RE: Can a PF have >1 record format?

David Shaw wrote:

>Are you saying your physicals aren't keyed, that the details 
>are associated with the header purely by location within the file?

This is common enough in data transmissions with "established" industries.
EDI is a good example (look at a PO 850) or certain bank transmittals, where
you get a header followed by N detail records followed by a trailer record.
You just deal with the fact that the first record is laid out like THIS, the
next n records are laid out like THAT, etc.

I dealt with this in the old days (before RPG pointers) with externally
described data structures and moved my generic input record to the
appropriate data structure.  Your code gets to decipher which layout THIS
record belongs to...

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
"Nothing is so firmly believed as
 that which we least know" -- Michel Montaigne
Visit the Midrange archives at http://www.midrange.com
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