Guardian Application Conversion Guide

New File-Name Format
Conversion Concepts
2–6 096047 Tandem Computers Incorporated
the first parameter that the system detected as causing an error (provided the
procedure returns the error-detail parameter). If more than one parameter causes
an error, error-detail does not necessarily point to the lowest-numbered
parameter.
When determining the ordinal number, the string parameter and its length (for
example, file^name:file^name^length ) are treated as a single parameter.
New File-Name Format A Tandem file name identifies a permanent or temporary disk file, an I/O device, or a
process. A D-series file name is a variable-length string with its length in bytes
specified as a separate integer value. For compatibility with unconverted applications,
the D-series operating system also uses the 12-word internal-format file name used on
C-series systems.
D-series disk file names and device names are described in this subsection. The
D-series process file name, which supersedes the C-series process file name, is
described under “New Process Identifiers” later in this section.
Disk File Names D-series disk file names identify permanent or temporary disk files. A D-series disk
file name uses the same format as a C-series external disk file name except as
described below. Examples of valid D-series disk file names are:
REPORT ! Single file ID
FY90.MEMBERS ! Subvolume and file ID
$USERS.PAYROLL.LEVEL2 ! Volume, subvolume, and file ID
\LONDON.$DISK4.ACCTS.JAN89 ! Fully qualified file name
$DISKVOL.#1234567 ! Temporary file name
Advantages of D-Series Disk File Names
D-series disk file names have the following advantages over C-series disk file names:
The D-series Guardian procedures accept and return file-name string parameters
rather than the C-series 12-word internal-format file-name parameters. You are
not required to convert a D-series file name from external to internal format before
you call a D-series Guardian procedure.
The D-series Guardian procedures automatically expand a partially qualified
D-series file name to a fully qualified file name, including the node (system) name,
from the =_DEFAULTS DEFINE VOLUME attribute. You are not required to call
the FNAMEEXPAND procedure to expand the name before you call a procedure.
A D-series file name is suitable to display or print without any conversion. You
are not required to call the FNAMECOLLAPSE procedure to convert the name to a
suitable format before you display or print it.
A remote D-series disk file name can have eight-character volume or device names
(seven letters or digits after the dollar sign). A remote C-series disk-file volume or
device name is restricted to seven characters including the dollar sign.