MicroFocus COBOL ISAM files - are they C/ISAM compatible?
Tzachi Nissim
We are trying to access files created using Micro Focus COBOL on an HP
machine using a CISAM ODBC with partial success. Most files work okay. It
looks like the variable length files are not working.
Does anyone know if MicroFocus COBOL produces CISAM compatible files? If
so - which version of CISAM?
Any help would be appreciated...
Tzachi
William M. Klein
Micro Focus and HP technology. Therefore, what is true of Micro Focus COBOL
in other environments is SOMETIMES not true under HP.
2) "normal" Micro Focus *does* have an OPTION to produce C-ISAM files.
What I would suggest you do is check YOUR compiler documentation (probably
the "User Guide") for the FILE-TYPE directive - and see what it says about
C-ISAM
--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com
"Tzachi Nissim" <tza...@attunity.co.il> wrote in message
news:9savsh$hkg$1...@news.netvision.net.il...
Charles Godwin
is how do you map fields on the record to a database schema
definition? I always assumed data base "tables" were comprised of
fixed elements or columns and a variable length record by definition
breaks that assumption.
"Tzachi Nissim" <tza...@attunity.co.il> wrote in message news:<9savsh$hkg$1...@news.netvision.net.il>...
Paulo Vieira
> My first question about an ODBC interface to a variable length record
> is how do you map fields on the record to a database schema
> definition? I always assumed data base "tables" were comprised of
> fixed elements or columns and a variable length record by definition
> breaks that assumption.
that you get a "virtual" table for every diferent record layout
although they reside in the same COBOL file. As you probably have some
kind of flag indicating the type of record, that is of good candidate
for an 88 level.
best regards,
Paulo Vieira, Emporsoft
Tom Morrison
"Paulo Vieira" <pvi...@emporsoft.pt> wrote in message
news:b5b8d7c7.01110...@posting.google.com...
Relativity is quite flexible in dealing with variable record lengths.
Multiple record types is a common reason for variable length records in a
file, and typically the best way is to use multiple table definitions for
the same physical file. In this case, each record type usually has a fixed
length; the file is variable record length due to the intermixing of record
types. Each table definition deals with only one record type, so the
variable record length aspect is not an issue.
There are other reasons for variable length records, however, and Relativity
has techniques to map these as well.
For example, one may have OCCURS ... DEPENDING ON in the record definition,
making records of the same "type" with a variable length. Relativity
automatically normalizes OCCURS by generating multiple rows for the data
subordinate to the OCCURS clause, so in the case of OCCURS ... DEPENDING ON
the number of rows thus generated is different for each physical record
(depending on the DEPENDING ON variable, as it were).
There are other, more arcane ways to generate variable length records (eg
RECORD IS VARYING IN SIZE clause in the File Description entry). To that
end, one may condition column values based upon the record length of each
record as it is read. For each of the data items that might be "missing"
(due to a short record), one would define NULL condition based on the actual
record size, so that the column(s) based upon the potentially missing COBOL
data item(s) would return NULL.
Variable length records are only one of the difficulties faced while
providing ODBC access to indexed (and other) 3GL files. Relativity is a
thorough solution which is available for Micro Focus COBOL on HP and which
has its developers reading comp.lang.cobol regularly -- and of course I
recommend Relativity!
Tom Morrison
Liant Software Corporation
www.liant.com
http://www.liant.com/products/relativity/
P.S. Relativity is both the former and current name of Liant's ODBC access
product. There was a short period in the product's history when it had a
different name, but that is behind us now. :-)
Relativity is a registered trademark of Liant Software Corporation.
Relativity products contain software protected by:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,076
British Pat. No. GB2302430
Other Patents Pending
Cygni.69
<tza...@attunity.co.il> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>We are trying to access files created using Micro Focus COBOL on an HP
>machine using a CISAM ODBC with partial success. Most files work okay. It
>looks like the variable length files are not working.
>
>Does anyone know if MicroFocus COBOL produces CISAM compatible files? If
>so - which version of CISAM?
Tray this compiler directives on MF program
IDXFORMAT "n" where n is
0 Default format for the operating system (same as 3 on Windows)
1 C-ISAM
3 Micro Focus default indexed file format
4 Optimized format for fast duplicate key handling
5 Btrieve with ANSI conformance
6 Btrieve without ANSI conformance
8 Large indexed file format
or alternativly
FILETYPE "n" where n is
0 System-specific default (for this COBOL system, same as 3).
1 C-ISAM format.
2 Micro Focus Level II format.
3 Micro Focus COBOL format.
4 An optimized form of the format used by this COBOL system, for
fast duplicate key handling.
FILETYPE"integer" sets IDXFORMAT"integer" immediately.
If you can't rebuild your files or your project that produce you
files, try to convert them whit microfocus file converter,
(I think you must convert them first in Line-Sequential and
subsequently in C-ISAM) the tool is included in MF WORKBENCH or
NETExpress.
Hi!
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Remove dot between i and six, to contact me in PVT.
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Vadim Maslov
straight into C++ program (or COM program).
http://www.siber.com/sct/datafile/
Vadim Maslov
Siber Systems