I am looking for an example of invoking a Unix Shell Script from
WebFOCUS Fex Code. I used following. It works successfully but
does not return 33. It returns 0. Is this expected ? If so, how
to get the actual return code of 33 ?

Sample Fex Code:
================
-SET &RC1 = SYSTEM(&LEN,&SCR_NAME,'D4');
-RUN

Sample Shell Script:
===================
#/usr/bin/ksh
echo "Running"
return 33;

I don't have a Unix Box to test this..but I've coded Unix Script in the past..try putting an !
Before it. Don't know about the ; after.

I've done the following:

  
-UNIX cd /opt/app/ibi52/ibi/apps/dcl
-UNIX dcl.ftp
-TYPE Unix Script Return code is: &RETCODE
-IF &RETCODE NE 0 GOTO ENDTASK;

change the "return 33;" line in your shell script to 'exit 33'

  
#!/usr/bin/ksh
return 33;

-SET &SHCMD   = '/home/webfocus/samp.sh';
-SET &LSHCMD  = &SHCMD.LENGTH;
-SET &RC1 = SYSTEM(&LSHCMD,&SHCMD,'D8');

I tried SYSTEM, !, UNIX and SPAWN. The SPAWN silently
returned zero no matter what the shell command/script was provided as
an argument. I used the SPAWN with DEFINE and COMPUTE
as stated in the manual and tried to generated a fake report with a
TABLE FILE. No luck. It returned zero.

The SYSTEM, !, UNIX successfully ran the script (I can see the side
effects by writing to some file) but with always zero return code. I tried
getting the return code by assignment, by &RETCODE and by using
-TYPE. I tried by putting return and exit statements in
the script. I tried the return type as D2, D4 and D8.
No luck.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Govind Jujare,

A couple of ways to achieve this, both a little long-winded:
1. Have your shell script write the return code to a file and have WebFocus -READ the result from the file. If you first test for the existence of the file, using STATE, and don't find it, you also know you have an error.
2. Have your shell script set and export an environment variable, then use the WebFocus FGETENV() subroutine to read that variable.

I tried follg.

-SET &SHCMD = '/home/webfocus/scr.sh';
-SET &LSHCMD = &SHCMD.LENGTH;
-SET &RC1 = FPUTENV(4,'VAR1',5,'FOCUS','A5');
-SET &RC2 = SYSTEM(&LSHCMD,&SHCMD,'D4');
-SET &RC3 = FGETENV(4,'VAR1',20,'A20');
-RUN

The scr.sh -

#!/usr/bin/ksh
echo $VAR1 > /tmp/out
export VAR1="MODIFY"
echo $VAR1 >> /tmp/out

The /tmp/out showed -

FOCUS
MODIFY

But RC3 came back as 'FOCUS' in the fex code. I guess this is to be expected. Because in Unix the values of shell
variables are not copied back from child process to the parent process (unless you explicitely send them through
a file or pipe or socket .. etc).

I didn't try writing to files because of efficiency concerns ... I guess I will have it give it another thought.

Hi Robin,

I been struggling to recollect information about the 'STATE'
that you talked about (to check existence of a file). I am
not able to find it in manuals. Actually that can help me to
certain extent.

Thx,

Govind,

This shows both methods working, and also the usage of STATE:

-* ttest.fex:
FILEDEF SRCFILE DISK out.txt (RECFM V LRECL 80
-DEFAULT &RC3='ABCDEFGH'
-DEFAULT &RC4='ABCDEFGH'
-RUN
!. ./scr.ksh
-RUN

-SET &RC3 = FGETENV(4,'VAR1',20,'A20');
-RUN
STATE ./out.txt
-RUN
-IF &RETCODE EQ 0 GOTO HAVDAT ;
-TYPE File out.txt not found in current directory.
-GOTO ENDIT

-HAVDAT
-READ SRCFILE &RC4.A8.
-TYPE IORET=&IORETURN
-RUN
-TYPE RC3=&RC3
-TYPE RC4=&RC4
-ENDIT


and this is the shell script:
#!/bin/ksh
# scr.ksh
VAR1="MODIFY"; export VAR1
echo $VAR1 > ./out.txt

Robin, I got follg output. Is RC3 supposed to show up as 'MODIFY' ? I used an absolute path for scr.ksh (because I am in MRE).

 IORET=       0
 RC3=
 RC4=MODIFY

To double check, I introduced a FPUTENV for VAR1 at the top of the fex and saw RC3 getting the value unchanged. I wonder what I am doing wrong. Thx for the tip on 'STATE'.

Even though I was not able to make get the return code of the shell script OR get the env variable from shell script using 'FGETENV' .... the 'STATE' command worked proved sufficient in my case. OTOH, I see that all the output of the script is getting pumped into the generated HTML file in the form of comments. That helps me in figuring out what went wrong with the shell script. That ought to be enough in my case.

Thx,

Make sure that you have the dot-space ". " before the shell script command. This should ensure that the environment variable is available to WebFocus.

!. scr.ksh

Robin

That is what I thought when I looked at the dot (current shell) in your script. Still the env var did not get updated to webfocus.

#!/bin/ksh
# scr.ksh
VAR1="MODIFY"; export VAR1
echo $VAR1 > ./out.txt
echo > /tmp/out.txt
/usr/bin/pwd >> /tmp/out.txt
echo >> /tmp/out.txt
/usr/proc/bin/ptree $$ >> /tmp/out.txt

/tmp/out.txt:

/apps/opt/webfocus/ibi/srv53/wfs/edatemp/ts000011

12707 /apps/opt/webfocus/ibi/srv53/home/bin/edapth.out 8120 /apps/opt/webfocus/
  3355  /apps/opt/webfocus/ibi/srv53/home/bin/tscom3.out pthid3 -traceoff
    3918  sh -c . /usr/webfocus/bin/scr.ksh
      3920  /usr/proc/bin/ptree 3918

From the above, it seems that webfocus is spanning "sh". I do not see how it the value of env var from scr.ksh can propogate back to webfocus.

Thx,

Hmmm. In that case I'm stumped.

If it has really worked for somebody, may be it is because of something in their environment. May be sh/ksh. May be MRE/self-serv. Anyway, thx for the "STATE" trick.

This is may not help, but I will throw it out there.

FEX Code:

-*-SET &ECHO=ALL;
-*
-UNIX cd /opt/ibiqual/ibi/apps/baseapp
-UNIX ./update.sh
-*

SH Code:

#!/bin/ksh

java update > update.log

This is how we do it running WebFOCUS on Solaris:

-UNIX yourscript
-IF &EXITRC NE 0 THEN GOTO WHATEVER;

of course, yourscript has to set the return code.

No luck with 'UNIX' call. EXITRC showed zero even when the script did not exist. I ran -

-UNIX somescriptsomewhere
-RUN
-TYPE EXITRC=&EXITRC

The 'SYSTEM' call is slightly better. Atleast when there is a problem in launching the child
process, it gave a non-zero return code.

Remove the "-RUN" and you should see a valid return code, assuming your script sets it.

I found nothing about EXITRC in manuals, but it works!! I will take it. Thx for the tip.

fex code:
========

-UNIX /usr/webfocus/somescriptsomewhere.sh
-TYPE EXITRC=&EXITRC

/usr/webfocus/somescriptsomewhere.sh:
====================================

#!/usr/bin/ksh
# Not required to run ptree .. but just for fun to see the processes
/usr/proc/bin/ptree $$
return 33;

Output:
======
12707 /apps/opt/webfocus/ibi/srv53/home/bin/edapth.out 8120 /apps/opt/webfocus/
5444 /apps/opt/webfocus/ibi/srv53/home/bin/tscom3.out pthid3 -traceoff
12855 sh -c /usr/webfocus/somescriptsomewhere.sh > /apps/opt/webfocus
12856 /usr/bin/ksh /usr/webfocus/somescriptsomewhere.sh
12858 /usr/proc/bin/ptree 12856
EXITRC= 33