HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Restrictions
* Data file name elements are limited to 14 characters. If you are
using data files whose names contain elements longer than 14
characters, you must rename the physical files. You can, however,
continue to use the long names in your source code by creating an
environment variable and setting that variable to the short name
of the physical file. The environment variable name should be DD_
followed immediately by the long file name.
For example, if your program uses a file called very.long.filename,
and the actual file is called shortname, set the environment
variable DD_very_long_filename to shortname. This allows HP Micro
Focus COBOL/iX to access the logical name very.long.filename that
is bound to the actual file shortname.
Another possibility is to use the pathname limit of 100 characters
to bypass the filename limit of 14 characters. This alternative
requires renaming the physical files and modifying the long file
names coded into the application.
For example, assume that the file name coded in the application is
STOCKLONGNAME.921020. Build a directory with the name 921020 and
move the file so that its path name is 921020/STOCKLONGNAME.
Change the file name in the application to match. This avoids the
14-character limit because each pathname component is within the
limit.
The COBOL/HP-UX Operating Guide contains more information about
the DD_ environment variable prefix.
* You cannot use the BASIS syntax in HP Micro Focus COBOL/iX. Using
this syntax will cause a compile-time error.
* The COMMUNICATIONS syntax has no effect in HP Micro Focus
COBOL/iX. Using this syntax does not cause a compile-time error,
but has no effect at run-time.
* The CLOSE REEL/UNIT clause for single unit files has no effect in
HP Micro Focus COBOL/iX. The clause does not cause a compile-time
error, but has no effect at run-time.
* Including USING parameters that are defined in the linkage or file
section of the chaining program in a CHAIN or CALL PROGRAM
statement may cause unpredictable values at run-time. Move data
for the USING parameters from these sections into Working-Storage
items to prevent this from happening.
* If you pass a literal with the BY VALUE clause, or with the LENGTH
OF clause in a CALL...USING statement, you may have undefined
values at run-time.
* If the SIGN=EBCDIC directive is set in a program, comparison of
numeric literals does not work correctly in gnt, snt, and
executable code.
* The REWRITE clause does not work correctly on line sequential
files that contain tab or null characters. Records that contain
tab or null characters may be expanded when the record is read,
causing the record to be rewritten to be longer than the record to
be read. They must be the same length.
* Argument strings must be less than 256 characters in X/Open.
* ARGUMENT-VALUE is unset when you read sequentially past the last
argument on the command line. Set this value to spaces.
* Defined declaratives will not be entered if they are defined
before you perform a CLOSE statement that fails.
* The ANSI Technical Committee has recognized that the ANSI standard
regarding ordinal numbers is not clear when specifying an
ALPHABET-NAME (other than NATIVE) in the SYMBOLIC CHARACTERS
clause of the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph. Therefore, compatibility
is not guaranteed. Either use literals or reference the ordinal
numbers from the native collating sequence when you need ordinal
numbers.