For shared library parameters that pass pointers to scalar values (for example, SHORT, DOUBLE, etc.), ABL provides the HANDLE option. You must use this option for INPUT parameters that require pointers to scalar values instead of the values themselves. Although ABL automatically passes pointers for OUTPUT and INPUT-OUTPUT parameters, the HANDLE option is recommended for clarity.

If you use the LIKE option to specify the data type of a parameter definition, field might only be a database field defined as CHARACTER or an ABL variable defined as CHARACTER or MEMPTR.