Development area?

Some background:- We are using Informix 4gl version 4 on a IBM RS6000. We are also using a stock control package in which the data files are C-ISAM (ie we can access them with Informix). We have the following directories:- /u/cham - The stock control packages' data files (LIVE) /u/chamdev - The stock control packages' data files (DEVELOPMENT) /u/informix/cham.dbs - The informix database for the live system /u/informix/develop.dbs - The informix database for the demo system We manipulate the SYSTABLES table so that for example, when we access the stock file, Informix will use the file /u/cham/stock.dat if we are using the live database, or /u/chamdev/stock.dat if using the development area. (I CONGRATULATE YOU IF YOU'VE GOT THIS FAR WITHOUT FALLING ASLEEP!!!) Question:- This setup works quite well, except for the fact that once a program is ready to be put live, we need to alter the database to be /u/informix/cham.dbs and then re-compile all the modules, alternativly if we want to play with a program which is live, we need to alter the database back to /u/informix/develop.dbs and re-compile again. Is there anyway that the database does not need to be specified until runtime? We've attempted to set an enviroment variable called DATABASE and used the following code in Informix:- database "$DATABASE" But this doesn't work. Has anybody any suggestions, on how we can simply this procedure. I apologise if this post is long-winded, I found it difficult to explain!!! -- Paul Eccleston, England Communications across the revolutionary divide is inevitably partial. - Thomas S. Kuhn