Re: Reference files

["Scott Klement" <infosys@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Sherry,

"Sherry McMahon" <smcm@frontiernet.net> wrote:
<<SNIP>>
> As I was doing this I saw other files, already AS/400 PF,
> had reference files.  Everything I could read about reference files
> told me they were just PFs.  I didn't understand why there were
> reference files then physical files then logical files.  In my
> conversions (Y2K) I did away with the reference files and made the
> system consistent with just having the data in the physical files.
> Originally some of the data was in physical files and some in the
> reference files.   All anyone could tell me was this
> was the SYS36 way and the people before me stayed with what they
> knew.
<<SNIP>>

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "reference files" here.

When I think of a "reference file" it is an externally described file
that contains the definitions for fields, and never contains any
data.  Then the other PF's and LF's on the system use that external
definitiion to define THEIR fields... for example:

* Example reference file: REFFILE
     A          R REFFMT
     A            ITEM#          5P 0
     A            CUST#          4A
     A            QTY           11P 2
     A            PRICE          7P 2

* Example of a real PF that uses the ref file:
     A          R MYRECFMT
     A            ITEM#     R               REFFLD(ITEM# REFFILE)
     A            CUST#     R               REFFLD(CUST# REFFILE)
     A            QTY       R               REFFLD(QTY MYLIB/REFFILE)
     A            PRICE     R               REFFLD(PRICE REFFILE)

Doing this allows you to keep your fields consistent across many
different files/screens/programs by only defining their attributes
once...

Is this what you're talking about?   Or are you referring to something
else?

+---
| This is the RPG/400 Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---