The Format-Name and ALL-FORMATS options

The format-name is the name of the DDS record format definition that is to be translated into an ILE COBOL data description entry. The format-name must follow the rules for the formation of an ILE COBOL data-name.

The ALL-FORMATS option will translate all the formats defined for a file, including names that do not conform to the data-names rules. A REPLACING phrase must be used to change any such format-name into a valid data-name. However, a REPLACING phrase cannot be used to change a format-name within an FD entry for an indexed file defined with EXTERNALLY-DESCRIBED-KEY. If the key cannot be defined using a data-name in the RECORD KEY clause, then it will be necessary to change the format-name in the DDS specifications for the file.

Note: In this context, the compiler accepts ALL-FORMAT as the equivalent of ALL-FORMATS.