Common APIs

[Guest.Visitor]

Is the Common API install an orderable (as in Cost $$) library? I thought I read someplace that you could just select this as an install option and install it to get access to the APIs. Am I wrong? Rick

[David Abramowitz]

Perhaps you're thinking of "System Includes", which is an install option. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

There is an option (15) called 'Common Programming APIs Toolkit (CPA)' which is no charge. Before you install and start using this you should be aware though that the content of this option has significantly decreased over time. The toolkit originally provided a quick mechanism to get some APIs and functions into OS/400, and those APIs and functions have been moving (with enhancements) into the base OS/400 over time. You will be much better off by looking to see what APIs are imbedded in OS/400 and not investing in the CPA based APIs. As an example, many initial users of CPA were interested in using threads on the AS/400. Today, rather than using CPA threads, they should be using the Pthread (POSIX thread) support provided with OS/400. To review Pthread (and other APIs available) see the System APIs documentation on the Information Center.