Logical Files vs. Physical Keys

Chris,
The reasons you give for keying the physical can be achieved by using the 
UNIQUE keyword on a logical.  Keeping your physicals unkeyed is arguably 
better because of the flexibility it provides.  
--Chapin Kaynor
  Vermont

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 16:14:58 -0800
From: Chris Bipes <rpg@cross-check.com>
Subject: RE: Logical Files vs. Physical Keys

I personally like to assign the unique key to the physical.  That way you
can never get duplicate key values into your physical and you can always
make sure you update the correct record.  If the index get damaged on a
physical you can rebuild it by copying the file to a temporary lib and then
back again.

Christopher K. Bipes     mailto:ChrisB@Cross-Check.com
Sr. Programmer/Analyst   mailto:Chris_Bipes@Yahoo.com
CrossCheck, Inc.     http://www.cross-check.com
6119 State Farm Drive    Phone: 707 586-0551 x 1102
Rohnert Park CA  94928 Fax: 707 586-1884

If consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, only geniuses work here.
Karen Herbelin - Readers Digest 3/2000


- -----Original Message-----
From: Bob Entwistle [mailto:bentwist@famousfootwear.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 3:16 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Logical Files vs. Physical Keys




When we started out on the AS400 11 years ago, a decision was made to always
use
logical files and never use physical keys (index) on all of our files.  At
this
point, this is being reevaluated and no one seems to remember why physical
keys
were seen as a bad thing.

Anyone able to give a short synopsis of the tradeoffs between the two?  Any
downsides to using physical keys or indexes?

Bob

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