Global String Item Indirection

One of the features of the _acu.utl utility is that global string variables can be defined in terms of other global string variables and environment variables. Global string names contained within parentheses, called global string references, can be used to construct global string variables:

PROJECT=/basis/pro5/myproject/
ROOT=/basis/pro5/
# location of the Data Dictionary
DICTIONARY=(PROJECT)bbdict/
# directory for temporary files
TEMP=(ROOT)workfiles/

The example above is equivalent to:

DICTIONARY=/basis/pro5/myproject/bbdict/
TEMP=/basis/pro5/workfiles/

By using (ROOT) and (PROJECT) as global string name references, file paths are soft coded, and when moving to another system or project directory, the only changes required would be to modify the (ROOT) or (PROJECT) global string variable.

Use global string references whenever possible in your configuration to avoid hard-coded file paths and to enhance the portability of the applications.