[Info-vax] Logical names, was: Re: Command Procedure Pipe output to a variable

[Jan-Erik Söderholm]

Den 2021-10-10 kl. 21:59, skrev Arne Vajhøj:
> On 10/10/2021 10:57 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
>> On 10/10/2021 10:13 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> On 10/10/2021 9:20 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>> But I still consider it to be nice if there
>>>> were a comment directly associated with the
>>>> logical.
> 
>>> Yes, it would.  Something like HELP, where it could be optional to
>>> provide some description.  Either when defining the logical, or afterward.
> 
>> Ok, forget that idea.
>>
>> I'd never make the effort to provide the description.  Even if I 
>> remembered why I set a logical, that would not help anyone else. 
>> Regardless, I'd forget why I set it.  Resistance is futile ...
> 
> $ define foobar something /comment="bla bla bla"
> 
> would of course be optional and many may forget it.
> 
> But maybe the default should not be "" but:
>     f$getjpi(0, "username") + " " + f$env("procedure")
> 
> :-)
> 
>> This could be satisfied by an RMS ISAM file, and a program that allowed 
>> partial, full, or null key lookup.  I could implement this in maybe 10 
>> minutes, in Basic.  But then someone would want a drop-down selection 
>> format, and VMS doesn't have much in the way of a GUI.
> 
> Storing a catalog of logical name to comment records is not difficult.
> 
> But having it as a qualifier to DEFINE and in output from SHOW LOGICAL
> is more convenient than a database.
> 
> Arne
> 

Any logical name that is of any interest for someone else than the
original creator, is probably not created manually but in a startup
COM file. And there you can have your comments and documentation.