standard solution : The caller gives a timestamp (actually a version or contoken) and the callee (is that a word ?) checks if that contoken matches with what it has in its own Working-storage.

Thanks for the reply.. i got it this time.