Rule Naming Conventions

As you create a naming convention for rules, keep in mind the following potential pitfalls.  If you mix alphanumeric and numeric characters in your rule names in the same positions and you add a rule using Configuration Maintenance, the new rule may be displayed in the wrong releasing order until the rule tree is redisplayed.  Once the rule tree is redisplayed, your new rule will be displayed in the correct releasing order.  If you are still developing your rule naming convention, you may want to write standards that do not mix alphanumeric and numeric characters in the same positions.

If your rule names contain special characters (i.e. $, %, &, etc.) or foreign language characters (i.e. Ä, Æ, Ç, etc.) these characters will not transfer correctly to the Configuration Maintenance.  AS/400 sorts characters in EBCDIC sequence (special character before letters, letters before numbers.  The PC workstation sort characters in ASCII sequence (numbers before letters, special characters interspersed throughout the numbers and letters).  This inconsistency causes sever problems with rule names because rules are released according their names.  To compensate for this difference, special characters are not allowed in rule names in Configuration Maintenance.  You may want to write rule naming standards that do not allow special characters.