Filename Translation

As you prepare to work with Database Connectors for ODBC, you may find it helpful to understand the rules around filename interpretation and to understand how the names of tables and XFD files are formed and work together.

When the COBOL compiler generates XFD files, it uses lowercase letters to name the XFD file. In addition, the compiler changes hyphens to underscores when naming the XFD file.

Through configuration variables, the runtime translates the name in the COBOL program into the filename that is passed to the open() function in the runtime. The open() function determines which file system to pass the request to, but does not change the name of the file.

Database Connectors for ODBC translates the name to lowercase letters and changes hyphens to underscores unless the configuration variable, 4GL_COLUMN_CASE, is set. This “new” name is the one that Database Connectors for ODBC will use in the future for references to database tables.