RE: Table Definitions DDS or SQL?

-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike Cunningham
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 11:18 AM
To: rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Table Definitions DDS or SQL?

What are the pos and cons between using DDS and CHGPF and SQL 
and ALTER
TABLE when new fields need to be added?  

Can ALTER TABLE be used while
the file is open?  A limitation of CHGPF that I would like to see go
away.

No.

Can ALTER TABLE be used to rearrange fields in the file 
like CHGPF
can? 

No, but remember that the order of fields in an SQL table aren't
supposed to matter.

We have stuck with the DDS way mostly because we know 
how it works
and know what we have to look out for. We have experimented 
with SQL for
database maintenance and like some of what we see but there are some
things that scare us. Like when SQL creates a table with more that 10
characters or with invalid file name characters and you get a 
file named
"mike0001". 

This can be dealt with be specifying your own system name.

My create table scripts always go something like:

CREATE TABLE MYSYS10 <...>;

RENAME TABLE MYSYS10
  MyLongSQLTableName;


HTH,