Re: Record name the same as the file name

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob cozzi wrote:
> Hans,
> I guess I don't get it?
> What's the difference if EXTNAME is used on the or LIKEDS/LIKEREC? Can't we
> use any data structure today for the CHAIN opcode?  
> For program-described I/O, ... 

First, let's forget about program described file, since that support 
is not the issue.

The question now is how to improve the support for result data 
structure on *externally described* I/O. In V5R2, we added the 
enhancement that you could code a LIKEREC DS as the result of an I/O 
operation to an ext-desc record (but not file name). That ensures 
that the DS matches the record precisely, so there are no surprises 
from a programming point of view.

But turned out to be too restrictive for two reasons: First, some 
(possibly many) programmers like to read by file name, even for 
externally described files. Second, you can't reliably code LIKEREC 
within /COPY members since you can't count on the record name being 
defined where the member is included. So, we now feel it necessary 
to relax the rules. The problem is finding a balance between 
flexibility, maintaining functionality, and protecting the 
programmer from obvious coding errors.

Got it?

Cheers! Hans