field reference file in as400

A field reference file is a physical file which is used for defining most of your commonly used fields. Then when you need to create / modify a physical file you can use the definitions from the field reference file by using the REF(reference file) and REFFLD (reference field) keywords.
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/what-is-field-reference-file/
Field Reference Files:
• A physical file that contains no data, but only description of fields.
• It is used as a reference for the field descriptions of other files
Importance of using Field Reference Files
It enforces the naming convention
• Reduces programmer’s work load (define once, use often)
• It defines in one place all data elements used in the application for all users
Naming Conventions
• The file name, record format name, field name cannot be more than 10 character’s
• The first character should be alphabetic
• Field names should be unique in a record format
• Record format names and member names should be unique in a file
• File names should be unique in a library
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