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

              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

              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 to 600 for User-Defined (UD) BIFs.
                    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

              IB identifies this as Built-In Function code

              nnn is the unique identifier.

• The subroutine member name should be in the format BIFnnnxSPC

              where

              BIF identifies this as Built-In Function code

              nnn is the unique identifier

              x is the type

             SPC is a required literal

                Valid values for x (type) are: