ACCEPT and the INFDS

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone!

I'm back with newbie question number 736: the file informational data
structure.  I've gotten to the point where I think I understand that you
have to do an ACCEPT which transfers the contents of the INFDS to a working
storage buffer.

My question is this: is the layout of that working storage buffer fixed, or
are the names significant?  The one I've seen has a bunch of filler fields,
which leads me to think that the names are not significant, but that the
positions are.

Even more newbie, what's the length of the data structure?  Is it like RPG,
where the longer you specify the more fields you get?  Or is there a fixed
length it needs to be?  And as a simple corollary, is there a syntax in
COBOL that will get me the length of a field that has subfields?

And finally, in a blinding burst of newbieness, say I have two 01-level
fields, both with lots of 05 and 10 subfields.  FIELDA is 100 characters,
FIELDB is 75.  If I MOVE FIELDA TO FIELDB, does this move the first 75 bytes
(positions 1-75) of FIELDA to FIELDB, or the last 75 (positions 26-100)?
I'm pretty sure its the former, but this whole thing has confused me no end.

Okay, now.  Stop laughing.  Get off the floor.

Joe