Re: EXTNAME questions...

Hmmm... I take a completely different approach to converting things
from the Sys/36 enviornment, in that we only convert when we need to
make changes of more than a line or two to the program...

Other than that, the RPG II programs are working just fine, why
mess with them?  What will the programming cost of converting them
get you if you aren't changing anything?

When we do convert, we usually end up re-writing the program, because
the Sys/36 code usually involves what I call an "indicator soup",
(which means that the indicator logic makes the program such a mess
to follow that it really pays to just start over and write it nicely
with very few indicators.  (or none, if possible)

I don't understand what you mean by "convert RPG III to RPG IV to
take advantage of the native file descriptions".    You could use
file descriptions in RPG III!

Furthermore, on the whole "dot" thing...   You say "have to rename
the file now kus the compiler wont allow the dot in the filename".
Thats really only a problem with externally defined DATA STRUCTURES,
you can use OVRDBF to make things work for the FILES.  And the same
exact problem already existed in RPG III.

In fact, you'd have the same problem in  RPG II, except that it doesnt
use external definitions at ALL...  You still had to "rename" the
files in the OCL proc.   Of course, since you had to have a
// FILE  statement anyway, it wasn't as much extra work...   but on
the other hand, you can use USROPN and put your OVRDBF's in your
RPG in newer versions of RPG -- you couldnt do THAT in Sys/36.

So, I guess my point is...   you DO need to be able to use dots in
filenames -- But if you're lucky enough to be able to build a new
application from the ground up, you SHOULD avoid using dots -- if
you're not, then the whole dot issue isnt a NEW problem, it's been
there since the AS/400 was first released :)

Why are my messages always so long?


Chris Bipes <rpg@cross-check.com> wrote:
> Scott,
>
> I to am sharing the S36 files with ILE RPG.  I was going to ignore t
> flame, but since you responded.  Here is our approach to re-writing
>  the old
> S36 applications to new fancy native ILE applications with minimal
>  impact.
>
> 1. Create external definitions for the S36 files - using exact recor
> layout.
> 2. Convert the RPG II source to RPG III, minimal changes needed.
> 3. Convert the OCL to CLLE re-doing the logic.  (The hardest part,
>  IMHO)
> 4. Convert the RPG III to RPG IV and take advantage of the native fi
> descriptions,  Opps, have to rename the file now kus the compiler
>  won't
> allow the dot in the file name.
>
> Now you have a completely native application that you can add all th
>  bells
> and whistles to.  Oh by the way the changes we done with very little
>  impact
> on the system and very little IS resources used to implement.

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