ILE COBOL Programmer's Guide

Severity Levels

The ILE COBOL licensed program provides the following message severity levels:

   Severity
Meaning

   00
Informational: This level is used to convey information to the user. No error has occurred. Informational messages are listed only when the FLAG (00) option is specified.

   10
Warning: This level indicates that an error was detected but is not serious enough to interfere with the running of the program.

   20
Error: This level indicates that an error was made, but the compiler is taking a recovery that might yield the desired code.

   30
Severe Error: This level indicates that a serious error was detected. Compilation is completed, but the module object is not created and running of the program cannot be attempted.

   40
Unrecoverable: This level usually indicates a user error that forces termination of processing.

   50
Unrecoverable: This level usually indicates a compiler error that forces termination of processing.

   99
Action: Some manual action is required, such as entering a reply, changing printer forms, or replacing diskettes.
Note:
00, 10, and 20 messages are suppressed when the FLAG(30) option of the PROCESS statement is used or the CRTCBLMOD/CRTBNDCBL command specifies FLAG(30) and is not overridden by the PROCESS statement. See Using the PROCESS Statement to Specify Compiler Options for further information.

The compiler always attempts to provide full diagnostics of all source text in the program, even when errors have been detected. If the compiler cannot continue on a given statement, the message states that the compiler cannot continue and that it will ignore the rest of the statement. When this error occurs, the programmer should examine the entire statement.

The OS/400 message facility is used to produce all messages. The ILE COBOL compiler messages reside in the message file, QLNCMSG, and the run-time messages reside in the message file, QLNRMSG.

Substitution variables and valid reply values are determined by the program sending the message, not by the message description stored in the message file. However, certain elements of a message description can be changed: for example, the text, severity level, default response, or dump list. To effect such changes, you need to define another message description using an Add Message Description (ADDMSGD) command, place the modified description in a user-created message file, and specify that file in the Override Message File (OVRMSGF) command. Using the OVRMSGF command allows the compiler to retrieve messages from the specified file. For additional information, see the ADDMSGD and OVRMSGF commands in the CL and APIs section of the Programming category in the iSeries 400 Information Center at this Web site -http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/pubs/html/as400/infocenter.htm.

Note:
If an IBM-supplied message must be changed and replaced in its message file, call your service representative.

CAUTION

Overriding an IBM-supplied message with a user-created message can produce results you do not anticipate. If reply values are not retained, the program might not respond to any replies. Changing default replies on *NOTIFY type messages could affect the ability of the program to run in unattended mode. Changing the severity could cancel a job not previously canceled. Be cautious when overriding IBM-supplied messages with user-created messages.


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