Pathmaker Programming Guide

Modifying Requesters
Advanced Pathmaker Programming Topics
9–30 067868 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Modifying the Requester
Skeleton
The requester skeleton consists of two files:
REQSKL A file that contains the requester skeleton; the requester skeleton
serves as the framework for generated requesters.
REQDBSKL A file that contains sections of requester skeleton code that only
pertain to DB requesters; sections from REQDBSKL are copied into
REQSKL when you generate a DB requester.
The requester skeleton code consists of SCREEN COBOL source text lines plus
Pathmaker macro language command lines. The skeleton establishes the structure and
appearance of all applications generated for a project.
The DEFINE name of the requester skeleton is:
=_REQUESTER_SKELETON
This DEFINE name maps to the following file:
release-subvolume .REQSKL
where release-subvolume is the subvolume on which the object files for this
version of the Pathmaker product are installed.
If you decide to edit the requester skeleton, you should copy both REQSKL and
REQDBSKL to a new subvolume and then make changes to the REQSKL. (REQSKL
and REQDBSKL must be located on the same subvolume.) Be sure to specify the new
location of the REQSKL file on the Requester Generation Data screen for each
requester that uses the new skeleton. You should not change the original files on the
release subvolume. If you want, you can create an edited requester skeleton for each
requester.
Restrict your changes to ones that do not change the flow of logic in the skeleton. An
example of such a change is reordering the Working-Storage structure for dates from
the American standard (MM/DD/YY) to the European standard (DD/MM/YY).
This change and other minor edits can safely be made to REQSKL; however, you must
maintain these changes in future releases of the product.
Caution You must reapply any changes to the requester skeleton in later releases of the product. Tandem does
not assume responsibility for changes made to the skeleton.