NET/MASTER Network Control Language (NCL) Programmer's Guide

Options for Specifying Message Structure
Working With Pathway Server Classes
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You can also obtain the request message in parameters, in a single variable, or as a
constant expression.
2. Use the PSEND OPEN verb to make the required Pathway server class available
for use by an NCL process. Use either the PSEND OPEN verb or the PSEND SET
verb to specify that reply messages are unmapped. The following example makes
a Pathway server class available for use by an NCL process, using the PSEND
OPEN verb to specify that reply messages are unmapped:
PSEND OPEN ID=PSC_1 FORMAT=UNMAPPED
3. Use the PSEND SEND verb to send the request message and receive the reply
message. The following example sends a request message in ordinary variables
and receives a reply message in an ordinary variable:
PSEND SEND VARS=&REQUEST* TO VARS=&REPLY
The request message variables are concatenated when the request message is sent.
In this example, the request message is sent as the following concatenated
variables:
&REQUEST1 || &REQUEST2 || &REQUEST3
This means request message data is concatenated into a single string when the
request message is sent. In this example, the concatenated request message is:
"John Smith 99 SMITH STREET, SMITHTOWN, SMITHCITY 123 4567 "
Unmapped Reply Messages
The structure of an unmapped reply message is specified using the
FORMAT=UNMAPPED operand in the PSEND OPEN or PSEND SET verb.
When you receive an unmapped reply message, NCL makes no attempt to identify
logical sections in the message; it treats the message as a single string. The data is
either automatically split into as many variables as are necessary to hold the data or
placed into variables according to the criteria you specify, using the VARS keyword
with length variable specifications. Refer to the discussion on verb syntax and variable
access methods in the NonStop NET/MASTER NCL Reference Manual for a discussion of
these techniques.
When you receive an unmapped reply message, there are a variety of techniques you
can use to analyze the data. You normally assume that the length of each logical
section and, therefore, the whole message is of fixed length.