RetrieveCommandDefinition() method

Description

The RetrieveCommandDefinition() and RetrieveCommandDefinitionXml() methods query the QCDRCMDD API to retrieve the definition of a CL (*CMD) command on the IBM i, with two possible return formats.

• RetrieveCommandDefinitionXml: returns the command details as an XML source.
• RetrieveCommandDefinition: deserializes the XML returned by the QCDRCMDD API into a CommandDefinition object which represents the complete structure of the command, including its parameters, elements, and additional information.

Both methods allow you to specify whether only the required parameters should be included in the return via the requiredParametersOnly parameter.

Syntax

// XML only
RetrieveCommandDefinitionXml(string commandName, string commandLibrary = « *LIBL », bool requiredParametersOnly = false)

// Object
RetrieveCommandDefinition(string commandName, string commandLibrary = « *LIBL », bool requiredParametersOnly = false)

Parameters

Return

• RetrieveCommandDefinitionXml: returns a string containing the XML representing the definition of the specified command.
• RetrieveCommandDefinition : Returns an object of type CommandDefinition which contains detailed information about the various components of the CL command, corresponding to the instructions used to define CL commands:

CommandDefinition Class

Command Class (CL command, with its metadata and parameters).

CommandParameter Class (parameter of a command, with its specific details and configurations).

CommandElement Class (element of a command parameter, with its specific details and configurations).

CommandQualifier Class (qualifier for a command parameter.)

CommandPromptControl Class (prompt control for a command parameter.)

CommandPromptControlCondition Class (prompt control condition.)

CommandValues Class (List of values for a command parameter.)

CommandSingleValues Class (List of unique values for a parameter.)

CommandSpecialValuesClass (list of special values for a parameter.)

CommandChoiceProgramValues Class (list of choice program values.)

CommandValue Class (value for a command parameter.)

CommandChoiceProgramText Class (text associated with the program used to choose a parameter).

CommandSpecialValue Class (special value for a parameter.)

CommandChoiceProgramValue Class (choice program value)

CommandDependency Class (dependency between command parameters.)

CommandDependencyParameter Class (dependency parameter.)

Exceptions

• InvalidOperationException: Thrown in the event of failure to retrieve command definition information or in the event of an XML deserialization error.

Examples of use

Retrieving the XML for the specified CL command

string commandXml = conn.RetrieveCommandDefinitionXml("CRTLIB", "QSYS", false);
Console.WriteLine(commandXml);

Retrieves a commandDefinition object for the specified CL command

CommandDefinition commandDefinition = conn.RetrieveCommandDefinition(‘CRTLIB’, ‘QSYS’, false);
Console.WriteLine($‘Command: {commandDefinition.CmdDefinition.First().CommandName}’);

References

For more information on the QCDRCMDD API, see the official IBM documentation.