Re: Adding another subfield to an externally defined data structu re.

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Overlaying an array.
>
>      D FLWORKREC       DS                  likerec(flworkr)
>      D pDuh            s               *   inz(%addr(flworkrec))
>      D duh             ds                  based(pDuh)
>      D  col                          15p 4 overlay(duh:39) dim(389)
>
> Rob Berendt

Rob: Maybe I'm a little thick today, but doesn't that code fragment 
accomplish what you want?

I guess this all goes back to the decision in DDS not to support 
arrays in records. The argument goes that arrays should be 
implemented in tables, not within individual rows, in a relational 
database (ignoring the fact that some RDBMS's do allow arrays within 
rows).

So the question becomes, should a programming language make it easy 
to get around a design limitation in the database? One problem is 
that any workaround (easy or not) is fraught with certain dangers. 
For example, if the field layout happens to change, the overlay may 
become invalid.

The bottom line is that if EXTNAME suits your purposes better than 
LIKEREC, then continue to use it.

Cheers! Hans