Field definitions for externally described files, including renaming of fields, are recognized by the SQL precompiler.
The external definition form of the data structure can be used to obtain a copy of the column names to be used as host variables.
In the following example, the DEPARTMENT table is included in the RPG/400® program and is used to declare a host structure array. A multiple-row FETCH statement is then used to retrieve 10 rows into the host structure array.
*...1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....* ITDEPT E DSDEPARTMENT 10 I DEPARTMENT DEPTN I ADMRDEPT ADMRD … C/EXEC SQL C+ DECLARE C1 CURSOR FOR C+ SELECT * C+ FROM CORPDATA.DEPARTMENT C/END-EXEC … C/EXEC SQL C+ FETCH C1 FOR 10 ROWS INTO :TDEPT C/END-EXEC