FML Field Table - maximum number of fields?

Question

Hello,
in our Tuxedo-environment we are using the "FML Field Table" (text file) to define fields and FLDIDs to access and manipulate fields in a fielded buffer.
My questions are:
o is there a maximum number of fields one can define in the field table?
o is it ok that this file grows very big if every application-relevant field is to be put into this table? (in our company we have services up to 80 fields...)
o is it better practice to define universal FML fields (such as CHAR_01, CHAR_02, NUMBER_01...) to avoid that every service-field has its own field-defínition?
Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

Hi,
1. FML/FML32 really have a maximum number.
# For FML: between 1 and 8191, inclusive
# For FML32: between 1 and 33,554,431, inclusive
But you should pay attention that some fields are reserved by Tuxedo, you can get the reference at http://edocs.bea.com/tuxedo/tux100/fml/fml04.html
2. It depends on how you use FML routines. Some routines, such as Fldid which map the name to the numeric identifier, sure it needs a little cpu cycle for the searching if you defined hundreds thousands of fields. But for most APIs, such as add/change/update/delete, the API only requires the numeric C macro definition, so there is no performance issue. A number of 80 fields is adequate absolutely. You should not worry about that in a very long future.
3. From my personal point of view, I think it is a good habit to define the fields universally in Tuxedo applications. You will feel more administration benefit if you want to extend Tuxedo to Java by JOLT, to web services by SALT etc.
Regards,
Wayne