Re: PF Compiled Files with Dictionaries vs. SQL-Created Tables

Brian,

During the redesign of one of our applications in the shop I work for we
were faced with the same problem as you state (mainly, inconsistency in
fields/columns definitions).

What we did was to create a SQL table (DATADICT) with no data and all the
fields and definitions (e.g. LABEL) we needed. After that, every new table
was created referencing the DATADICT table (Create table newtable AS (Select
col1, col2, etc from DATADICT) definition only.

Maybe using a whole new SCHEMA would have been better, but our redesign
wasn't so extensive as to justify it.

Regards,

Luis Rodriguez
IBM Certified Systems Expert — eServer i5 iSeries
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On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 1:49 PM, Brian Piotrowski <
bpiotrowski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi All,

For years (prior to my arrival), the programs written around here were all
based on physical file definitions. However, these definitions were never
really consistent - a field of one type may not be the same type and length
in another file. We then began moving to creating tables with SQL
statements, keeping in mind the importance of creating fields that were the
same type and length regardless of the table in which they were used.
However, this was cumbersome because we always had to keep a running list
of field definitions along with their sizes and types.

We're now looking to move back to physical file definitions with a twist -
all definitions will be contained in a single dictionary file that lists all
of the fields, their types and their lengths. Even though we will have to
do a lot of data table conversion, I am hoping this will allow us to
centralize the definitions and not have to worry that a field in one table
may not be the same in another.

Has anyone had any experience similar to our current conundrum and if so,
did you solve it using a similar method? If not, what worked best for you?

Thanks!

/b;

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Brian Piotrowski
Assistant Mgr. - I.T.
Simcoe Parts Service, Inc.
Ph: 705-435-7814 x343
Fx: 705-435-5029
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://www.simcoeparts.com

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