XFD Files

To create an XFD, use the CREATEXFD directive. When you specify the CREATEXFD directive with no parameters, an .xfd file is created for each indexed data file specified in the compiled program. XFDs are generated in XML format in the latest XFD version available (Version 6). XFDs are stored in your source code directory by default.

Specify all to generate XFDs for all indexed, relative, and sequential files, and specify an XFD path if you want to store your XFDs in a directory other than your source code directory.

Once you compile with the CREATEXFD directive, each COBOL file has a corresponding .xfd file. The directive creates .xfd files without changing anything in the object code.

Creating XFD files at compile time offers two significant advantages:

• Any changes made to the file definitions are automatically included in the XFDs when the program is recompiled
• The effects of all compile-time options, COPY REPLACING, and source-code control lines are reflected correctly in the XFDs