Specifying Type Names

You can refer to class and interface names in .NET programs by using a type-specifier, which can be defined by using:

• The TYPE keyword followed by the class name, which can be quoted or quoteless
• Predefined .NET types
• The class defined in a repository entry (for backward compatibility only)

For example, the data item o1 in the following code declares an object of type System.DateTime:

	   
Working-storage section.
01 o1 type System.DateTime. 

You can specify long class names including namespaces, by using the ILUSING directive. For instance, if the directive ILUSING"System" is in effect, you can declare o2 as follows:

01 o2 type DateTime.

To refer to a generic type using the TYPE literal syntax, the generic parameters are enumerated within square brackets, as follows:

01 d1 type System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[string, string].

This declares d1 as an item of type Dictionary with both generic parameters set to string (i.e. System.String).

The equivalent syntax using the traditional repository is:

Repository.
    Class dictionary is "System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary"
    Class dictionary-string-string expands dictionary using string, string.
01 d1 dictionary-string-string.