ACTIVATION GROUPS There are three types of activation groups: 1. The default activation group (*DFTACTGRP) 2.

Persistent or named activation groups (also called static activation gro ups) 3. Non-persistent or *NEW activation groups (also called dynamic activation groups) Activation groups are boundaries between running programs/applications within on e job. One or more programs can run within an activation group, and there can be one or more activation groups for any job. Activation groups are assigned to ea ch compiled program or service program at compile time, using the ACTGRP paramet er of the CRTPGM, CRTSRVPGM, or CRTBNDxxx command. With the exception of the *DF TACTGRP, activation groups are automatically created when a program is called. An activation group name is associated with all program objects. When a program is called, if its associated activation is not active, the system creates the ac tivation group and then loads the program. If the activation group is already ac tivated, the program is loaded immediately. This provides much faster program lo ading. Default Activation Group When a job is started on the iSeries or AS/400, *DFTACTGRP is created, and it ca nnot be terminated until the job ends. *DFTACTGRP is where all original OS/400 program objects run. For example, RPG II I and CL programs run in *DFTACTGRP along with QCMD, QCMDEXC, PDM, and most othe r system programs. However, the ILE debugger runs in a named activation group. I n addition, limited-function RPG IV programs can run in *DFTACTGRP. Limited func tion is defined as programs that don't contain any procedures, don't call any pr ocedures, and use no contemporary built-in functions (BIFs) as well as any featu res that require procedures not supported by *DFTACTGRP. Effectively, an RPG III program that is converted to RPG IV with the CVTRPGSRC c ommand is considered a limited-function RPG IV program. These programs can run i n *DFTACTGRP or any other activation group. Named Activation Groups A named activation group is an activation group that is created by the system wh en a program associated with it is run. Named activation groups are persistent-that is, they do not close down when the last program in the invocation stack ha s ended. This does two things: (1) It allows the program to be subsequently load ed more quickly; the activation group does not have to be reactivated, and (2) I t allows other programs that are compiled with the same activation group name to be loaded into the activation group. *NEW Activation Groups *NEW activation groups are created when a program compiled with ACTGRP(*NEW) is called. In this situation, the system generates a temporary activation group nam e, activates the activation group, and loads the program into it. Other programs called by the program can be loaded in this activation group by specifying ACTG RP(*CALLER) when they are compiled. Each time the program with ACTGRP(*NEW) is c alled, a new activation group is created and the program is loaded into that act ivation group. This implies that recursive calls are supported under ILE. This i s a correct assumption. *NEW activation groups are not persistent; they automatically close down when th e program that started them ends. Assigning an Activation Group Activation groups are assigned to programs and service program when the program or service program is created. The ACTGRP parameter of the CRTPGM and CRTBNDxxx commands identifies the name of the activation group in which the program runs. The values for the ACTGRP parameter are as follows: *NEW--This is the default for the CRTPGM command. It causes the system to create a unique, new activation group name whenever the program is called. In fact, if the program is called multiple times in the same job, a new activation group is

created each time. If the program is called recursively, a new activation group is started for each invocation of the program. When the program ends, the new a ctivation group is automatically destroyed. This occurs regardless of the status of the *INLR indicator in RPG IV programs. *CALLER--When a program with an activation group of *CALLER is called, it is loa ded into the activation group of the program that called it. No new activation g roup is created. Whether that calling program's activation group is *NEW or a na med activation group is irrelevant. *CALLER is useful for job streams in which y ou may have programs that are used in multiple applications and you want them to all run in the same activation group. Named Activation Group --This allows you to give an activation group a specific name. That name is used as the activation group in which the program is run. If the activation group is not already active, it is activated when the program is called. If the activation group is already active, the program is loaded into it . Use any name you like as the name of the activation group. The CRTBNDRPG Command The CRTBNDRPG command (PDM option 14) allows you to control the activation group for the program. Unlike the CRTPGM command, CRTBNDRPG allows you to specify whe ther the program runs in *DFTACTGRP or a real activation group. By real activati on group, I mean a *NEW, *CALLER, or named activation group. CRTBNDRPG supports this capability with two parameters: DFTACTGRP and ACTGRP. DFTACTGRP (*YES | *NO) Parameter *YES--The program runs in *DFTACTGRP. The program is checked for any features th at are not compatible with *DFTACTGRP. *YES is the default for the this paramete r, so if this option is selected, the ACTGRP parameter is ignored.. *NO--The activation group name specified on the ACTGRP parameter is assigned to the program. ACTGRP (QILE | activation-group-name | *NEW | *CALLER) QILE is the default name for a named activation group on the CRTBNDxxx command. This name is simply a default and has no implicit value. For simplicity, you mig ht consider using the QILE activation group name until you become familiar with activation groups. Any name may be specified for the activation group. Starting and Ending Activation Groups The activation group name associated with a program is automatically started whe n the program is called. There is no Start Activation Group command, although so metimes I wish there were. The methods you can use to end an activation group depend on which activation gr oup you're using. There is no way to end *DFTACTGRP. It ends when the job ends. *NEW activation groups, however, take care of themselves. They are automatically destroyed when the program that started the *NEW activation group returns to it s caller. This deactivation is performed regardless of the setting in RPG IV pro grams of the *INLR indicator. When a program running in a *NEW activation group is called a second time, a new copy of it is loaded into memory and run. Named activation groups are handled differently. Although RPG IV provides no int egrated function for terminating a named activation group, there is an API (CEET REC) that allows RPG IV or any ILE language to terminate its activation group. One of the advantages of named activation groups is also one of the biggest disa dvantages--they are persistent. That is, they do not go away until the job in wh ich they are active has ended. Sometimes, such as during development, is it impo rtant to end the named activation group so that you can load a new/fresh copy of the program on the next call to the program. IBM provides several methods to en d an activation group, including the following: Use the Reclaim Activation Group (RCLACTGRP) command Use a language feature such as STOP RUN in COBOL Call an ILE API End the job The RCLACTGRP Command The RCLACTGRP command can be used to terminate (close down) inactive activation

groups. Inactive activation groups are named activation groups that are no longe r in use. The activation group name being closed down is specified on the ACTGRP parameter of the RCLACTGRP command. Optionally, you can end all named activatio n groups by specifying ACTGRP(*ELIGIBLE), as shown below: RCLACTGRP *ELIGIBLE While "eligible" may not be a familiar word to the CL language, you will need to get used to it. The following is another example of the RCLACTGRP command: RCLACTGRP ACTGRP(QILE) This command will end the QILE activation group, provided all program invocation s have returned. An example of where QILE would not end is if QCMD is called fro m a program that is running within QILE; then, the QILE activation group is not eligible for termination. Using STOP RUN in COBOL RPG programmers tend to not use other programming languages, so COBOL may not be installed on your system. COBOL, however, has a longstanding STOP RUN statement . This ends the process for the set of COBOL procedures. In ILE, STOP RUN also e nds the named activation group and returns to the caller. Unfortunately, RPG IV does not have a similar function. ILE APIs Along with ILE, IBM provided several APIs that perform certain tasks. One API, C EETREC, causes the current activation group to be deactivated, and all programs running in that activation group are terminated. This is effectively the same be havior as the STOP RUN statement in COBOL. The CEETREC API is an ILE procedure, and, therefore, must be called with a bound call operation--either a CALLB or CALLP to a prototype that references CEETREC. RPG IV and CL support bound calls, so they can call CEETREC. In RPG IV, a bound call can be performed with either a prototype call (CALLP) or the CALLB operation code. A prototype call, as the term implies, requires a pro totype. While a prototype may be useful for completeness, it isn't necessary to call CEETREC. C Eval *INLR = *ON C CallB 'CEETREC' Setting on LR does not impact the results. CEETREC can be called with *INLR on o r off. Regardless of the setting, the program is still removed from memory. Clear as Mud? Activation groups are complex, and this article only scratches the surface. Use them progressively, adding more to your applications as you become accustomed to using them. And don't feel bad if you don't understand them right away. A group of us were in Rochester, Minnesota, several years ago for an introduction to IL E. We developed a pet name for this new technology; we called them aggravation g roups.