Re: Can a PF have >1 record format?

-->From: D.BALE@handleman.com

-->The help for CPYF seems to
-->imply that a PHYSICAL file can have multiple record formats.

True, it is not very clear, but it seems correct. On V4R4 the Additional
Parameters read
"Record format of logical file  .   *ONLY         Name, *ONLY, *ALL"


-->something?  I am already familiar with logical files having mulitple
record
-->formats.
Okay

-->Can someone educate me how the RCDFMT parameter on the CPYF command is
used on
-->a physical file?

The simple answer: I don't think anyone uses it much for PF copies.
The detailed answer (off the cuff and hopefully mistake free):

The default--> *ONLY ,will work anytime with the physical.

Excluding shops that name their physicals and logicals "anything", the only
good use I can think of is: for clarity. If you explicitly name the RCDFMT
in your code then the command will crash and burn of a co-worker ruins your
file scheme or boo-boo's.
Example: 10 libraries all containing 1 copy of SALES, in the naming form of
STORE001 STORE002, and so on. But the master format name is STORESLSR and
the master file name is STORESLS
Your control program may be clearer to another programmer with explicit
naming, especially if it not the same name as the file. I think erverone
puts an "R" after the file name when defining the format. If your files are
dynamic and coming from other systems, it could be smart to think though
this use of the RCDFMT paramater also.

--> Is this something that would be used for a non-described,
-->multi-format file (i.e., S/36-style Header & Detail formats combined into
one
-->file)?

No. As far as the AS/400 is concerned, there is no such thing as a
multi-format physical. That is the purpose of normalization. If you can't
convert S/36 to native files that make better sense to you (I'm guessing
thats not an option), you have at least 2 choices.
1) Logically seperated in the program, as it was in the beginning. (I think
thats what you are trying to get around) Look at S/36 mode's COPYDATA
command for a view of what I think you are trying to do. You can
"effectively" copy a format with this command, that is all there was in
those days.
With AS/400 tools, you can create queries that do similiar filtering, only
for investigation of problems I would suggest. A more permanent selection
can be done by building separate logical files upon the physical, but you
will only be able to do this in the logical by your criteria for selection
being the index of the non-native "Indexed" physical file. The remainder of
the record is one field. If you build logicals using the S/36 BLDINDEX
command the native CPYF FROMKEY/TOKEY works great against the keys you
build, and are named K00001,K00002,K00003.

I hope this helps.
MarkVilla@knology.net



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