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

              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

              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                     400 to 600 for User-Defined (UD) BIFs.
               600                     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

              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

              where

                       BIF identifies this as Built-In Function code

                       nnn is the unique identifier

                       x is the type

                      SPC is a required literal

           Valid                 Valid values for x (type) are: