Summary:
See also: Tools, Localization Support, Connections, Installation and Setup
On UNIX platforms, environment variables can be set through the following methods, depending on to the command interpreter used:
Bourne shell:
VAR=value; export VAR
Korn shell:
export VAR=value
C shell:
setenv VAR=value
For more details, refer to the documentation for your UNIX system.
On Windows platforms, environment variables can be set by one of the following methods:
For more details, refer to the documentation for your Windows system.
Defines the default display format for DATE values and the default picture for automatic string-to-DATE conversions.
Values can be a restricted combination of several symbols described in the following table:
| Symbol | Meaning in DBDATE format string |
| D | Day of month as one or two digits |
| M | Month as one or two digits |
| Y2 | Year as two digits |
| Y4 | Year as four digits |
| / | Default time-unit separator for the default locale |
| - | Minus time-unit separator |
| , | Coma time-unit separator |
| . | Period time-unit separator |
| 0 | Indicates no time-unit separator |
The combinations must follow a specific order:
{ DM | MD } { Y2 | Y4 } {
/ | - | , | . | 0 }
{ Y2 | Y4 } { DM | MD } {
/ | - | , | . | 0 }
DBDATE="DMY4/"
export DBDATE
The DBDELIMITER environment variable defines the value delimiter for LOAD and UNLOAD instructions.
DBDELIMITER="@"
export DBDELIMITER
The DBCENTURY environment variable specifies how to expand abbreviated one- and two-digit year specifications within DATE and DATETIME values.
| Symbol | Algorithm for Expanding Abbreviated Years |
| C | Use the past, future, or current year closest to the current date. |
| F | Use the nearest year in the future to expand the entered value. |
| P | Use the nearest year in the past to expand the entered value. |
| R | Prefix the entered value with the first two digits of the current year. |
The DBEDIT environment variable defines the editor program to be used for TEXT fields.
The DBFORMAT environment variable defines the input and display format for numbers.
See also DBMONEY.
front:thousands:decimal:back
The DBFORMAT environment variable specifies the format in which values are entered, displayed, or passed to the database for number data types: MONEY, DECIMAL, INTEGER, SMALLINT, FLOAT, SMALLFLOAT.
The default format specified in DBFORMAT affects numeric and monetary values in display, input, and output operations.
DBFORMAT can specify the leading and trailing currency symbols (but not their default positions within a monetary value) and the decimal and thousands separators. The decimal and thousands separators defined by DBFORMAT apply to both monetary and other numeric data.
Features of BDL affected by the setting in DBFORMAT include (but are not restricted to) the following items:
The asterisk ( * ) specifies that a symbol or separator is not applicable; it is the default for any front, thousands, or back term that you do not define.
If you specify more than one character for decimal or thousands, the values in the decimal or thousands list cannot be separated by spaces (nor by any other symbols). BDL uses the first value specified as the thousands or decimal separator when displaying the number or currency value in output. The user can include any of the decimal or thousands separators when entering values.
Any printable character that your locale supports is valid for the thousands separator or for the decimal separator, except:
The same character cannot be both the thousands and decimal separator. A blank space (ASCII 32) can be the thousands separator (and is conventionally used for this purpose in some locales). The asterisk ( * ) symbol is valid as the decimal separator, but is not valid as the thousands separator.
The colon ( : ) symbol is supported as thousands or decimal separator but must be
preceded by a backslash ( \ ) symbol, as in the specification :\::.:DM.
.
You must include all three colons. Enclosing the DBFORMAT specification in a pair of single quotation marks is recommended to prevent the shell from attempting to interpret (or execute) any of the DBFORMAT characters.
The setting in DBFORMAT also affects how formatting masks of the FORMAT attribute and of the USING operator are interpreted. In formatting masks of FORMAT and USING, the following symbols are not literal characters but are placeholders for what DBFORMAT specifies:
In formatting masks of the FORMAT attribute, the at (@) sign is a placeholder for the back currency symbol. (The @ symbol has no special significance in formatting masks for the USING operator.)
The following table illustrates the results of different combinations of DBFORMAT setting and format string on the same value.
| Value | Format String | DBFORMAT | Result |
1234.56 |
$$#,###.## |
$:,:.: |
$1,234.56 |
1234.56
|
$$#,###.##
|
:.:,:DM
| 1.234,56 |
1234.56 |
#,###.##@ |
$:,:.: |
1,234.56 |
1234.56 |
#,###.##@ |
:.:,:DM |
1.234,56DM |
When the user enters number or currency values, the runtime system behaves as follows:
When the runtime system displays or prints values:
When MONEY values are converted to character strings by the LET statement, both automatic data type conversion and explicit conversion with a USING clause insert the DBFORMAT-defined separators and currency symbol into the converted strings.
For example, suppose DBFORMAT is set as follows:
*:.:,:DM
The value 1234.56 will print or display as follows:
1234,56DM
Here DM stands for deutsche marks. Values input by the user into a screen
form are expected to contain commas, not periods, as their decimal separator
because DBFORMAT has *:.:,:DM as its setting in this
example.
The DBMONEY environment variable defines the currency symbol and the decimal separator for MONEY values.
See also DBFORMAT.
front{.|,}back
This variable is used to display or input MONEY values and for implicit data conversion between MONEY values and character strings.
Currency symbol and decimal separator characters must be specified in this environment variable.The position of the currency symbol (relative to the decimal separator) indicates whether the currency symbol appears before or after the MONEY value. When the currency symbol is positioned in DBMONEY before the decimal separator, it is displayed before the value ($1234.56). When it is positioned after the decimal separator, it is displayed after the value (1234.56F).
The runtime system recognizes the period ( . ) and the comma ( , ) as decimal separators. All other characters are considered to be part of the currency symbol. For example, ", FR" defines a MONEY format with the comma as decimal separator and the string " FR" (including the space) as the currency symbol.
The default value for DBMONEY is "$.", defining the currency symbol as the dollar sign ( $ ) and the decimal separator as the period ( . ).
Because only its position within a DBMONEY setting indicates whether a symbol is the front or back currency symbol, the decimal separator is required. If you use DBMONEY to specify a back symbol, for example, you must supply a decimal separator (a comma or period). Similarly, if you use DBMONEY to change the decimal separator from a period to a comma, you must also supply a currency symbol.
To avoid ambiguity in displayed numbers and currency values, do not use the thousands separator of DBFORMAT as the decimal separator of DBMONEY. For example, specifying comma as the DBFORMAT thousands separator dictates using the period as the DBMONEY decimal separator.
DBMONEY="$."
export DBMONEY
DBMONEY=",F"
export DBMONEY
The DBPATH environment variable defines the path to search for form files loaded by OPEN FORM.
DBPATH="/user/forms1:/user/form2"
export
DBPATH
The DBPRINT environment variable specifies the print device to be used by reports defined TO PRINTER.
DBPRINT=FGLSERVER.DBPRINT="lpr"
export DBPRINT
DBPRINT=FGLSERVER
export DBPRINT
The FGLCC environment variable defines the default C compiler to be used to create runtime system programs.
See also the fglmkrun tool for runtime system program creation.
The FGLDIR environment variable defines the BDL software installation directory.
The FGLDBS environment variable defines the database interface type to be used to create runtime system programs.
See also the fglmkrun tool for runtime system program creation.
The FGLIMAGEPATH environment variable defines the search paths to find images for the front-end.
When the front-end needs to display an image which is specified with a simple file name (not an URL), the front end first looks for local image files on the user workstation. If the image file is not found locally, the front-end sends an image request to the runtime system, which provides the image from the server file-system.
You can define the search path for images with the FGLIMAGEPATH environment variable.
The runtime system searches for image files in the locations described below. The search depends from the name of the image file, the list of directories defined in FGLIMAGEPATH, and the expected file extensions provided by the front-end:
The image file would be searched in the following locations:
FGLIMAGEPATH="/user/myimages:/user/myicones"
export FGLIMAGEPATH
The FGLLDPATH environment variable defines the search paths to load p-code modules at link and runtime.
FGLLDPATH="/user/modules1:/user/modules2"
export FGLLDPATH
The FGLLIBSQL environment variable defines the list of database client libraries to be used to create runtime system programs.
See also the fglmkrun tool for runtime system program creation.
The FGLLIBSYS environment variable defines the list of system libraries to be used to create runtime system programs.
See also the fglmkrun tool for runtime system program creation.
The FGLGUI environment variable indicates whether the applications are run in character or graphical mode.
The FGLRUN environment variable defines the name of the runtime system program (DVM) to be used by BDL tools.
See also the fglmkrun tool for runtime system program creation.
The FGLSERVER environment variable defines the hostname and port of the graphical front end to be used by the runtime system to display the application windows.
{hostname|ipaddress}[:servnum]
FGLSERVER="mars:0"
export FGLSERVER
The FGLSOURCEPATH environment variable defines the path to source files for the debugger.
The FGLDBPATH environment variable contains the path to database schema files.
The FGLSQLDEBUG environment variable defines the debug level for tracing SQL instructions.
The FGLPROFILE environment variable defines the current configuration file to be used by the runtime system.
The CC environment variable defines the default C compiler to be used.