Re: How proprietary is the "COBOL file system"

On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:18:10 +1300, "Pete Dashwood" <dashwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Can anyone tell me if MicroFocus COBOL can read Fujitsu ISAM files, and vice
versa? What about Realia?

Obviously, at the source code level (SELECT and FD/01) the code is
compatible, but what about object level?

Is there a single PC ISAM system, or do all the COBOL vendors have their own
proprietary indexed system which is delivered with their COBOL compiler?

I know what I THINK the answer is, but would be gald to hear any other
facts/opinions about this.

Let's assume you have a Fujitsu program that wants to access Micro Focus files.

1. Write a file access program, compile under MF to a .dll, call it from Fujitsu.

2. The MF extfh functions are well defined. Call them directly from Fujitsu.

3. Use ODBC.
.