QTEMP Was: Creating a physical AND Logical file

Dave,

 

I guess in 35+ years I've never written ANYTHING that expected QTEMP

to

be anywhere but at the top. 

 

After just 10 years as a software vendor, here is what I have learned to
"assume" about QTEMP:

 

*       It belongs at the top of the user library list, It belongs at
the bottom of the user library list, It can be anywhere in the user
library list, or it is not allowed in the user library list at all.
Every System Admin feels very strongly about each one of these
standards, and they are all correct because ultimately they are the ones
that are responsible for the system.

*       It can be in the system portion of the library list (which makes
your job fail when the sys admin creates a JOBD for you that has QTEMP
also in the User portion of the list)

*       If you want something into or out of QTEMP you're better off
qualifying the library, then you don't have to care where it is (or
isn't) in the library list.

*       Assuming your file is not already in QTEMP is a mistake - your
job could have been started and stopped already due to circumstances you
can't foresee and your file is already out there.

*       Don't count on your stuff actually being in QTEMP, because it
can be cleared at any time by an application that thinks it owns QTEMP
(or the whole system for that matter).  Some programmers clear QTEMP at
apparently random intervals for reasons that can not be readily
determined.

*       A really big business application software company who has been
in the habit of clearing QTEMP for as long as there has been RPG cannot
understand why anyone would have a problem with that.  You are not going
to change their mind.

*       Other programmers leave all kinds of crap in QTEMP.  You had
better make sure your naming convention is real unique so you don't
accidentally read their data from a file of the same name as yours.

*       Really, you're better off not using it at all, because there are
so many bad practices surrounding QTEMP that you could easily get sucked
into some other programmer's vortex when you "assume" anything about
QTEMP.

*       Code Defensively - especially when it comes to QTEMP.  

*       The more boxes you have software running on, the more
defensively you should code.

 

 

But that's just MHO.

 

jte