ASCII <-> KSAM

[Bruce Hobbs]

At 7:17 AM -0700 03/03/1999, Glenn J. Koster, Sr. wrote:

>I disagree with the reply that stated you should add the file to the
>dictionary and use QUTIL to build the file.  This would be appropriate
>only if the file you are creating will be a file that is intended to be
>accessible through Powerhouse.  If, on the other hand, the file will
>only be read from ( and written to) by traditional languages (COBOL,
>etc.), the decision to add it to the dictionary is overkill.  In this
>latter case, you have two options...
>
Even though I was the one who originally suggested the BUILD command (mea culpa), I'd suggest that the complexity of the various aspects of the two options you outlined demonstrates just one of the advantages to adding the files to the dictionary: you can create the files without worrying about the O/S subtleties.

A previous posting also pointed out that having the files in the dictionary would then permit the use of QTP to do the loading and this would provide the ability to handle data conversions much beyond the limited abilities of FCOPY.

Of course, if this process is simply a one-time thing it probably makes more sense to create a new temporary dictionary and throw it away afterward. But if the files are "permanent" I'd suggest it is not overkill to add them to the dictionary even if the intent at the moment is not to use them with Powerhouse. Our thought was always that the dictionary was a data repository for the enterprise, regardless of how the data was being accessed. More often than not, we found that we ended up using Powerhouse on those files anyway!
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Bruce Hobbs, CCP, CDP   856 N Monterey St         Phone: (626) 570-8028
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