Re: S/36 F-spec allowed dotted names? was: EXTNAME questions...

["Dan Bale" <dbale@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Doug,

>> Barbara mentioned the fix for EXTNAME that Brad mentions.  Wierd that
>> Hans & company would allow a dotted file name for that but not for
>> F-spec filenames.  I agree that it would make sense to allow any
>> legitimate AS/400 object name to be used on the F-spec.

> I disagree.  The ExtName() should not need to adhere to the language's
> symbolic name restrictions, and I agree a fix was in order for it.  To
> me this is like being able to specify quoted external names in mixed
> case when necessary.  But although you need to be able to resolve an
> external name to the right object, that does not necessarily mean the
> internal symbolic name has to allow the same naming conventions.

Uh, what did you disagree on?  The second sentence or the third?  I'm guessing
the third, so...  I'm not really questioning the reason why ExtName() allows any
valid AS/400 object name as much as I'm wondering why RPG still has restrictions
on the F-spec file name.  If I've got a file named Q#_.$@A (a legit name), why
shouldn't RPG-IV recognize this as a valid file name?  After all, RPG-IV was
expanded to allow 10-character file names.  It's not like we're talking
portability issues here.

BTW everybody, I am _not_ complaining here about RPG F-spec restrictions on the
file name.  I would never use dots or underscores to name an AS/400 file object.
But why would RPG-IV, which will never see the light of day on another platform,
be more restrictive than the OS on file names?

- Dan Bale





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