19.1.2 Naming Conventions for 3GL BIF on IBM i
Built-In Function Definition (BIF Name)
- BIF names can be up to 18 characters in length.
- The BIF name is composed of letters of the English alphabet (A through to Z), 0 through to 9 and underscore only.
- The BIF name should be in the format XX_YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
where
XX must be either UD for User-Defined or OV for Other Vendor
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY is the name that will describe, even to the non-programmer, what functions the BIF performs.
Program name
Program names can be up to 8 characters in length.
- The program name must be in the format XX@y999
where
XX identifies this as Built-In Function code; i.e. OV for Other Vendor or UD for User-Defined.
y is the type of object, either P for Program or D for Display file
999 is the unique identifier in the range:
400 to 600 for User-Defined (UD) BIFs.
600 to 999 for Other Vendor (OV) BIFs.
Subroutines
- Subroutine names can be up to 6 characters in length
- The name should be in the format IB@nnn
where
IB identifies this as Built-In Function code
nnn is the unique identifier.
- The subroutine member name should be in the format BIFnnnxSPC
where
BIF identifies this as Built-In Function code
nnn is the unique identifier
x is the type
SPC is a required literal
Valid values for x (type) are:
|
F |
File specifications (F specs) |
|
E |
Array specifications (E specs) |
|
R |
Rename specifications (I specs) |
|
I |
Data structure specifications (I specs) |
|
C |
Subroutine specifications (C specs) |
|
O |
Output specifications (O specs) |
|
A |
Compile time array data |