Arguments for passing data

You can pass data between programs by using channels and containers, or by using a communication area (COMMAREA).

If you use a COMMAREA, you are limited to passing 32 KB at a time. If you use a channel and containers, you can pass more than 32 KB between programs. The COMMAREA or channel, and any other parameters, are passed as arguments to the appropriate methods.

Many of the methods are overloaded; that is, they have different versions that take either a different number of arguments or arguments of a different type. There might be one method that has no arguments, or the minimum mandatory arguments, and another that has all of the arguments. For example, the Program class includes the following different link() methods:

link()
This method does a simple LINK without using a COMMAREA to pass data, nor any other options.
link(com.ibm.cics.server.CommAreaHolder)
This method does a simple LINK, using a COMMAREA to pass data but without any other options.
link(com.ibm.cics.server.CommAreaHolder, int)
This method does a distributed LINK, using a COMMAREA to pass data and a DATALENGTH value to specify the length of the data within the COMMAREA.
link(com.ibm.record.IByteBuffer)
This method does a LINK using an object that implements the IByteBuffer interface of the Java Record Framework supplied with VisualAge for Java.
link(com.ibm.cics.server.Channel)
This method does a LINK using a channel to pass data in one or more containers.