Re: Non-RDB file

A customer needs us to send them our invoicing data in a format that is
non-compliant with programming standards I have used for past 20+ years
where all records in a file are the same layout.
Instead, if first field of record is
* Type-A header content then rest of record is type-A layout with like name
& address info that's going to be pretty consistent since bill-to never
changes, ship-to rarely
* Type-B line content then rest of record is type-B layout with details on
what we shipped
* Type-C totals content then rest of record is type-C layout with kind of
info we find at foot of any invoice
The resulting file will be like ABBBCABCABBCABBBBBC with any number of B
records in each set of 3 kinds

I need a mind-refresher of terminology where to look in DDS+etc. manuals,
how to set this up & process it.

I'm thinking maybe multi-format file.
Any program to create / access the file would need to either
* define it 3 times, one per format type, using matching records on invoice
# to control input sequencing, in the old RPG cycle,
* or read input as a "flat file" examine first field, then dump rest of
each record into A B or C corresponding layout data structure

-
Al Macintyre
Jack of many 400 trades, master of some, but not enough


--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.