As you prepare to work with Acu4GL for Sybase, 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 ACUCOBOL-GT 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 file 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.
However, Acu4GL for Sybase needs the name of the file to find the appropriate XFD file. To do this, Acu4GL for Sybase changes the name of the file to lowercase letters and changes hyphens to underscores. Note, however, that this is performed only on a local copy of the file. Once the XFD file is found, the filename reverts to the name that was originally passed to the open() function. Characters that are illegal in identifiers, such as a hyphen (“-”), are trapped by the database, and Acu4GL for Sybase will neither find the file nor create a new one.