Midrange Systems Design - IBM i5 tm Software

Trace RPG 3 & 4 - Prints a list of the calculation statements after they are executed, and the values in factor 1 & 2, the result field and indicators. How it works, it reads your source code, creates a new source file with an except after each line of source. When the new program is compiled and executed, you get a printout of everything your program did. The new source is always another name "RPGTRCWRK", but the object program can be the same name.

Why Trace instead of debug

• Debug does not work easily on batch jobs, trace works easily on batch.
• Y2k, trace all programs, but only lines that have changed in last the 12 months (date changes). Once the program trace has been checked, turn the trace off.
• Program bugs that occur once in a while. Leave the trace on, and the next time the bug happens, you will find it in the trace report. You may produce thousand of pages of trace, but you can search and find the bug.

Trace RPG Free Format - The above program does not support free form RPG.  However, Search400 has a program called TraceIt that does.