Parameter data types

While shared library parameter definitions use a special set of data types, the corresponding expressions, fields, and variables passed in the RUN statement or SET-PARAMETER( ) method of the call object handle have standard ABL data types. You must ensure that your ABL parameters have data types that are compatible with their corresponding shared library parameter definitions. The following table lists each shared library parameter data type and its compatible ABL data type.

Table 54. Compatibility of shared library and ABL parameters
Shared library parameter data types	ABL parameter data types
BYTE	INTEGER, INT64
SHORT	INTEGER, INT64
UNSIGNED-SHORT	INTEGER, INT64
LONG	INTEGER, INT64
UNSIGNED-LONG	INTEGER, INT64
INT64	INTEGER, INT64
FLOAT	DECIMAL
DOUBLE	DECIMAL
CHARACTER	CHARACTER
MEMPTR	MEMPTR

Caution: For CHARACTER parameters, ABL always passes the routine a pointer to the character or character string value rather than the value itself. If the routine modifies the value, it can also modify ABL memory outside the bounds of the CHARACTER value with unpredictable results. For this reason, ABL does not allow you to use OUTPUT or RETURN for CHARACTER or LONGCHAR parameters, as well as CHARACTER or LONGCHAR array parameters. PSC does not recommend using INPUT-OUTPUT for CHARACTER or LONGCHAR parameters. Rather, pass the character string as a MEMPTR parameter. For more information, see Passing CHARACTER values to shared library routines. For more information on passing a MEMPTR parameter, see UsingMEMPTR variables as parameters.