Doc-To-Help Standard Manual

by Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.

Permission is granted to reprint this document (but not for profit), provided that copyright notice is given.

Qedit and Suprtool are trademarks of Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. Oracle is a trademark of Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, California, USA. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.

Suite 372, 13711 – 72^nd Avenue,

Surrey, B.C. Canada V3W 2P2

Phone: 604.501.2001

Fax: 604.501.2003

E-mail: sales@robelle.com

E-mail: support@robelle.com

Web: www.robelle.com

Suprtool 5.4.11 for MPE: 1

User Manual 1

Permission is granted to reprint this document (but not for profit), provided that copyright notice is given. 2

Phone: 604.501.2001 2

Welcome to Suprtool 18

Introduction. 18

Suprtool Components. 18

Database Editing. 19

Speed Demon - Replacing DBGET Mode-2. 19

STExport - Data Export Utility. 19

Suprlink - Multidataset Access. 19

Suprtool2 - Interface Routine. 20

Documentation. 20

Notation. 20

Highlights 22

Highlights in Suprtool 5.4.11. 22

Highlights in Suprtool 5.4.10. 22

Highlights in Suprtool 5.4. 22

Highlights in Suprtool 5.3. 22

Highlights in Suprtool 5.2. 23

Highlights in Suprtool 5.1.02. 23

Installing Suprtool 24

Overview.. 24

Ecometry Users. 24

Instructions. 24

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool 25

How to Run Suprtool 25

What is a Task?. 25

Copying Files. 26

Copying One File. 26

Appending to a File. 26

Concatenating Two Files. 26

Fields in Data Files. 26

What is a Self-Describing File?. 26

Creating an SD File. 27

Define Fields in a Data File. 27

Create an SD File from a Data File. 27

Repeating Commands. 28

Repeating a Command. 28

How to Save On-line Commands to a File. 28

Selecting Database Records. 28

Select All Records. 29

Select a Random Sample. 29

Look at the First Few Records. 29

Selecting by Criteria. 29

Simple Criteria. 29

Complex Criteria. 29

String of Digits. 30

Selecting by Date. 30

Select by Today's Date. 30

Select by Particular Date. 30

Select by Year 31

Select Prior Month. 31

Selecting by Lists of Values. 31

Finding Data Based on a List 31

Finding Data Based on a File. 32

Finding Data Based on Another Dataset's Criteria. 32

Finding Data in a Data File. 33

Comparing against a Key and Data. 33

Sorting Database Records. 34

Sort Records. 34

Sort Records in Descending Order 34

Sort by Multiple Keys. 34

Deleting Records. 34

Updating Records. 35

Duplicate Records. 35

Report without Duplicate Records. 35

Report Only the Duplicate Records. 36

Report Only the Unique Records. 36

Report Only the Duplicates and Their Originals. 37

Deleting Duplicate Database Records. 37

Deleting Non-Unique Duplicate Database Records. 38

Deleting Duplicate Data File Records. 39

Sorting IMAGE to KSAM... 40

Loading a Dataset 40

Decimal Places. 40

Converting Numbers. 41

Counts and Subtotals. 41

Count and Subtotal on Sort Keys. 41

Sort by Count or Subtotal 42

Total by Field. 42

Running Totals. 42

Running SubTotals. 42

Listing Records. 43

Changing the Output Record Format 43

Producing a Condensed Dataset Listing. 44

Simple Reports. 44

Your First Report 44

Printing a Report 45

Specifying Your Own Title. 45

Column Headings. 45

Printing Mailing Labels. 46

Running Suprtool under MPE 47

How to Run Suprtool 47

How to Xeq a Suprtool Task. 47

Info= for Commands. 47

Son Process. 48

Combining Info= and Son Process. 48

Exit with Verify. 49

Preventing Suprtool from Suspending. 49

Stdin and Stdlist Files. 49

Input and Output Files. 50

Using CREATEPROCESS. 50

Duplicating Files. 50

Job Control Word. 50

Suprmgr Configuration File. 51

Using Suprtool in Batch. 51

SuprtoolOutCount JCW... 51

SuprtoolFullCount Variable. 52

Summary of Parm= Values. 52

Suprtool Issues and Solutions 53

A Suprtool Task. 53

Input Choices. 53

Processing Selections. 53

Output Choices. 53

Suprtool and Allbase. 54

Data-Types. 54

Date and Time Types. 55

Restrictions. 55

Suprtool and IMAGE.. 55

Reading Datasets. 55

Serial vs. Keyed Access. 56

When to Use Suprtool with IMAGE.. 56

TurboIMAGE Compatibility. 57

Locking of IMAGE Datasets. 57

Database Maintenance (Delete, Put) 58

B-trees. 59

Master Dataset Expansion (MDX) 59

Jumbo Datasets and Large Datasets. 59

Suprtool and KSAM Files. 60

Locking Output KSAM Files. 60

Locking Input KSAM Files. 60

Compatibility Mode KSAM/V Files. 61

Reorganizing KSAM/V Files. 61

KSAM/XL Files. 62

Loading KSAM/XL Files. 62

How Do I Convert CM Ksam to NM KSAM?. 62

Reuse option and KSAM/XL Files. 63

Suprtool and MPE Files. 63

Buffered and NOBUF File Access. 63

Copying User Labels. 65

SDUnix Utility. 66

SDUnix Parameters. 66

LF vs. NOLF. 66

Examples. 66

Link vs. Query. 67

Suprtool and Self-Describing Files. 67

Create an SD File from a Dataset 67

Create an SD File from a Data File. 67

SD Files as Input 68

Listing SD Files. 68

Decimal Places and Date Formats. 68

Restrictions of SD Files. 68

Creating KSAM SD Files. 69

HowMessy Loadfile. 70

Notes on SD Files. 70

Convert an SD File to a Disc File. 70

Suprtool and Sorting Files. 70

Fast Sorting. 71

Native Language Support 71

With Reduced Disc Space. 71

Suprtool and Tape Files. 72

Suprtool and Remote File Access. 74

Network Services (NS) 74

Suprtool and MPE/iX.. 74

Calling Suprtool in Native Mode. 74

User XL Files. 74

When Errors Occur 75

Sorting with Suprtool/iX.. 75

Suprtool and CI Variable Substitution. 75

Example. 75

Batch Requires Indent 76

Avoiding Double Resolution. 76

Suprlink and STExport 77

Suprtool and User Prompting. 77

Example. 78

Resolving Variables. 78

Suprtool and Personal Computers. 78

Downloading to the PC.. 79

Decimal Places. 79

Spreadsheets. 79

Suprtool and PowerHouse Applications. 79

Suprtool with Quiz/QTP. 79

Step 1: Create a Subfile with Quiz. 80

Step 2: Output Erase in Suprtool 80

Step 3: Report with Quiz. 80

Using QTP to Create Subfiles. 81

Creating Subfile with Command File. 81

Suprtool and PowerHouse Data-Types. 83

Suprtool Definitions - QSCHEMA.. 85

Notes on QSHOW Output 86

The Quiz Report 87

Quiz: Generating Suprtool Commands. 88

Generating Suprtool Commands from Quick. 88

Suprtool and Application Systems. 89

Third-Party Indexing. 89

Z-type TPI-keys. 89

Omnidex without TPI. 90

OmniQuest 91

Suprtool with TRANSACT.. 91

XSORT and RPG.. 92

QUERY Program... 92

SRN Chronos Dates. 93

Year 2000 Solutions with Suprtool 93

What If I Have Four-Digit Years?. 93

What does Set Date Cutoff do?. 94

Stddate and Set Date Cutoff. 94

What does Set Date ForceCentury do?. 94

What If I Have Two-Digit Years?. 94

What Is Wrong with Two-Digit Years?. 95

How Do $Today and $Date Work?. 95

Will Suprtool Generate an Error for Two-Digit Year Dates?. 96

How Do I Use $Today and $Date with yymmdd Dates?. 96

aammdd Date Format 96

Invalid Dates. 97

Can Suprtool Convert Two-Digit Years to Four Digits?. 97

Case 1: Converting a J2 Date from yymmdd to ccyymmdd. 97

Case 2: X6 yymmdd Data to X8 ccyymmdd. 99

Case 3: Different Date Formats X6 MMDDYY Data to X6 YYMMDD.. 100

Year 2000 Testing. 101

Performance Issues. 102

Native Mode and Compatibility Mode. 102

CPU-Bound?. 102

Sort Speed. 103

Analyzing Performance Data. 103

Suprtool Performance Hints. 104

Obtaining Accurate Measurements. 104

Performance Summary. 105

Suprtool Commands 107

General Notes. 107

Abbreviating. 107

Uppercase or Lowercase. 107

Multiple Commands per Line. 107

Continuation. 108

Comments on Command Lines. 108

Control-Y Interrupt 109

Error Recovery. 110

Add Command [AD] 111

Base Command [BA] 112

Before Command [B] 115

Chain Command [C] 117

Clean Command [CL] 120

Removing Bad Characters. 120

Define Command [D] 121

Delete Command [DEL] 126

Do Command [DO] 128

Duplicate Command [DU] 129

Edit Command [ED] 134

Exit Command [E] 135

Export Command [EXP] 137

Extract Command [EXT] 138

Constants. 138

Dates. 140

Range of Fields. 142

Numeric Expressions. 143

$SubTotal Function. 145

$Total Function. 145

$Counter Function. 146

String Expressions. 146

Splitting Variable Length Strings. 148

Cleaning your Data. 149

Clean Command Syntax. 149

Setting the Clean Character 149

Cleaning a Field. 150

Cleaning your data. 150

Extract from a Table. 150

Data Conversion. 152

$Number Function. 153

Numeric to Byte Conversion. 154

$Edit Function. 154

Placeholders and Format Characters. 154

Byte-Type Formatting. 155

Z-placeholder for byte-fields. 156

Overflow and limits. 156

Numeric field edit-masks. 156

Signs. 157

Decimal Places. 157

Data and Edit mask: 158

Currency and Dollar signs. 158

Overflow and floating dollar 158

Set CurrencySymbol 159

Overflow and limits. 159

Numeric Expressions. 175

String Expressions. 177

Date Selection. 181

Long Expressions. 187

Input Command [I] 190

Item Command [IT] 193

Link Command [LIN] 201

List Command [L] 202

Format 202

LaserJet Listings. 203

Headings in Listings. 204

Simple Reports. 205

List Device. 206

Listredo Command [LISTREDO] 208

Numrecs Command [N] 209

Open Command [OP] 211

Output Command [O] 212

Put Command [P] 219

Q Command [Q] 221

Redo Command [REDO] 222

Reset Command [R] 225

Select Command [SEL] 226

Date ForceCentury. 232

Date IfYY2000Error 232

Date MapToPHDate8. 232

ItemAbbreviateDate. 236

ItemLock. 236

Interactive. 237

LabelledTapeRewind. 237

Sort Command [SO] 251

Table Command [TA] 253

Adding Individual Values to a Table. 253

Adding Values from a File. 254

Total Command [T] 258

Update Command [UP] 260

Use Command [U] 261

Userpause Command [USER] 263

Verify Command [V] 264

Xeq Command [X] 265

Calculator Command [=] 266

Suprtool Errors and Warnings 269

Two Types Of Messages. 269

Errors. 269

Warnings. 270

Welcome to STExport 272

Installing STExport 272

Built-In File Names. 272

Accessing STExport 274

How To Run STExport 274

How to Xeq an STExport Task. 274

Son Process. 274

Suprtool Export Command. 275

Preventing MPE Commands. 275

Exit with Verify. 275

Preventing STExport from Suspending. 275

Job Control Word. 276

Using STExport in Batch. 276

Summary of Parm= Values. 276

STExportOutCount JCW... 276

STExportFullCount Variable. 277

Introduction to STExport 278

Importing Data. 278

Input File. 278

Data-Types. 278

Formatting Commands. 279

Commands. 279

Performance Considerations. 279

CI Variable Substitution. 280

STExport Commands 281

General Notes. 281

Abbreviating. 281

Uppercase or Lowercase. 281

Comments on Command Lines. 281

Before Command [B] 284

Clean Command [CL] 286

Removing Bad Characters. 286

Columns Command [C] 287

Date Command [DA] 288

Decimal Command [DEC] 290

Delimiter Command [DE] 291

Do Command [DO] 292

Escape Command [ES] 293

Exit Command [E] 294

Exit Abort [EA] 294

Exit Suspend [ES] 294

Exit Xeq [EX] 295

Floating Command [FL] 296

Form Command [F] 297

Heading Command [HEA] 299

Help Command [H] 301

HTML Command [HT] 302

Input Command [I] 304

Listredo Command [LISTREDO] 305

Output Command [O] 306

Quote Command [Q] 307

Redo Command [REDO] 308

Reset Command [R] 309

Sign Command [SI] 314

Spaces Command [SP] 315

Use Command [U] 316

Verify Command [V] 317

Xeq Command [X] 318

XML Command [XML] 319

Zero Command [Z] 322

Example of STExport Output 323

Example. 323

Limits Within STExport 327

Maximums. 327

Welcome to Dbedit 328

Introduction. 328

Restrictions. 328

Functions of Dbedit 328

Performance of Dbedit 329

Field Lists. 329

Database Locking. 330

Decimal Points. 330

Critical-Item Update. 330

Dbedit Commands 333

General Notes. 333

Abbreviating. 333

Uppercase or Lowercase. 333

Continuation. 333

Control-Y.. 334

Comments on Command Lines. 334

MPE Commands. 334

MPE/iX Commands. 334

Calculator 334

Example Database. 335

Prompting for Search Criteria. 335

Command Parameters. 335

File Parameter 335

Option Parameter 336

Numeric-Value Option. 336

Updatekey Option. 338

Subcommands. 338

Add Command [A] 340

Before Command [B] 341

Change Command [C] 342

Delete Command [D] 343

Do Command [DO] 344

Exit Command [E] 345

File Command [F] 346

Form Command [FO] 347

Help Command [H] 348

List Command [L] 349

Listredo Command [LISTREDO] 350

Modify Command [M] 351

Q Command [Q] 352

Redo Command [REDO] 353

Verify Command [V] 357

Welcome to Suprlink 358

Welcome to Suprlink. 358

Installing Suprlink. 358

Built-In File Names. 358

Accessing Suprlink 360

How To Run Suprlink. 360

How to Xeq a Suprlink Task. 360

Son Process. 360

Suprtool Link Command. 361

Preventing MPE Commands. 361

Exit with Verify. 361

Preventing Suprlink from Suspending. 362

Job Control Word. 362

Using Suprlink in Batch. 362

Summary of Parm= Values. 362

SuprlinkOutCount JCW... 362

SuprlinkFullCount Variable. 363

Introduction to Suprlink 365

How Report Programs Work. 365

Performance Considerations. 369

Another Example. 369

Illegal Digits. 370

Selecting Non-Matches. 370

Linking MPE and KSAM Files. 371

CI Variable Substitution. 372

Suprlink with Quiz/QTP. 373

Suprlink Commands 376

General Notes. 376

Abbreviating. 376

Uppercase or Lowercase. 376

Continuation. 376

Comments on Command Lines. 377

Before Command [B] 379

Do Command [DO] 381

Exit Command [E] 382

Exit Abort [EA] 382

Exit Suspend [ES] 382

Exit Xeq [EX] 382

Form Command [F] 384

Help Command [H] 386

Input Command [I] 387

Join Command [J] 388

Link Command [L] 390

Listredo Command [LISTREDO] 392

Output Command [O] 393

Redo Command [REDO] 394

Reset Command [R] 395

Verify Command [V] 400

Xeq Command [X] 401

Example Suprlink Output 402

Example. 402

Limits Within Suprlink 405

Maximums. 405

Welcome to Speed Demon 407

Welcome to Speed Demon. 407

MPE V.. 407

MPE/iX.. 407

Conditions of Use. 407

Speed Demon vs. Suprtool 408

Fourth-Generation Languages (4GLs) 408

Caveats for Privileged Mode Users. 408

SPDEPREFETCH JCW... 408

Installing Speed Demon 411

Compatibility and Native Mode Versions. 411

System SL Installation. 411

User XL Installation. 412

Group or Pub SL Installation. 413

Netbase. 413

Pub SL.. 413

Group SL.. 414

Accessing Speed Demon 415

Accessing Speed Demon. 415

Original Program Using DBGET.. 415

Modified Program Using Speed Demon. 416

How to Use Speed Demon. 418

SPDEDBINIT and the Control Record. 418

Error Handling. 418

MPE/iX.. 419

Speed Demon Intrinsics 421

The Intrinsics. 421

The Status Array. 421

SPDEEXPLAIN Intrinsic. 422

SPDEDBINIT Intrinsic. 423

SPDEDBSCAN Intrinsic. 425

SPDEDBSHUT Intrinsic. 426

The Demon Program 427

The Demon-stration Program... 427

Reading with Speed Demon (Parm=0) 427

Reading with DBGET (Parm=1) 427

Reading All IMAGE Blocks (Parm=3) 428

Verifying Version Numbers. 428

Examples of Calling Speed Demon 429

Copying the Examples. 429

COBOL Example. 429

Pascal Example. 434

Speed Demon Error Messages 439

Error Messages and Numbers. 439

Assertion Errors. 441

Welcome to Calling Suprtool 442

Calling Suprtool 442

Suprtool2 Routine. 442

Importance of the Exit Command. 442

Control Record. 443

Compiling and Linking on MPE V.. 444

Compiling and Linking on MPE/iX.. 445

Suprtool Run Parameters. 446

Lockwords on Suprtool 447

Examples of Calling Suprtool 449

Copying the Examples. 449

COBOL Example. 449

FORTRAN Example. 453

TRANSACT Example. 456

SPL Example. 459

C Example. 464

Pascal Example. 466

SPEEDWARE Example. 468

Calling Suprlink 471

The Suprtool2 Interface. 471

Restrictions. 471

COBOL Example. 471

Installing the Suprtool2 Interface 477

Compatibility Mode Installation. 477

Installing into the System SL.. 477

Suprtool2 Error Messages 478

Error Numbers. 478

Glossary of Terms 480

Commonly-used Terms. 480

Special Characters. 485

Index 490

Welcome to Suprtool

Introduction

Welcome to version 5.4 of Suprtool — the HP e3000 handyman for Image and Allbase databases, MPE files, and KSAM files. Suprtool provides fast batch reporting on your HP e3000. With Suprtool, you can select records from a file (IMAGE, Allbase, KSAM, or MPE) to feed into your report program. Typically, Suprtool enables you to produce the same report five times faster.

Suprtool performs best when you are selecting less than 50% of the entries. Once selected, you can rearrange, sort, print, or total them. You need to modify your report program to read a file instead of a dataset.

In addition, Suprtool solves dozens of other problems. The Dbedit subsystem allows convenient, interactive editing of databases, the Suprlink subsystem allows multiple dataset access, and the Speed Demon intrinsics allow a user program to improve the speed of serial DBGET calls by a factor of five. Use STExport to convert fields from a self-describing input file to an output file that can be imported into other applications. The interface routine Suprtool2 allows your application programs to invoke Suprtool.

The Suprtool commands are:

Add	EDit	ITem	Q	Use
BAse	Exit	Key	REDO	USERpause
Before	EXPort	LINk	Reset	Verify
Chain	EXTract	List	SELect	Xeq
Clean	Form	LISTREDO	Set	:MPE or HP-UX command
Define	Get	Numrecs	SOrt	=expression
DELete	Help	OPen	TAble
DO	IF	Output	Total
Duplicate	Input	Put	UPdate

The minimum abbreviation of each command is shown in capital letters.

Suprtool Components

The Suprtool package consists not only of Suprtool, but also of other programs that perform useful database functions. These other programs are Dbedit, Speed Demon, STExport, Suprlink, and Suprtool2.

Database Editing

Dbedit is a separate module of Suprtool that permits the user to add, change, list, or delete individual records or "chains" of records from an IMAGE database. You enter Dbedit via the Edit command of Suprtool, after specifying a database with the Base command. The Dbedit prompt character is #, not >, and the commands are:

Add	File	Q	:mpe command
Before	FOrm	REDO	=expression
Change	Help	Set
Delete	List	Use
DO	LISTREDO	Verify
Exit	Modify

Speed Demon - Replacing DBGET Mode-2

One part of the Suprtool package is Speed Demon, a set of intrinsics that you call in your programs instead of DBGET mode-2 to read serially through a dataset; it should be about five times faster.

While Speed Demon lacks Suprtool's ability to extract fields or select and sort records, it has the advantage that it delivers the records directly into your program. Speed Demon/V is about 50% slower than Suprtool, but there is no need to read an output file, as with Suprtool. Speed Demon/iX runs at the same speed as Suprtool. With Speed Demon, your application program is responsible for selecting records and sorting them (e.g., using the Sort verb in COBOL).

Application programs should invoke Suprtool when they expect to select a small percentage of the records (i.e., when the overhead of reading the output file will be minimized). Application programs should call Speed Demon when they expect to select a large percentage of the records.

STExport - Data Export Utility

STExport converts fields in a self-describing input file into an output file that can be imported into different applications.

Use STExport to produce a formatted output file that can be used to import data into databases and applications.

Other databases have different requirements for the format of input data. You will have to experiment with the various STExport formatting options to find a format that your particular database tool accepts.

Suprlink - Multidataset Access

Suprlink is a program that works with Suprtool to add "multidataset" capability to Suprtool. Suprlink is not a set of callable routines. To use it, you must :run Suprlink.Pub.Robelle or use Suprtool's Link command.

Rather than take the regular path to multiple datasets -- random retrieval via IMAGE keys -- with its well-known performance problems, we have chosen to follow a different path: fast serial extracts plus a very efficient merge. The tests that we have performed indicate that this method is often significantly faster than the "official" IMAGE method of chasing down chains and hash synonyms.

To understand what Suprlink does, think of the process of writing a report. Your report program (written in COBOL, RPG, PowerHouse, or some other language) hunts all over the database with DBFIND and DBGET to collect your data.

It would be faster if the report program could just read a sorted disc file with a big record containing all the data necessary for the report, and this is Suprlink's function. Suprtool can extract the desired fields from the desired records of the sales detail dataset and put them in a disc file. Then Suprtool can extract the desired fields from the customer master dataset and write them to a second disc file. If Suprtool sorts both files by customer, Suprlink can "link" them together, producing a third file whose composite record consists of the related fields from both files. This file is just what we need to feed into the report program. For example, a sales report program might read a disc file whose records consist of sales transactions plus customer information. This file has been sorted by customer number and date. If there are several sales for the same customer, the customer information is just repeated in each record. The report program reads the records, checks for level breaks, and formats and prints the records.

Suprtool2 - Interface Routine

How would a user application program invoke Suprtool to perform a desired task? Robelle provides an interface routine that runs Suprtool for a user program, passing commands from the program to Suprtool (the same commands you would type into Suprtool). This routine (or procedure, subroutine, intrinsic) allows user programs to call Suprtool. A typical use of this interface would be for a COBOL program to ask Suprtool to extract a selected subset from a large IMAGE dataset and write it to a disc file, which the COBOL program would then read and format into a report. User programs written in COBOL, TRANSACT, Speedware, SPL, FORTRAN, Pascal, COBOL/iX, FORTRAN/iX, or Pascal/iX can call Suprtool2.

Documentation

The user manual contains the full description of all the Suprtool suite of products including Suprlink, STExport, Dbedit and Suprtool2, as well as usage tips and commands for each. The manuals are up-to-date with all the latest changes. To see only the changes in the latest version, see the "What's New" section of the manual, or see the change notice.

You can download our manuals in PDF format or HTML format and even order printed (hardcopy) manuals from our web site at:

http://www.robelle.com/library/manuals/.

Notation

The Suprtool documentation uses a common notation in describing all commands. Here is a sample command definition:

EXTRACT field [(subscript)] [=value] [,...]

1. UPPERcase letters - literal symbols to be used in the command as they appear (e.g., EXTRACT).

2. Lowercase, underlined or italic - "variables" to be filled in by the user (example: field). Each such "variable" is defined elsewhere in terms of literal symbols (consult the index). In the help file, underlining and italics are not available and variables appear simply in lowercase.

3. Brackets - enclose optional fields (example: [(subscript)]).

4. Braces - enclose comments in examples. For example, >INPUT ACTREC {input from a data file}. Braces can be used for comments in actual Suprtool commands.

5. Up lines - separate alternatives from which you select (example: Set Ignore [On|Off]); sometimes, the alternatives are shown listed on several lines.

6. Dot-dot-dot (...) - indicates that the variable may be repeated many times in the command.

7. Other special characters - literal symbols that must appear in the command as they are shown in the format (example: the comma above). Some commas in Suprtool are optional.

In examples, there is an implied carriage return at the end of each line.

Examples

The examples in this manual use the revised STORE database described in the IMAGE/3000 Handbook.

Highlights

Highlights in Suprtool 5.4.11

· Set XLTRIM On now tells Suprtool to close a file and release the disc space between EOF and the Flimit.

· STExport's Escape command has been re-engineered to fix some corner cases that didn't work previously.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.4.10

· There are no changes in this version of Suprtool.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.4

· Bradmark's DbGeneral can produce Jumbo datasets that are a single chunk, Suprtool did not handle these single chunk master jumbo datasets properly as the last block calculation was done only after opening the last chunk itself. We have adjusted the logic in making sure the calculation is done for this case earlier. Adager does not create these single chunk jumbo datasets. There is an un-documented $control directive in dbschema called $forcejumbo, which will produce one of these single chunk jumbos so we are supporting it in Suprtool 5.3.11.

· The Output command now has the Else verb which will send records that do not qualify with the if command to a temporary "ELSE" file.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.3

· There are no visible changes in this production version of Suprtool. Internal changes have been made for future enhancements.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.2

· STExport now has Set ZonedFix On, this setting can be used to zero out any zoned fields that were unable to be converted from zoned to byte and typically have a "?" in the result. This is often caused by hidden characters or bad data.

· Suprtools $edit function now accepts the colon character as a delimiter character in order for edit masks for time fields.

· Suprtools if command would not allow a field name starting with SPECIAL if it was on the right side of the equation.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.1.02

· STExport did not handle files with 256 fields in an SD file.

· Suprtool can now execute the if and extract expression $stddate($days(a) + 10) in one task.

· Suprtool now supports stand-alone zoned decimal keys.

· Suprlink has had internal changes in terms of how it manages its data structures.

· If the data item used in data portion of a $lookup function was 8 bytes or greater in length, type display or byte, the if command would fail with an arithmetic stack error.

· Set VarsubDebug has been added to print the line after variable substitution has occurred.

· Suprtool now reads NM KSAM files with MR NOBUF if an IF command is specified.

· STExport XML command did not convert compound items (2)..(n) properly.

· Multiple literal compares now work in the IF command

· If $lookup can now return the data portion loaded into a table to use in a comparison.

· STExport HTML command did not calculate the maximum record size properly in some cases.

· Suprtool default prefetch value has been changed from 2 to 0.

· Suprtool chain command now handles J2 TPI keys in Master datasets.

· The $edit function would replace a number with a colon if the edit mask had a different number of decimal places than the item had and the last number to be rounded was a nine.

Installing Suprtool

Overview

We have two types of Installations, Tape and Download. We provide links to the Installation instructions on our web site for each type of Install.

Ecometry Users

Users of the Ecometry application need to use the installation instructions supplied by Ecometry Corporation. Those instructions have extra steps for updating the Ecometry code accounts.

You will find the Ecometry version of these instructions at http://www.robelle.com/ecometry/

Types of installations, tape, download combined qedit and suprtool tape.

Instructions

If you received a production release tape from Robelle, then you can install using the instructions on this web page:

http://www.robelle.com/support/install/tape/stprod.html

If you downloaded the Suprtool production release from our web site then the instructions can be found here for the ftp download method:

http://www.robelle.com/downloads/install-stprod-ftp.html

and here for the WRQ download method:

http://www.robelle.com/downloads/install-stprod-wrq.html

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

How to Run Suprtool

Use the following command to access Suprtool:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

SUPRTOOL/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2001.

(Version 5.4) SUN, JUN 17, 2007, 11:47 AM Type H for help.

Today's Hint. To see ALL of the options available in Suprtool,

use >VERIFY ALL.

Suprtool prints its version number and the current time right after a banner Suprtool then prompts with ">". Press Return after typing each command. For example, if you type the help command:

>help

Suprtool prints some help text and a keyword list. Type a keyword or press Return to leave Help.

To exit Suprtool, type "Exit" at the Suprtool prompt.

>exit

What is a Task?

Tasks are the building blocks with which Suprtool helps you to solve data processing problems. In a task, Suprtool reads information from a file or database, selects and processes some information, and writes out the result. You can visualize a Suprtool task like this:

The examples that follow all consist of Suprtool tasks. Simple solutions require only one task. Complex solutions consist of several tasks, often with the output of one task becoming the input for the next task.

Copying Files

Copying One File

Use the Input command to specify a data file.

>input file1

>output result

>xeq

The Output command creates the file called "result", which is a copy of the input file.

Appending to a File

To append to an existing file, use the Append option in the Output command.

>input file2

>output result,append

>xeq

Concatenating Two Files

To concatenate two files, you have to tell Suprtool two things:

1. The size of the resulting file.

2. Not to truncate the empty space at the end of the resulting file.

Once you've done this, concatenating two files is just like copying a file, then appending to a file.

>:file result; disc=50000 {maximum 50,000 records}

>set squeeze off {don't truncate space}

>input file1 {copy the first file}

>output result

>xeq

>input file2 {append the second file}

>output result,append

>xeq

Fields in Data Files

What is a Self-Describing File?

A self-describing (SD) file is a file that contains field information. These files have the advantage of behaving like data files, which can provide field information to Suprtool without you having to Define all the fields.

Creating an SD File

To create an SD file, use the Link option in the Output command.

>get d-sales

>output result,link

>xeq

Now the data file "result" has the same field names as the dataset d-sales. Suprtool can read this data file and know about the fields automatically.

>input result

>if sales-total>20000 and product-price<5000

>output custlist

>xeq

Define Fields in a Data File

A regular data file does not have any field information associated with it. If you need to work with the fields in a data file, you need to tell Suprtool about the fields using the Define command. For example, say you have a data file with lines that look like this:

12345678John Rutherford <32>

98765432Catherine Smith <29>

| | | |

Account First name Last name Age

8-byte 12-byte 16-byte 2-byte integer

Use these Define commands to tell Suprtool about the fields:

>input datafile

>define account, 1, 8, byte

>define first-name, 9, 12, byte

>define last-name, 21, 16, byte

>define age, 37, 2, int

| | | |

field name | Length |

Start Data-type

position

Now you can use the field names "account", "first-name", "last-name", and "age" to refer to the corresponding parts of the line, just as if this were a database record.

>input datafile

>define ...

>if age>65

>ext account, last-name

>output result

>xeq

Create an SD File from a Data File

To create an SD file from a data file, follow these steps:

1. Define the fields that you want to include in the SD file.

2. Extract the fields in the order you want.

3. Use the Link option in the Output command to create the SD file.

>input datafile

>define account, 1, 1, byte

>define first-name, 9, 12, byte

>define last-name, 21, 16, byte

>define age, 37, 2, int

>extract account, age, first-name, last-name

>output result,link

>xeq

Repeating Commands

Repeating a Command

Use the Listredo command to see a list of your most recent commands. Use the Do command to repeat a command, or use the Redo command to modify a command before repeating it.

>listredo {20 most recent commands}

>listredo input {most recent Input commands}

>input result

>...

>xeq

>do input {repeat previous Input command}

>input result

>if quantity > 10000

>...

>redo if {modify previous If command, then repeat}

If you have used two commands that begin with the same letter, you have to be careful when repeating those commands. Make sure you use enough letters to identify each command distinctly from the other. In the following example, if you wish to repeat the Input command instead of the If command, you need to use "do i s" instead of just "do i".

>i somefile

>if <expression>

>...

>xeq

>do i s {repeats previous Input command}

How to Save On-line Commands to a File

After you have performed a task on-line, you can save the commands you've used to a file. You can edit this file to help you create Suprtool batch jobs.

>listredo all;unn;out=somefile

Selecting Database Records

These examples show you how to get records from an IMAGE dataset. It assumes you have opened the demo database with the Base command. The results are written to a data file called "result", which can be read either by a program or by a report writer.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base store.demo.robelle , 5 , READER {read access}

Select All Records

This example extracts all the records from the dataset. Note that we didn't specify any selection criteria, so Suprtool selects all the records.

>get d-sales {input dataset}

>output result {output file}

>xeq {Xeq command performs the task}

Select a Random Sample

Sometimes you may need to select a random sample from your dataset to test a new report or program. You can easily do this by adding a #count parameter to the Get command. The #count value tells Suprtool to select only every nth record. The example shows you how to select 5% of your database.

>get d-sales(#20) {every 20th record is 5%}

>output result

>xeq

Look at the First Few Records

If you want to look at the first few records of a dataset, use the Numrecs command. This command tells Suprtool to extract at most the number of records specified. Then, instead of sending the result to a file, send it to the screen with "output *,ascii". The example shows you how to look at the first 10 records in your dataset.

>get d-sales

>numrecs 10 {first 10 records}

>output *,ascii {output to screen, format numbers}

>xeq

Selecting by Criteria

Simple Criteria

To tell Suprtool to choose records based on certain criteria, use the If command. Think of the If command as a shorthand for "Select all records that have...". In this example Suprtool extracts all records with a sales-total value greater than 20000 from the d-sales dataset.

>get d-sales

>if sales-total > 20000 {select}

>output result

>xeq

Complex Criteria

To choose records using more complex criteria, combine several simple criteria using AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses. In this example Suprtool extracts all records that have a sales-total value greater than 20000 and a product-price value less than 5000 from the d-sales dataset.

>get d-sales

>if sales-total>20000 and product-price<5000

>output result

>xeq

String of Digits

If you have a byte-type field that consists entirely of digits, and you want to use this field as a numeric field, you need to define a new display field on top of the existing field. For example, suppose your data looks like the following, where the customer account number is stored in the 8-digit byte-type field at the start of the record:

20476789...rest of customer record...

To find all customers with an account greater than 20470000, you would do the following:

>get dataset

>define accountnum, account, 8, display

>if accountnum > 20470000

>output result

>xeq

Selecting by Date

Because IMAGE doesn't provide a built-in date type, most databases store dates as numeric or character fields.

Before Suprtool can use a date field, it has to know the format of a particular date field. Use the Item command to specify the format. For example, to tell Suprtool that the item purch-date is a date field with a format of yyyymmdd (e.g., 20010319), you would use:

>item purch-date, date, yyyymmdd {date format}

In the following date examples, we show the Item command in each example. In practice, however, you only need to use the Item command once per date field, not once per task.

Select by Today's Date

For this example, select all the sales records whose purchase date is today. Note the use of $today in the If command to indicate today's date.

>get d-sales

>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd

>if purch-date = $today {select today's date}

>output result

>xeq

Other tricks with $today

>if purch-date = $today(-1) {yesterday}

>if purch-date = $today(+1) {tomorrow}

Select by Particular Date

To specify a particular date, use the $date function in the If command. The $date function has the form $date(year /month /day). This example selects all the sales transactions for August 12, 2000.

>get d-sales

>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd

>if purch-date = $date(2000/08/12)

>output result

>xeq

Select by Year

Suppose we want to select all the sales transactions for 2000. Suprtool does not have a short-hand for specifying "everything in that year". To specify an entire year, use a date range from January 1st to December 31st.

>get d-sales

>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd

>if purch-date >= $date(2000/01/01) and &

purch-date <= $date(2000/12/31)

>output result

>xeq

Select Prior Month

In the $date function, use a * to indicate the current year, month, or day. Similarly, a *-1 means the previous year, month, or day. For this example, select all the sales transactions for the prior month. Note the use of the special keywords "first" and "last" to indicate the first and last day of the month.

>get d-sales

>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd

>if purch-date >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &

purch-date <= $date(*/*-1/last)

>output result

>xeq

Selecting by Lists of Values

Sometimes you want to find records based on criteria contained in another file or dataset.

Finding Data Based on a List

Suppose we want to find all orders for the customers "1234", "9876", and "5555." We simply use a list of values after the equal sign in the If command. A match is made if a customer matches any one of the values in the list.

>get ord-details

>if cust-no = "1234", "9876", "5555"

>output orders

>xeq

If we wanted to find orders for all customers except "1234", "9876", and "5555", we would simply change the equal sign in the If command to a not-equal sign. A match is made if a customer does not match any values in the list.

>get ord-details

>if cust-no <> "1234", "9876", "5555"

>output orders

>xeq

Finding Data Based on a File

If you have a large list of values in a file, you can load them into Suprtool and select data based on this list. First use the Table command to load values from an external file into a table. Then use the function of the If command to match data to the table.

Suppose our list is in a file called Custlist. The table we create is called cust-table.

>get ord-details

>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist

>if $lookup(cust-table, cust-no)

>output orders

>xeq

If you want to find all customers not on the list, just negate the If condition.

>if not $lookup(cust-table, cust-no)

You can also compare both a key value and data using the Table data feature.

>get ord-details

>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)

>if $lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code

>output orders

>xeq

What the above code does is load a table with key values and data, then as you are reading serially thru the database, Suprtool looks up the key value in the table and retrieves the associated data and returns it and compares against the field on the right hand side of the equation. If no entry is found in the table then Suprtool returns spaces for byte type fields and zero for numeric fields. This means of course that in our example that if a cust-no did not exist in the table, the state-code returned would be blank and if the state-code was blank in the ord-details dataset the record would qualify.

If you don’t want to have any values returned from the table lookup, you just preface the if with a standard lookup.

>get ord-details

>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)

>if $lookup(cust-table,cust-no) and &

$lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code

>output orders

>xeq

When using $lookup to return data, the $lookup must always be on the right side of the equation. If not Suprtool will stop with an error:

If id-field=$lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field)

Error: $lookup in this context (data comparison) must be on left side

Finding Data Based on Another Dataset's Criteria

Sometimes you need to find data from one dataset based on conditions from another dataset. This is a typical example: you want to find all of the pending orders for those customers whose accounts receivable balance is 0.

First we find the customers with an AR balance of 0, and extract their customer numbers to a file.

>get cust-ar

>if ar-balance = 0

>ext cust-no

>output custlist

>xeq

Now we can find information by loading a file of customer numbers into a table and then applying the $lookup feature.

>get ord-details

>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist

>if status="PENDING" and $lookup(cust-table,cust-no)

>output orders

>xeq

Finding Data in a Data File

So far, the examples have looked up data from a database. If you want to look up information in a data file, you need to tell Suprtool about the fields. Use the Define command to do this.

The following example gives you some idea of the byte-size of one kind of record in a data file.

John Smith 12345678

Anna-May Richardson 98765432

12-bytes 16-bytes 8-bytes

If you want to look up customers based on a list of customer numbers in the file Custlist, use the following task. Notice how the start position and number of bytes is entered into the Define command. This defines the position within the input file, not the table file.

>input flatfile

>define cust-no, 29, 8, byte

>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist

>if $lookup(cust-table, cust-no)

>output result

Comparing against a Key and Data

Suprtools can use the “data” loaded into a Table in a comparison operation. The $lookup function will return the data value from the table to compare against another field or literal.

In file1sd

Table mytable,char-field,data,tabfile,data(id-field)

If $lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field) = int-field

So what Suprtool will do in this case is read a record, lookup the record in the table and retrieve the data item in the table. If Suprtool does NOT find an entry in the table, a zero will be returned if the data type is numeric and spaces will be returned if it is a byte type.

So using the case above, if no entry is found in the table, zero is returned, and if int-field is equal to zero, then the record will qualify.

If you don’t want to have any values returned from the table lookup, you just preface the if with a standard lookup.

>get ord-details

>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)

>if $lookup(cust-table,cust-no) and &

$lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code

>output orders

>xeq

When using $lookup to return data, the $lookup must always be on then left side of the expression. If not Suprtool will stop with an error:

>if id-field=$lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field)

Error: $lookup in this context (data comparison) must be on left side

Sorting Database Records

Sort Records

This extracts all records from the dataset d-sales into a data file called "result". The records are sorted by the field cust-account. Use the Sort command to do sorting.

>get d-sales

>sort cust-account {sort by cust-account}

>output result

>xeq

Sort Records in Descending Order

This extracts all records from the dataset d-sales into a data file called RESULT. The records are sorted by the field sales-total in descending order (i.e., show highest totals first). Use the Desc option in the Sort command to do this.

>get d-sales

>sort sales-total desc {descending order}

>output result

>xeq

Sort by Multiple Keys

This extracts all records from the dataset d-sales into a data file called "result". The records are sorted by the field cust-account, then by sales-total in descending order. Use two Sort commands to do this, since the Sort command only accepts one field at a time.

>get d-sales {input}

>sort cust-account {first sort key}

>sort sales-total desc {second sort key}

>output result {output}

>xeq

Deleting Records

To delete records safely from a database, you need two Suprtool tasks. The first task backs up the data to be deleted; the second task deletes the records. You can interrupt and restart the two-task method without harming your records. It may be faster to combine the two tasks, but it can present problems: if you abort the task part-way through, your database will be partially deleted, but you will not have a backup of the deleted records.

The first task copies the data to a backup file:

>get d-sales

>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231

>output archives

>xeq

The second task deletes the entries:

>get d-sales

>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231

>delete

>output $null

>xeq

Updating Records

To update records you can specify the fields to be updated with the Extract command(s). The Update command must be entered before the Extract command. You can Update part of a field by defining a portion of the field with the define command and using the defined field in the Extract command.

You can update critical fields (IMAGE search or sort fields), by specifying the Ciupdate option on the Update command. CIUPDATE must be turned on or Allowed in the database. This can be turned on from within the DBUTIL utility.

You can also update using Arithmetic Expressions:

>get d-sales

>update

>extract total = price * qty + tax

>xeq

You can update critical fields:

>get d-sales

>update ciupdate

>if product-no = 12345677

>ext product-no = 12345678

>xeq

Duplicate Records

In the following examples, the key field is in the first four bytes of the record. "Duplicate-ness" is based on records having the same key value. In any group of records with the same key value, the first record is considered to be the "original", and the rest are considered to be the "duplicates".

Report without Duplicate Records

This is an example of filtering out duplicated records (the original remains). This is done by using the None option of the Duplicate command.

Input Result

1111 a 1111 a

2222 b 2222 b

2222 c 3333 e

2222 d

3333 e

>get dataset

>sort keyfield

>dup none keys

>output result

>xeq

Report Only the Duplicate Records

This is an example of keeping only the duplicated records (the original is not kept). This example is the opposite of the previous example. Use the Only option of the Duplicate command to do this.

Input Result

1111 a 2222 c

2222 b 2222 d

2222 c

2222 d

3333 e

>get dataset

>sort keyfield

>dup only keys

>output result

>xeq

Report Only the Unique Records

This example shows how to report only those records without duplicates. That is, if the records have duplicates, both the originals and their duplicates are omitted from the report.

Input Result

1111 a 1111 a

2222 b 3333 e

2222 c

2222 d

3333 e

You have to use two Suprtool tasks to accomplish this. The first task creates an intermediate file Dupfile that contains the keys of the duplicate records. The second task creates the desired output file Result that contains only the unique records.

>get dataset

>sort keyfield

>extract keyfield

>dup only keys

>output dupfile

>xeq

>get dataset

>table dup-table, keyfield, sorted, dupfile

>if not $lookup(dup-table, keyfield)

>output result

>xeq

Report Only the Duplicates and Their Originals

This performs the opposite function to the one outlined above. It keeps only the duplicates and their originals.

Input Result

1111 a 2222 b

2222 b 2222 c

2222 c 2222 d

2222 d

3333 e

Once again, you have to use two Suprtool tasks to accomplish this. The first task creates an intermediate file Dupfile that contains the keys of the duplicate records. The second task creates the output file Result that contains only duplicate files and their originals.

>get dataset

>sort keyfield

>extract keyfield

>dup only keys

>output dupfile

>xeq

>get dataset

>table dup-table, keyfield, sorted, dupfile

>if $lookup(dup-table, keyfield)

>output result

>xeq

Deleting Duplicate Database Records

The method shown here assumes that each record can be distinguished from each other, even though they have duplicate keys. You cannot use just one task to delete duplicates. To do the job safely, you need three tasks.

1. Identify which records to delete.

2. Archive those records.

3. Delete those records.

Task 1: Identify which records to delete.

>get dataset

>define rec,1,length of your record

>sort key1 {sort enough keys to uniquely …}

>sort key2 {… identify all the duplicates}

>dup only keys

>out dupfile

>xeq

Task 2: Write records to archive.

>get dataset

>table duptab, rec, sorted, dupfile, hold

>if $lookup(duptab, rec)

>output archive

>xeq

Task 3: Delete the records.

>get dataset

>if $lookup(duptab, rec)

>delete

>xeq

Deleting Non-Unique Duplicate Database Records

If you need to delete duplicates that cannot be uniquely identified (i.e., the entire record is a duplicate), use the following set of four tasks:

Task 1: Get a list of the duplicates.

>get dataset

>define rec,1,length of your record

>sort rec

>dup only record

>out dupfile

>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

a a

a c

Task 2: Get a unique list of the duplicates.

>input dupfile

>dup none record

>output dupfile2

>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

a a a

a a c

a c

Task 3: Delete the duplicate records, including the original.

>get dataset

>table duptab, rec, sorted, dupfile2

>if $lookup(duptab, rec)

>delete

>output archive

>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

b a a

a c

Task 4: Restore one copy of the original duplicates.

>input dupfile2

>put dataset

>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

a a a

b a c

c c

Deleting Duplicate Data File Records

This is a similar procedure to deleting database records. The main difference is that you use the Input and Output commands instead of the Get and Delete commands. You also need to define your sort fields.

Task 1: Identify which records to delete.

>input datafile

>define key1,1,8

>define key2,13,12

>define rec,1,length of your record

>sort key1

>sort key2

>dup only keys

>out dupfile

>xeq

Task 2: Write records to archive.

>input datafile

>table duptab, rec, sorted, dupfile, hold

>if $lookup(duptab, rec)

>output archive

>xeq

Task 3: Delete the records.

>input datafile

>if not $lookup(duptab, rec)

>output result

>xeq

Sorting IMAGE to KSAM

Here is how to extract all customer numbers from a master dataset, sort them, then write them to an existing KSAM file, erasing the KSAM's previous contents. Please note that this gives you sorted access to your IMAGE data if used properly.

>base store.data

Password > {password is not echoed}

>get m-customer

>sort cust-account

>out keycust,key,erase {keycust was built with KSAMUTIL}

>exit {xeq implied, then leave Suprtool}

Loading a Dataset

To load records into an IMAGE dataset from a disc file, use these commands:

>base store.data {specify which database}

>input transfile {input is from a disc file}

>put d-sales {add each record to the D-SALES dataset}

>xeq {execute the current task}

The layout of the input file must have the exact same format as the target.

Decimal Places

Data in files and databases often have an implied number of decimal places. For example, dollar amounts usually have two implied decimal places for the cents. In this case, the number stored is scaled by a factor of one hundred (e.g., you would enter 10000 to represent $100.00).

>get d-sales

>if total-sales > 99900 {find sales > $999}

>out result

>xeq

You can use Suprtool's Item command to identify defined fields or database items that have an implied number of decimal places.

You can use Suprtool's Item command to identify defined fields or database items that have an implied number of decimal places. Once you do this, you can then enter regular, unscaled numbers. For example, to enter five cents, use 0.05; to enter $100.00, use 100. If a field is a dollar and cents amount scaled by 100, use the following to tell Suprtool about the decimal place:

>item total-sales, DECIMAL, 2

With the Item command, the previous example becomes more understandable:

>get d-sales

>item total-sales, decimal, 2

>if total-sales > 999 {find sales > $999}

>out result

>xeq

Converting Numbers

There are several ways to convert binary numbers (e.g. I2, P8) into human-readable ASCII form. You can use STExport's Output,ASCII or Output,DISPLAY if you want to convert all numbers.

If you want to convert only some of your numeric fields, you can use Suprtool's numeric conversion feature to convert the binary fields to display fields.

define mynumber,1,6,display

get dataset

ext some-fields...

ext mynumber = binary-number

output filename

xeq

Note that this technique also works for converting a number from one numeric type to another numeric type.

You may also convert from binary to ASCII directly by using the $edit function.

define mynumber,1,6,byte

get dataset

ext some-fields...

ext mynumber = $edit(binary-number,"999999")

output filename

xeq

Counts and Subtotals

Count and Subtotal on Sort Keys

This example counts the number of sales transactions for each customer and produces the total sales for each customer. We use the Count and Total options of the Duplicate command. Note that we made the output file self-describing so we can easily work with it later.

>get d-sales

>ext cust-account

>sort cust-account {need to sort by key}

>item sales-total,decimal,2 {decimal places}

>dup none keys count total sales-total

>list standard

>out result, link

>xeq

The output file contains three fields. The first field is the cust-account that we extracted. Suprtool created two new fields at the end of each output record: st-count and st-total-1. St-count contains the number of times each cust-account occurred, while st-total-1 contains the total sales for each cust-account.

Sort by Count or Subtotal

When Suprtool counts or subtotals, the output is sorted according to the key fields. If you want your output file to be sorted by the count or by a total, you must process the output file with a second task. The following example sorts the previous file of totals by ST-COUNT. We choose a descending sort sequence, so that we can see first the customers with the largest number of orders.

>input result {input from previous task}

>sort st-count, desc {highest counts appear first}

>list standard {produce a simple report}

>xeq

Total by Field

If you want to get a single total for a field, without caring about subtotals on sort breaks, you can use the Total command. Total prints out the result on $stdlist. For example, to compute the total sales value for 2000 transactions, use these commands:

>get d-sales

>if purch-date>=000101 and purch-date<=001231

>total sales-total

>output $null

>xeq

Running Totals

You can get a running total on a field using the $total function.. The target data must be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to help avoid overflow issues. A sample use of the total function could be:

>def mytotal,1,14,packed

>get orders

>ext mytotal = $total(sales-amount)

>xeq

Running SubTotals

Suprtool has the ability to keep a running subtotal for any numeric field based on a given sort key. The target data must be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to help avoid overflow issues.

A sample use of the $subtotal function could be:

>def mytotal,1,14,packed

>get orders

>sort order-number

>ext order-number

>ext part-number

>ext description

>ext sales-amount

>ext mytotal = $subtotal(sales-amount,order-number)

>out sales,link

>xeq

This would result in a file containing a running subtotal in the field mytotal for a given order-number. You could then generate a simple report with the simple Suprtool commands:

>in sales

>list standard

>xeq

The basic syntax for the $subtotal function in the extract command is:

extract targetfield = $subtotal(field,sort-field)

You must specify the sort command before referencing the sort-field in the $subtotal function. You can subtotal up to ten fields per task.

Listing Records

You can print selected input records either formatted or with the Octal, Hex, Decimal, or Character representations. To dump all sales records with a negative amount, use these commands:

>get d-sales

>if sales-total < 0

>list lp

>xeq

This finds the entries that meet the selection criteria and prints them to the default line printer, showing field names and field-values converted to ASCII. If you suspect that your data is bad, you can dump the records in Octal/Char format instead:

>get d-sales

>if sales-total < 0

>list octal,char

>xeq

If you want the listing in column format, use List Standard:

>get d-sales

>if sales-total < 0

>list standard lp

>xeq

Changing the Output Record Format

You can change the output file record format by using the Extract command. The Extract command causes Suprtool to assemble Output records by stringing together fields extracted from Input records. You would use the following to extract two of the nine fields from the customer records:

>get m-customer {input from a dataset}

>extract cust-account {extract the key value and …}

>extract credit-rating {… one other field}

>output out1 {output file will have two fields}

>xeq

You can easily insert data into the middle of a record, again using the Extract command. Define the first and second halves of the record as two big chunks. Now Extract the first part, note the constant you wish to insert, then Extract the second part.

>input myfile {95 bytes wide}

>define part1,1,60,byte {first 60 bytes}

>define part2,61,35,byte {remaining 35}

>extract part1, "constant", part2 {extract an 8-byte constant}

>output newfile {103 bytes now}

>xeq

Producing a Condensed Dataset Listing

When debugging test databases, it is often desirable to produce a condensed listing of a dataset on $stdlist. The following example combines the Extract command with the ASCII output option (i.e., all binary and packed-decimal data is converted into readable ASCII characters). For readability, each data value is prefixed with an abbreviated field name. This listing is more compact than the one produced by the List command.

>get m-customer

>extract "Account=",cust-account," "

>extract "C/R=",credit-rating

>output *,ascii {* implies $stdlist}

>xeq

The output would look like:

Account=04598921 C/R= 500000

Account=44657844 C/R= 2000000

Account=98753198 C/R= 300000

Simple Reports

You can produce simple reports with Suprtool's List command. You select the records for the report with the If command and the fields for the report with the Extract command. Reports can include running headings with the date, title, and page number and an optional line of column headings. Suprtool can produce default titles and headings.

>get m-customer

>item credit-rating,decimal,2

>extract cust-account

>extract credit-rating

>list standard

>xeq

The output would look like this:

Feb 16, 2000 Base STORE Set M-CUSTOMER Page 1

CUST-ACCO CREDIT-RATING

4598921 5000.00

44657844 20000.00

98753198 3000.00

Your First Report

Our report selects all customers in California, sorts the records by city, and reports on the city, account number, and name of each California customer:

>get m-customer {input dataset}

>if state = "CA" {California customers}

>sort city {sort by city name}

>extract city {city first on each line}

>extract cust-account {followed by account#}

>extract name-first {and first name}

>extract name-last {and finally last name}

>list standard {produce a quick report}

>xeq

These commands produce a report with four columns. The title consists of the Store database and the m-customer dataset. The column headings are the name of each field that we extracted.

Printing a Report

By default, the List command writes output to $stdlist, where lines are folded as necessary to fit within 78 columns (to prevent line overflow).

To write the report to a system line printer, use the following :file command before using the List command:

>:file suprlist;dev=lp;rec=-132

If you are writing a report to a LaserJet, we suggest that you add this command to your task. It selects 175 column output in Landscape mode.

>set list pcl 1

Specifying Your Own Title

If you don't like Suprtool's default title, you can override it with your own:

>list standard,title "Customers in California"

Column Headings

Column headings default to uppercase field names. The names are truncated if they are longer than the field itself. One space is inserted between fields.

Suprtool does not automatically align user-specified headings with the data columns. We suggest specifying heading strings with the same length as the fields they represent, while taking into account the space between the data columns.

In our example, we enter one column heading per line (using Suprtool's continuation character "&"):

>list standard,heading &

{----+----1----+----2}

"City " & {field is X12}

"Account " & {field is Z8}

"First Name " & {field is X10}

"Last Name" {field is X16}

We included one space between fields. Note that an extra space was needed for the Account heading (it is an 8-digit field, but we used 10 characters). Because cust-account is a zoned-decimal field, an extra space is required for the sign.

Printing Mailing Labels

You can print mailing labels by combining the Extract command with the List Oneperline command. We assume that each mailing label starts with two blank lines, followed by the customer name and address, followed by another blank line. The Suprtool commands to produce the labels are as follows:

>get m-customer {input customers}

>extract " " {first field}

>extract " " {second field}

>extract customer-name {name first}

>extract street-address(1) {three lines of address}

>extract street-address(2)

>extract street-address(3)

>extract " " {last blank field}

>list oneperline, noname, noskip, norec

>xeq

The extract " " line creates a single field that consists of a blank space. Each of these blank fields results in a blank line on our mailing labels, since the List command puts one field on each output line.

If you want to combine two fields on one line, you would first have to create an output file with the combined fields and use this file as input to List Oneperline.

Running Suprtool under MPE

How to Run Suprtool

To access Suprtool, type the "run" command:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

SUPRTOOL/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2001.

(Version 5.4) SUN, JUN 17, 2001, 11:47 AM Type H for help.

Suprtool prints its version number and the current time right after a banner. It also prints the name of the company that has licensed this copy of Suprtool.

Suprtool then prompts with ">". Press Return after typing each command. For example, if you type the help command:

>help

Suprtool prints some help text and a keyword list. Type a keyword or press Return to leave Help.

How to Xeq a Suprtool Task

Normally, you enter a series of commands. These commands specify the input source, the output destination, and any special processing that is required. Finally, you enter an Xeq or an Exit command. This begins the actual Suprtool extraction task.

If you entered the Exit command, Suprtool finishes the current task, then returns you to MPE. If you entered the Xeq command, Suprtool finishes the current task, then prompts you for another task. This continues until you enter the Exit command. If you wish to terminate Suprtool immediately (perhaps you are confused), enter Exit Abort, which immediately returns you to MPE without attempting any task. If you :Run Suprtool from another process (e.g., Qedit), you can suspend execution without executing the current task with the Exit Suspend option.

Info= for Commands

If you run Suprtool with Parm=4, Suprtool processes up to 80 characters of command input specified via Info=.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="I ABC;O ABC2;E"

Suprtool terminates only if the Info= string contains an E command. Otherwise, it prompts for more commands after processing the Info= command string. A warning is printed if you accidentally specify an Info= string longer than 80 characters.

You may want to combine one of the more useful Suprtool commands with the Info= option to standardize certain Suprtool operations. One restriction of the Info= string is that it may only be 80 characters long. You may need to have many Suprtool commands executed. For example, suppose that the file SUPRUSE contained commands to set up a standard Suprtool extract, but the selection criteria changed with each use. Invoke Suprtool with:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="USE SUPRUSE"

The user can enter the If command and an Exit command, all of the other options could be in the Supruse file. An advantage of this method over using :RUN SUPRTOOL;STDIN=XXX, is that the input file Supruse can be a Qedit file. With the STDIN= option, the file must be an unnumbered /Keep file.

Son Process

If you run Suprtool within Qedit or SELECT, you can retain the Suprtool process and re-activate quickly later.

:run qedit.pub.robelle

/:r suprtool.pub.robelle

>... {suprtool commands}

>exit

SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y

/... {qedit commands}

/:activate

SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE

>... {more suprtool commands}

>exit

Program Held. Use :ACTIVATE/:RUN;HOLD to re-run.

/... {more qedit commands}

Combining Info= and Son Process

Normally, when you re-activate Suprtool from a HELD state, Suprtool ignores the original Info= string. However, if you run Suprtool with Parm=8, it re-processes the Info= commands every time you activate it. One application of Parm=8 is with usefiles. You can hold Suprtool suspended and have it execute a usefile each time you awaken it. By changing the usefile between activations, you can make Suprtool do any task you like:

:run qedit.pub.robelle

/... edit file named DOIT, of suprtool commands

/:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=8;info="USE DOIT"

... suprtool executes commands from DOIT

>exit {return to Qedit}

/... edit DOIT

/:activate {returns to Suprtool, executes Info= again}

... executes new commands in DOIT

Exit with Verify

Some users find that they Exit from Suprtool inadvertently. To require Suprtool to get user approval on Exit, run Suprtool with Parm=64.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=64

Okay to exit [no]:

Preventing Suprtool from Suspending

If you run Suprtool from within HPDesk (and some other programs), Suprtool suspends on Exit but HPDesk does not notice. The next time you run Suprtool you will get a new copy of Suprtool. Eventually you will have many suspended copies of Suprtool hanging from HPDesk, consuming system resources. Turning Set Suspend Off forces Suprtool to terminate on Exit rather than suspend. You can force Set Suspend Off by running Suprtool with Parm=32.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=32

Stdin and Stdlist Files

Suprtool reads command lines from $stdinx, the MPE predefined name for the standard job input file. This is usually the terminal or the stream file. You can redirect the input by using an option of the :Run command. For example:

:comment kcommand created with editor

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;stdin=kcommand

You can also use the I/O redirection capabilities of MPE/iX to achieve the same goal.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle<kcommand

This file must not be numbered; use /Keep xxx,unn in EDIT/3000 or use /KQ in Qedit. The maximum record width of this input file is 256 characters. Note: the Stdin file must not be a Qedit workfile.

Suprtool prints all ASCII output messages to $stdlist, the MPE predefined name for the standard job listing file. This is usually the terminal or the line printer, but it can be re-directed with the :Run command. For example:

:comment throw away the output from suprtool.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;stdlist=$null.

Input and Output Files

As with SORT/3000, it is possible to specify both the input file and the output file using :File commands, and then specify only the Key fields as Suprtool commands. Only one task is allowed per RUN with this method:

:file input=oldxx

:file output=newxx

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

Suprtool/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2001

(Version 5.4)

>key 1,10

>key 20,5

>exit

Using CREATEPROCESS

Since both command input and message output are under user control, it is possible to run Suprtool as a "son process" from within an application program (see the MPE Manual for CREATEPROCESS). You can check the Job Control Word to see if Suprtool called Quit and terminated in an error state. See the Suprcall user manual for a complete description of a working interface that is available to all Suprtool users.

Duplicating Files

One of the most common reasons for using Suprtool in a SESSION is to duplicate a disc file quickly. Accordingly, Suprtool has a special option to facilitate this function. If you :RUN the Suprtool program with Parm=16, a file copy is implied from Input to Output and no commands are needed. :File commands are used to specify the names of the files. For example:

:file input = xxx

:file output = xxxnew

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=16

:reset input

:reset output

With the User Defined Command facility (UDC) of MPE, you can reduce all of this to a single command,

:dup xxx,xxxnew.

The Info= parameter is ignored in this mode.

Note that the MPE/iX Copy command is faster than Suprtool for simple file duplication.

Job Control Word

Suprtool sets the system job control word JCW to a fatal state when Suprtool fails in a batch job. Suprtool sets only the high-order bit of the JCW job control word. That is, it adds 32,768 to the existing JCW value. HP subsystems use the other bits of the JCW job control word, so Suprtool does nothing to them.

Suprmgr Configuration File

Each time that you run Suprtool, Suprtool attempts to open and "use" a disc file named Suprmgr in Pub.Sys. It does this to check whether the System Manager has specified any default configuration values. The Suprmgr file may be an Editor /Keep file,UNN or a Qedit workfile. No more than 256 characters per record are processed.

Because Suprtool treats the Suprmgr file exactly like a usefile, Suprmgr can include any Suprtool commands. Use Set commands in the Suprmgr file to establish custom defaults for the shop.

Dbedit Set values can also be changed from within the Suprmgr file. You must use the Edit command, enter the Dbedit Set commands, and then Exit back to Suprtool. If you forget the Exit, each execution of Suprtool leaves you in Dbedit. An example Suprmgr file might be:

set dumponerror off {don't print error records}

set varsub on {enable variable substitution}

edit {enter Dbedit}

set quiet on {print shorter messages}

exit {return to Suprtool}

Using Suprtool in Batch

Suprtool operates in "session" mode or "batch" mode. In batch usage, any "error" message causes Suprtool to quit, setting the Job Control Word to flush the remainder of the JOB. Warning messages do not cause an abort.

In batch mode, Suprtool does not prompt for missing information as it does in session mode. Instead, it attempts to choose the alternative that has the least chance of destroying valid data. For example, if the output file is a duplicate file name in batch mode, Suprtool saves the new output file with a "made up" name (Outputnn, where nn is from 00 to 20), prints a warning message, and aborts. Another example is that of missing database passwords. In session mode, Suprtool prompts for the password; in batch mode, it uses the CREATOR password instead.

SuprtoolOutCount JCW

When Suprtool closes the output file, it sets a JCW named SuprtoolOutCount with the number of output records. This is the same number reported in the total line (i.e., OUT=). You can use this JCW to control job stream execution by checking if the SuprtoolOutCount JCW is non-zero. If there are more than 65,535 output records, Suprtool sets SuprtoolOutCount to 65,535.

You can use the :Showjcw command to see the value of a JCW. For values greater than 16K, Showjcw displays either the word WARN, FATAL or SYSTEM followed by some digits. These words correspond to the following values:

Word	Value
WARN	16384
FATAL	32768
SYSTEM	49152

Add the value of the word to the number that appears with it for the true value of SuprtoolOutCount. For example,

:showjcw suprtooloutcount

SUPRTOOLOUTCOUNT = WARN8616

16384 + 8616 = 25000

The MPE/iX :Showvar command can also be used to see the value of a JCW. Showvar displays the full, correct number (e.g., 25,000) up to the maximum of 65,535.

Suprtool also sets two other JCWs: SuprtoolOutCount1 and SuprtoolOutCount2. These communicate the full OUT= value to the Suprtool2 interface.

SuprtoolFullCount Variable

On MPE/iX, when Suprtool closes the output file, it also sets a variable named SuprtoolFullCount with the number of output records. This is the same number reported in the total line (i.e., OUT=). The advantage of the variable is that if more than 65,535 records are written to the output file, the value of the SuprtoolFullCount variable is not truncated.

Summary of Parm= Values

Value	Meaning
4	execute Info string once
8	execute Info string on each re-activation
16	duplicate Input file to Output file
32	don't suspend, terminate completely
64	check with user before Exiting

Values may be combined by adding them together. For example, Parm = 96 means "check with me before exiting, then when I do actually exit, terminate Suprtool completely instead of suspending".

Suprtool Issues and Solutions

A Suprtool Task

Suprtool's primary function is to extract data quickly; its focus is batch extraction. The key principle is: the bigger the input data source and the smaller the subset of data selected, the more performance improves.

Your aim is to replace serial reads and selection with Suprtool. To do this, break your task into components: an input choice, some processing selections, and the output choice.

Input Choices

Suprtool can read input from an MPE or KSAM file, an IMAGE dataset, or a tape file. Using :File commands, any MPE file with fixed-length records can be read by Suprtool. Your first action is usually to select a database with the Base command. Then, use the Chain or Get command for input from a dataset, and the Input command for all other input choices.

Often you select a subset of the input records using the If command. Only selected records are passed to the processing stage and the output choice.

Processing Selections

If you do not specify any processing, the input records are quickly copied to the output choice. Some of your processing choices are

1. Sort the records into ascending or descending sequence (Sort or Key). No records are output until all of the selected input records have been sorted.

2. Total one or more input record fields (Total).

3. Remove or select duplicate records (Duplicate).

4. Delete the records from an IMAGE dataset (Delete).

Output Choices

Usually you wish to extract a subset of your records to feed into a report program, so the default output file is a data file. The default output file format matches the input file format, unless you use the Extract command. The output choice can be an MPE or KSAM file, an IMAGE dataset, or a tape file. You can use :File commands to create almost any fixed-length MPE file from Suprtool (including $stdlist). You can specify different formats for the output file by qualifying the Output command. To have readable ASCII output, use "output xxx,ascii". To produce "self-describing" files, use Output xxx,Link.

By default, every output record is identical to the corresponding input record. The Extract command assembles output records by stringing together fields extracted from the input records. With the Extract command you can insert constant values into the output record.

Each output record is written to the output choice. You can also see a formatted listing of each record with the List command. Records can be added to an IMAGE dataset just before being written to the output file (use the Put command). By default, Suprtool builds a new file, unless you specify Append or Erase. You would use Erase to write to a Quiz subfile (for details, see "Suprtool and PowerHouse Applications" on page 77).

Suprtool and Allbase

Specify an Allbase database with the Open command. Once Suprtool has opened the database, use the Form command to obtain information about the tables in the database. Use the Select command to choose what data to read from your Allbase database.

We have tested the Allbase module with Allbase version G.1.13 for MPE. We believe that it will be compatible with future versions of Allbase. We have not tested Suprtool with any of the F versions of Allbase. Allbase access is available as a seperate add-on module to Suprtool.

Data-Types

When you specify a Select command, Suprtool figures out how to translate the Allbase internal data-types into ones that Suprtool can process. Not all Allbase data-types can be processed by Suprtool. The following table lists the Suprtool data-type that corresponds to the Allbase data-type:

Allbase Data-Type	Suprtool Data-type
Integer	Double
Smallint	Integer
Binary	Not Supported
Char	Byte
Varchar	Byte
Real	Ieee-32
Float	Ieee-64
Decimal	Packed
Numeric	Packed
TID	Not Supported
Date	Byte
Time	Byte
Datetime	Byte
Interval	Byte
Varbinary	Not Supported
Long binary	Not Supported
Long varbinary	Not Supported

Date and Time Types

Allbase has four types of fields that are associated with dates and times. These fields are converted to byte-type data and are returned with specific lengths.

The date and time fields are returned with the following byte lengths:

Data-Type	Length
Date	10
Time	8
Datetime	23
Interval	8

Restrictions

Suprtool cannot currently handle all Allbase database concepts. The current restrictions are:

1. Suprtool requires that the ownername be specified when selecting a particular table in the following manner:

>select * from purchdb.orders

In this example the owner is purchdb and the tablename is orders.

2. Suprtool does not currently handle the Allbase date format. You can convert the Allbase date format to something that Suprtool can handle with the TO_CHAR function in the Select statement. For example:

>select qty,TO_CHAR(date,'YYYYMMDD') from manufdb.testdata

>def mydate,date[1],8 {redefine testdate }

>item mydate,date,yyyymmdd {define the date format}

>if mydate<=$today(-900)

Suprtool and IMAGE

You specify an IMAGE database with the Base command. Once Suprtool has opened the database, all IMAGE item, set, and field information is available. To identify an IMAGE item as a date-field, use the Item command. Suprtool has facilities to Get, Put, and Delete database records.

Reading Datasets

For Suprtool to read a dataset, it must have read-access to every field in the dataset. If you have a database with item-level security, you must be careful to choose a database password that gives access to all of the fields in the dataset. The Creator password always gives you full-read access to every dataset.

By default, Suprtool opens databases in mode-1. You may use any other mode except mode-7. If you use the Delete or Put commands, you must open the database with a mode that permits changes to the database. If Set Defer On has been specified, the database must be opened in mode-3.

Serial vs. Keyed Access

The Get command provides serial access to a dataset; for chained access use the Chain command. This leads to some results that seem obvious, but are easily overlooked. If you specify input with the Get command and sort an IMAGE dataset by a search field value such as custnum, Suprtool does a serial scan of the entire dataset. It does not read down the chains for each custnum value. Therefore, if the resulting sort file contains entries with identical sort values, they are sorted in the order they were found in the serial scan, not in the order they had on the chains. It is good practice to ensure that implicitly sorted paths can also be explicitly sorted, without benefit of the IMAGE chains. If you specify date as a sort field, don't overlook the possibility of two entries with the same custnum and date values. Do they have an implied order, perhaps by trans-type?

When to Use Suprtool with IMAGE

Suprtool is a solution for those programs that serially read and select data from large IMAGE datasets. Suprtool performs best when you are selecting less than 50% of the entries from the dataset (also see the Speed Demon User Manual). To replace a serial scan of a dataset, use the following steps:

1. Use the Get and If commands of Suprtool to scan and select your entries.

2. Optionally, sort the records with Suprtool.

3. Use the Output command to put the selected records in an MPE file.

4. Change the application program to read the MPE file instead of the IMAGE dataset. Each record in the file has exactly the same layout as a record from the dataset.

Suppose that your program scans the d-sales dataset to produce a report of all d-sales records with a sales-total greater than $10,000.00. Currently, your program looks like this:

10-read-and-report section.

perform 10-10-get-d-sales

if not end-of-d-sales then

if dsa-sales-total > 10000 then

perform 20-report-d-sales

thru 20-report-d-sales-exit.

go to 10-read-and-report-exit.

10-10-get-d-sales.

*Use DBGET to read a d-sales record into buffer-d-sales.*

10-read-and-report-exit. exit.

Assuming that only a small percentage of the d-sales dataset have a sales-total greater than $10,000.00, you would replace this scan with the following:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base store,5 {open for read access}

>get d-sales {scan the d-sales dataset}

>if sales-tot > 1000000 {note implied decimal}

>output dsales {output to an MPE file}

>exit

You would modify your application program to read the dsales MPE file:

10-read-and-report section.

read sales-file into buffer-d-sales at end

move true to end-of-sales-flag.

if not end-of-sales then

perform 20-report-d-sales

thru 20-report-d-sales-exit.

10-read-and-report. exit.

TurboIMAGE Compatibility

Suprtool is compatible with TurboIMAGE and TurboIMAGE/XL. Suprtool automatically adjusts for a Turbo database; you do not need different versions of Suprtool for different versions of IMAGE. Suprtool handles all of the limits introduced with TurboIMAGE.

Locking of IMAGE Datasets

Suprtool calls DBDELETE, DBPUT, and DBUPDATE for the Delete, Put, and Update commands. If the database is not open in mode-3 or mode-4, Suprtool must lock the dataset when adding or deleting dataset records. The locking strategy is determined by the value of Set Lock.

Locking for the Entire Task

Specifying Set Lock 0 forces Suprtool to lock either the Put and Delete datasets or the Update dataset for the entire task. The lock is done after the Xeq command. Suprtool uses a lock descriptor and one call to DBLOCK to lock two datasets in the same database. If both a Delete and a Put were specified to different databases, Suprtool locks them both, first the input dataset in one database, and then the output dataset in the second base. After the task finishes, the Put and Delete datasets or the Update dataset are unlocked.

Set Lock 0 provides the best performance, but other users cannot change the database during the entire Suprtool task. The reason for improved performance is twofold:

1. The database only needs to be locked once.

2. If Suprtool is reading the database with DBGET, it does not have to reget records and ensure that they have not changed with each lock.

Locking for Each Transaction

Set Lock 1 (the default), causes Suprtool to lock and unlock around every DBDELETE, DBPUT, and DBUPDATE transaction. This provides the least contention with other users of the database, but may not be the best choice for large overnight runs where exclusive access to the database is available.

Locking Once in a While

Any other value of Set Lock causes Suprtool to lock and unlock the datasets every n transactions, where n is the value of Set Lock. A transaction is either a DBDELETE, DBPUT, or DBUPDATE -- it is not the number of input records read. After the Xeq command, Suprtool does not lock the datasets until the first DBDELETE, DBPUT, or DBUPDATE. After unlocking the datasets, Suprtool does not do another lock until a further DBDELETE, DBPUT, or DBUPDATE.

Record Changed Before It Could Be Deleted

If you are deleting or updating records when Set Lock is not zero, it is possible that a record will be modified, removed, or a different record added in its place while Suprtool has the database unlocked. Suprtool checks for this by retrieving the database record once the database is locked and checking it against the original record read. If any changes have occurred, Suprtool reports an error. If Set Ignore is Off, Suprtool stops the current task when the error occurs. If Set Ignore is On, Suprtool displays the records that were changed (with Set Dumponerror On) and continues processing.

Control-Y with Locks and Dbedit Locking

If you type Control-Y during a Put, Delete, or Update, the dataset locks are still in effect. Do NOT walk away from your terminal without answering YES or NO to the "stop" question. The Edit command uses its own locking strategy. For complete details on database locking with Dbedit, see the Dbedit manual.

Database Maintenance (Delete, Put)

The Delete and If commands of Suprtool give you a powerful facility for archiving data without writing COBOL programs. Be careful when using the Delete and Put commands. It is better to break up a Suprtool "run" into multiple passes in order to make the job more fail-safe. For example, we might like to archive all of the 2000 transaction records to a disc file and have them deleted from the database. The obvious way to achieve this is

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base actrec.data

>get artrans

>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231

>delete

>sort trans-date; sort cust-number

>output archives

>exit

What happens if this "run" is aborted part way through? You must :Restore your database and do a recovery. Any aborts will leave the database partially deleted.

If we break up this operation into two parts, archive first and delete later, we can easily restart the job in the case of an abort.

First, we read and sort the data into the archive file:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base actrec.data

>get artrans

>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231

>sort trans-date; sort cust-number

>output archives

>xeq

Second, we read and delete the entries. This method takes slightly longer, but it can always be restarted:

>get artrans

>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231

>delete

>output $null

>exit

Warning: there is a window of vulnerability here -- if any qualified records are deleted or added by other jobs or sessions, the Delete pass may not delete the same records as written to the file in the first pass. In many applications, you might be able to use the extract file from the first pass to load a table in the second pass, then use Chain or If $lookup to delete the exact same records.

B-trees

HP has provided a generic search and partial key retrieval feature to IMAGE/SQL by attaching B-trees to a master dataset key item. This feature is available in versions of IMAGE/SQL C.07.03 and later. To determine the version number of IMAGE, run Query (:Run Query.Pub.Sys) and enter the Version command.

:run query.pub.sys

>version

Similarly, you can also run Dbutil.Pub.Sys, type Help, and look for the Addindex command.

B-trees are built only on the key item of a manual or automatic master dataset. However, if the path into a given detail dataset has an attached B-tree, you can implicitly take advantage of the B-tree by using a partial-key lookup on the associated detail.

Suprtool can take advantage of these B-trees via the Chain command. Suprtool also shows any B-trees that it can utilize through the Form command.

Master Dataset Expansion (MDX)

In newer version of IMAGE/SQL, master datasets can expand while records are being put into the database. This new capability is similar to the Detail Dataset Expansion (DDX), which was made available with MPE/iX 5.0.

Details on a dataset with MDX enabled are documented in the Form Command.

Jumbo Datasets and Large Datasets

On newer versions of MPE/iX, IMAGE/SQL supports Jumbo datasets, which can store data in one or more MPE files. By spanning files, you can have more than 4Gb of data in a single dataset.

In versions of Image prior to version C.07.14 the maximum size of a Jumbo dataset is 40Gb.

The maximum size of a Jumbo dataset was increased to 80Gb in IMAGE version C.07.14 and later.

In the C.09.02 version of Image, and later, the limitation is now based on 2 billion entries.

Limitations

Due to file system limitations, Suprtool can extract and sort more than 4Gb of data only on MPE/iX 6.5 and higher. In prior versions of MPE/iX Suprtool is limited to 4Gb. Due to limitations in MPE/iX Suprtool cannot open a remote Jumbo dataset.

Large File DataSets

Large File DataSets or LFDS are Image datasets that are single files which can be greater than 4Gb. Due to issues with the implementation of LFDS, Suprtool does not support them specifically, nor does it refuse to read them. We do not recomment using Large File DataSets nore will we support them.

Notes

If Set Stat is On and Set Prefetch is greater than zero, then each time a file in a jumbo dataset is closed, you receive a prefetch summary for each file. This could appear in the middle of a >List, if you are listing to $stdlist.

Suprtool and KSAM Files

Suprtool reads and writes both compatibility mode and native mode KSAM files. One exception is variable-length records, which Suprtool cannot handle. Use the Input command to read from a KSAM file. Use the Erase or Append option of the Output command to write selected input records to a KSAM file. When writing to a KSAM file, the input source can be an IMAGE dataset, a KSAM file, or an MPE file. You must build the KSAM file first as Suprtool, unlike FCOPY, cannot create new KSAM files.

Suprtool uses different methods for accessing compatibility-mode KSAM files versus native mode KSAM files. In our discussion of KSAM files, we designate compatibility-mode KSAM files by KSAM/V and native mode KSAM files by KSAM/XL.

Locking Output KSAM Files

Access to KSAM files is controlled with :File commands. After opening an output KSAM file, Suprtool checks to see what access was granted. If the KSAM file has share and lock access, Suprtool must lock the output file whenever it writes an output record. This provides the least contention with other users, but it slows down Suprtool (one lock per write).

Locking Input KSAM Files

By default, Suprtool opens Input KSAM (/V and /XL) files with lock-access for application reasons. We assume that application programs will likely want to write to KSAM files, and in order to write to any KSAM file the file must be opened with locking.

To override this default you can specify the ;nolock option on a file command:

>:file ksamin;nolock

>input ksamin

>output mycopy

>xeq

Compatibility Mode KSAM/V Files

Suprtool uses high-speed NOBUF/MR access to quickly read input KSAM/V files. Suprtool is typically five times faster than FCOPY when reading KSAM/V files. Suprtool writes output records to KSAM/V files one record at a time. This ensures that the KSAM/V key information is updated correctly. Suprtool runs at the same speed as FCOPY when writing to KSAM/V files.

Suprtool must always have Shared, Lock, and Read access to all KSAM/V files. Suprtool briefly locks the KSAM/V file to check the physical EOF. If the EOF is wrong, Suprtool reopens the file with Locking and Inout access, in order to update the physical EOF. After checking and updating the physical EOF, Suprtool unlocks the KSAM/V file and leaves it unlocked while reading the file.

You should be aware of the following:

1. A user program that opens the KSAM/V file without Locking fails if Suprtool has the file open. You should specify Locking on all KSAM/V opens, even if you do not plan to lock the file.

2. A user program that opens the KSAM/V file with exclusive access will fail if Suprtool has the file open.

3. Suprtool cannot read KSAM/V files that user programs have open with exclusive access.

Suprtool ignores the KSAM/V key file; it reads the data file only. If a data record has a binary -1 in the first two bytes, Suprtool ignores the record. Your user programs must guarantee that a binary -1 does not appear in the first two bytes of any record, except those that have actually been deleted. If you wish to read the deleted records, use Set Recover On.

Reorganizing KSAM/V Files

Suprtool can be used to reorganize an existing KSAM/V file. Assuming that you have a KSAM/V file with a 10-byte key starting on the third byte, the following Suprtool commands sort the file along the primary key, remove any deleted records, and leave the KSAM/V file in an optimal state. Warning: OUTPUT =INPUT cannot be restarted if it is aborted.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>in ksamdata

>key 3,10,byte

>output =input

>exit

The above Suprtool run is dangerous because it cannot be restarted if it is aborted for any reason. The following Suprtool run can be restarted, even if the run is aborted.

:purge tempfile

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>in ksamdata

>out tempfile

>xeq

>in tempfile

>key 3,10,byte

>output ksamdata,erase

>exit

KSAM/XL Files

Starting with MPE/iX 4.0, HP provided a new mechanism for tools like Suprtool to access KSAM/XL files. This mechanism allows Suprtool to work the same for either KSAM/V or KSAM/XL files. Some of the advantages are:

1. Suprtool is fifteen times faster than tools like FCOPY when reading a KSAM/XL file.

2. Suprtool reads the input file in chronological order.

3. Set Recover On works for KSAM/XL. Note that if you build the KSAM/XL file with the reuse option, the space from your deleted records may be reused. In this case, Suprtool may not be able to recover your records.

Suprtool will revert to slower method of reading KSAM/XL files if using selection criteria, in other words an if command.

Loading KSAM/XL Files

If you are writing records to a KSAM/XL file, you can dramatically improve the speed of Suprtool by writing to a temporary KSAM/XL file and saving it at the end of the task. Temporary files are not attached to the MPE/iX transaction manager, which results in faster writes. If the system fails while Suprtool is writing records to the temporary KSAM/XL file, the temporary file is lost. You want to ensure that you can safely restart the task if the system fails (e.g., you don't want to copy records to a temporary KSAM/XL file as you delete them from a dataset).

:build myksam;temp;rec=-128,1,f,ascii;disc=40000;&

: ksamxl;key=(b,1,10,dup)

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>input file.data

>output myksam,temp,erase

>xeq

>exit

:save myksam

How Do I Convert CM Ksam to NM KSAM?

Suprtool can't create a new NM KSAM file for you, but you can create the new NM file first using the MPE BUILD command (or some other method, see below), then use Suprtool to copy the records from the old file to the new file.

But Suprtool should definitely be able to copy the data *much* faster than MPE's FCOPY utility could.

The trick, of course, is getting a new NM KSAM file built correctly first. You could use a complicated BUILD command or you could do this:

:file n=newfile; disc=

:fcopy from=oldfile; to=(*n); subset=0,1

That will create a new NM KSAM file called NEWFILE with the FLIMIT equal to the FLIMIT of your current CM file, and with all the keys set up correctly, but will copy only a single record into it. Then use Suprtool:

:suprtool

>in oldfile

>out newfile, erase

>xeq

Finally, if it's a big KSAM file you may wish to create it as temporary first, then SAVE it after you're done, to squeeze even more speed out of the process:

:file n=newfile; disc=; temp <<-- Note the temp designation :fcopy from=oldfile; to=(*n); subset=0,1

:suprtool

>in oldfile

>out newfile, erase

>exit

:save newfile

Reuse option and KSAM/XL Files

The Reuse option forces deleted record space to be reused in KSAM files. In order to take advantage of the Reuse option in KSAM/XL files you must specify this option with a file command.

>input file.data

>:file myksam;reuse

>output myksam,append

>exit

Suprtool and MPE Files

Suprtool reads MPE files as easily as IMAGE datasets, with the single exception of variable-length records, which Suprtool cannot handle. Instead of using the Get or Chain command to specify your input source, use the Input command to read from an MPE file. The default output file is an MPE disc file named "OUTPUT", but you can control the name and format of that file with the Output command and the MPE :File command.

Buffered and NOBUF File Access

You can control the way Suprtool accesses MPE files through the use of :File commands. Normally, Suprtool tries to read and write MPE files with NOBUF and multirecord access. To force Suprtool to read one block at a time, you would use:

>:file file.input;nomr

>input file.input

>output file.output

>xeq

To force Suprtool to write one block at a time, you would use:

>input file.input

>:file file.output;nomr

>output file.output

>xeq

If your files have large block sizes or Suprtool seems to read the file incorrectly, you may want to force Suprtool to read or write one record at a time (this is what FCOPY does). To force Suprtool to read one record at a time, you would use:

>:file file.input;nomr;buf

>input file.input

>output file.output

>xeq

To force Suprtool to write one record at a time, you would use:

>input file.input

>:file file.output;nomr;buf

>output file.output

>xeq

Message Files

Message files always have variable-length records. As such, they are not accepted by Suprtool. Nor can Suprtool write them. On some releases of MPE, even opening a message file with APPEND access in Suprtool (e.g., Output msgfile, APPEND), erases the message file and may make your system run strangely.

Circular Files

Due to limitations in MPE, Suprtool can read circular files only one record at a time. Suprtool automatically detects circular input files and adjusts itself accordingly.

Suprtool cannot write out to a circular file with the append option. You will need to copy the circular file to a flat file and then append to the flat file, then write back to a new circular file.

RIO Files

Suprtool does copy and sort RIO files, but normally Suprtool reads deleted RIO records. Use a :File command to force Suprtool to ignore deleted records. The Input command prints a warning about deleted records when it opens an RIO file.

You can force Suprtool to read an RIO file as FCOPY does. If you use the following :File command on the input RIO file, all deleted records are ignored:

>:file inrio;buf;nomr

>input inrio

Suprtool must use buffered disc I/O when writing to an RIO file. This is much slower than the standard Suprtool NOBUF/MR disc I/O, but it is the only reliable way to produce an RIO file. A warning is printed in this case:

Warning: Writing to RIO files is slow

When the output file is an RIO file, Suprtool must open the output file with NOBUF/MR access. This causes duplicate file errors if either of the following :File commands are in effect for the output file:

:file outfile;save

:file outfile;temp

You do not need to specify Save, since that is Suprtool's default. To create a temporary output RIO file, use the TEMP output option:

>:file outfile;rio

>output outfile,temp

Temporary Files

Suprtool reads and writes temporary files. No special processing must be done if the input file is temporary; just specify the file name in the Input command. By default, Suprtool saves the Output file. You must use the TEMP option of the Output command to save the file as a temporary file. The following sequence of Suprtool commands causes TEMPFILE to be left as temporary:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>in permfile

>out tempfile,temp

>exit

If TEMPFILE already existed as a temporary file, Suprtool would prompt you to purge the old temporary file. It you do not want to purge the old temporary file, Suprtool prompts you for a new name for the temporary file in exactly the same manner as for permanent files.

Lockwords

If you do not specify a lockword as part of the file name, MPE prompts for the lockword when Suprtool attempts to open the file. Because Suprtool must sometimes open the input or output file more than once, you may be prompted multiple times for the lockword. To avoid this prompt we recommend that you specify any lockwords as part of the file name.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>input infile/lockword

>output outfile/lockword

>xeq

This is especially important when using the erase or append option to write to a KSAM/V or KSAM/XL file with a lockword. In this case Suprtool must open the file more than once (the number of fopens vary). To avoid being prompted multiple times for the lockword, specify it as part of the output file name:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>input infile

>output outfile/lockword.group,erase

>xeq

Copying User Labels

Suprtool copies all the user labels of the input file to the output file, unless you have Set Userlabels Off. The copying of user labels is done even if the output option is ,DATA or ,ASCII. If you extract fields from a self-describing (SD) file that has user labels and don't use Output,LINK or Output,QUERY, the output file still contains all the user labels of the SD file. The filecode of the output file is not SD, however.

In many instances, the user labels in a file do not interfere with the processing of the file. However, some MPE tools need specific options to work with files with user labels. For example, FCOPY needs the Nouserlabels option when you are copying from a file with user labels to an existing file without them.

SDUnix Utility

SDUnix is an MPE program that takes self-describing file information and writes it out to an MPE flat file. This flat file can then be transferred to HP-UX together with the data file so that Suprtool/UX can reference the self-describing information about the fields.

To copy the SD file to the HP-UX machine, it must have an .sd extension and be in the same directory as the data file. For example, if the data filename is /usr/local/data/datafile, the SD file must have the name /usr/local/data /datafile.sd.

The SD file is written out to the same domain (permanent or temporary) as the input file. The SD file contains only one record with the necessary length to store all of the label information.

SDUnix Parameters

All SDUnix parameters are specified via Info = string. There are three parameters:

input-file sd-file LF | NOLF

The first parameter is the name of an MPE self-describing file. The second parameter is the name of the .sd file that SDUnix created.

LF vs. NOLF

Use the third parameter to specify whether the data file has LF (line feed) as the record separator, or whether the file does not use a file separator. If you use FTP to copy the data file to your HP-UX machine, you should specify the NOLF option and be sure to use a binary mode transfer. If you are using DSCOPY (with its default options) to copy the data file, you should specify the LF option.

Examples

The following section contains examples of creating an SD file on MPE, converting the SD information, and finally copying the two files to an HP-UX machine.

First create an SD file with:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base store,5

Database password [;]?

>get d-inventory

>out dinv,link

>exit

Now you can convert the label information to an .sd file using the SDUnix utility. Note that the data file is the first file passed in the info string.

Specify LF if you are using DSCOPY.

:run sdunix.pub.robelle;info="dinv dinvsd lf"

Now you can use DSCOPY to copy the files to the HP-UX machine.

:dscopy dinv to store.dinv :dopey[data:password]

:dscopy dinvsd to store.dinv.sd:dopey[data:password]

Specify NOLF if you are using FTP.

:run sdunix.pub.robelle;info="dinv dinvsd nolf"

Use FTP to copy the files to the HP-UX machine.

:ftp dopey

ftp> binary

ftp> exitonerror

ftp> put dinv /users/data/store.dinv

ftp> put dinvsd /users/data/store.dinv.sd

ftp> quit

Now you can use Suprtool/UX to read the SD file.

$ suprtool

>input store.dinv

>form

File: store.dinv (SD Version B.00.00) No line feeds

Entry: Offset

BIN-NO I1 1

LAST-SHIP-DATE I2 3

ON-HAND-QTY I2 7

PRODUCT-NO Z8 11

SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19

UNIT-COST P8 27

ITEM-DESC1 X20 31

ITEM-DESC2 X20 51

ITEM-DESC3 X20 71

ITEM-DESC4 X20 91

Entry Length: 110 Blocking: 1

>out dinvfile

>xeq

Link vs. Query

SDUnix and Suprtool/UX can recognize files created with the ,Query option and from Query. However, they cannot recognize compound item details or any Item attributes, such as Decimal or Date type.

Suprtool and Self-Describing Files

A problem with data files is that there is no field information. Self-describing files solve this problem by providing field information about the file. Suprtool reads and writes SD files; Suprlink requires SD files as input and creates an SD file as output.

Create an SD File from a Dataset

You request an SD file using the Link option of the Output command. If you extract fields from the dataset, only the extracted fields appear in the SD file.

>get d-sales {input from a dataset}

>output salefile,link {salefile has all of the fields from d-sales}

>xeq

Create an SD File from a Data File

You must Define and Extract the fields you want to have in the SD file. Use the Link option of the Output command to create the file as a self-describing file. Although Suprtool itself allows longer field names, SD files only store the first 16 characters of a field name.

>input sales.data {input from a data file}

>define cust-no,1,6,byte

>define invoice-date,7,6,integer

>define sales-qty,13,4,packed

>extract cust-no,invoice-date,sales-qty

>output salefile,link {salefile has all of the extracted fields}

>xeq

SD Files as Input

When you specify an SD file as input to Suprtool, all the field information becomes available. You can select, extract, and total fields without the Define command.

>input salefile {self-describing file}

>form {display the fields in the file}

>if sales-total > 10000 {select based on a field}

>extract cust-account {only extract a few fields}

>extract sales-qty

>extract sales-tax

>extract sales-total

>total sales-total {total a field from the file}

>output newfile,link {create a new SD file}

>xeq

Listing SD Files

Suprtool normally lists data files in an Octal/Char format. When listing an SD file, Suprtool produces a formatted listing with field names and field values converted into ASCII:

>input salefile {self-describing file}

>list {produce a formatted listing}

>xeq

Decimal Places and Date Formats

You use the Item command to identify items with an implied number of decimal places or a date format. If you create a self-describing file, this information is retained. When you input such a file, all Suprtool commands are automatically informed about the decimal places and date formats. The Form command shows these extra attributes as comments at the end of each field description. For example,

>base store.demo.robelle,5,READER

>item deliv-date ,date ,yyyymmdd

>item purch-date ,date ,yyyymmdd

>item sales-tax ,decimal,2

>item sales-total,decimal,2

>get d-sales

>output newfile,link {creates SD file with item attributes}

>xeq

>form newfile {shows decimal pts. and dates}

Restrictions of SD Files

So far in this section, we have shown how to create self-describing files using the Link option of the Output command. The Link option produces a special form of self-describing file. Not all software can read this form of self-describing file. You can use the Query option to create an old-style self-describing file. The Query option has the following restrictions.

Self-describing files were originally created by HP in MPE so that files could be fed into HPWORD and HP graphics packages. One problem with HP's definition was that no provision was made for compound fields (e.g., 10J2). When Suprtool creates an SD file with compound fields via the Query option, it uses a special data-type. When you input such a file to Suprtool, all compound fields are treated as byte arrays. Suprtool correctly copies and extracts these fields, but you can not select with them. The Query option is not capable of retaining information about decimal places or date formats.

Creating KSAM SD Files

You can use Suprtool to create a self-describing KSAM file. There are three steps to complete:

1. Compute the number of labels (used in the KSAMUTIL or MPE/iX build command). The number is the truncated value of this calculation:
labels = ((#fields + 7) / 8) + 11

2. Build your KSAM/V file with KSAMUTIL and specify Labels=<the number computed above>. For KSAM/XL, use the Build command with the userlabel keyword ;ULABEL=x (where x is the number computed above).

3. Use Output xxx,Link,Erase to have the SD-information written to the file labels.

The most difficult part is computing the number of labels. You might want to use the Extract command to ensure that you know exactly how many fields will be in the output file. For example, we extract eight fields:

labels = ((8 + 7) / 8) + 11
= 12

MPE V:

:run ksamutil.pub.sys

>build file2;rec=-80,16,f,ascii;keyfile=file2k; &

key=i,6,2,,duplicate;labels=12

>exit

MPE/iX:

:build file2;rec=-80,16,f,ascii;key=(i,6,2,dup);ksamxl;ulabel=12

Fill the KSAM file:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base sales

>get d-sales {input from a dataset

>extract cust-account {but, we extract all fields explicitly so that …}

>extract deliv-date {… know exactly how many fields we have}

>extract product-no

>extract product-price

>extract purch-date

>extract sales-qty

>extract sales-tax

>extract sales-total

>output file2,erase,link {must have both Erase and Link}

>exit

Like regular SD files, when you specify a KSAM SD file as input to Suprtool, all field information becomes available. The Form command shows the structure of a KSAM SD file.

HowMessy Loadfile

HowMessy produces a self-describing file (called Loadfile) with all of the information from the HowMessy report. Suprtool is an ideal tool to process the information in this file. For example, the following Suprtool commands would select all detail datasets with a load factor greater than 85 percent:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>input loadfile

>if datasettype = "D" and loadfactor > 85.0

>sort database

>sort dataset

>dup none,keys

>list

>xeq

Notes on SD Files

There are two differences between regular Suprtool output files and SD files: the filecode is not zero and there are user labels. For most applications this does not make any difference, but some applications and tools may reject these files.

When creating an SD file, Suprtool maps J-type integer items into I-type. Functionally, the two are equivalent.

Convert an SD File to a Disc File

Once Suprtool has created a file in its Output,Link format, it always treats the file as an SD file. To convert the file back to a non-SD disc file:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>in samplesd

>:file flatfile;code=0

>set userlabels off

>out flatfile

>xeq

Suprtool and Sorting Files

When Suprtool sorts two records that have the same key value, the first record read by Suprtool is the first record on the output file. For data files, this means that input records with the same key values appear in the same order in the output file.

Suprtool reads only the KSAM/V data file. Records in the data file are organized by chronological order. If two input records have the same key value, the one that was first added to the KSAM/V file is the first one in the output file. To help preserve sorted order in a KSAM/V file, be sure to specify all of the KSAM/V sort keys as sort keys to Suprtool.

Fast Sorting

Suprtool/iX uses a set of fast internal routines for sorting. These routines are twice as fast as the HP sort routines supplied with MPE XL 3.0, and slightly faster than the HP routines that come with MPE/iX 4.0 and 5.0.

By default, Suprtool/iX attempts to use the internal sort routines. If the internal sort initialization fails for any reason, Suprtool/iX prints a warning and tries to do the sort with HP's sort routines. If Native Language Support has been set (either automatically via the NLDATALANG JCW or explicitly via Set NLS), HP's sort routines are used.

The only way to tell which set of sort intrinsics are being used is to enable Set Stat On. The statistics from Robelle's internal sort routines are more detailed than HP's sort statistics.

Native Language Support

Suprtool determines the native language of an input source as follows:

1. The Chain and Get commands use the language of the database.

2. Using Input filename=setname uses the language of the database.

3. If the input file is a KSAM/XL file, the KSAM/XL language is used.

4. If the language from any of the previous steps is zero (Native-3000), Suprtool uses the language from Set NLS.

The Key and Define commands support a special type: CHARACTER. The CHARACTER type is used wherever you would use the BYTE type, but CHARACTER fields are sorted according to the native language determined by Suprtool.

To sort a French data file on the first five characters, you would use:

>input nlsfile {file with Roman-8 characters}

>set nls 7 {sort in French}

>key 1,5,character {new character data-type}

>output sortfile

>xeq

With Reduced Disc Space

If your system is almost out of disc space, you may find that Suprtool operations are being stopped because the "Sort Library" cannot build its scratch file, Sortscr. A common method of overcoming this error is to use the Numrecs command.

By default, Suprtool assumes that the OUTPUT file and the Sortscr file must be able to contain every input record. Even though you are reading a dataset of one million records, you may know that only 1,000 records will be selected. If you do not use the Numrecs command, Suprtool builds an output file with one million records and the sort builds a scratch file with one million records.

If your dataset was called ARTRANS, the following Suprtool commands would be used to read, sort, and select a small subset of the input records, preventing the out-of-disc space error:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base actrec.data

>get artrans

>numrecs 1000

>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=000131

>sort trans-date ;sort cust-number

>output archives

>exit

Suprtool and Tape Files

You must use a :File command to specify an input or output file to tape. Suprtool reads or writes only one file to an unlabeled tape. Suprtool writes two end-of-file marks on an Output tape to guarantee that any other software can find the end-of-file correctly.

If you plan to select more than 10,000 records from a tape file, be certain to specify the maximum number of records to select in the Numrecs command. The Numrecs command is not necessary if you are outputting to an existing file with the append and erase options of the output command.

There is an outstanding bug in MPE that can cause Suprtool to lose records from an Input tape file. This only happens where there are partial blocks on the tape that are not the last block of the tape. Suprtool cannot detect this situation, but the workaround is to specify NOMR on the input :File command for the tape. For example:

:file intape;dev=tape;rec=-80,50,f,ascii;nomr

Another recurring problem with MPE and tape files is odd-byte length records. We suggest that when writing to tape, even-byte length records be used. These records take exactly the same amount of space on tape or disc, because MPE always rounds up the record length to the nearest full word boundary. To read data from an IBM tape where records start on odd-byte offsets, use the DEBLOCK option of FCOPY.

Suprtool can not read or write EBCDIC tapes; use FCOPY instead.

Labelled Tapes

Specifying DEV=TAPE on a :File command causes MPE and Suprtool to create a tape that has one file. If you need to have multiple files on one tape or if your file takes more than one reel, you must use labeled tapes.

To use a labeled tape requires a different kind of :File command. A typical :File command might be:

:file o;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,next

The string "VOL1" is the name of this volume of tapes. This name appears on the console. Note that it is possible to specify volume names in lowercase letters. Never do this, as it becomes extremely confusing when working with the console.

Use the "NEXT" keyword when writing the first file to the tape. Be careful with the "NEXT" keyword, because you can overwrite an existing labeled tape, even though it has not expired.

Use the "ADDF" keyword to add more files to the tape. This tells MPE to add each file to the end of the tape volume. Use the file name "*O" with the Suprtool Output command.

You do not need to specify a record size or blocking factor on the File command. When the file is read back, most of the file attributes will be remembered. One exception to this is file code. Files read from a labeled tape always have a file code of 0, unless you use a :File command to specify a specific file code.

Multiple Files

Do the following to store four files to a labeled tape:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>:file o;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,next

>in a;out *o;x {first file on the volume}

>:file o;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,addf

>in b;out *o;x {subsequent files are added to the end}

>in c;out *o;x

>in d;out *o;x

If all of these files are purged and you want to restore the file "D", you would do the following:

:file i;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,4

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>in *i;out d;x

The "4" on the :File command instructs the file system to restore the fourth file on the tape. If you forget the contents of a labeled tape, make FCOPY read it as if it were unlabeled:

:file x;dev=tape;acc=update

:fcopy

from=*x;to=;char {displays the volume and the first file headers}

from=*x;to=;char;skipeof=+3 {displays the file header for the following file}

You will be asked for permission to scratch the label, but MPE does not scratch the label unless you write to the tape.

Notes

There are two things to remember when working with multiple tapes in a single volume set. The first tape reel in a volume has the same name as the entire volume set. Subsequent tapes should have a different name. If you know that the file you want to read is on the second reel, you can just mount the second reel.

File User Labels

When copying a file to a labeled tape, Suprtool attempts to copy any MPE user labels. Because of restrictions of labeled tapes, the user labels cannot be longer than the record length of the file. In most cases, Suprtool truncates user labels as they are copied to or from a labeled tape. When this happens Suprtool prints a warning:

Label length truncated to 80 characters

If the files you are reading from the tape do not have any user labels, and Suprtool is having difficulty reading the file, you can try this:

>Set Userlabels Off

Suprtool and Remote File Access

The Base command allows you to specify a system name, other than the logon system. This permits easy access to databases on remote computers. :File commands can be used to specify input files from remote computers and to specify output files to remote computers.

Suprtool attempts to handle duplicate file errors on a remote computer in the same manner as for a local computer. If you are on-line, you can rename the file as a file on the remote computer. In batch, a duplicate file on a remote computer results in the Outputnn file being built on the remote computer.

Due to bugs in MPE, Suprtool cannot always rename files on a remote computer. We suggest that output files on remote computers be purged before you enter the Exit or Xeq command.

Network Services (NS)

NS/3000 (Network Services for the HP e3000) is the replacement for DS over LAN/3000. Suprtool reads and writes files using NS/3000. The Base, Input, and Output commands do not allow the node specification to be entered as part of the file name. Use File commands to specify remote databases and files. For example,

:dsline mrp.go.hp

:remote hello user.account,group

:file store=store:mrp.go.hp

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base store

>get m-customer

>output mcust

>xeq

See "Base Command [BA]" on page 110 for a discussion of remote database access.

Suprtool and MPE/iX

Suprtool is available in native mode. This section provides details for calling the Suprtool2 interface in native mode. See the next section for ideas on how to combine MPE/iX programming features with Suprtool.

Calling Suprtool in Native Mode

The Suprtool2 interface is available in native mode. Like the compatibility mode version of the Suprtool2 interface, you require PH capability in order to use the Suprtool2 interface in native mode. The native-mode object code for the interface resides in ST2XL.Pub.Robelle.

The interface is installed in XL files. The following commands demonstrate how to compile and link your program to use the native-mode Suprtool interface.

:cob85xl example.source

:link from=$oldpass;to=example.pub;cap=ph

:run example.pub;xl='st2xl.pub.robelle'

User XL Files

You can add the native-mode Suprtool2 interface to your own XL file. For example,

:linkedit

-xl xl.pub

-copyxl from=st2xl.pub.robelle;module=suprtool.asm

-exit

:run example.pub;xl='xl.pub'

When Errors Occur

On MPE V, if you have not installed the Suprtool2 interface, you see an error message such as:

:run testprog

UNRESOLVED PROGEXTERNAL SUPRTOOL2

UNABLE TO LOAD PROGRAM TO BE RUN. (CIERR 625)

If you forget to specify the XL file on MPE/iX, you get a similar error message.

Sorting with Suprtool/iX

The native mode HP sort routines do not sort files with records greater than 4096 bytes. Suprtool/iX uses these native mode HP sort routines with NLS or with Set Sortfast Off. In all other cases, Suprtool/iX uses its own set of sort routines that have no limit on the record size.

If you attempt to sort records greater than 4096 bytes with Suprtool/iX calling the HP Sort, you get the following error message:

Error: Sort record size is greater than 4096 bytes

The native mode HP Sort intrinsics are not able to sort

records greater than 4096 bytes in length. If you want

to sort records greater than 4096 bytes, use the

compatibility mode version of Suprtool. To improve speed

we recommend using the Object Code Translator on the CM

version of Suprtool:

:hello mgr.robelle,pub

:octcomp suprcm,suproct

:run suproct.pub.robelle

We consider this problem a bug in HP's native mode sort intrinsics, one unlikely to be fixed. The solution is to use the Object Code Translated version of Suprtool to sort files with records greater than 4096 bytes.

Suprtool and CI Variable Substitution

Suprtool is able to substitute any CI (command interpreter) variables from almost any command line source, whether via interactive commands, a usefile, or batch input. In order to use this feature, first enter the following Set command:

set varsub on

Variable substitution is not enabled, by default, for backward compatibility.

Example

Because Suprtool is now capable of CI variable substitution, you no longer need to echo commands out to a file and subsequently use the newly created file.

The following example varies the sort order of an extract using a CI variable called "order."

!setvar order 'desc'

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

set varsub on

base test

get dline

sort ord-num,!order

output file3y

exit

Batch Requires Indent

The Streams facility (under default setup) replaces any exclamation mark (!) found in the first column of a job stream. Anytime you want to specify an entire line through variable substitution, you need to leave a space before the variable is specified.

!setvar a 'base mydb;get orders;output file3x;exit'

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

set varsub on

!a {indent this line}

Avoiding Double Resolution

For MPE commands, some variables are resolved twice when passed off to MPE. A double resolution gives different values if a variable references other variables.

The following example sets variables at the CI level:

MPEXL:setvar a 10

MPEXL:setvar b "!!a"

MPEXL:showvar [ab]

A = 10

B = !a

Setting the variables within Suprtool with variable substitution enabled, changes the value of b.

>{different results from MPE CI}

>set varsub on

>setvar a 10

>setvar b "!!a"

>showvar [ab]

A = 10

B = 10

Suprtool does one level of variable substitution before the command is passed off to MPE. If you are setting variables that reference other variables, we recommend you set them before running Suprtool or temporarily disable variable substitution with the Set Varsub Off command.

>{same results as MPE CI}

>set varsub off

>setvar a 10

>setvar b "!!a"

>showvar [ab]

A = 10

B = !a

>set varsub on

Suprlink and STExport

Suprtool, Suprlink, and STExport each have their own Set Varsub command. To do variable substitution in any of these components, you have to use the Set Varsub On command in the appropriate component.

Because Suprtool automatically looks in the Suprmgr.Pub.Sys file for any configuration commands, that is a good place to put the Set Varsub On command. Suprlink and STExport, however, do not use Suprmgr.Pub.Sys and do not have their own configuration files in which to look. If you run Suprlink and STExport directly from the command line, you must enable variable substitution explicitly:

!run suprlink.pub.robelle

set varsub on

One way to ensure that Suprlink and STExport automatically get variables substituted is to invoke Suprlink and STExport from the Suprtool command line. In this way, variable substitution is actually done by the Suprtool command parser before it passes the commands to Suprlink and STExport.

For example, suppose the title of the HTML report is stored in a variable named "title." Pass commands to STExport using Suprtool's Export exportcommand syntax:

!setvar title 'Delinquent Accounts'

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

set varsub on

{execute task to create self-describing file foo}

export input foo

export html table title '!title'

export output ./delinq.html

export exit

exit

Note that the following sequence of commands would not have worked, where STExport is invoked from Suprtool using the Export command with no parameters. Variable substitution would not take place in this case:

!setvar title 'Delinquent Accounts'

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

set varsub on

{execute task to create self-describing file foo}

export

input foo

html table title '!title'

output ./delinq.html

exit

Suprtool and User Prompting

Suprtool does not contain any features for prompting of input values, but it does have support for MPE/iX variables. Instead of input values, you can use MPE/iX to create a file of Suprtool commands and run Suprtool with this file as input.

Example

Suppose you have a Suprtool usefile called Suprcmd.Use, which contains the following:

set varsub on

base store,5,reader

get m-customer

:input credit,"Enter Credit Limit :"

if credit-rating >= !credit

list stan

exit

You can then invoke the command file and subsequent prompting from within Suprtool with the following command:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="use suprcmd.use"

You can also prompt for variables using the MPE Input command in any command file and reference them as long as variable substitution is enabled with the command:

set varsub on

Resolving Variables

Suprtool, now has a setting called Set VarsubDebug on which will print out the line after the variable substitution has occurred. This setting only works if Set Varsub is on and Set VarsubDebug is on.

setvar outfile &

:"/GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901"

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

SUPRTOOL/iX/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2007.

(Version 5.4 Internal) TUE, OCT 30, 2007, 2:58 PM Type H for he

>set varsub on

>set varsubdebug on

>in file1sd.suprtest

vd:in file1sd.suprtest

>output !outfile,link,temp

vd:output /GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123

vd:2345678901,link,temp

The output is formatted into 74 byte chunks and printed with a preceding “vd:” so the “substituted” line is clear.

Suprtool and Personal Computers

You can format files to be downloaded to your PC for use in spreadsheets or databases with the PRN option of the Output command. Suprtool formats your file as a PC structure (a comma-delimited file). Not all PC applications support the PRN format. For more precise data conversion, create a self-describing file then use STExport. See the STExport manual for details. You transfer the Suprtool output file to your PC and then import it into your PC application.

Downloading to the PC

After you have created a PRN file using Suprtool, you can use FTP or any of the many terminal emulator programs available to download the file to the PC. This includes Reflection from Walker Richer & Quinn. Robelle's text editor, Qedit, is able to execute Reflection commands from the HP e3000, helping to automate the process of downloading.

Decimal Places

Be sure to specify which fields have decimal places when creating the PRN file. Suprtool reserves extra space for decimal points that appear in the PRN output. When formatting numeric fields, Suprtool inserts the decimal point at the correct place. When you import your file into your PC application, numeric fields are automatically formatted correctly.

Spreadsheets

The following procedure allows you to include literal headings in your spreadsheet using only one file, the size and shape of which is computed by STExport. We have tested this method with MS Excel; it should work with any spreadsheet that supports the importing of delimited files.

There are two steps. First, build a self-describing file with Suprtool, then use STExport to convert it to PRN and add the headings.

1. In Suprtool build a self-describing file:

>input ...

>define items...

>item items...

>extract fields...

>output sdfile,link

>xeq

2. In STExport convert to PRN and add the header line:

$input sdfile

$heading fieldnames

$output pcdata

$exit

The file Pcdata is a variable-length PRN file with both headings and data.

Suprtool and PowerHouse Applications

You can use Suprtool to significantly speed serial extracts using Quiz and QTP from Cognos. In many cases the changes to existing applications are minor.

Suprtool with Quiz/QTP

Quiz and QTP are part of PowerHouse, a popular fourth-generation language sold by Cognos. You can improve the performance of Quiz reports by using Suprtool to select and sort the records from a dataset, then pass the selected records to Quiz for final reporting. To do this you need some way to tell Quiz about the record structure of Suprtool's output file. Quiz already has the capacity to do this without making any changes to the PowerHouse dictionary (QSCHEMA).

In the following example, Suprtool extracts entries from the Custmast dataset, sorts them, and writes them to the Cmasfile MPE file. These are the records we need for the Quiz report.

Step 1: Create a Subfile with Quiz

The first step is to use Quiz to extract one entry from the Custmast dataset and write it to a PowerHouse "subfile". Note that you could also use QTP to build the subfile. This is described shortly.

:purge cmasfile

:quiz

>access custmast

>set report limit 1

>set subfile name cmasfile keep size numrecs

>report summary all

>go

Replace the Numrecs parameter with the number of records that will be extracted by the Suprtool run. The default Numrecs is 1 when the report limit is set to 1.

Remove the Keep parameter to create a temporary file instead of a permanent one. Suprtool can write to temporary files as easily as to permanent files. Temporary files have the advantage that when multiple batch jobs are running at the same time and trying to use the same file names, the files won't interfere with each other. Permanent files, on the other hand, may not have to be rebuilt every time. The same permanent subfile can be used repeatedly, as long as the record structure doesn't change. The entire first step of running Quiz or QTP to create the subfile may be omitted.

The Set Subfile statement in Quiz creates a PowerHouse subfile. Subfiles are regular MPE files (or KSAM/XL files, in the case of indexed subfiles) which have user labels containing their record descriptions, in Cognos' proprietary format. The data portion of the files is standard, however, and can be read by other (non-Cognos) products. It is important to ensure that when you read a subfile with Suprtool, you define the fields correctly so that Suprtool's view of the data structure exactly matches the PowerHouse description of the records.

Step 2: Output Erase in Suprtool

Once you have created the PowerHouse subfile, use the Erase option of the Output command in Suprtool to load the file. This overwrites any data in the subfile, but it does not touch the PowerHouse mini-dictionary in the user labels:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base actrec

>get custmast;if cred-limit>=1000000

>output cmasfile,erase

>sort custnum

>exit

Step 3: Report with Quiz

The Cmasfile file contains the sorted records for the Quiz report. Quiz knows the structure of this file because of the initial Quiz commands that we used to create it. You can now use Quiz to generate the report:

:quiz

>access *cmasfile

>report ...

>go

Using QTP to Create Subfiles

You can also use QTP instead of Quiz to create the PowerHouse subfile:

:purge cmasfile

:qtp

>access custmast

>set input limit 0

>subfile cmasfile size numrecs keep include custmast

>go

There are a number of reasons to use QTP instead of Quiz to create subfiles:

Quiz subfiles always reflect a record structure based on the lowest level of redefinition in the dictionary. So if an item is redefined, it appears once for each redefinition in the dictionary. For example:

Record CUSTOMERS

Item CUSTOMER-NUM character size 6

Item CUSTOMER-NAME character size 40

redefined by

Item COMPANY-NAME character size 40

end

redefined by

Item FIRST-NAME character size 20

Item SURNAME character size 20

end

The customer-name field is redefined twice in the dictionary. Although the record size of the file is only 46 bytes, a Quiz subfile created with

>report summary all

would create a subfile with a record length of 86 bytes as follows:

Item CUSTOMER-NUM character size 6

Item COMPANY-NAME character size 40

Item FIRST-NAME character size 20

Item SURNAME character size 20

A subfile created with QTP, on the other hand, would exactly match the record structure of the source file. Therefore, it is always safer to use QTP to create the subfile, as it is more likely to match the structure of Suprtool's output record.

With QTP's Include parameter, it is easy to include either specific fields from the record or all of the fields. You can also easily include fields from other datasets. This is handy when creating a subfile that holds the output from a Suprlink task.

Creating Subfile with Command File

The process of creating a subfile is essentially the same regardless of the database and dataset being used. The only things that change are the subfile and dataset names. The task can easily be automated using the MPE/iX Makesub command file. This command file can be executed before running Suprtool, or from within Suprtool.

Here is the simplest form of the Makesub command file:

parm subfile, dataset

echo set report limit 1 >usefile

echo access !dataset >>usefile

echo set subfile name !subfile size 10000 >>usefile

echo report summary all >>usefile

echo go >>usefile

echo exit >>usefile

run quiz.current.cognos; &

info="auto=usefile nolist" >$null

Makesub can be invoked from within Suprtool, as shown below:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base actrec

>:makesub cmasfile, d-custmast

>get custmast;if cred-limit>=1000000

>output cmasfile,erase

>sort custnum

>exit

The subfile is created from the single statement :makesub from within the Suprtool task.

The preceding form of the Makesub command file achieves the goal of simplifying the Suprtool code, but it can still be improved. A better form would incorporate a few more features for added flexibility. The following version of Makesub provides these advantages:

1. The capacity of the subfile can be specified.

2. The subfile can be temporary or permanent.

3. The subfile can contain either all the elements of a file, or selected elements.

QTP is used instead of Quiz so that there are no multiple redefinitions of any item. This helps ensure that the layout of the subfile matches the output record that Suprtool creates.

parm subfile, dataset, temp_or_not=" ", flimit=10000

anyparm include=!dataset

if "!temp_or_not" = "TEMP"

setvar keep " "

setvar purgetemp ",temp"

else

setvar keep "keep"

setvar purgetemp " "

endif

file s=!subfile,old!temp_or_not

if finfo("*s",0)

purge !subfile !purgetemp

echo Existing subfile has been purged

endif

echo set input limit 0 >usefile

echo access !dataset >>usefile

echo subfile !subfile size !flimit !keep &

include !include >>usefile

echo go >>usefile

echo exit >>usefile

run qtp.current.cognos;info="auto=usefile nolist">$null

purge usefile,temp

echo Subfile has been created

The new-and-improved version of Makesub can be invoked from within Suprtool, as shown below:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base actrec

>:makesub cmasfile, d-custmast, TEMP, 5000, &

customer-number, company-name, first-name

>get custmast;if cred-limit>=1000000

>extract customer-number, company-name, first-name

>output cmasfile,erase

>sort custnum

>exit

Suprtool and PowerHouse Data-Types

One of the recurring themes in the Technical Support calls that we receive involves identifying data-types when defining fields in Suprtool. This is particularly true of PowerHouse sites, because PowerHouse views the data through its dictionary definitions, while Suprtool's vocabulary is based on IMAGE terminology. Because both products read the same underlying data structures, the problem is only one of semantics. This section aims to assist the user in correctly declaring data structures that are passed between Suprtool and PowerHouse processes.

Translation Table of Data-Types

IMAGE Type	PowerHouse Type	Suprtool Type
U or X	Character	Byte (Character for NLS)
R	Float (non-IEEE)*	Real or Long
E	Float (IEEE)*	IEEE
K	Integer Unsigned	Logical
J	Integer Signed	Integer or Double
P	Packed	Packed
Z	Zoned	Display

(* IEEE or Non-IEEE depends on whether "float IEEE" or "float NONIEEE" was declared under System Options in your system dictionary)

Tip 1: Use QSHOW to examine PowerHouse data structures.

Many users are familiar with Quiz's Show Items command:

> access d-sales

> show items

INPUT OUTPUT

D-SALES TYPE SCALE SCALE DEC PICTURE

* CUST-ACCOUNT NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^

DELIV-DATE NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^

* PRODUCT-NO NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^

PRODUCT-PRICE NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^

PURCH-DATE NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^

SALES-QTY NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^

SALES-TAX NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^

SALES-TOTAL NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^

This listing shows you the attributes and sequence of the fields, but doesn't give any clues as to their storage format.

QSHOW gives a much more useful listing:

> show subfile salesub

SUBFILE DICTIONARY Page 1

SUBFILE RECORD REPORT

Subfile: SALESUB

Type: Permanent

Organization: Direct

Format: 7

Record Size: 38 Bytes

Item Type Offset Size Occurs

CUST-ACCOUNT ZONED UNSIGNED 0 8

DELIV-DATE INTEGER SIGNED 8 4

PRODUCT-NO ZONED UNSIGNED 12 8

PRODUCT-PRICE INTEGER SIGNED 20 4

PURCH-DATE INTEGER SIGNED 24 4

SALES-QTY INTEGER SIGNED 28 2

SALES-TAX INTEGER SIGNED 30 4

SALES-TOTAL INTEGER SIGNED 34 4

Notice that this listing shows the offset of the fields within the record (with the first field starting at offset 0), the length (size) of the fields, as well as the storage data-type. In most cases, these map directly onto the IMAGE/Suprtool data-types. (See Translation Table above.)

For example, the above subfile can be defined in Suprtool as follows:

>define cust-account,1,8,display

>define deliv-date,9,4,integer

>define product-no,13,8,display

>define product-price,21,4,integer

>define purch-date,25,4,integer

>define sales-qty,29,2,integer

>define sales-tax,31,4,integer

>define sales-total,35,4,integer

Note that PowerHouse's Zoned Unsigned data-type is equivalent to Suprtool's Display data-type, and that Suprtool's Define offset starts at 1, which is one higher than the offset in the QSHOW listing.

Tip 2: Where is the Data Coming From?

When a PowerHouse subfile contains complete records from an IMAGE dataset, you can have Suprtool read the record structure directly from the IMAGE Root file:

>base store,1,WRITER

>input salesub = d-sales

>form

Database: STORE.DEMO.ROBELLE

D-SALES Detail Set 5

Entry: Offset

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)

DELIV-DATE J2 9

PRODUCT-NO Z8 13 (M-PRODUCT)

PRODUCT-PRICE J2 21

PURCH-DATE J2 25

SALES-QTY J1 29

SALES-TAX J2 31

SALES-TOTAL J2 35

Capacity: 602 (14) Entries: 8 Highwater: 8 Bytes: 38

Of course, if the subfile contains only some of the fields, then you'll need to define them individually. But you can still use Suprtool's Form command to examine their storage structure in the datasets from which they've been extracted.

Tip 3: Defined Fields' Data-Types

In some cases, subfiles may contain fields that were created within a previous Quiz task, namely:

· Defined fields

· Results of summary functions (Count, Subtotal, etc ...)

Defined fields will have whatever storage type was specified when they were created. If storage type "numeric" was specified, PowerHouse will create a Float Size 8 field by default. It is also important to note that if the Define command is not explicit about the field size, PowerHouse will assume a size based on the requested number of digits. For example,

define D-PRICE integer*4 = 25

creates a field capable of storing 4 digits (i.e., a 2-byte integer), while

define D-PRICE integer size4 = 25

will guarantee a 4-byte integer field. When in doubt, use QSHOW to examine the structure of the subfile.

Tip 4: Fields Created by Summary Operations

Here is a list of data-types for PowerHouse summary functions written to subfiles:

Data-Type	Field
Count	Integer size 4
Subtotal	Float Size 8
Minimum	Float Size 8 for numerics, Character size nn for char fields
Maximum	Float Size 8 for numerics, Character size nn for char fields
Average	Float size 8 subtotal, Integer size 4 count, and an Integer size 4 filler of binary zeros.
Percent	two Float Size 8 subtotals
Ratio	two Float Size 8 subtotals
Sysname	Character size 40
Sysdate	Phdate integer size 2 or 4 (if century included)
Systime	Integer size 2 (HHMM format)

Suprtool Definitions - QSCHEMA

You can create Suprtool field definitions from the record layout information provided by PowerHouse. Think of the QSHOW output as a list of records that needs only to be translated into another form. What you do is send the QSHOW report to a disc file, and process that file with Quiz, turning it into a list of Define commands for Suprtool.

Notes on QSHOW Output

To capture the output of QSHOW, you can run QSHOW and redirect the $stdlist. Or, you can set a :File command for QSHOLIST to a disc file:

:build templist;rec=-80,,f,ascii

:file qsholist=templist,old;dev=disc

:run qshow.current.cognos

Once inside QSHOW, you must Set Report Device Printer so that QSHOW uses the QSHOLIST file. The advantage of using QSHOLIST is that only the actual file report is put in the file, not any of the other information printed by QSHOW (such as the program banner).

PowerHouse subfiles can be processed in the same way as files defined in the PowerHouse dictionary (QSCHEMA). There is a QSHOW command called Show Subfile, which works identically to Show File and produces a report with the same information. Some of the columns are off horizontally, but our Quiz example program fixes that.

Use the QSHOW command Set Compressed to suppress the page numbers and other heading information in the QSHOW report.

A sample output from QSHOW would look like this:

Subfile: F184A.PC (Permanent)

Format: 3

Record Size: 138 Bytes

Item Type Offset Size Occurs

PRONUM CHARACTER 0 18

INSHP FLOAT 18 4

REFNUM CHARACTER 22 10

SONUM CHARACTER 32 10

ARFSC CHARACTER 42 4

TYPNUM INTEGER 46 2

SOES1 CHARACTER 48 30

SOES5 CHARACTER 78 30

BILNAM CHARACTER 108 30

First, we define what the QSHOW reports look like in a dictionary:

File Qshow-Subfile

Organization Direct &

Open QSHOLIST

File Qshow-File

Organization Direct &

Open QSHOLIST

Record Qshow-Subfile

Item Filler1 character size 1

Item Name character size 23

Item Type character size 18

Item Offset freeform size 10

Item ItemSize freeform size 10

Item Occurs freeform size 18

Record Qshow-File

Item Key character size 6

Item Name character size 35

Item Type character size 18

Item Offset freeform size 4

Item ItemSize freeform size 5

Item Occurs freeform size 12

Note that we have two definitions, one for the Show Subfile output and one for the Show File output. We use the same names for the columns and adjust the Size to accommodate the differences in horizontal positioning. Note that Freeform is a number stored in a character field; Quiz automatically converts it to a number.

The Quiz Report

It is not essential to use Quiz to do the definition translation; a COBOL program could be used. The object of the Quiz report is to produce a Suprtool Define command for each field. The Define command has the following components:

1. The word "define".

2. The field name.

3. The position (starting with column 1). The QSHOW report gives an offset starting at zero, so the position is the offset plus 1.

4. The field size in bytes.

5. The field type, using the Suprtool names.

6. The subcount (Quiz's occurs column).

We have one Suprtool Define command for each line of the QSHOW report.

Remember that we mean to define just the lines that represent field information. Using the above example of QSHOW output, we do not want to process the first six lines, because they are heading information. For these lines, however, the column containing the field size does not contain a valid number. We can simply tell Quiz to select only those records where ItemSize is greater than zero.

We get the field name from the name already provided in the data dictionary. To get the field type, we can create a Quiz Define statement which maps the PowerHouse types into the Suprtool types. Although the PowerHouse type sometimes has a sign qualifier for numeric fields, in this case it doesn't matter. We need to check only the first few characters of the type. We convert a blank in the occurs-column to a subcount of one.

;QUIZ - SUPRTOOL Definitions

Access QSHOW-SUBFILE ;or QSHOW-FILE

Select if ItemSize > 0 ;Ignore heading lines

Define Position = Offset + 1

Define SuprType char*8 = &

"integer" if Type[1:8]="INTEGER" else &

"packed" if Type[1:7]="PACKED" else &

"real" if Type[1:6]="FLOAT" else &

"display" if Type[1:6]="ZONED" else &

"byte"

Define SuprSubcount char*8 = &

"1" if Occurs = 0 else &

ascii(Occurs)

Report &

tab 1 "DEFINE" Name pic"^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^" &

"," Position pic "^^^" &

"," ItemSize pic "^^^" &

"," SuprType pic "^^^^^^^" &

"," SuprSubcount

set nohead

set page length 1 report spacing 1

set report device disc name SUPRDEFS ;send to disk file

The output from the above example would look like this:

DEFINE PRONUM , 1 , 18 , byte , 1

DEFINE INSHP , 19 , 4 , real , 1

DEFINE REFNUM , 23 , 10 , byte , 1

DEFINE SONUM , 33 , 10 , byte , 1

DEFINE ARFSC , 43 , 4 , byte , 1

DEFINE TYPNUM , 47 , 2 , integer, 1

DEFINE SOES1 , 49 , 30 , byte , 1

DEFINE SOES5 , 79 , 30 , byte , 1

DEFINE BILNAM , 109 , 30 , byte , 1

This represents a simple use of definition processing from the data dictionary. There are many other uses for this technique. These are some other examples: to create record definitions for FORTRAN programs (define variables for each field, and EQUIVALENCE them to the proper element of a buffer array), for tape file transfers to other machines (create a new file with all numeric fields converted to type Zoned), and to create PC database structure definitions for receiving downloaded data (also see "Format Options" on page 211).

Quiz: Generating Suprtool Commands

Suprtool does not have the ability to prompt users for selection criteria. You can easily create a short Quiz procedure to prompt for values and create a file of Suprtool commands.

> define D-PROMPT date format YYMMDD = &

> parm prompt "Enter selection date: "

> report &

> "base BASENAME,5" &

> skip "get SETNAME" &

> skip "if DATEFIELD = " D-PROMPT pic "^^^^^^" &

> skip "output OUTFILE" &

> skip "xeq"

> set nohead

> set report device disc name STCODE

> set page length 0

> go

Quiz edits the user's input for a valid date. Note that there is no ACCESS statement, but Quiz still writes one record to the output file. Execute the resulting commands as a Suprtool usefile:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="use stcode"

Generating Suprtool Commands from Quick

Alternatively, you could use Quick to prompt a user for input, to create a file of suprtool commands:

screen test menu temp start-date char*8 temp end-date char*8 temp prompt char*40 define D-CMD char*80 = "ECHO if Start-date !> " + start-date &

+ " and end-date !< " + end-date + " >> mytemp" title "Creating Use File Demo Screen" centered skip 2 field prompt field start-date field end-date procedure initialize begin

let prompt = "Enter a start-date (YYYYMMDD)"

display prompt

accept start-date

let prompt = "Enter an end-date (YYYYMMDD)"

display prompt

accept end-date

run command "echo base STORE.DEMO.ROBELLE,1,WRITER > mytemp"

run command "echo get D-SALES >> mytemp"

run command D-CMD

run command "echo output OUTFILE,link >> mytemp"

run command "echo exit >> mytemp"

run command "run SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE;parm=40;info='use mytemp'" end build

This doesn't require any special dictionary declarations, as it uses MPE "echo" commands to create the file.

Suprtool and Application Systems

Suprtool can be used with fourth-generation languages and other tools.

Third-Party Indexing

Omnidex is a product from Dynamic Information Systems Corporation (DISC). Superdex is a product from Bradmark Technologies, Inc. Each product provides generic and keyword search capabilities for IMAGE data. It is necessary to keep their index information up-to-date when any program, including Suprtool, adds or deletes records from the indexed database.

In MPE/iX 4.0, Hewlett Packard has provided an interface that ensures that the Omnidex and Superdex indexes remain up-to-date. You only need to enable third-party indexing (TPI) using DBUTIL. Once this is enabled, MPE automatically calls the TPI intrinsics to maintain the indexes as records are added, delete and modified.

:run dbutil.pub.sys

>>enable mybase for indexing

>>exit

It is important to note that Suprtool accesses third-party indexes by the Chain command, which in turn invokes DBFIND mode-1 to establish the chain and DBGET mode-5 to read down the chain. It is important that you follow whatever rules are required by your indexing product to use its respective third-party index, as opposed to any IMAGE index that may exist.

For example, with Omnidex you might need to set a JCW used by Omnidex called IMAGETPI to determine which index or chain is used.

For more detailed information, consult the TurboIMAGE Reference Manual, and the appropriate documentation from DISC or Bradmark.

Z-type TPI-keys

Suprtool supports stand-alone “Z” type keys. Suprtools form command will show the keys that it can support via the chain command.

The length of a key is returned by dbinfo-833 and Suprtool will report in the form command the length of a stand-alone key. (SI-PRODUCT-NO is the path that is now supported) Superdex has a variable that impacts the length that is returned for a given key, and that is SICOGNOS. Suprtool will account for the length difference on the chain command but will show the unadjusted length. Normally Superdexs dbinfo-833 would show a length of 12 for a Zoned-decimal tpi-key with a length of 8, if SICOGNOS is set to 1, then Superdex will return 8.

form d-inventory

Database: STORE.SUPRTPIS.GREEN TPI: SUPERDEX (010566) 4.2.11.2

D-INVENTORY Detail Set# 4

Entry: Offset

BIN-NO J1 1

LAST-SHIP-DATE J2 3

ON-HAND-QTY J2 7

PRODUCT-NO Z8 11 (M-PRODUCT)

<<TPI>>

SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19 (!M-SUPPLIER)

UNIT-COST P8 27

ITEM-DESC1 X20 31 <<TPI>>

ITEM-DESC2 X20 51

ITEM-DESC3 X20 71

ITEM-DESC4 X20 91

Capacity: 464 (8) Entries: 13 Highwater: 13 Bytes: 110

Additional Third-Party Indexes:

SI-PRODUCT-NO Z8 B

SI-ITEM-DESC1 X20 B

SI-ITEM-DESC1234 X80 B

SHAD X10 B

Omnidex without TPI

On MPE V, and on versions on MPE/iX that do not support TPI, you must access the Omnidex intrinsics via "call conversion". To use call conversion with Omnidex version greater than 2.05.03 and less than 3.00, Suprtool.Pub.Robelle must be copied to the CC group of the DISC account and this copy of Suprtool must be run.

:run suprtool.cc.disc;lib=g

If you use the Suprtool2 interface to invoke Suprtool, you need the following MPE commands to force Suprtool2 to run the call-converted copy of Suprtool:

:setjcw suprtool2filecommand = 2

:setjcw suprtool2lib = 2

:file suprtool = suprtool.cc.disc

For Omnidex versions starting with 3.00 you can use call conversion by running Suprtool in the following manner:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;xl="xl.pub.disc"

If you encounter any difficulties running Suprtool with call conversion, please call us for assistance.

OmniQuest

Dynamic Information Systems Corporation (DISC) also has a product called OmniQuest, which allows you to qualify records and prompt the user for selection criteria.

In order to allow OmniQuest to work properly, Suprtool needs to use only IMAGE Intrinsics. To do this, you just need to put the following Set command prior to the Base command in your Suprtool and Omniquest command script.

>set privmode off

Due to a conflict between the Robelle sort and the OmniQuest product, Suprtool's fast sort algorithms must be turned off. This may be done with the following Set command:

>set sortfast off

If you encounter any difficulties running Suprtool with OmniQuest, please call us for assistance. If you do not turn off Set sortfast off, you will likely receive the error Data Memory Protection Trap.

Suprtool with TRANSACT

TRANSACT is one of the Rapid products sold by HP. A TRANSACT program that serially reads and selects records from a dataset can easily be modified to use Suprtool. To convert a TRANSACT program to use Suprtool, follow these steps:

1. Add a FILE=*SUPRFILE(READ) statement to the SYSTEM statement.

2. Remove any MATCH register statements (use the Suprtool If command instead).

3. Change the FIND(SERIAL) dataset to FIND(SERIAL) *SUPRFILE.

4. Use the Suprtool Extract command to select the fields from the LIST= statement.

5. Delete any SORT= statements (use the Suprtool Sort command instead).

6. Use Suprtool to build the SUPRFILE.

The following example shows the changes to a TRANSACT program. A TRANSACT program that serially reads a dataset might look like:

system cust, base=cust.database("READ",5);

<< set up to select only cust-out = "YES" >>

move (cust-out)="YES";

set(match) list(cust-out);

find(serial) customer-detail,

list=(cust-name,cust-addr,cust-nbr,cust-out),

sort=(cust-nbr),

perform=p100-process-customer;

end cust;

The TRANSACT program is modified to look like:

system cust,

file=*suprfile(read),

base=cust.database("READ",5);

find(serial) *suprfile,

list=(cust-name,cust-addr,cust-nbr,cust-out),

perform=p100-process-customer;

end cust;

If this program is a batch program, you would insert the following MPE and Suprtool commands before you invoke the TRANSACT program:

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base cust.database,5,read

>get customer-detail

>if cust-out="YES"

>extract cust-name,cust-addr,cust-nbr,cust-out

>sort cust-nbr

>output suprfile

>exit

!run tranprog.pub

If this program is used on-line, you would invoke Suprtool using the Suprtool2 interface (see the Calling Suprtool user manual). To avoid file name conflicts, on-line programs should use a job temporary Suprtool output file. For TRANSACT to read a temporary file, the asterisk in the file name is required.

If you use the LIST= statement, you have to use the Suprtool Extract command to specify the desired fields. The order of the fields in the Extract command must match the order of the fields in the LIST= statement. The Extract may be omitted if the TRANSACT program reads all of the fields in the dataset, but the program must be recompiled if the dataset is changed.

The Suprtool If command replaces the MATCH register of the TRANSACT program. You can still use the MATCH register to do further selection (e.g., from other datasets).

A FIND(Chain) can be modified to use Suprtool, but you must verify that your program actually runs faster (in many cases it will not). To change a FIND(Chain) to use Suprtool, use the same steps as FIND(SERIAL).

XSORT and RPG

XSORT is a program which simulates the System 34 - #3 sort. XSORT jobs can be converted to use Suprtool with few or no problems. The following steps must be done to convert from XSORT to Suprtool:

1. Change any Omit Record statements to use the Define command and a non-equal expression in the If command.

2. Change any Include Record statements to use the Define command and the If command.

3. If an Address Sort is used, Set Firstrec 1 and use Output xxx,num.

The Set Firstrec 1 is required with KSAM files. This forces Suprtool to start record numbers at 1 regardless of the setting in the KSAM Key file.

QUERY Program

QUERY can't produce a report from an MPE file. Because the output from Suprtool is an MPE file, it is not usually feasible to use Suprtool to improve the speed of QUERY reports. However, if a small percentage of records are selected, you can use the following method to improve the speed of QUERY reports:

1. Create an empty copy of the database (either build the database using DBSCHEMA or use DBUTIL to empty an existing copy).

2. Suprtool extracts the records and Puts them to the copy of the database.

3. QUERY reports on all the entries in the copy database.

SRN Chronos Dates

Software packages from Software Research Northwest use a date format known as Chronos, which stores the date and time in a compressed 6-byte format. In Suprtool, you can specify this format by using the Srnchronos date attribute:

>item box-timestamp,date,srnchronos

Once you have used the Item command to identify Chronos dates, you can do the following:

1. Select on these dates using the $date and $today functions. For example, to select records with a timestamp before today:
>if box-timestamp < $today

2. Extract these dates using $date and $today.

3. See the date attribute in the Form command.

4. Pass the date attribute to STExport by using the Link option of the Output command.

5. Format these dates into a meaningful value by using STExport.

Year 2000 Solutions with Suprtool

For this discussion we'll ignore the fact that the twenty-first century really only started in 2001. J

Suprtool often has to process dates in both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. If you include the century in your dates, Suprtool should behave as most users expect. If you do not include the century in your dates, how Suprtool behaves will be dependent on your specific application and data.

What If I Have Four-Digit Years?

If your dates have four-digit years, Suprtool should work as expected. Selection based on the $today or $date features will select dates in both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Dates that do not collate correctly (e.g., mmddccyy) will not be accepted by Suprtool's If command for relative selection (e.g., <, <=, >, or >=). If you have these date formats you can use the $stddate function, converts any date format to a ccyymmdd type date.

Suprtool, as it has always done, will continue to sort dates based on their numeric value and not on any implied date order.

In Suprtool 4.0, we introduced some new command parsing features that let you control how Suprtool parses the year of the $date function. You can either use two-digit years by applying a cutoff rule or you can force all years to be specified as four digits.

What does Set Date Cutoff do?

Date Cutoff tells Suprtool what century to use when Suprtool generates a constant date value from the $date function.

Before version 4.0, Suprtool would assume 19 for the century for any user-specified $date with a two-digit year. For example:

>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd

>if date-field <= $date(40/12/26)

Previously the $date function would convert the user specified $date to 1940/12/26 in order for it to be compared to the date-field format of CCYYMMDD. Now with Set Date Cutoff xx, Suprtool assumes 20 for the century if the two-digit year specified in the $date function is less than the value of Set Date Cutoff. For example:

>set date cutoff 50

>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd

>if date-field <= $date(40/12/26)

Suprtool in this case assumes the full $date to be 2040/12/26, because the 40 in $date is less than the 50 in Set Date Cutoff.

The default value of Set Date Cutoff is 10.

Stddate and Set Date Cutoff

When $Stddate has to convert from a date with only a two-digit year, the conversion to the four-digit year will use the value of Set Date Cutoff when converting the date.

For example,

>get sales-detail

>set date cutoff 15

>def new-ship-date,1,4,double

>item ship-date,date,mmddyy

>ext order-no / sales-amount

>ext new-ship-date = $stddate(ship-date)

>out salesinfo,link

>xeq

In this example, if any ship-date has a year of 14 or less, then the century applied to the new-ship-date field will be 20. Ship-dates with a year of 15 or more will have a century of 19 applied.

What does Set Date ForceCentury do?

Set Date ForceCentury On will not allow a yy date to be entered in the $date function, it will force the user to enter a full ccyy date.

>set date forcecentury on

>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd

>if date-field >= $date(98/12/10)

Error: You must specify the century or Set Date ForceCentury off

The default value for Set Date ForceCentury is off.

What If I Have Two-Digit Years?

If you have dates with two-digit years, there are two main solutions to making your application ready for the Year 2000:

1. Convert all of your date data to use four-digit years and modify your programs to process four-digit years, or

2. Assume that certain dates are in the twentieth century and some in the twenty-first (this is usually called date windowing).

The first solution requires that you change all Suprtool Item commands for two-digit years to a four-digit year format. If you have not already done so, you may want to isolate all of these Item commands in a single file per input source (e.g., one file for every dataset in every database in your application or just one file for every database). You can nest use-files, making this approach even easier (e.g., having one database use-file that then includes each dataset use-file with a list of Item commands). You may also want to use Suprtool to assist you in changing your actual data from two-digit years to four. See "Can Suprtool Convert Two-Digit Years to Four Digits?" on page 94 for more details.

If you do not include the century in your dates (the second solution above), you will have the following problems:

1. Selecting dates in yymmdd format will not produce the expected results in relative operations (e.g., <, <=, >, or >=). You will need to change all of your If commands to use the $stddate function.

2. Sorting dates that include both 20th and 21st century dates, will not collate the way most users expect, whether with Suprtool, the COBOL sort verbs, or HPs sort tools. This is because Suprtool, and all HP-supplied tools, sort based on the numeric value of a date. To make this work correctly within Suprtool, you will need to use the $stddate function in an Extract command to generate a date with a four-digit year, then sort on this new date field with another Suprtool task.

What Is Wrong with Two-Digit Years?

Currently the date format of yymmdd collates (sorts) correctly if the date is not beyond December 31, 1999. Given the current date of 981210, numerically this is less than next year whose date value is 991210.

At the turn of the century dates in the yymmdd format (or yymm) will no longer sort correctly because the value of December 10, 2000 (001210) is less than 981210.

Consequently, if we have a date beyond 1999, stored in yymmdd format, a relative operation such as:

>if date-field >= $date(98/12/10)

will not find the date of December 10, 2000. You will need to use the $stddate function to make this task work correctly.

>if $stddate(date-field) >= $date(98/12/10)

How Do $Today and $Date Work?

Suprtool's date functions ($date and $today) are a short-hand method of generating a numeric constant. So a date selection like:

>item invoice-date,date,YYMMDD

>if invoice-date < $today

is exactly the same as:

>if invoice-date < 980401 {on 1st April, 1998}

Suprtool does record selection on the numeric value of the field and not on the implied date value. If we move the calendar ahead to January 1, 2000 and do the same commands as above, the result would the same as if you had typed:

>if invoice-date < 000101 {on 1st January, 2000}

If you have some invoice dates from the previous century (e.g., 990101 for December 1st, 1999), they will not be selected.

Will Suprtool Generate an Error for Two-Digit Year Dates?

Sometimes.

Because dates beyond 1999 will not collate properly for the YYMMDD and YYMM formats, starting in version 4.0.11 the If command produces an error if the year specified in a $date or $today function is greater than 1999 and the date format is YYMMDD or YYMM, and you are performing a relative operation (e.g., <, <=, >, or >=).

>item enddate, date, yymmdd

>if enddate >= $date(*+4/*/*) {21st. century date}

Error: Cannot use a date beyond 1999 for this format

Suprtool returns this error by default, but you can override it with the following set command:

>set date ifyy2000error off

This tells Suprtool to allow the previously described relative operations and suppress the error message. While you can override the error checking, the behavior of $today and $date is not changed.

How Do I Use $Today and $Date with yymmdd Dates?

If you need to have Suprtool select dates in YYMMDD format with $Today or $Date, you need to use one of the following solutions:

1. Change the date storage format to include the century in all datasets and data files, so you can use the following item command:
>item invoice-date,date,CCYYMMDD

2. Use the $stddate function that adds the century component to dates in a ccyymmdd format in a J2 container.

Also see "Case 1: Converting a J2 Date from yymmdd to ccyymmdd" on page 94 and "Case 2: X6 yymmdd Data to X8 ccyymmdd" on page 96 for more specific details on converting two-digit-year date formats into four-digit-year date formats.

aammdd Date Format

The aammdd date format was developed by James Overman of HP for use in the MM3000 product. This format is only available for the X6 data-type.

The aammdd format is similar to yymmdd, but the year portion of the date use a combination of numbers and letters of the alphabet to represent years beyond 1999.

By substituting a letter of the alphabet in the first position of the year, we can extend a six-digit date and also ensure that the dates collate correctly. For example,

YY of AAMMDD	CCYY
A0 - A9	2000 - 2009
B0 - B9	2010 - 2019
C0 - C9	2020 - 2029

Because letters are greater than numbers in the collating sequence we can ensure that aammdd dates beyond 1999 will order correctly.

Suprtool also supports other date formats with this two-digit year representation. These formats are aamm, mmddaa and ddmmaa.

Invalid Dates

The If command has a $invalid function to find all invalid dates for a particular field. An invalid date is any number of a particular date format whose date equivalent cannot be found on the calendar. For example, a date with a month of 99 will be considered invalid.

>base store.demo

Database password [;]?

>get d-sales

>item deliv-date,date,ccyymmdd

>if $invalid(deliv-date)

>out baddates,link

>xeq

Can Suprtool Convert Two-Digit Years to Four Digits?

Suprtool is capable of converting dates from one format to another using a variety of Suprtool features. We will show how Suprtool can convert common dates without the century to those that have the century included. While Suprtool can convert your data, it is up to you to change your programs. Adager, a third-party program for changing Image database structures, has the ability to change date fields. Suprtool can convert data in Image databases, flat files, self-describing files and KSAM files.

Case 1: Converting a J2 Date from yymmdd to ccyymmdd

The $stddate function can convert six-digit date formats to ccyymmdd. But what if all the dates are not actually dates, but some dates are filled with 9s as a flag to an application?

Consider this dataset with two date fields, J2 items and in the date format yymmdd.

Database: STORE.DB.GREEN

D-SALES Detail Set 5

Entry: Offset

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)

DELIV-DATE J2 9

PRODUCT-NO Z8 13 (M-PRODUCT)

PRODUCT-PRICE J2 21

PURCH-DATE J2 25

SALES-QTY J1 29

SALES-TAX J2 31

SALES-TOTAL J2 35

Capacity: 602 (14) Entries: 10 Highwater: 10 Bytes: 38

First, we need to know and understand our data. Are there any invalid dates? If so, does the value have some other logical meaning?

>get d-sales

>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd

>item purch-date,date,yymmdd

>if $invalid(deliv-date) or $invalid(purch-date)

>list

>xeq

>GET D-SALES (9) >OUT $NULL (0)

CUST-ACCOUNT = 10010 DELIV-DATE = 999999

PRODUCT-NO = 50513001 PRODUCT-PRICE = 19220

PURCH-DATE = 999999 SALES-QTY = 2

SALES-TAX = 2691 SALES-TOTAL = 21910

>GET D-SALES (10) >OUT $NULL (1)

CUST-ACCOUNT = 10010 DELIV-DATE = 125213

PRODUCT-NO = 50513001 PRODUCT-PRICE = 19220

PURCH-DATE = 1 SALES-QTY = 2691

SALES-TAX = 21910 SALES-TOTAL = 21910

IN=10, OUT=2. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

In this example, we see two records that do not contain proper dates. The first record contains all 9s, which is probably used as some sort of flag. We may need to add 99 in front of these dates.

But the second record is obviously wrong. We can use Dbedit to correct this before converting the other dates. We need to know our data to properly convert to a new date format.

Once all the incorrect dates are fixed, we can start converting. We can add a prefix of 19 or 20 to all the appropriate dates by using the following Extract statement. Please note that we are updating this directly. In case we need to redo this task, we only convert those dates that have not yet been converted. In this example we set the cutoff year to 30 so any dates before 30 will have 20 as the century and the others will have 19.

>get d-sales

>set date cutoff 30

>item purch-date,date,yymmdd

>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd

>if not $invalid(purch-date) and not $invalid(deliv-date)

>update

>ext purch-date = $stddate(purch-date)

>ext deliv-date = $stddate(deliv-date)

>xeq

We have now converted all the J2 yymmdd dates to a ccyymmdd format and added the correct century to the date.

Case 2: X6 yymmdd Data to X8 ccyymmdd

The following Suprtool task shows how you can generate a new file to put into a new database with dates in a different format.

Consider the deliv-date and purch-date fields of the D-Sales dataset:

Database: STORE.DBOLD.ACCOUNT

D-SALES Detail Set 5

Entry: Offset

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)

DELIV-DATE X6 9

PRODUCT-NO Z8 15 (M-PRODUCT)

PRODUCT-PRICE J2 23

PURCH-DATE X6 27

SALES-QTY J1 33

SALES-TAX J2 35

SALES-TOTAL J2 39

Capacity: 611 (13) Entries: 15 Highwater: 15 Bytes: 42

You want to convert to a date format with room for a cc at the beginning of the deliv-date and purch-date:

Database: STORE.DB.ACCOUNT

D-SALES Detail Set 5

Entry: Offset

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)

DELIV-DATE X8 9

PRODUCT-NO Z8 17 (M-PRODUCT)

PRODUCT-PRICE J2 25

PURCH-DATE X8 29

SALES-QTY J1 37

SALES-TAX J2 39

SALES-TOTAL J2 43

Capacity: 608 (16) Entries: 0 Highwater: 0 Bytes: 46

In order to convert these dates you need to be able to put either a 19 or 20 in front of the yymmdd date, depending on the value of the year. Before you can do either of these you must confirm, once again, that you have no invalid dates.

>base store.dbold

>get d-sales

>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd

>item purch-date,date,yymmdd

>if $invalid(deliv-date) or $invalid(purch-date)

>list

>xeq

Once you have confirmed that there are no invalid dates you can start converting the dates that you have. Because there are two date fields in this dataset you must be careful to add the appropriate century for the proper field. For this example, assume that if a year is less than 1950 then the century should be 20.

You can easily convert each date by processing each field separately by using an intermediate self-describing file:

>base store.dbold,1

Database password [;]?

>get d-sales

>set squeeze off

>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd

>if deliv-date >= $date(1950/01/01)

>out sales01,link

>ext cust-account

>ext "19"

>ext deliv-date / sales-total

>xeq

IN=15, OUT=14. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=5.

Now insert 20 to the century for the appropriate records:

>base store.dbold

>get d-sales

>if deliv-date < $date(1950/01/01)

>ext cust-account

>ext "20"

>ext deliv-date / sales-total

>out sales01,link,append

>xeq

Now you can convert the other field from the flat file, (sales01) and add a century to the purch-date field:

>reset

>base {close the open database}

>in sales01

>item purch-date,date,yymmdd

>if purch-date >= $date(1950/01/01)

>set squeeze off

>out sales02,link

>ext cust-account / product-price

>ext "19"

>ext purch-date / sales-total

>xeq

IN=15, OUT=15. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

Because you extracted all 15 records you know you do not have any records with the purch-date field that need to be updated with a "20".

Now you can insert the records into the new database:

>base store.db

>in sales02

>put d-sales

>xeq

Now you have converted two dates from an X6 format to an X8 format.

Case 3: Different Date Formats X6 MMDDYY Data to X6 YYMMDD

The following Suprtool task shows you how to convert a date in a self-describing file from mmddyy to yymmdd format.

Consider the following self-describing file with the deliv-date and purch-date fields:

File: SALES04.DATA.ACCOUNT (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1

DELIV-DATE X6 9 <<MMDDYY>>

PRODUCT-NO Z8 15

PRODUCT-PRICE I2 23

PURCH-DATE X6 27 <<MMDDYY>>

SALES-QTY I1 33

SALES-TAX I2 35

SALES-TOTAL I2 39

Limit: 115 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 42 Blocking: 97

You want to convert these two dates to a data format of yymmdd before adding a century in front of the year. This can be easily accomplished by defining each sub part of the date and extracting those parts in the new order. You can use string addition to re-order the field in one pass.

>in sales04

>def new-deliv,1,6

>item new-deliv,date,yymmdd

>def deliv-date-mm,deliv-date[1],2

>def deliv-date-dd,deliv-date[3],2

>def deliv-date-yy,deliv-date[5],2

>def new-purch,1,6

>item new-purch,date,yymmdd

>def purch-date-mm,purch-date[1],2

>def purch-date-dd,purch-date[3],2

>def purch-date-yy,purch-date[5],2

>ext cust-account

>ext new-deliv = deliv-date-yy + deliv-date-mm + deliv-date-dd

>ext product-no / product-price

>ext new-purch = ext purch-date-yy + purch-date-mm + purch-date-dd

>ext sales-qty / sales-total

>out sales05,link

>xeq

You now end up with a file that looks like this:

File: SALES06.DATA.ACCOUNT (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1

NEW-DELIV X6 9 <<YYMMDD>>

PRODUCT-NO Z8 15

PRODUCT-PRICE I2 23

NEW-PURCH X6 27 <<YYMMDD>>

SALES-QTY I1 33

SALES-TAX I2 35

SALES-TOTAL I2 39

Limit: 115 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 42 Blocking: 97

You then add the century to these fields as described above.

Year 2000 Testing

Testing software to see if it works in the year 2000 and beyond is difficult. Currently there are three software tools that change the software date for specific sessions or applications, making it easier to test software for year 2000 compliance. The four tools are:

1. Hourglass from Allegro Consultants, Inc.

2. Time Machine from SolutionSoft Systems, Inc.

3. Setdate from the HP Jazz machine on the Web

4. TimeWarp/3000 from Omnisolutions

All versions of Suprtool work with Hourglass, but versions previous to 4.0.13 did not work with Time Machine, Setdate, or TimeWarp. This version of Suprtool now works with all these tools. Note that this change only applies to non-expiring versions of Suprtool. Expiring versions of Suprtool (such as trials, pre-releases, and products obtained through VARs) do not work with Time Machine or Setdate.

Performance Issues

HP e3000 sites use Suprtool because it provides access to their data many times faster than they are used to, and because Suprtool enables them to perform time-consuming DP functions easily, with a few simple commands. The typical Suprtool task consists of extracting some data for a report, then feeding the Suprtool output file into the final report program. For example, you might fill a Quiz subfile with the subset of data needed, then report that subfile with Quiz.

Native Mode and Compatibility Mode

Suprtool is available in native mode for MPE/iX and compatibility mode for MPE V. You can compare Suprtool's serial read speed for TurboIMAGE datasets and MPE files against other programs, both NM and CM. On MPE V systems, Suprtool has always shown a 2 to 10 times performance gain in such serial reads. On MPE/iX systems, Suprtool can make serial reads up to 8 times faster, but the improvements are typically higher on MPE V than on MPE/iX. That is because Suprtool can bypass most of the MPE V operating system, but cannot bypass the MPE/iX virtual page manager.

Here is one MPE/iX test that shows what is possible. The test scans a large detail dataset that is absent from memory, just looking at each record, not writing an output file. This measures raw serial read capability. Suprtool is 2.5 times faster than a standard NM program and uses 1/7th the CPU time. When the dataset is fully in memory, Suprtool is able to complete the task 9.3 times faster than an NM program calling DBGET mode-2.

Comparison of elapsed time, dataset not in memory

CPU time	NM program	115 seconds
	Suprtool	17 seconds
Wall time	NM program	120 seconds
	Suprtool	47 seconds

Comparison of elapsed time, dataset in memory

CPU time	NM program	109 seconds
	Suprtool	12 seconds
Wall time	NM program	112 seconds
	Suprtool	12 seconds

CPU-Bound?

Suprtool uses the technology of multirecord access (NOBUF/MR) to achieve large reductions in CPU overhead, 1/8th that of serial DBGET in many cases. On a CPU-bound MPE/iX system, such significant savings mean that you can run Suprtool when other programs would be an intolerable burden.

Sort Speed

Suprtool/V uses the HP sort intrinsics, so sort times should not show much change. Suprtool/iX uses its own set of high-speed sort intrinsics, unless one of the following is true:

· Set Sortfast is Off (the default is On).

· Native Language Support is enabled (either automatically via the NLDATALANG JCW or explicitly via Set NLS).

· Any of the sort fields are defined as type CHAR.

Generally, Suprtool's internal sort algorithm is faster than HP's sort algorithm.

Analyzing Performance Data

It is better to test Suprtool with your own database and your own application needs, rather than trust to a "generic" performance test. The ideal test is an actual production report whose bad performance is causing you a problem. Then if you obtain improvements by using Suprtool you know you can achieve better speed in practice as well as in tests.

Use Suprtool as a front end to your problem report, producing a small extract file containing just the fields and records needed for your final program. Once you get that working, consider linking in data from other files or datasets using Suprlink. For comparison purposes, run the Suprtool test at the same time as you would normally run the original program. Comparing a standalone midnight run against a mid-day run does not give valid results, nor does comparing two runs in succession (the second run benefits on MPE/iX, since the files are already in memory at that time).

You have several choices when deciding how to extract the data for your report. One user had a report that consumed 18 hours on his Series 955. Since the site had only a short window for batch processing each night, the job would spill over into the prime shift. By the time the report did complete, it was a day late and a new report was running. His boss was considering going to a 960 to reduce the job time. The programmer tried Suprtool as a front end, but it only reduced the time to 15 hours. When he called Robelle in disappointment, we investigated his application. He had used the Chain command because he had a TurboIMAGE search item for his key values and thought following such a search path would be fastest.

We suggested a serial Get command instead of a random-access Chain command and the job time fell to 4.5 hours--much easier to schedule. Get was faster than Chain, even though it had to look at every entry in the dataset. Why? Get reads many contiguous records with each access to MPE, while Chain must call TurboIMAGE to retrieve each chain entry. Since the entries on the chain are seldom in the same disc block, Chain generated many more disc accesses, and they were randomly distributed over the disc space. In this case, he was selecting 11% of the dataset (261,230 out of 2,307,685 entries). Chain had to do about 424,000 random disc reads, while Get did only 14,471 serial reads, a reduction of 97%. However, the Chain command would have been faster if he had selected less than 15,000 entries. You can use the Set Statistics On command to see how many disc reads a Get command uses; if that is less than the number of entries selected, Get will usually be faster than Chain.

Suprtool Performance Hints

Not all portions of the Suprtool product give equal performance boosts. The primary technology of Suprtool is large NOBUF/MR reads and writes. By asking the operating system for many records at once, instead of invoking the system software for each record, Suprtool reduces the CPU overhead of the task dramatically. This technology is present when you use the Input and Get commands, but not the Chain command (for some tasks the Get command must revert to using the slower standard database reads, but it always prints a warning).

The If and Extract commands are powerful for reducing a large input file into a small output file that contains just the data desired. They are reasonably efficient, but usually consume as much processor time as the serial read itself. The If command does partial evaluation of expressions. Therefore, you should place the tests that are most likely to fail at the start of the expression, and place the table lookups (which are slower) at the end. This minimizes overhead. Using Extract reduces the size of the output record, and greatly improves sort times (if all sort keys are extracted).

The Delete, Put, and Update commands are implemented by calling the corresponding TurboIMAGE intrinsics: DBDELETE, DBPUT, and DBUPDATE. A simple way to improve Delete, Put, and Update performance is to use Set Lock 0 (see below), but this is rarely appropriate when on-line users need access to the database. There is another option that improves the speed of Deletes, Puts, and Updates, but it comes with many warnings (see "Defer" on page 230).

The Dbedit Subsystem, an interactive editor for dataset entries and chains of entries, does not use NOBUF/MR, so is strictly a convenience, not a performance aid.

Suprlink is a tool for linking together fields from several files by a common key value. It links sorted files that Suprtool extracts from IMAGE, KSAM and MPE files. It uses NOBUF/MR techniques and gives you a performance improvement over random database accesses in many cases. However, if you have to re-sort the data many times and the records are large, Suprlink may not help you. Performance will be optimized if you extract only the fields you need from each input source, not the entire record.

Speed Demon is an intrinsic library for 3GL programs that provides a high-speed replacement for TurboIMAGE serial "gets". The NM version returns records at the same speed that Suprtool does with the same low CPU overhead. The MPE V version has half the speed of Suprtool at retrieving records. Consider calling Speed Demon in your programs when you need to process more than 50% of the records in a file, since you eliminate the need to read Suprtool's output file.

Occasionally we will put performance tips on our web site that are more timely than what can be achieved in a manual. So please also visit:

http://www.robelle.com/tips/st-performance.html

for the latest performance issue and tips.

Obtaining Accurate Measurements

The performance results obtained from Suprtool, like any program, vary depending on the record sizes, number of records, size of sorts, and the current efficiency of your application. Measuring performance on any computer system is a challenge, but especially so on MPE/iX with its demand-paged virtual memory and complex scheduler. Some tests do not show such a marked improvement as the examples described here. That is why we recommend that you test Suprtool against your own database.

Suprtool works best when selecting a small subset of a large dataset. The larger the dataset and the smaller the percentage extracted, the better the performance improvement. Once you have selected a task to measure, you have the difficulty of making a fair comparison. This can be more tricky than it seems. For example, on MPE/iX if you run your regular task first, then the Suprtool task, you will almost certainly find the Suprtool task faster, just because the first task has made most of the data resident in memory.

Here are the guidelines that we follow in order to obtain performance measurements that we can be confident of:

1. We do every test at least five times. It is rare for each test to be identical.

2. All MPE/iX performance tests are sensitive to the amount of the file that is in memory. We use the Klondike Nugget (now available from Lund Performance Solutions) to measure how much of our test files are in memory before we start each test.

3. We start each test by flushing all files out of memory. We do this with the unsupported Fflush tool. This program is difficult to obtain (we cannot give you a copy) and you probably need a new version for each new release of MPE/iX. You might try getting a copy from your HP SE.

4. Tests are run in the middle of the night and we ensure that there are no other sessions or jobs running during each test.

Performance Summary

Suprtool is a performance tool. Not because every Suprtool command is always fast, but because performance is one of our first concerns when adding new features to Suprtool. We always look for the fastest way to do any task, even if that means it can't be quite as flexible as other software tools.

Suprtool Commands

General Notes

Do not enter the > sign when typing commands.

When you run Suprtool, it prompts for commands with a ">" character and reads command lines from the standard input device. Suprtool commands contain a command name which may include one or more optional parameters that are each separated by commas.

In this chapter, we describe the Suprtool commands in alphabetic order. Each command name is followed by its minimal abbreviation in brackets. For example: [D] for Define and [DU] for Duplicate.

Most Suprtool commands work within the context of the input file. In general, the Base, Chain, Get, and Input commands must be entered before other commands. Once the input source has been specified, commands can be entered in any order.

Abbreviating

You may shorten the command name to any substring that uniquely defines the command. For example, Form can be abbreviated as FO or F, since there are no other commands that start with "F". Duplicate, however, can be abbreviated only to DU, since there is also a Define command in Suprtool.

>i sdfile {Input command}

>l {List command}

>x {Xeq command}

Uppercase or Lowercase

You can enter the letters in either uppercase or lowercase because Suprtool upshifts everything in the command line except literal strings within quotes (e.g., "abc"). These two commands are identical:

>EXTRACT QTY

>extract qty

Multiple Commands per Line

You can enter several commands on a single line, if you separate them with semicolons. An entire "task" can be placed on one input line.

>in old;out new;xeq

>get m-customer;if cust-status<>10,20,30;list;x

Caution: Suprtool cannot distinguish between several commands on one line and several commands entered on several lines. This is not a problem when using Suprtool in batch, as Suprtool stops executing when an error occurs. But when using Suprtool interactively, specifying multiple commands separated by a semicolon, Suprtool keeps on parsing the rest of the line after it finds an error. For example, if you misspell the "fldname" when you type the following,

>get dsetname; if fldname="value";del;out filename;xeq

Suprtool sends you an error message with the typo, but continues with the rest of the command line. This has the effect of deleting all the entries in the dataset. It is risky to type Xeq on the same command line as any other command unless:

1. You are not concerned with the consequences if you make a mistake (e.g., any "extract" task should be safe).

2. You don't make any mistakes.

The usual reason for putting all the commands on one line, including the Xeq, is to permit repetition of the task by using the Before command. It is not necessary to type everything on one line because with the Listredo command, Suprtool allows you to pick and choose any of your last 1000 commands.

Continuation

The maximum command that may be specified in the Info= parameter of the Run command is 80 characters.

The maximum physical command line is 256 characters. You may enter commands on multiple input lines by putting an "&" continuation character at the end of the line. The maximum total command length is 256 characters. The separating comma in commands is not optional. Should your If command exceed 256 characters, use the Table command, or $read.

>in sdfile

>if status="20" and & {continue the If command}

state="AZ","CA","OR" {select several states}

>output outfile

Comments on Command Lines

You may also use MPE's :COMMENT command to enter comment lines.

Comments may appear at the end of any command line, as long as they are surrounded by curly braces. Many of the examples in this manual show comments at the end of command lines. You can enter a comment as the only item in a Suprtool command line. When you enter continued command lines, the comment can appear before or after the continuation character:

>{The following task extracts all customer records for}

>{ the different customers we are interested in.}

>in customer {input self-describing file}

>if status = "10" or & {prepaid status}

status = "20" or & {current status}

status = "30" {arrears status}

>output outfile {output to a disc file}

>exit {execute the task and exit}

STREAMX

STREAMX is a product from VESOFT that permits you to build flexible job streams. STREAMX contains a complete programming language with loops, prompts, and parameter substitution. A problem arises when trying to enter comments into a Suprtool batch job that will be submitted with STREAMX. Suprtool uses the {...} pair to delimit comments. STREAMX uses these same characters for expressions. Similarly, Suprtool uses question marks as part of pattern-matching in the If command, and STREAMX uses question marks for questions.

You cannot change Suprtool's comment or pattern-matching characters, but you can change the expression and question characters in STREAMX. The following example changes the STREAMX expression characters from {...} to ~...~, and the question character from ? to `:

!job example,user.acct

::setquestion `

::setbraces ~~

::prompt date datevar = "Enter date to select: "

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base store {input database}

>get d-sales {and dataset}

>if deliv-date=~datevar~ & {STREAMX substitutes actual date}

>and product-code == "??X?3@"

>output mpefile

>exit

!tell ~hpjobname~,~hpuser~.~hpaccount~;Example done.

!eoj

MPE Commands

If Suprtool doesn't recognize the command you have entered, it tries to interpret it as an MPE command. Suprtool also interprets any command line beginning with a colon (:) as an MPE command. Only the commands that MPE allows in "break" are allowed in Suprtool/V. This feature can be used to establish :File commands for the input or output files, to :PURGE the output file to avoid a duplicate file name error, and to include :COMMENT lines. For example:

>:comment sort custfile by custnum

>input custfile

>key 1,10 {no colon on the next command}

>purge sortcust {make sure that no duplicate file error occurs}

>output sortcust

>exit

MPE/iX Commands

Suprtool/iX executes any MPE command (e.g., Run), UDCs, and command files. Caution: programs that suspend, instead of terminating, are not killed by the HPCICOMMAND intrinsic.

Calculator

Any command line beginning with an equal sign (=) is treated as a calculator expression. This feature can be used to compute blocking factors and do other calculations without the need of an electronic calculator. For help, type =?.

Control-Y Interrupt

You can interrupt a Suprtool task with the Control-Y key (hold down Control while striking Y). Suprtool responds by telling you how much work it has done (IN=,OUT=,etc.) and asks if you wish to stop. Hit the Return key to continue or type YES to stop the task. Even though you abort the task, your output file is saved (although it may be empty if you stop before the sort phase is over).

If you use Control-Y during a Put, Delete, or Update operation, the database locks are still in effect. Do not walk away from your terminal without answering YES or NO to the "stop" question. If you are Deleting records, you should continue the task unless you don't want the output file. With the output file, you can recover the records back into the dataset by using the Put command.

When you hit Control-Y, MPE must fix Suprtool's stack markers so that you resume where the interrupt occurred. With MPE V, we have received reports of invalid-stack-marker aborts in Suprtool, when using Control-Y while reading a dataset. This is probably because the stack-marker format changed in MPE V, and Control-Y has trouble finding the proper one when Suprtool is in Privileged Mode. There is not much you can do except to avoid Control-Y while reading a dataset.

Error Recovery

There are several errors that can occur during a Suprtool "task":

1. The output file fills up.

2. There are invalid packed-decimal or zoned-decimal digits in the input record.

3. There is a duplicate key when writing to a KSAM file.

4. An attempt is made to delete a master dataset entry which still has associated detail entries.

5. Suprtool tries to Put a record to a detail dataset that does not have an associated master entry.

6. An attempt is made to add a master dataset entry which already exists.

7. An attempt is made to delete a dataset record that has changed.

For errors 4 through 7:

If Set Ignore is Off (default), Suprtool prints an error message and stops processing the input file. For KSAM errors, the standard file information display is printed. For IMAGE errors, Suprtool prints whatever information is available on the record that caused the DBDELETE, DBPUT, or DBUPDATE error (when Set Dumponerror On).

The information from IMAGE errors may include the input record number, the output record number and the data values of the record. Suprtool uses the current options of the List command to print the data values. If no List command was specified, Suprtool uses the List defaults.

To only see a summary of IMAGE errors that occurred, turn Set Dumponerror Off. To continue processing, even when errors occur, turn Set Ignore On.

Add Command [AD]

The Add command currently is available only for Oracle access on HP-UX.

Base Command [BA]

Opens a specified database. Once you have it open, you can extract data from datasets, delete entries, load new entries into datasets, use the schema to define fields for MPE files (Input file = set), and do on-line Editing of the database (Edit allows add, change, delete, list, modify of individual fields and entries).

To access a remote DS database, specify the system name in the Base command. To access a remote NS database, use a :File command.

To close the current database, use Base without parameters.

BASE [system#]basename [,mode [,password] ]

(Default: system=logon, mode=1, password=Creator)

System is the DS name of a remote HP e3000 (optional). Basename is the name of your database. Mode is the DBOPEN mode that you want (i.e., mode-1 for shared updates, mode-5 for shared read-only), and password is the DBOPEN database password. When the password is included in the Base command, it is always upshifted. Use the ? option to specify lowercase passwords.

Suprtool opens the Base, which remains open until you do another Base command, a Reset Base, or a Reset All, even if you do several extracts from the database.

Examples

The first example shows a typical Suprtool task. A dataset in the Store database is read and a subset of the entries are sorted into a disc file:

>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}

>get d-sales {select an input dataset}

>if sales-total>10000 {choose a subset of all entries}

>sort cust-account {sort by account number}

>output salesout {output has same structure}

>exit { as the d-sales dataset}

Our next example opens the database with the Creator password (which is the default). No output file is produced; instead, we produce a formatted listing of the input dataset:

>base store {use the Creator password}

>form sets {you cannot remember the names}

>get d-inventory { of the datasets in Store}

>list {print the dataset fields formatted.}

>exit { no output file is created}

In session mode, this command would prompt for the database password. If none is entered, or Suprtool is not running interactively, the Creator password is used by default (;). Because the open mode was not specified, the database is opened in mode-1.

Database Passwords in Batch

In batch mode, it is necessary to specify a database password without the password being echoed on the job stream listing. A special database password is provided to allow for this. When a question mark "?" is used as the database password, Suprtool prompts for the password on the next physical input line without echoing. This occurs in batch mode or in session mode. For example:

>base store,5,? {Suprtool prompts for the password.}

Password > {Password is on this line, but it won't}

>get d-inventory {show on job stream listing or terminal.}

>exit

File Commands

You can use a :File command to re-direct a database name to another group and account in Suprtool. For example:

:run suprtool

>:file dbx=db23.data.test

>base dbx

>get cust-master

Because the remote database feature generates a :File command, you cannot combine these two features. If you specify a remote system in the Base command, the specified basename must be precise. Any existing :File command will have been overruled. When Suprtool closes a remote database, any :File command for the database is reset.

DS/3000 Database Access

Suppose that you wished to obtain the total of the ON-HAND-QTY and the UNIT-COST of the inventory in a remote DS-database. The following Suprtool example would obtain the totals:

>base newyork#store.data,5,READER {NEWYORK database}

>get d-inventory

>total on-hand-qty {produce a total of this field}

>total unit-cost {total this field too}

>exit {no output file is created}

You must have already done the necessary :DSLINE and :REMOTE HELLO commands. This is the only way to read from a remote database in Suprtool. You cannot use the "Remote Database Access" facility of IMAGE. Suprtool does a :File command for the base name before calling DBOPEN.

:file basename=basename; dev=system#disc.

NS/3000 Database Access

There are two restrictions to accessing a database on a remote NS-system:

1. You cannot use the system name of the Base command.

2. You cannot specify the NS/3000 node specification as part of the database name.

The only way to access a database on a remote NS-system is to use a :File command:

:dsline mrp.go.hp

:remote hello user.account,group

:file store=store:mrp.go.hp

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base store

>get m-customer

>output mcust

>xeq

Jumbo Datasets

Due to limitations in MPE/iX, Suprtool cannot open remote Jumbo datasets. Suprtool will fail with an error similar to that showed as below:

Error: Unable to open MPE file /ACCT/GROUP/DATASET.001

Privileged File Violation

When trying to access a database on a remote computer with Suprtool, the Get command may fail with the error "Privileged File Violation (FSERR 45)". This is the result of changes made to NS to improve security for remote file access. Apparently, some customers complained to HP that a program on the local system should not be permitted to FOPEN a privileged file (such as an IMAGE dataset) on a remote system unless the user on the remote system has PM capability.

There are three workarounds to this problem:

1. Set Privmode Off in the Suprtool task, before the Base command. This forces Suprtool to use slow DBGETs instead of fast NOBUF/MR access.

2. Log on to the remote system as a user with PM capability and proper read/write access to the database (such as Manager.Sys). Or run a program on the remote system such as GOD from VESOFT, granting the remote user the required capability and file access privileges.

3. Log on to the remote system as you have done in the past, but run Suprtool on the remote system instead of the local system. That is, run Suprtool on the same computer as the database resides, and direct the output file back to the local computer. An added advantage of this method is that only selected database records have to be passed across the NS connection.

For many tasks this improves performance dramatically. Suppose you want to select transactions for one month from a yearly history dataset. If Suprtool is run on the local system and the database resides on the remote system, then all the records in the dataset must be passed across the NS connection, just to have most of them rejected by Suprtool's selection criteria. On the other hand, if Suprtool is run on the same system as the database, then only the selected records have to be passed across the NS connection.

This is the solution that we recommend. If you do not have Suprtool on all your production systems, you can use one of the other workarounds, or call us for a right-to-copy license.

Open Modes

Base does not allow mode-7 for exclusive read access, but it does allow mode-4 for exclusive update while others read. Mode-4 disallows changes while you are extracting from the database. Mode-3 for fully exclusive access is tolerated, but causes Suprtool to use slow DBGETs to extract from datasets. Mode-3 should only be used when you need to do a Delete or Put command with Set Defer On.

Suprtool allows you to open a second database in the Put command when you are copying from one database to another.

Before Command [B]

Repeat any combination of the previous 1000 command lines, with or without editing.

BEFORE [ start [ / stop ] ]

[ string ]

[ ALL | @ ]

(Default: redo previous line)

(BQ=redo without change)

The Before command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them. If you don't need to change them, use BQ or Do.

The Before command uses Qedit-style Control characters for modifying the commands. The default mode is to replace characters. To delete use Control-D, and to insert use Control-B. If you prefer HP-style modify (D, R, I, and U), use the Redo command instead of Before.

Examples

>listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}

NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)

>Before {redo most recent command}

listf @.soruce {last command is printed}

our {you enter changes to it}

listf @.source {the edited command is shown}

{you press Return}

>listredo -10/

>before 5 {redo 5th command in stack}

>bef 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}

>b listf {redo last Listf command}

>b listf temp {redo "listf temp" command}

>b @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

>before -2 {redo command before previous one}

>before -5/-2 {redo by relative lines}

Modify Operators

If you wish to change any characters within the line, the modify operators are the regular Control Codes used in Qedit:

Characters	Action
Any printing characters	replace the ones above
Control-D plus spaces	deletes columns above.
Control-B	puts you into "insert before" mode.
Control-A	starts appending characters at the end of line.
Control-A, Control-D, plus spaces	deletes from the end.
Control-T	ends Insert Mode, allowing movement to a new column.
Control-G	recovers the original line.
Control-O	specifies "overwrite" mode (needed for spaces).

Persistent Redo

Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save your redo commands. Please see "Redo" on page 242 for details.

Chain Command [C]

Selects an IMAGE dataset and a search path as the input source for the next extract. Unlike the Get command, the Chain command reads records by using the standard IMAGE intrinsics. For detail datasets, the Chain command does a DBFIND on the specified search path and uses DBGET mode-5 to read the records. For master datasets, the Chain command uses DBGET mode-7. You must have read access to all fields in the dataset entry. Only one Chain, Get, or Input command is allowed per extract task.

CHAIN setname,search-field=value [,...]

CHAIN setname,search-field=table-name

When using Chain, the size of the output file defaults to the size of the Chain dataset. If the dataset is large and the selected subset is small, you should use the Numrecs command to reduce the size of the output file.

Selection by Individual Values

Suppose you want to find all the sales records for customer account "1234". Assuming that cust-account is a search field in the d-sales dataset, you would use this:

>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}

>chain d-sales,cust-account="1234" {read the sales records for customer 1234}

>out out1

>xeq

If you want to select sales records for more than one customer, you would use:

>chain d-sales,cust-account="12345","67890","39201"

>out out2

>xeq

Values with Decimal Places

You can specify values with decimal places for search fields with implied decimal places. For example,

>item unit-cost,decimal,2 {two implied decimal points}

>chain d-inventory,unit-cost=10,10.5,10.75

>out out3 {select records for 1000, 1050, and 1075}

>xeq

Selection with a Table

You can specify the records to read using a table. The Table command may appear before or after the Chain command. Use this option when you have a file of key values to search for:

>{select the sales records that match the values in custfile}

>chain d-sales,cust-account=sales-table

>table sales-table,cust-account,file,custfile

>out out4

>xeq

Combining Chain with If

The Chain command selects an input dataset and a set of key values to search for. To specify additional selection criteria, use the Chain command to specify the key values and the If command for the additional selection criteria:

>{select records for customer 1234 where the sales-qty is }

>{ greater than 100}

>chain d-sales,cust-account="1234"

>if sales-qty > 100

>out out5

>xeq

B-trees and Chain

The Chain command only takes advantage of B-trees if the BtreeMode1 setting is turned on at the root level. This setting means that all DBFIND mode-1 calls will utilize the B-tree.

You can turn BtreeMode1 on by doing the following:

:run dbutil.pub.sys

>>set BtreeMode1=on

The Chain command allows the partial key retrieval on X- and U- type items on the master dataset, and implicitly on any associated detail dataset. For example,

>base cd.db.data,5,reader

>chain a-songs,song-title="w@"

>list

>xeq

Warning: Using DBGET for the input records

>GET A-SONGS (289) >OUT $NULL (0)

SONG-TITLE = we only come out at night

>GET A-SONGS (56) >OUT $NULL (1)

SONG-TITLE = where boys fear to tread

IN=2, OUT=2. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

As previously mentioned, we can search a detail dataset by using the implicit B-tree or the search item that has a B-tree attached to the associated master.

>chain d-songs,song-title="w@"

>list

>xeq

Warning: Using DBGET for the input records

>GET D-SONGS (37) >OUT $NULL (0)

CD-NO = 2 CD-TITLE = Mellon Collie

ARTIST = Smashing Pumpkins SONG-NO = 10

SONG-TITLE = we only come out at night

>GET D-SONGS (28) >OUT $NULL (1)

CD-NO = 2 CD-TITLE = Mellon Collie

ARTIST = Smashing Pumpkins SONG-NO = 1

SONG-TITLE = where boys fear to tread

IN=2, OUT=2. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

Third-Party Indexing

If MPE/iX third-party indexing is enabled, the Chain command takes advantage of third-party indexes in the specified dataset. The search-field parameter can be any IMAGE index or any third-party index. Only X- and U-type fields are supported. Use the Form command to see which index fields Chain will accept. The value you specify is still restricted to the maximum length of the search-field. The following example uses a third-party index to only match customer entries where the last name starts with the letter "A":

>chain m-customer,name-last="A@"

>list standard

>xeq

Notes

The Chain command is intended to replace a Get and If combination where the primary selection is by key value. In many cases, it is still faster to use the Get command to read the entire dataset than it is to use the Chain command to use search-paths or third-party indexes. Use Set Stat On to compare the performance of the Chain and Get commands.

The dataset search field cannot be a R-type item.

The Chain command always reads the chain values in sorted order by ascending search-value. You do not need to specify a Sort command to have the output file sorted by the search field.

Clean Command [CL]

Specifies what characters to clean when using the $Clean function.

CLEAN [ SPECIAL | <string> <range> ]

(Default: None)

Suprtool will "clean" or replace all of the characters specified in the Clean command from a byte type field when invoked by the $Clean function. To define what characters that need to be replaced you use the clean command with the character you want to clean in quotes. Since most of the characters that you will need to clean are unprintable, you can enter the decimal equivalent of the character. This is denoted by entering the "^" character in quotes preceding the decimal number of the character you wish to clean.

An example of how easy it would be to clean your database of certain "bad" characters in byte-type fields would be as follows:

>base mydb,1,;

>get customer

>clean "^9","^10","^0","^7"

>update

>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))

>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))

>xeq

The SPECIAL keyword automatically defines Clean characters of Decimal 0 thru to Decimal 31.

>base mydb,1,;

>get customer

>clean special

>update

>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))

>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))

>xeq

You can also specify a range of characters with the following syntax:

>base mydb,1,;

>get customer

>clean special,"^128:^255"

>update

>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))

>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))

>xeq

The above task would clean all byte type fields of any characters from Decimal 0 (Null) to Decimal 31 plus Decimal 128 to Decimal 255.

Removing Bad Characters

You can have the Clean function clean the field, and instead of replacing with a space, the $clean function will essentially shift characters to the left by Setting the CleanChar in the following manner:

>Set Cleanchar “<null>”

Suprtool will pad the field that was cleaned with the appropriate amount of characters with a space at the end of the field.

Define Command [D]

Defines fields that can be used in the Duplicate, Extract, If, Item, Sort, Table, and Total commands. With Define, you can do selection on ordinary data files using the same kind of readable "expression" that you use with databases. You can also access data fields that are not actually structured as defined in the database (e.g., implicit subfields within an IMAGE field).

DEFINE field, definition

field is an identifier up to 32 characters long, must begin with a letter, and can consist of letters A through Z, digits 0 through 9, or the following symbols:

+ - * / ? # % & @ _ '

In the case where the field name is written to a self-describing file, only the first 16 characters are used.

definition can be in two different forms: absolute or relative.

Absolute Definitions

DEFINE field, byteposition,sublen [,type] [,subcount]

(Default: type=BYTE, subcount=1)

The byteposition is a positive integer giving the byte index where the field starts. The first byte is always number 1, not 0. The sublen is the number of bytes in the field. When the subcount is 1 (default), the sublen is the total number of bytes in the field. When you specify a subcount, the sublen is the byte-length of each subfield.

See Data-Types below for the definition of type.

>input discfile {input from a disc file}

>def qty,14,4,double {double integer (PIC S9(9) COMP)}

>def name,5,6 {character string of 6 bytes}

>sort name {sort using the field "name"}

>total qty {total all the values of the field "qty"}

>exit

Relative Definitions

DEFINE field, fieldname [ (subscript) ] [ [offset] ] [,sublen] [,type]

[,subcount]

(Default: sublen/type=same as fieldname)

The fieldname is an IMAGE field from the dataset specified in Chain, Get, or Input=dataset, or a field from a self-describing file, or another Defined field. Relative definitions are similar to COBOL's Redefine verb.

The sublen and type are optional. They default to the total byte length and type of the fieldname. The (subscript) parameter is an optional sub-item index for arrays such as IMAGE compound items like 5J2 or 4X20. The first sub-item is number 1, and if no subscript is provided, Suprtool uses the first sub-item. The [offset] parameter is optional and specifies a byte offset from the position that would otherwise be used. This allows you to define fields relative to other fields. The [offset] starts at 1 and not at 0 (i.e., FIELD[1] is the first byte of the field).

To define a field that corresponds to the second street-address of m-customer, you would use:

>get m-customer

>define city,street-address(2)

>if city="Vancouver"

>list

>xeq

Data-Types

Here are the valid types:

Type	Description
BYTE	printable ASCII characters
INT/INTEGER	two's complement
DOUBLE	two's complement
REAL	Classic floating-point
LONG	Classic floating-point
IEEE	IEEE floating-point
PACKED	packed-decimal
PACKED*	packed-decimal, last nibble unused
DISPLAY	zoned-decimal numeric field
LOGICAL	unsigned integer
CHARACTER	for Native Language Support

For compatibility with Sort.Pub.Sys, the Define command also accepts Fpoint as the data-type for IEEE numbers.

The following table shows the Suprtool definitions for the IMAGE data-types:

IMAGE Type	Number of Bytes	COBOL Declaration	SUPRTOOL Definition
I1	2	S9(4) COMP	>define a,1,2,integer
I2	4	S9(9) COMP	>define a,1,4,double
I4	8	S9(18) COMP	>define a,1,8,integer
J1	2	S9(4) COMP	>define a,1,2,integer
J2	4	S9(9) COMP	>define a,1,4,double
J4	8	S9(18) COMP	>define a,1,8,integer
Un	n	A(n)	>define a,1,n,byte
Xn	n	X(n)	>define a,1,n,byte
Zn	n	9(n)	>define a,1,n,display
Pn	n/2	S9(n-1) COMP-3	>define a,1,n/2,packed
K1	2		>define a,1,2,logical
K2	4		>define a,1,4,logical
R2	4		>define a,1,4,real
R4	8		>define a,1,8,long
E2	4		>define a,1,4,ieee
E4	8		>define a,1,8,ieee

Data-type Display may have a trailing overpunch sign.

Packed-Decimal Fields

When defining packed-decimal fields, you must convert the number of decimal digits into a byte count. The last digit of a decimal field is always used for the sign. There are two data-types for decimal fields: PACKED for those that end on a byte boundary and PACKED* for those that end in the middle of a byte. Here are some example definitions of packed-decimal fields:

Suprtool Definition	Description
>define m,1,2,packed	s9(3) COMP-3, P4 in IMAGE, 2 bytes, 4 nibbles, last is sign digit
>define n,1,2,packed*	s9(2) COMP-3, P4 in IMAGE, 2 bytes, 4 nibbles, last digit is unused
>define p,1,6,packed	s9(11) COMP-3, P12 in IMAGE, 6 bytes, 3 words, 11 digits

Data-Type Warning

The Define command accepts field definitions of any combination of byte-length and data-type. However, many combinations have limited usefulness in Suprtool. In these cases, Suprtool prints a warning. For example:

>def field,1,1,integer

Warning: Length of 1 is of limited use for the data-type INTEGER

Examples

The following examples show the various data-types and combinations that are available with the Define command:

>define a,11,4,double {J2 or I2, S9(9) COMP}

>define b,21,2,int {J1 or I1, S9(4) COMP}

>define c,3,4,real {R2, Classic floating-point}

>define d,5,8,long {R4, Classic floating-point}

>define e,21,8 {character string}

>define f,address(5) {fifth occurrence of address}

>define g,address(5)[3],4 {relative offset}

>define h,address(5)[4],2,byte {middle of the address}

>define i,x[6],4 {starts at sixth byte of X}

>define j,invoice,6,byte {redefine field as Byte}

Absolute Example

The following example shows the most basic use of the Define command to create a new field definition at an absolute location in the input record.

{"amt" is an integer that starts at the 11th byte of file}

>def amt,11,2,int

>if amt > 1000 {"amt" is now a field we can select on}

>output outfile

Absolute Example with Subcount

IMAGE and Suprtool allow fields to be repeated. In the next example, we define an amount field that repeats twelve times (e.g., once for each month of the year). We use a subscript when we want to refer to a specific month.

>def amt,11,2,int,12 {"amt" is an integer that repeats 12 times}

>if amt(5) > 1000 {we select on the 5th subfield}

>output outfile

Relative Examples

Use the simplest form of relative definitions to rename existing fields.

>def quantity,qty {"quantity" is a more readable name}

>if quantity = "100 " {selection on the new field}

The Define command copies the byteposition, sublength, and type to the new field, but it does not copy the subcount. Define assumes that you want the first subfield:

>def amount,amt {amt is 12J2}

>if amount > 1000 {amount is 1J2 and is the same as amt(1)}

Relative Example with Subcount

Because Suprtool defaults the subcount to one, you might want to specify an explicit subcount when giving a new name to an existing field.

>def amount,amt,,,12 {amt is 12J2; same length and type}

>if amount(5) > 1000 {amount is 12J2; we are selecting for May}

Relative Example with Subscript

Use subscripts to define a new field that corresponds to a specific subfield.

>def may,amt(5) {amt is 12J2}

>if may > 1000 {may is the fifth subfield}

Relative Example with Offset

Many applications define subfields within a larger character field. A common example is a part-number where the first four digits are the warehouse location, the second four digits are the bin number, and the last four digits are a serially assigned number. Use the offset parameter to define new fields that are relative to the start of the part number. The file INVOICES is a self-describing file.

>in invoices {part is 12 bytes}

>def warehouse,part,4 {warehouse starts at part}

>def bin,part[5],4 {bin is second four bytes}

>def release,part[9],4 {release is the last four bytes}

>if bin = "100" {use any field for selection}

Note that redefining the digits of a larger numeric field only works when the field is a character field (type X, U, or A).

Relative Example Combining Subscripts and Offsets

If we have ten part numbers combined into one field (e.g., 10X12) we can still define a single field that corresponds to the bin number of one of the parts.

>in invoices {allparts is 10X12}

>def bin3,allparts(3)[5],4 {we are checking starting at the fifth byte …}

>if bin3 = "100" {… of the third part}

Notes

The purpose of the Define command is to tell Suprtool to look at a portion of the input record in a certain way. For example, if the record contains ASCII digits in the first ten bytes, Define could be used to assign a field definition to the first six bytes. In this case, the field must be defined as data-type Byte, Char or Display.

The Extract command may be used for data conversion. See the Data Conversion section of the Extract command for details.

The Define command cannot be used to convert data from one format to another. Using the same example, the Define command could not be used to treat the first six digits of the ten digit ASCII field as Integer, Packed, Real, or any other numeric data format. If the input record contains ASCII digits, Define cannot change them to another data-type.

It may be helpful to think of the Suprtool Define command as similar to a COBOL REDEFINES clause, or a FORTRAN EQUIVALENCE statement.

Delete Command [DEL]

Deletes all entries selected from the input dataset.

DELETE

Delete has no parameters, and can be entered only after the source of input records has been specified using Get or Chain. Delete causes Suprtool to "delete" the input records after they have been read, either all of the input records, or a subset defined by the If command. Delete is not supported for KSAM and MPE files, only for IMAGE datasets.

Examples

>:comment Delete and sort old transactions, write to file.

>base store,1,writer {open for write access}

>get d-sales {dataset to delete from}

>if purch-date<980101 {select which records to delete}

>delete {ask for deletion}

>sort cust-account {sort by account and sort}

>sort purch-date { by date}

>output oldsales {output file with deleted and sorted records}

>exit

Losing Records

Delete can be combined with other operations, such as select, sort, write to output file, and even a Put to another dataset. Care must be used when combining operations, because such combinations cannot be restarted if the Suprtool "run" is aborted for any reason (including hitting Control-Y and answering "yes"). See "Suprtool and IMAGE" on page 53 for more details on using the Delete and Put commands in combination.

Suprtool deletes records during the input phase. This means that records are deleted before they are sorted. All of the selected input records are deleted before the first output record is written when sorting the input. If you press Control-Y and answer "yes" before a delete task has completed, there may be no way to recover your deleted records.

Improving Performance of Delete with Deferred Output

Suprtool uses the standard Image intrinsic DBDelete to remove entries from a dataset. This makes tasks with a Delete operation slower than the standard MR/NOBUF extracts, but insures structural integrity of the database and that any Third-Party Indexes are kept in sync.

You can reduce the time needed to Delete dataset entries by enabling deferred output for the database. If you open the database in mode-3 (exclusive) and Set Defer On, Suprtool calls DBCONTROL to defer posting of IMAGE writes to disc. The database creator can enable deferred output processing for all users of a database with DBUTIL (enable base for autodefer).

Deferred output can make deletes (and puts) faster, but if the system crashes (i.e., you have a system failure or a nonrecoverable power failure) while you are using deferred output, you must RESTORE your database from tape. You do not have to restore the database if Suprtool stops because of an error or if you abort Suprtool (i.e., break/abort or :abortjob) while deferred output mode is being used.

Omnidex

If you are deleting from a dataset with Omnidex keys, you must have MPE/iX third-party indexing (TPI) enabled in your database, or you must run Suprtool with Omnidex's call conversion facility. To run with call conversion you must run Suprtool with special parameters.

For Omnidex version 3.0.00 and greater:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;xl="xl.pub.disc"

For Omnidex version 2.05.03 to 2.09:

:run suprtool.cc.disc;lib=g

Warning Message

When deleting records from the input dataset, Suprtool asks for permission to delete all records if there is no If command to select the records to be deleted:

Delete all records from the D-SALES dataset [no]:

Respond Yes for the task to continue.

In batch mode, Suprtool assumes Yes and keep processing.

Note that if there is no If command, but there is some other command to limit the number of records deleted (e.g., the Numrecs command or a record-range on the Get command), Suprtool still asks the question, implying that all records in the dataset will be deleted. In these cases, only the records that are read, based on the limiting factor, will be deleted.

For interactive approval of each deletion, see the #Delete command of Dbedit.

Notes

For IMAGE manual master datasets, a DBDELETE call fails if the entry to be deleted is a "chain-head" with related detail entries still linked to it. When this happens, Suprtool, by default, prints an error and stops processing the input data. If Set Dumponerror On, the record is printed on $stdlist. If Set Ignore On has been entered, Suprtool continues processing and prints a count of "chain-heads" at the end. Records that cannot be deleted are not included in the output file.

Do Command [DO]

The Do command repeats (without changes) any of the previous 1000 commands.

DO [ start [ / stop ] ]

[ string ]

[ ALL | @ ]

(Default: repeat the previous command)

Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 of them are retained. Use the Listredo command to display the previous commands. You can repeat a single command (do 5), a range of commands (do 5/10) or the most recent command whose name matches a string (do list). If you want to modify the commands before executing them, use Redo or Before.

Examples

>listredo {see the previous 20 commands}

>do {do previous command again}

>do 39 {do command line 39 again}

>do 5/8 {do command lines 5 to 8 again}

>do list {do most recent List command}

>do show {do last starting with "show"}

>do showjob job {do last "showjob job" command}

>do @job {do last containing "job"}

>do -2 {do command before previous one}

>do -7/-5 {do by relative line number}

>do 5/ {do command lines 5 to "last"}

Notes

The Do command can be abbreviated to ,., as in MPEX . You cannot use ";" to combine commands on the same line.

Duplicate Command [DU]

By default, Suprtool copies all selected input records to the output file. The Duplicate command determines what to do with duplicate output records. Duplicate records can be discarded, producing an output file without duplicates. Alternatively, you may be interested in seeing the duplicate records, so you can create an output file consisting solely of the duplicate records. When deciding whether an output record is a duplicate, Suprtool either compares the keys only or the entire output record.

DUPLICATE NONE | ONLY

RECORD | KEYS [num]

[ COUNT ] [ TOTAL ... ]

None

The None option removes duplicate records from the output file. Suprtool compares each output record with the previous output record. If they are not the same, the record is added to the output file. This option corresponds to the former Nodup and Nodupkey options of the Output command.

>key 1,4

>duplicate none keys

Input Output

1111 10 1111 10

2222 25 2222 25

2222 35 3333 48

3333 48

Only

The Only option is the exact opposite of None. Only selects all output records that would not be written by the None option. When the Only option finds a record that duplicates a record already in the set, it writes that duplicate to the output file. Note that the first record is not written to the output file. Here are two examples:

>key 1,4

>duplicate only keys

Input Output Input Output

1111 10 2222 35 1111 10 2222 35

2222 25 2222 25 2222 42

2222 35 2222 35

3333 48 2222 42

Record

Suprtool has two methods for comparing output records: Record and Keys. The Record option compares the entire output record. This option can be specified without a sort, but in that case the input file must already be sorted. Note that there are two data fields in the records in the following example, so that a comparison of the entire record yields no duplicates.

>duplicate none record

Input Output

1111 10 1111 10

2222 25 2222 25

2222 35 2222 35

3333 48 3333 48

Keys

The Keys option compares only the sort keys to determine whether an output record is a duplicate. This option requires that at least one sort key be specified.

>sort agent {sort by agent}

>duplicate none keys

>output agents {create roster of agents}

The Keys Num option determines the level at which Suprtool compares sort keys. This option controls which duplicate records get included in (or excluded from) the output file.

In the following example we sort by agent and by bill-date (in descending order), but only check for duplicates at the agent level.

>sort agent {sort by agent}

>sort bill-date,desc {sort by date}

>duplicate none keys 1 {only check for duplicate agents}

>output agents {create roster of agents}

Count

The Count option causes Suprtool to produce a new field in the output record with the number of occurrences of each key value. The count field is called st-count, and is an I2-type field. The Count option can only be used with Duplicate None Keys.

>key 1,4

>duplicate none keys count

Input Output

1111 10 1111 10 1

2222 25 2222 25 2 {two records for key value 2222}

2222 35 3333 48 1

3333 48

Total

The Total option allows up to 15 fields to be subtotaled for each duplicate key. Separate the fields with spaces, not commas. The Total option can only be used with Duplicate None Keys. A new field is created at the end of the output record for each total. Each field is called st-total-n:

>sort customer-no

>extract customer-no

>duplicate none keys total sales-qty sales-amt

The above commands will create a self-describing file with the field customer-no and the total by each customer of the sales-qty in the field st-total-1. Similarly the field st-total-2 will contain the total sales-amt by customer number.

The following data-types are chosen for each total based on the data-type of the field:

Data-Type	Total Data-Type
Real	R4
IEEE	E4
all others	P28

Please see the P28 Fields section on how to define these fields in Cobol and PowerHouse programs.

Note that for byte fields, there can be only digits in the field. If there are other characters such as "+", "-", or ".", then Suprtool reports an error.

You can use the Link output option to easily see the fields that Suprtool creates. For repeated fields (e.g., 6I2), the first subfield is subtotaled if you don't provide a subscript. You can combine the Count and Total options, but the Count option must appear before the Total option. You cannot combine the Total command with the Total option of the Duplicate command.

>key 1,4

>def field,5,2,integer

>duplicate none keys total field

Input Output

1111 10 1111 1 10

2222 25 2222 2 60 {25 + 35 = 60}

2222 35 3333 4 48

3333 48

Deleting Duplicate Records

There is no direct way to delete duplicate records. Specifying both the Delete and Duplicate commands does not delete all duplicate output records. This is because the Delete command occurs in the input phase, as records are read and selected, but the Duplicate command occurs in the output phase after the sort has taken place. The Duplicate command is not part of the selection process; it is the If command that determines what records are deleted. A common mistake is to specify the Duplicate and Delete commands without an If command. In this case, Suprtool asks your permission to delete all input records. Answer "No" to this question to abort the task.

It may be possible to remove duplicates from an input dataset using Suprtool, but only through roundabout methods. These are too case-specific to document here. If you need to do this, call Robelle technical support for assistance.

Self-Describing Files

When you are using the Count or Total options, the sort information is not retained in the output file. This means that if your output file is in LINK format, there are no sort keys. If you are going to use this file from Suprlink, use the BY-clause of the LINK command to manually specify the sort keys.

Non-Self-Describing Files

If the input file is not a self-describing file and you are using Count or Total, you also need to extract all the fields from the file. You can quickly extract the fields by defining a new field that contains the entire record. For example, if your records are 56 bytes long, then you do the following to extract all the fields:

>define entire,1,56,byte

>extract entire

Output Restrictions

When you are using the Count and Total options, the only Output formats that you can use are Data, Data-Num, Query, and Link. If you want to quickly see the Count or Total results without using a second pass, use the List Standard command.

>get dataset

>sort key-field

>duplicate none keys count total data-field

>output result,link

>list standard

>xeq

P28 fields in COBOL and PowerHouse

Some versions of COBOL do not allow a field greater than 18 digits. To use the P28 field, you must define the first five bytes of the field as filler. For example,

05 ST-TOTAL01.

10 FILLER PIC X(05).

10 TOTAL-1 PIC S9(17) COMP-3.

PowerHouse users should define this field as follows:

Define Total packed size 14

Notes

The option of Only or None must be specified before the option of Record or Keys. Reversing the order causes a syntax error in the Duplicate command.

You cannot combine the Total command with the Total option of the Duplicate command.

It is important to note that if the field being sorted is the result of a $function, then you may not be sorting on the value of the field after the function has transformed the field. For example the following task may not give you the result you expect:

>base store,5

>get d-sales

>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte

>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"

>sort cust-accountx {sorting on transformed field before it has value from function}

>dup none keys

>output dsales

>exit

In this instance you will not be sorting on cust-accountx as transformed by the $edit function, but rather the first six bytes of d-sales. Therefore it is important to note when you are using extract to transform a field, you will not be sorting on that transformed value.

Therefore the way to do the transformation would be to either divide into two tasks or if you can logically sort on the field before the transformation in order to achieve the result, so the task could be:

>base store,5

>get d-sales

>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte

>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"

>sort cust-account {Note sorting on source field}

>dup none keys

>output dsales

>exit

or if two tasks are necessary:

>base store,5

>get d-sales

>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte

>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"

>output tempsales

>xeq

>in tempsales

>sort cust-acctx

>dup none keys

>output dsales

>exit

Edit Command [ED]

Edits an IMAGE/3000 database.

EDIT

The Edit command of Suprtool invokes an independent module of Suprtool called Dbedit. This module permits the user to add, change, list, or delete individual records or "chains" of records from an IMAGE database. This module should be useful for debugging systems, doing data entry on simple systems, and quickly prototyping systems. The Edit command uses the database opened previously by the Base command. Where Suprtool is primarily a serial tool, the Edit module is primarily a tool for chained or keyed access.

Examples

>:comment Edit the STORE database.

>base store,1,writer {open for write access}

>edit {switch to Dbedit}

#list d-inventory {Dbedit prompts with "#"}

#exit {returns control to Suprtool}

> {Suprtool prompts again}

Notes

An entire user manual has been provided to describe how to use the Edit feature of Suprtool. See the Dbedit section in the manual for all the details.

Exit Command [E]

Exit Suprtool in one of three ways: quit immediately, suspend entry of commands, or execute the current task then quit.

EXIT [ ABORT | SUSPEND | XEQ ]

(Default: XEQ)

Users are often frustrated when they exit Suprtool after specifying only part of a task because Suprtool starts processing the task. To exit Suprtool without executing the current task, use the Abort or Suspend options.

Typing Exit with no parameters means Exit Xeq. Suprtool recognizes special command names which specify both the Exit command and an exit option (e.g., ES means Exit SUSPEND).

Exit Abort [EA]

Cancels the current operation and terminates Suprtool. The Exit command without parameters always attempts to perform the task currently specified, while Exit Abort cancels the task and terminates immediately. Thus, Exit Abort is similar to Reset All;Exit with these differences: should Suprtool be executed as a son process, Exit only suspends Suprtool, while Exit Abort actually terminates Suprtool. If you use Exit Abort to terminate Suprtool in a batch job, the MPE Job Control Word is set to a fatal value which normally flushes the remainder of the batch job. In batch, use Exit Suspend instead to quit immediately without setting the JCW to fatal.

Examples

You began to specify a sort, stopped for coffee, and decided to cancel the task on your return:

>base store

>get m-customer

>sort name-last; sort name-first

... coffee break ...

>exit abort {cancel the sort and terminate}

End Of Program

Exit Suspend [ES]

When running Suprtool as a son process (e.g., from Qedit), it would be nice to suspend Suprtool without executing the current task. Exit SUSPEND does this. After returning to Suprtool, all specifications for the current task are still in effect.

Examples

:run qedit.pub.robelle

/:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base store.data

>get d-sales {select input}

>sort purch-date {start specifying options}

>exit suspend {return to Qedit without doing Xeq}

SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y

/...

/:activate suprtool

SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE

>if sales-total>100000 {continue specifications}

>output bigtrans

>xeq {execute the current task}

Exit Xeq [EX]

Signal the end of command input and the start of an extract operation. After the Suprtool task completes, Suprtool either terminates, or suspends and awakens a father process (i.e., :RUN from within Qedit). Exit Xeq is the default option (i.e., specifying Exit starts execution of the current task).

Examples

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>exit {no input was specified}

No action taken.

End Of Program

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>input rep23.newprog

>out rep23.program

>xeq {copy one file}

>input rep24.newprog

>out rep24.program

>exit {copy and stop}

Notes on Exit Xeq

If you have entered neither sort keys nor an input source, Exit terminates Suprtool without performing any task. If you have defined an input source but without any sort keys, Suprtool does a copy operation prior to stopping. If you have entered only sort keys and have not defined an input source, Suprtool does a sort from a file named Input to a file named Output; Suprtool assumes you have defined Input and Output using :File commands.

Export Command [EXP]

Send commands to STExport.

EXPORT [ STExport-command ]

Switching into STExport

If you enter Export without parameters, Suprtool executes Stexport.Pub.Robelle. STExport then prompts you for commands, just as it does when you run STExport from MPE. When you exit STExport, you are returned to Suprtool.

>export {invoke STExport}

STExport/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1995-2001

$input sdfile

$columns fixed {STExport prompts for commands}

$output pcfile

$exit {do task and return to Suprtool}

Passing Commands to STExport

You can send commands directly to STExport by specifying the STExport command as part of the Suprtool Export command. STExport executes the command and returns to Suprtool.

>export input sdfile

>export columns fixed {send "columns fixed" to STExport}

>export output pcfile

>export exit {exit from STExport, not Suprtool}

Notes

You can use the Suprtool2 interface and the Export command to "call" STExport. See the Suprcall User Manual for a complete example of how to use the interface to pass commands to STExport.

Extract Command [EXT]

Assembles output records by stringing together fields extracted from input records. There can be up to 255 extracted fields, and the same field may be extracted more than once. Constant values may be used instead of the value of the field from the Input record.

EXTRACT field [(subscript)] [=value |=field2 ] [,...]

EXTRACT field1 [(subscript1)] \ field2 [(subscript2)]

EXTRACT target-field [=expression]

(Default: subscript=entire field)

Field Parameter

Each extracted field must be an IMAGE field name, an Allbase column, a field in an SD file, or a Defined field. If the field requires an Item definition, then the Item command must precede the Extract command. Extract specifies a rearrangement of the Input data fields to produce the Output data record; there is no data conversion, unless "output xxx, ascii" is specified.

The subscript parameter is valid only for compound items. The total item is extracted if it is compound and no subscript is specified.

>extract account {extract the key value and}

>extract rating { one other field}

>output out1 {output file has two fields}

Cumulative Extracts

The Extract command is cumulative. If two Extracts are specified in one run, all fields of the two Extract commands are used.

>extract status,balance,account,purchased

is equivalent to

>extract status,balance

>extract account,purchased

Constants

Extracting Constants

The value part of the Extract command is used to place a constant in each record of the output file. In this case, the field defines the type and length that the value occupies. The value portion must match the type of the field. String values will be extended with blanks to fill the entire field. If the input data does not have a field of the correct size and type, you can create one using the Define command.

>ext account {key value}

>ext rating=0 {place the value "0" in the "rating" field}

>output out2

The total number of bytes that you can extract for all constants is 5,100 bytes for MPE/iX and HP-UX, and 1,275 bytes for MPE/V.

Packed and Display Constants

When extracting non-negative packed and display constants, Suprtool extracts them as unsigned unless you use a leading plus sign. For the value zero, you can use a leading plus or minus sign to get a positive or negative 0.

>def field,1,6,packed

>ext field = 1 {unsigned 1}

>ext field = +1 {signed 1}

>ext field = +0 {positive 0}

>ext field = 0 {unsigned 0}

>ext field = -0 {negative 0}

Decimal Places

If a field has implied decimal places, Suprtool scales the input values according to the number of decimal places. For example,

>item tax ,decimal,2 {two implied decimal pts.}

>item total,decimal,2 {same}

>extract tax = 1.02 {specified decimal pts.}

>extract total = 100 {value stored as 10000}

>output out3

Blank Fill

If you want to create an output record that consists of fifty blanks followed by the customer name, use:

>define filler,1,50

>ext filler=" "

>ext name

String Constants

You can specify a string constant without referring to a field. For example, to leave a space between fields, you must do the following:

>extract account," ",rating

>output *,ascii

Suprtool uses the length of the string to determine the size of the field. The following example extracts the same fields as the previous example, but each output record identifies the field:

>extract "Customer Account=",account," "

>extract "Credit Rating=",rating

>output *,ascii

The output would look like:

Customer Account=04598921 Credit Rating= 5000

Customer Account=44657844 Credit Rating= 20000

Customer Account=98753198 Credit Rating= 3000

The spaces after "Credit Rating=", before the rating value, is due to the numeric field Rating being extracted with blanks for its leading zeros. This is the result of the Ascii option of the Output command.

Repeated Fields

If the field is an IMAGE repeated field (e.g., 10J1), the Extract command places the value in each of the repeated fields when you do not specify the subscript. If you specify a subscript, only that one repeated field will have the new constant value.

In this example, Address is a repeated field (2X20). We wish to extract the data as it exists in the input record rather than forcing it to a constant value.

>ext account {extract key value}

>ext address {take both of the repeated fields}

In the next example, we assume that the Balance field is a repeated field (12J2). We wish to make each of the 12 repeated fields in the output record equal to 100:

>extract name

>extract balance=100

If we only wanted to extract the sixth field of BALANCE and set it to 100 we would do the following:

>extract name

>extract balance(6)=100

Character Constants

Use the ^-character to specify any ASCII character. The number (the actual ASCII value), or letter (^A means control A), must follow immediately after the ^-character. Suprtool treats character constants as strings. When you extract the constant to a field longer than one byte, Suprtool pads it with spaces.

>define field,1,1 {byte field}

>ext field = ^0 {binary zero}

>ext field = ^G {Control-G (bell)}

>ext field = ^27 {escape}

>ext field = ^252 {Roman-8 box}

>ext field = ^186 {Euro currency symbol €}

You can also extract the constant directly without referring to a defined field. This always produces a one-byte constant with no blank padding.

>ext ^0 {binary zero}

>ext ^13,^10 {Carriage Return, Line Feed}

>ext ^M,^J {CR, LF again}

>ext ^27,"&dB" {escape sequence}

Dates

Extracting Today's Date

To extract today's date, use the following:

>item field,date,ccyymmdd {identify date format of field}

>extract field=$today {today's date}

>extract field=$today(-1) {yesterday's date}

>extract field=$today(+1) {tomorrow's date}

Use the Item command to qualify the field as a date. Suprtool uses the date format to determine the output format of the date. The $today function accepts one optional argument which is the number of days before or after today. The maximum number of days in either direction is 9999.

Oracle dates include both the date and the time. If you extract an Oracle date using $today, the time is always 00:00 (i.e., midnight).

Extracting Relative Dates

The Extract command provides the same relative date features as the If command (see "Date Selection" on page 178 for a complete description of the options of $date). You must first use the Item command to identify the field name as a date. Suprtool uses the field type and length along with the date format to determine the output format of the date. Note that the three parts of $DATE are always specified in (year/month/day) order, regardless of the date format of the field.

>item field,date,mmddyy

>extract field=$date(*/*/*) {today's date}

>extract field=$date(*/*-1/01) {start of last month}

>extract field=$date(*/*-1/last) {end of last month}

Oracle dates include both the date and the time. If you extract an Oracle date using $date, the time is always 00:00 (i.e., midnight).

$Stddate

Similar to the If command, the Extract command is also capable of utilizing the $stddate function. This will allow for conversion of any of the supported Suprtool date formats to be converted to a date in the ccyymmdd date format in a double integer container.

For example,

>get sales-detail

>def new-ship-date,1,4,double

>item ship-date,date,mmddyyyy

>ext order-no / sales-amount

>ext new-ship-date = $stddate(ship-date)

>out salesinfo,link

>xeq

Invalid Dates

Because the $stddate must have a valid date in order to properly convert the date to the ccyymmdd format, a value of 0 will be returned for any invalid dates. An invalid date is any number of a particular date format whose date equivalent cannot be found on the calendar.

This means that if you attempt to extract use the $stddate function against a value that is not a valid date then the extracted value will be 0.

$Days

As with the $stddate function, the $days function is also available to the Extract command. You can convert any supported date to a Julian Day number in the following manner:

>in ordfile

>def ship-days,1,4,double

>def order-days,1,4,double

>def delay,1,4,double

>ext order-no

>ext ship-days=$days(ship-date)

>ext order-days=$days(order-date)

>ext delay=$days(ship-date)-$days(order-date)

>out neword,link

>xeq

IN=15, OUT=15. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

Invalid Dates

If an invalid date is encountered, the extracted value will be zero. Therefore in the example above, if the order has not yet been shipped (ship-date does not contain a valid date) the resulting delay value will be negative.

Add and Subtract Dates

With the $days function, you can generate a date that is n days before or after any date. In the following example, we show you how to get the previous day's date.

>input YOURFILE

>def origdate,1,8

>def yesterday,1,8

>item origdate,date,yyyymmdd

>item newdate,date,yyyymmdd

>ext origdate

>ext yesterday = $stddate($days(origdate) – 1) {or +7 for next week}

>out tmpfile,link

>xeq

Sample output:

ORIGDATE YESTERDAY

19990101 19981231

19991231 19991230

19990301 19990228

Date Limits

The $date function in Suprtool can generate dates between the years 1583 and 2583. Some date formats have limits based on their particular format, such as 2027 for a Calendar date and 2259 for the aammdd aamm, mmddaa, ddmmaa dates.

Range of Fields

Extracting a Range of Fields

You can specify a range of fields to extract using the following:

Extract Field1 \ Field4

This feature only works with IMAGE fields, input files "equated" to an IMAGE dataset and for self-describing files. If you specify a range, Suprtool extracts all 4 of the field names between field1 and field4 inclusive. When specifying a range of a self-describing file that has been equated to an IMAGE dataset, the IMAGE dataset definition takes precedence.

>get d-sales {input is from a dataset}

>ext product-no\sales-qty

>out dsales

>xeq

is exactly the same as:

>get d-sales {input is from a dataset}

>ext product-no {first field in the range}

>ext product-price

>ext purch-date

>ext sales-qty {last field in the range}

>out dsales

>xeq

Extracting a Range of Subscripted Fields

Suprtool accepts a subscript on either field in a range. You can even use this feature to extract a range from a single field. For example, if sales-amt is a 12J2 field:

>get d-sales {input is from a dataset}

>ext sales-amt(4)\sales-amt(6)

>out dsales

>xeq

is equivalent to:

>get d-sales {input is from a dataset}

>ext sales-amt(4) {first subscripted field}

>ext sales-amt(5) {intermediate subfield}

>ext sales-amt(6) {last subscripted field}

>out dsales

>xeq

Alternate Syntax for Extracting a Range

Suprtool accepts a slash "/" in place of the backslash "\" to specify a range. Use the slash with care, because it is a valid character in field names. For example,

>extract a/b

would produce the error message:

Error: Item "A/B" not in the database...

To use a slash in an extract range, surround it with spaces:

>extract a / b

Numeric Expressions

You can specify arithmetic expressions for any numeric data-type in the Extract command. Arithmetic expressions involve the operators +, -, *, / and mod. Extract arithmetic expressions work exactly as If command arithmetic expressions. To extract an expression, use this syntax,

EXTRACT target-field = expression

Target-Field

The target-field determines the byte-length, data-type, and repeat-count for the expression. The expression is extracted during the output phase and cannot be used by other Suprtool commands that accept fields (e.g., sort). To avoid confusion, it is best to define a new field name for the target-field instead of using an existing field name.

Examples

>extract budget99 = actual98 + 1000

>extract total = cost * qty

>extract day = ccyymmdd-date mod 100

In the following example, the field total is used twice. In the first case, it is used to tell Suprtool how to format the arithmetic expression. In the second case, it is used in the sort command. Warning: In this example, the output file is sorted by the value of total as it appears in the input record. It is not be sorted by cost * qty.

>extract total = cost * qty

>sort total {sort by input total}

Restrictions

You can only use one expression in each Extract command, and the expression must be the last item. If you want to extract several expressions or more fields after an expression, you need to use several Extract commands.

Incorrect

>extract name, i=sales + tips, c=cost + expense, dept

Correct

>extract name, i=sales + commission

>extract c=cost + expense

>extract dept

Constants vs. Expressions

If you have an arithmetic expression that starts with a constant, Suprtool assumes that you are attempting to extract a single constant value and not an arithmetic expression. To specify an arithmetic expression that starts with a constant, surround the expression with parentheses. For example,

Incorrect

>extract c = 6000 - cost

Error: Missing comma or invalid arithmetic expression

Correct

>extract c = (6000 - cost)

Numeric Truncation

The accuracy of arithmetic computations is limited to approximately sixteen digits. Suprtool may truncate four-word integers (quad), or large packed-decimal numbers, or display numbers when they are converted to floating-point. Suprtool does not produce any error or warning in this case.

Division by Zero

Suprtool reports an error in the input record number if an arithmetic computation results in division by zero. Use Set Ignore On to force Suprtool to ignore division by zero errors. With Set Ignore On, the result of division by zero is zero.

The speed of a task decreases when you ask Suprtool to ignore many division by zero errors. It is better to check for zero in the If expression before using it in division.

>if qty <> 0 {to avoid division by zero}

>extract average = total / qty

$Abs function

Suprtool supports an $abs function, which returns the absolute value of a number. For example, if a field called Credit contains the value -547.83, the $abs function returns 547.83.

This function will work on a field or even on an expression such as:

>def newcredit,1,4,double

>ext newcredit = $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07)

This function will also work in the If command:

>if $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07) > 500.00

$Truncate function

Suprtool supports a $truncate function which returns the number to the left of a decimal place. For example if the field stddev contains the value 547.83, the $truncate function will return 547. Note that there is no rounding.

This function will work on fields and expressions. For example,

>def newdev,1,4,double

>ext newdev = $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07)

This function will also work in the If command:

>if $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07) > 200

$SubTotal Function

Suprtool has the ability to keep a running subtotal for any numeric field based on a given sort key. The target data must be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to avoid overflow issues.

A sample use of the $subtotal function could be:

>def mytotal,1,14,packed

>get orders

>sort order-number

>ext order-number

>ext part-number

>ext description

>ext sales-amount

>ext mytotal = $subtotal(sales-amount,order-number)

>out sales,link

>xeq

This would result in a file containing a running subtotal in the field mytotal for a given order-number. You could then generate a simple report with the simple Suprtool commands:

>in sales

>list standard

>xeq

The basic syntax for the $subtotal function in the extract command is:

extract targetfield = $subtotal(field,sort-field)

You must specify the sort command before referencing the sort-field in the $subtotal function. You can subtotal up to ten fields per pass and the $subtotal function is also available in the if command, however, by nature it is of limited use.

$Total Function

Suprtool has the ability to keep a running total for any numeric field. The target data must be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to help avoid overflow issues. A sample use of the total function could be:

>def mytotal,1,14,packed

>get orders

>ext mytotal = $total(sales-amount)

>xeq

You can total up to ten fields per pass and the $total function is also available in the if command, however, is of limited use.

$Counter Function

For years Suprtool has had the ability to output a record number to an output file with the num option of the output command:

>in mysdfile

>out myfile,num,data

The above could would generate an output file called myfile, however, you would lose the SD information and you can only put the number at the beginning or the end of the data. Suprtool now has a counter function that allows you to place a $counter at any spot as well as preserve the SD information.

>in mysdfile

>def mycount,1,4,double

>ext field1

>ext field2

>ext mycount=$counter

>out myfile,link

>xeq

The file myfile will be self-describing and contain the fields field1, field2 and mycount. The field mycount is defined as a double integer, since this is the only field type that the $counter function can use. Each record will have a unique ascending number starting with one.

String Expressions

You can combine byte-type fields together and use the built-in string functions to create new fields out of existing ones. This can reduce the number of tasks required to provide a solution. String expressions may involve the + operator and $upper, $lower, $trim, $ltrim or $rtrim. To extract a string expression, use this syntax:

EXTRACT target-field = expression

Target-Field

The target-field determines the byte-length for the expression. The data-type must be Byte or Char. The expression is extracted during the output phase and cannot be used by other Suprtool commands that accept fields (e.g., Sort).

Examples

>extract id-no = warehouse-no + bin-no

>extract full-name = first-name + last-name

Constants vs. Expressions

If you have an string expression that starts with a string, Suprtool assumes that you are attempting to extract a single string value and not an string expression. To specify a string expression that starts with a constant, surround the expression with parentheses. For example,

Incorrect

>extract name = " " + product-desc

Error: Missing comma or invalid arithmetic expression

Correct

>extract name = (" " + product-desc)

Variable Length Strings

String expressions use variable-length strings. Suprtool keeps track of the length of every string, and all operations are done using the actual string length. For fields, the length of the string is the length of the field. If you do not want to retain all the spaces in a field, use one of the built-in trimming functions.

String constants are created with the exact length of the constant. For example, the string "abc" is three characters long and the string "a" is one.

When assigning the string expression to the target field, Suprtool pads the final string value with spaces to fill out the target field. String expressions longer than the target field generate an error.

>in testfile

>def a,1,10,byte

>ext a="I'm too long for this container"

Error: String is too long for the specified item

String Truncation

Suprtool produces an error if the string expression is longer than the target field. You cannot override this error with Set Ignore On. To help avoid the error, you may want to trim the expression of trailing spaces before assigning it to the target field. For example,

>extract new-field = $trim(a + b + c)

Upshifting Strings ($Upper)

Use the built-in function $upper to upshift all the characters of a string expression into uppercase characters. This function can be used to upshift a single field, a complicated string expression, or any subpart of an expression. Both ASCII and Roman-8 characters are upshifted by $upper. For example,

>extract city-up = $upper(city)

>extract full-name = $upper(first + last)

Downshifting Strings ($Lower)

If you want to downshift all characters of a string expression to lowercase, use the built-in function $lower. This function can be used to downshift a single field, a complicated string expression, or any subpart of an expression. Both ASCII and Roman-8 characters are downshifted by $lower. For example,

>extract city-lower-case = $lower(city)

>extract city-state = $lower(city + state)

Trimming Spaces Using $Trim, $LTrim, $RTrim

Use one of three built-in string functions to remove leading or trailing spaces from a string expression. The three functions are:

$Trim:	Remove leading and trailing spaces from the string expression.
$LTrim:	Remove leading spaces.
$RTrim:	Remove trailing spaces.

Splitting Variable Length Strings

Suprtool can extract portions of a byte field based on the occurrence of certain characters.

Consider the following Data:

Armstrong/ Neil/ Patrick

Green/ Bob/ Miller

Edwards/ Janine/

Armstrong/Arthur/Derek

The $split function can extract each token into separate fields. The syntax for the $split function is:

$split(Field,Start Character,Occurrence,End Character,Occurrence)

The following task will $split the data in the wholename into three separate fields. The below task assumes that the file namefile is self-describing and has the field wholename in it:

>in namefile

>define lastname,1,30

>define firstname,1,20

>define middlename,1,20

>extract lastname = $split(wholename,first,"/")

>extract firstname=$trim($split(wholename,"/","/"))

>extract middlename=$trim($split(wholename,"/",2," ",2))

>out names,link

>xeq

The first extract statement tells Suprtool extract the bytes from the field wholename, starting at the beginning (first keyword), and stopping at the "/" character. The second extract statement, tells Suprtool to extract the bytes between the first occurrence of the "/" character to the next occurrence of the "/" character, and then that string is trimmed of spaces as it is nested within the $trim function.

The third and final extract statement tells Suprtool to extract the bytes beginning with the second occurrence of the "/" character to the second occurrence of the space character.

If the target field is not long enough to hold the data Suprtool will abort with an error. You can easily prevent this from happening on blank fields by nesting the $split statement within a $trim or $rtrim function.

First/Last

The $split function also has a Last keyword, whereby you can split the field from a given occurrence of a character to the end of the field. So in the given example from above the extracting out of the middlename could be coded as such:

>extract middlename=$trim($split(wholename,"/",2,last))

The above means to extract out all the data from the second occurrence of the "/", to the end of the field and trim all spaces. Naturally as noted above we also have the First keyword, which indicates the start of the field.

Unprintables

You can specify an unprintable character for Suprtool to use as the character to $split on, using the following syntax:

>extract middlename=$split(wholename,^9,2,last)

which means that the split would start at the second occurrence of Decimal Nine, or the Tab character. Please note that for specifying unprintable characters you do not put in quotes.

Cleaning your Data

In this day and age of migrations we were looking at issues that customers have run into when importing data into new databases. What came from this investigation where ways to Clean up your data in any given byte type field.

We have added two methods to clean your data, you can use Suprtool to clean an individual byte type field, or STExport to clean all of the byte-type fields for a given file that you are exporting.

Sometimes un-printable or extraneous characters get stored in files or databases that have no business being there. This may be some tab characters in an address field or perhaps and embedded carriage return or line-feed. Suprtool now supports the clean function which will replace individual characters for a given byte field.

There are three things that Suprtool needs to know in order to "clean" a field. Suprtool needs to know which characters it needs to clean, what character it needs to change the "bad" characters to, and also what field does it need to clean.

Clean Command Syntax

You can specify special characters Decimal 0 thru Decimal 31 via the command:

Clean special

You can also specify a range or characters by using the following syntax:

Clean "^0:^31","^240:^255"

The Clean command is used to tell Suprtool what characters it needs to look for in a given byte type field. For example:

clean "^9","^10","."

will tell Suprtool to replace the tab character (Decimal 9), Line Feed (Decimal 10), and a period to whatever the Clean character is set to. The CLean command takes both, decimal notation and the character itself, however, it is probably most convenient to use the Decimal notation for the characters that you wish to clean. The Decimal notation is indicated by the "^" character.

Setting the Clean Character

By default, Suprtool will replace any of the characters specified in the clean command with a space. You can specify what character to use to replace any of the characters that qualify with the following set command:

>set CleanChar "."

This will set the character to replace any of the qualifying "to be cleaned" characters to be a period.

Cleaning a Field

You call the clean function, the same way you normally use other functions available to if and extract. For example:

ext address1=$clean(address1)

shows how to clean the field address1. You do not necessarily need to have the target field be the same as the source field.

def new-address,1,30

ext new-address=$clean(address1)

Cleaning your data

An example of how easy it would be to clean your database of certain "bad" characters in byte-type fields would be as follows:

>base mydb,1,;

>get customer

>clean "^9","^10","^0","^7"

>set cleanchar " "

>update

>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))

>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))

>ext address(3) = $clean(address(3))

>xeq

The above task will look at the three instances of address and replace the tab, linefeed, null and bell characters with a space.

If you want to just remove the characters all you need to do is set the CleanChar in the following manner:

>Set CleanChar “<null>”

This means that the $clean function will remove the characters specified in the clean command, but not replace with any character, which effectively shifts the text to the left and pad the equivalent amount of spaces at the end.

Extract from a Table

Suprtool has the ability to load data into a table via the Table command, and extract that data out of the table using the Extract command. The Extract command can utilize the $lookup function to return data. The syntax for the $lookup function would look as follows:

>extract target = $lookup(table-name,key-field,data-field)

The Table name, key-field and data-field are all defined by the Table command, which must be input before the Extract command. A classic example: your boss comes to you with a list of new prices for certain parts and asks you to update the Part-Master dataset.

Just load the new prices into a Table, index by the product number (prodno), then Extract the price field from each record and replace it with a $lookup on the table. Here is the code:

>table newprices,prodno,file,bosslist,data(price)

>get part-master

>if $lookup(newprices,prodno)

>update

>extract price = $lookup(newprices,prodno,price)

>xeq

We do the If $lookup to select only the parts which have new prices, then do Extract with $lookup to replace the existing price with a new one. The Update command forces a database update on each selected record and must come before the Extract command.

Now let's see how a Table can be used to add additional useful information to a record. Let's say we build this table of Canadian provinces (The file prov-file is assumed to be a Link, or self-describing, file, created by a previous pass of Suprtool.)

>table provtab,prov-code,file,provfile,data(prov-name)

At this point the key into the Table is the prov-code item and for each entry in the Table there is one associated prov-name. To append prov-name to each output record, we read the customer dataset, extracting the customer name. We also Define prov-name as a new field and extract it for the output record, but we fill it with a value that is based on the prov-code for each customer entry:

>get customers

>ext cust-name

>def full-prov-name,1,30

>ext full-prov-name=$lookup(provtab,cust-prov-code,prov-name)

>out somefile

>xeq

To update a dataset, you do the same commands, but you insert an Update command prior to the Extract from a Table. Below is an example that shows how to update an IMAGE record using data values from a Table.

Let's assume that we have new unit cost information for each product:

>form newcosts

File: NEWCOSTS.NEIL.GREEN (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

PRODNO Z8 1

UNIT-COST P8 9

Limit: 13 EOF: 13 Entry Length: 12 Blocking: 64

We load a table with the product number key value (prod-no)and the new unit cost data value (unit-cost):

>table prodcost-table,prodno,file,newcosts,data(unit-cost)

We can then select that unit-cost field from the prodcost-table using the Extract command:

>extract unit-cost = $lookup(prodcost-table,prodno,unit-cost)

Here is the entire task, keeping in mind that Update must be specified before the Extract command.

>base store.suprtpis

Database password [;]?

>get d-inventory

>table prodtable,prodno,file,newcosts,data(unit-cost)

>update

>if $lookup(prodtable,prodno)

>extract unit-cost = $lookup(prodtable,prodno,unit-cost)

>xeq

If you did not specify the If $lookup, then records that did not qualify under the $lookup function in the extract field, will result in zeroes for any numeric field and spaces for any byte type fields.

Data Conversion

You can convert numeric fields from one data-type to another. Any nonbyte field type is considered to be numeric. You can also lengthen or truncate character fields. The general syntax for doing conversions is:

EXTRACT target-field = source-field

Target-Field

The target-field determines the byte-length, data-type, and repeat-count for the expression. The expression is extracted during the output phase and cannot be used by other Suprtool commands that accept fields (e.g., Sort). To avoid confusion, it is best to define a new field name for the target-field instead of using an existing field name.

The following example shows defining a new target-field as a double integer. The Extract command target-field then takes the definition from the Define command and extracts data from the source-field (display-field).

>in oldfile

>def salesqty,1,4,double

>ext order-no / order-date

>ext salesqty = display-field

Packed and Display Fields

When the target of an extract conversion is a packed- or display-type field, Suprtool always converts positive values to a neutral packed- or display-value. To ensure that expressions with positive values have a positive result, use the $signed function:

>extract packed-field = $signed(int-field)

>extract display-field = $signed(dbl-field / 10)

Truncation errors can occur when Suprtool converts from nonfloating-point to floating-point. See the discussion under Numeric Truncation above.

Byte Fields

Use the Extract command to shorten or lengthen byte-type fields. This feature is most useful when updating one field in an IMAGE/SQL dataset with another field.

>get d-sales

>define part-warehouse-no,part-no[5],4

>extract warehouse-no = part-warehouse-no

>update

>xeq

If the target-field is longer than the source-field, Suprtool fills the trailing space in the target-field with spaces.

Byte to Numeric Conversion

Suprtool cannot explicitly convert from a byte field to a numeric field such as a double integer. The Extract command, however, does allow conversion from a display field to a double integer (or any other numeric field).

You can define a byte field to be a display field if all of the characters in the field contain a number. For example if you have a six-character byte field that looks like this:

012345

you can define it in the following manner:

>def display-field,1,6,display

This field can then be converted to any of the other numeric types that Suprtool supports.

If the field is six characters and contains blanks, decimal, currency or a sign symbol in the data then you can utilize the $number function.

$Number Function

Suprtool now has the ability to accept free-form "numbers" as display data types. This means numbers in the form:

1234.45-

-12345

-123.2134

12343

$123.45

can now be accepted and converted to any other numeric data type. Consider the following data:

Item-number New-Price

12345 +123.45

34563 + 27.5

21312 + 1.545

Suprtool can now read and convert the data in New-Price using the number function. Let's say we want New-Price to be a double integer and currently occupies eight bytes starting in position six. Here is the task you would use to convert the New-Price free-format number into a double integer.

>in mynums

>def item-number,1,5,byte

>def new-price-ascii,6,8,display

>def new-price,1,4,double

>item new-price-ascii,dec,2

>item new-price,dec,2

>ext item-number

>ext new-price=$number(new-price-ascii)

>out somefile,link

>xeq

The $number function take the free-format number and make it a valid display number. It will determine the decimal, sign and add leading zeroes. It will round the number to the defined number of decimal places.

In the case of 1.545 number, Suprtool will round the value to be 1.55, since the given number of decimal places is two and the following value is five or greater. If you have a whole number such as 54, with no decimal point the value becomes 54.00.

Suprtool will not accept data that has:

More than one sign.

More than one decimal place.

Spaces in between numbers.

Signs that are in between numbers.

Characters that are not over punch characters.

Fields that when edited do not fit in the defined space for the display field.

You can control the character that defines the currency, thousand and decimal symbol for other currencies and formats using the following commands:

>set decimalsymbol "."

>set thousandsymbol ","

>set currencysymbol "$"

Suprtool in the above case will strip the currency and thousand symbols and use the decimal symbol to determine the number of decimal places. You can set these characters to any values you want but the defaults for each are used in the above set commands. The decimal and thousand symbols are only single characters. The currency symbol allows for four characters.

Numeric to Byte Conversion

Suprtool has several ways to convert binary numbers (e.g., J4, I2, P8) into human-readable ASCII form. You can use STExport or Suprtool's Output,Ascii or Output,Display commands.

If you want to convert only some of your numeric fields, you can use Suprtool's numeric conversion to convert binary fields to display fields. For example, here is a conversion of a J4 field to an Z18 field:

define mynumber 1,18,display

get dataset

extract some-fields...

extract mynumber = binary-number

output filename

xeq

You can also use the $Edit function to format and directly convert to byte format.

$Edit Function

Suprtool can format fields using edit-mask features similar to edit-mask features of Cobol. Suprtool employs two distinct types of edit-masks: one for byte type fields and the other for numeric fields.

The type of mask utilized depends on the source type of the field. If the source field is numeric, then the numeric edit-mask logic is applied, if the source field is byte type, then the byte edit-mask logic and characters apply.

The target field must always be a byte type field.

Placeholders and Format Characters

An edit-mask consists of "placeholder" characters, such as "9" for a numeric column, and "format" characters, such as "." for the decimal place. Sometimes an edit-mask character acts as both a placeholder and a format character, such as the "$" in floating dollar signs.

Byte-Type Formatting

For Byte type fields there are two placeholder characters. These are:

X ~ place the data in the matching column for the X in the edit-mask

Z ~ place the data in the matching column unless the data is a zero; if the data is a zero, then replace with a space

The format characters are as follows:

B (space) / (slash) , (comma) . (period) + (plus) - (minus) * (asterisk)

and a space. Please note that you can denote a space using two methods, either by putting a "B" in the mask or a space itself. For example, suppose you have data that is in ccyymmdd format in an X8 field. Here is how you would use a "xxxx/xx/xx" mask to format the data:

>in mydate

>form

File: MYDATE.TEST.NEIL (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

A X8 1 <CCYYMMDD>

Limit: 10000 EOF: 2 Entry Length: 8

>def formatdate,1,10

>ext formatdate=$edit(a,"xxxx/xx/xx")

>list

>xeq

>IN MYDATE.NEIL.GREEN (0) >;OUT $NULL (0)

FORMATDATE = 2003/09/24

>IN MYDATE.NEIL.GREEN (1) >;OUT $NULL (1)

FORMATDATE = 2003/09/24

As you see in the example above, the placeholder character is the "x" and the "/" is the format character. You insert a space either by specifying a "B" or by putting an actual space character in the edit-mask. An example of inserting a space might be the formatting of Canadian postal codes (e.g., V3R 7K1):

>in postal

>form

File: POSTAL.NEIL.GREEN

Entry: Offset

POSTAL-CODE X6 1

Limit: 10000 EOF: 2 Entry Length: 6

>def post1,1,7,byte

>def post2,1,7,byte

>ext post1=$edit(postal-code,"xxx xxx")

>ext post2=$edit(postal-code,"xxxbxxx")

>list

>xeq

>IN POSTAL.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)

POST1 = L2H 1L2 POST2 = L2H 1L2

>IN POSTAL.NEIL.GREEN (1) >OUT $NULL (1)

POST1 = L2H 1L2 POST2 = L2H 1L2

Z-placeholder for byte-fields

The Z-placeholder character works differently for byte-fields than for numeric fields. For byte type fields, if the Z placeholder and the corresponding data is "0", then the zero is suppressed, regardless of the position. This is primarily for suppression of zeroes in byte type date fields:

ext a=$edit(date-field,"xxxx/zx/zx")

The above edit mask would then edit a byte type date of 20031005, to be:

2003/10/ 5

Overflow and limits

An edit mask is limited to 32 characters in total for both numeric and byte type fields. If data overflows the edit-mask, by default Suprtool will fill that field with asterisks. There is an option to have Suprtool stop when it encounters a formatting overflow:

>set editstoperror on

will force Suprtool to stop if there is data left over after applying the edit-mask. With byte-type fields, leading spaces do not cause overflow. Therefore if your data consists of:

" L2H1L2"

and your edit mask is:

"xxxBxxx"

It is not an overflow since there are only spaces to the left of the "L". If the data was:

" JL2H1L2"

an overflow exception would occur.

Numeric field edit-masks

Our edit-masks for numeric fields are patterned after those in COBOL. We provide four placeholder characters, each with a slightly different effect:

"9" - insert a digit from 0 to 9 in this position

"$" - if you specify more than one dollar sign, you get a floating dollar sign. This means that there can be as many numeric positions as there are dollar signs, but if some positions are not needed because the value is small, the $ floats to the right next to the first digit and the preceding positions are blank.

"*" - if there are enough digits in the value, the * position is replaced by a numeric digit; if not, an asterisk is printed. Leading asterisks are often used for check writing, so that no one can insert a different value.

"z" - insert a numeric digit at this position; if the rest of the data to the left is a zero then a space will be placed at this position. For example:

>ext a=$edit(int-field,"$$,$$$.99-")

>ext b=$edit(int-field,"99,999.99-")

>ext c=$edit(int-field,"cr99999.99")

>ext d=$edit(int-field,"-$9999.99")

>ext e=$edit(int-field,"**,***.99+")

>ext f=$edit(int-field,"zz,zzz.99+")

>list

>xeq

>IN FILE1SD.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)

A = $11.11- B = 00,011.11-

C = CR00011.11 D = -$0011.11

E = ****11.11- F = 11.11-

>IN FILE1SD.NEIL.GREEN (1) >OUT $NULL (1)

A = $22.22- B = 00,022.22-

C = CR00022.22 D = -$0022.22

E = ****22.22- F = 22.22-

Signs

As shown in the example above, there are also numerous format characters for numeric edits, including four ways to specify the sign. You can specify a sign, with +, -, or the typical accounting specification of "CR" and "DB". You will note in the example above that the "cr" in the mask was up-shifted to be "CR". This is because the entire mask is up-shifted as the mask is being parsed.

You can specify more than one sign in a numeric field edit, although Suprtool will give you a warning that having two sign edit-mask characters does not really make sense. Cobol gives a Questionable warning when compiling an edit-mask with two sign characters. Suprtool, will apply the sign in both places.

Keep in mind that most data has three states:

1) Postive

2) Negative

3) Neutral

Any neutral data will not display the sign. If you specify a "+" sign in the edit-mask and the data is negative, it will of course display a "-" sign.

Decimal Places

For numeric-type edits, Suprtool attempts to adjust the data according to the number of decimal places in the edit-mask, when compared to the number of decimal places defined in the field.

For example if the data field has one decimal place, and the edit mask has two decimal places, then the data is adjusted:

Data and Edit mask:

102.3 ZZZZ.99

will result in the final data being:

102.30

Similarly, if the data has three decimal places and the edit-mask only has two, then the data will be rounded appropriately with the same rules as outlined in the $number function.

You can specify more than one decimal place in an edit-mask. However, Suprtool will print a warning and it will utilize the right-most decimal place for data alignment. The decimal place character is defined by a set command:

>set decimalsymbol "."

If you define another character as the decimal symbol, Suprtool will use that character as the point to align the decimals. If you define a decimal symbol that is not an allowed edit-mask character with Set Decimalsymbol, Suprtool will assume that the field has zero decimal places and adjust the data accordingly.

Currency and Dollar signs

Suprtool edit-masks support both fixed and floating dollar signs. Logic for floating dollar-signs will be invoked if more than two dollar signs are defined in the edit-mask.

A floating-dollar edit mask attempts to put the dollar sign at the left most position of the significant data. For example if you have the following data and edit mask:

0001234.54 $$$$$$.$$

the data would end up as:

$1234.54

Suprtool will not however, put the dollar sign to the right of the decimal place. If you had the same edit mask and the data was, .09, the data would end up being formatted as:

$.09

Similarily, the $edit function will attempt to place the dollar sign correctly in most cases. For example Suprtool will not format data in the form of:

$,123.50

Suprtool, does attempt to fixup these cases and would format the data in the following manner:

$123.50

Overflow and floating dollar

If the number of digits in the data is equal to the number of placeholder dollar signs, then the dollar sign is dropped and not added to the edited field.

12345.50 $$$$$.99

would result in:

12345.50

Set CurrencySymbol

If Set CurrencySymbol is not equal to "$", then after the formatting has been applied, whatever symbol(s) are defined within the set command, are used to replace the "$" symbol in the data. For example, if you have the Currency symbol set as "CDN".

>set currencysymbol "CDN"

Suprtool will replace the "$" after the edit-mask has been applied with CDN, provided there is room to the left of the dollar-sign.It is recommended that if you are using multiple characters for the dollar symbol that you leave enough characters to the left of the symbol.

For example if the CurrencySymbol is defined as CDN, then you should leave two spaces to the left of a fixed dollar sign definition. If there is not enough room, to put in the currency symbol, then the dollar symbol is blank.

Overflow and limits

>set editstoperror on

will force Suprtool to stop if there is data left over to place when applying the edit-mask. With numeric-type fields, leading zeroes do not cause overflow.

Restrictions

Incorrect

>extract name, i=sales + tips, c=cost, dept

Correct

>extract name, i=sales + commission

>extract c=cost

>extract dept

Extracting Bits

The Extract command can be used to define individual bits from one data item as separate fields.

>def order-shipped,1,2,int

>def order-paid ,1,2,int

>ext order-shipped=status-field.(0:1)

>ext order-paid=status-field.(1:1)

This makes it easier to check the status of certain bits within a given field.

EBCDIC Conversions

Use the $etoa or $atoe functions to convert specific fields from EBCDIC to ASCII or vice versa. Each of these functions accepts a single parameter that is a byte-type field:

Extract $ETOA(char-field)

Extract $ATOE(char-field)

There are several restrictions on the $etoa and $atoe functions:

· They do not work with either the ASCII or PRN output options.

· You cannot extract an EBCDIC constant. The following example would produce an error message:
>extract $etoa(char-field) = 'abcdef'

· You cannot extract a range of fields using $etoa or $atoe.

Notes

The Extract command is valid only with

· Output xxx,data

· Output xxx,data,num

· Output xxx,query

· Output xxx,link

· Output xxx,ascii

· Output xxx,prn

The Extract occurs logically after the sort phase, if any, but prior to the final Output, Put, or List. An If command can refer to fields of the input record that are not included in the extracted output record. The sort keys can be fields that are not among those extracted.

If the extracted record length is shorter than the input record length, Suprtool attempts to speed up sorts by doing the extract before sorting. Suprtool can only do the extract before sorting if the output option is DATA (the default), QUERY, or LINK, and all of the sort keys are included in the Extracted fields.

One advantage of not using the Extract command is that the output file from Suprtool has exactly the same format as the input dataset which created the file. You can then use the =setname option of the Input command to define all of the fields in the output file. Even if you change your database structure, many of your job streams that use Suprtool and the =setname option will not have to be changed.

Form Command [F]

The Form command displays information about the items and datasets in a database or the fields in a self-describing file. The Form command is similar to the Form command of QUERY.

(Default: depends)

The Form command displays the structure of a database, dataset, table or self-describing file. The Form command is also available in Dbedit. The Query All option is not supported.

When showing the form of an IMAGE dataset or a self-describing file, Suprtool shows the byte offset of each field after the subcount, type, and sublength. The first field always appears at offset one. If you have specified a date format or the number of implied decimal places with the Item command, these attributes appear as part of the form listing.

Example

>base store,5

>item last-ship-date, date , yymmdd

>item unit-cost , decimal, 2

>form d-inventory

D-INVENTORY Detail Set# 4

Entry: Offset

BIN-NO J1 1

LAST-SHIP-DATE J2 3 <<YYMMDD>>

ON-HAND-QTY J2 7

PRODUCT-NO Z8 11 (M-PRODUCT)

SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19 (!M-SUPPLIER)

UNIT-COST P8 27 << .2 >>

Capacity: 330 (22), 330, 66, 550 Entries: 13 Highwater: 13 Bytes: 30

Database Name

For IMAGE databases, Suprtool attempts to show the fully qualified database name. It cannot do this with a remote database, or if the database was opened in mode-3, or if Set Privmode was Off when the Base command was specified. If the database has MPE/iX third-party indexing, the third-party product name and version number are also shown.

>ba store

>fo

Database: STORE.DEMO.APPDEV TPI: SUPERDEX (15015d) 4.0.39

Set Item Capa- Entry Load Entry

Sets: Num Type Count city Count Factor Length B/F

M-CUSTOMER 1 M 9 211 20 9 % 55 7

M-PRODUCT 2 M 3 307 13 4 % 24 12

M-SUPPLIER 3 M 6 211 3 1 % 49 8

D-INVENTORY 4 DDX 6 550 13 2 % 15 22

D-SALES 5 D 8 602 0 0 % 19 14

Suprtool shows the type of each dataset (e.g., "M" for Manual master, "A" for Automatic master, "D" for Detail). If you have enabled dynamic dataset expansion, Suprtool adds "DX" to the type of the dataset (e.g., "MDX", "DDX").

Detail Datasets

If you request information about a specific detail dataset, Suprtool prints the path information in DBSCHEMA format. The path shows the related master dataset and the sort item-name. When displying the form of an IMAGE/SQL dataset, Suprtool shows the capacity in a format similar to the one in DBSCHEMA.

>form d-inventory

D-INVENTORY Detail Set# 4

Entry: Offset

BIN-NO J1 1

LAST-SHIP-DATE J2 3 <<YYMMDD>>

ON-HAND-QTY J2 7

PRODUCT-NO Z8 11 (M-PRODUCT)

SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19 (!M-SUPPLIER)

UNIT-COST P8 27 << .2 >>

Capacity: 330 (22), 330, 66, 550 Entries: 13 Highwater: 13 Bytes: 30

The current capacity (e.g., 330) is shown first followed by the blocking factor in parentheses (e.g., 22). If dynamic dataset expansion (a feature of MPE/iX 5.0) has been enabled, the initial capacity (e.g., 330), the increment (e.g., 66), and the maximum capacity (e.g., 550) are shown next. On MPE/iX 5.0 or later, the highwater mark is shown. The record length in bytes appears last.

Master Datasets

The Form Sets command indicates which datasets have MDX enabled. A Form command on these datasets shows details of their expansion setting.

>form sets

Database: STORE.MDX.DATA

Set Item Entry Load Entry

Sets: Num Type Count Capacity Count Factor Length B/F

M-CUSTOMER 1 MDX 9 2009 401 20 % 55 7

M-PRODUCT 2 MDX 3 3012 0 0 % 24 12

M-SUPPLIER 3 MDX 6 2008 0 0 % 49 8

D-INVENTORY 4 D 6 462 0 0 % 15 22

D-SALES 5 D 8 6006 0 0 % 19 14

>form m-customer

Database: STORE.MDX.DATA

M-CUSTOMER Master Set 1

Entry: Offset

CITY X12 1

CREDIT-RATING J2 13

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 17 <<Search Field>>

CUST-STATUS X2 25

NAME-FIRST X10 27

NAME-LAST X16 37

STATE-CODE X2 53

STREET-ADDRESS 2X25 55

POSTAL-CODE X6 105

Capacity: 469 (7), 217, 252, 2009 Entries: 401 Bytes: 110

As you can see, the master dataset summary information for the Capacity shows the Current Capacity (469), the Blocking Factor (7), the Initial Capacity (217), the Increment (252) and finally the Maximum Capacity (2009). The Increment is the number of entries by which the master dataset increases from the current capacity.

SQL Database

If an Allbase database is open and no input file has been specified, the default Form command shows all of the tables in the database. If a Select command has been specified, the default Form command shows the columns in the Select command. The exact format of the Form command is different for each SQL database.

Self-Describing Files

The Link output option produces an SD file with information about how the file was sorted, what fields are compound, and the date format or the number of implied decimal places for any fields. The Form command shows all of this information:

>form custfile

File: custfile (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CHAR-FIELD X5 1 <<Sort #1 >>

REPEATED-I1 3I1 6 {compound field}

DATE-FIELD J2 12 <<YYYYMMDD>>

COST-FIELD J2 16 << .2 >>

Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 20 Blocking: 64

Third-Party Indexing

If the database is enabled for MPE/iX third-party indexing, the Form command shows any third-party index that corresponds to an IMAGE field. When doing a Form dataset, each field is checked to see if it is a byte-type or Z-type third-party index. If it is, the comment "<<TPI>>" is shown. Indexes that have a name other than an Image-item name are shown at the end of the form listing. The Form command only shows those indexes that can be referenced by the Chain command.

For example,

>form m-customer

M-CUSTOMER Master Set# 1

Entry: Offset

CITY X12 1 <<TPI>>

CREDIT-RATING J2 13

CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 17 <<Search Field>>

<<TPI>>

CUST-STATUS X2 25

NAME-FIRST X10 27 <<TPI>>

NAME-LAST X16 37 <<TPI>>

STATE-CODE X2 53 <<TPI>>

STREET-ADDRESS 2X25 55 <<TPI>>

POSTAL-CODE X6 105

Capacity: 211 (7) Entries: 20 Bytes: 110

Additional Third-Party Indexes:

SI-LAST-NAME X16 B

The length shown for keys in the Additional Third-Party Indexes may vary between versions of Superdex. This is a known situation and does not affect the operation of Suprtool on these paths.

B-tree Support

The Form command has been enhanced to show whether there are B-trees that the Suprtool Chain command can utilize. Form Sets shows a type of "i" for datasets that have B-tree indexes. Currently the Chain command utilizes only those B-trees that are type X or U. The Form command does not show B-trees that it cannot utilize, even if the B-tree does exist.

The Form command also reports a damaged B-tree.

>form sets

Database: CD.DB.DATA

BtreeMode1 = ON Wildcard character : @

Set Item Entry Load Entry

Sets: Num Type Count Capacity Count Factor Length B/F

M-ARTIST 1 M i 2 211 3 1 % 75 4

A-SONGS 2 A i 1 307 41 13 % 20 16

A-CD-TITLE 3 A i 1 211 3 1 % 20 16

D-SONGS 4 D 6 1004 41 4 % 78 4

>form m-artist

Database: CD.DB.DATA

BtreeMode1 = ON Wildcard character : @

M-ARTIST Master Indexed Set 1

Entry: Offset

ARTIST X30 1 <<Search Field>>

NOTES 2X60 31

Capacity: 211 (4) Entries: 3 Bytes: 150

>form d-songs

Database: CD.DB.DATA

BtreeMode1 = ON Wildcard character : @

D-SONGS Detail Set 4

Entry: Offset

CD-NO J2 1

CD-TITLE X40 5 (!A-CD-TITLE) <<Indexed>>

SUB-TITLE X40 45

ARTIST X30 85 (M-ARTIST) <<Indexed>>

SONG-NO J1 115

SONG-TITLE X40 117 (A-SONGS) <<Indexed>>

Capacity: 1004 (4) Entries: 41 Highwater: 41 Bytes: 156

Formout File

The Form command writes all output to the file Formout. This file defaults to $stdlist. You can redirect this file to a line printer or a disc drive. If you redirect the Formout file to a disc file, Suprtool assumes a temporary file by default.

>:file formout;dev=lp

>form sets {writes to line printer}

>:file formout;dev=disc

>form d-inventory {writes to temporary disc file}

Default Form

If a Chain, Get, or Input command of a self-describing file has been entered, a Form command without parameters shows the fields in the current input source. If a Base command has been specified, but no input source, a Form command without parameters does a Form Sets.

Form Keywords

The Form command shows items, paths, and sets before it searches for a dataset or file with these names. Use a string (e.g., "sets") to display the form of a dataset or file that matches one of the Form keywords.

>form "paths" {paths is the name of a dataset}

Get Command [G]

Selects an IMAGE dataset from a previously opened Base as the input source for the next extract. You must have read access to all fields in the dataset entry. Only one Chain, Get, or Input command is allowed per extract task. Get always reads the dataset serially.

GET setname [(startrecord/[endrecord]) | (#count)]

(Default: all records)

Dataset Input

The first example shows the most common use of the Get command. An input dataset is specified as input to Suprtool. We select a subset of the entire input dataset using the If command:

>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}

>get d-inventory {serially read dataset}

>if unit-cost<10000 {the UNIT-COST field is}

>output out1 { automatically defined by Get}

>xeq

Selection by Record Number

The (startrecord/endrecord) parameter permits selection of input records on the basis of the IMAGE record numbers. These numbers always start with 1, and the endrecord parameter is assumed to be the last record in the dataset if it isn't specified.

Note that you should use extreme care when you are using the record number selection option on master datasets. This is because the record numbers of master dataset entries can be changed as entries are added or deleted from the dataset. For example, if there are deleted entries in the master dataset, then you could get fewer records than expected.

Numrecs is another way to select only a few records.

When debugging software, it is convenient to scan the first few records of a dataset. Specifying a startrecord/endrecord parameter makes this easy:

>get m-product(1/20) {first twenty records}

>list {produce a formatted list of each …}

>xeq {… record with no output file}

This example gets any records that are in the first twenty IMAGE locations. This may be fewer than twenty records, if there were deleted or unused entries in the first twenty record numbers.

Random Selection

The #count parameter selects every "nth" record from the dataset, where "n" is equal to count. This option is designed to allow "random" selection from the dataset. It cannot be combined with the (startrecord/endrecord) option.

Test databases can be constructed from random samplings of production databases. Using the #count parameter and the Put command we build a test dataset:

>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}

>get d-inventory(#15) {every 15th record is read}

>put d-inventory,test {put to the d-inventory dataset in …}

>exit {… Test database}

Using DBGET

By default, Suprtool always attempts to read the dataset using its own high-speed routines. These are the cases where DBGET is used instead:

1. When the database is open with mode-3.

2. When you specify the Delete or Update command and the input source is a master dataset.

3. When you specify the Delete or Update command and the input source is a detail dataset, but no If command is specified.

4. When Set Privmode Off.

In these cases, Suprtool prints the warning:

Using DBGET for the input records

How Many Records Does Suprtool Read?

When you Get from a master dataset, Suprtool reads the capacity of the dataset. When you specify a detail dataset, Suprtool reads records until the highwater mark.

If Set Eofread is on then, Suprtool will read to the capacity of the dataset for both master and detail datasets.

To insure that Suprtool reads to the capacity for both Master and Detail datasets, then you should put Set Eofread On in your Suprmgr.Pub.Sys file.

If there is a big difference between the number of entries in the dataset and the highwater mark, Suprtool could take much longer to read the dataset (this is true for all programs, not just Suprtool).

You can use the Form and Verify commands to determine how many records Suprtool will read. The Form command shows the number of entries in the dataset. After specifying a Get command for a detail dataset, use Verify Numrecs to see how many records Suprtool will read:

>get d-sales {detail dataset}

>form {shows #entries}

>verify numrecs {#records Suprtool will read}

If there is a large difference between the number of entries and the highwater mark, you may wish to repack the detail dataset. If the dataset is dynamic with many entries being added and deleted, it is better to let Suprtool take longer (otherwise you would be continuously repacking the dataset).

For regular monitoring of all your datasets, use HowMessy which shows both the number of entries and the highwater mark for detail datasets.

FLIMIT Different

The Get command may print an error "FLIMIT different than calculated" or a warning "FLIMIT greater than calculated". Suprtool verifies that the physical MPE file that corresponds to the dataset matches the information returned by DBINFO. Suprtool computes the number of records in the MPE file as follows:

#records = (capacity - 1) / blockfactor + 1

where capacity and blockfactor are reported by the Form command. When this error occurs, Suprtool prints the MPE file name, MPE FLIMIT, dataset name, dataset number, and the computed FLIMIT:

>get m-test

Error: Dataset with FLIMIT different than calculated!

MPE Filename: TEST01.STORESC.DB Actual MPE Flimit: 1

IMAGE Dataset: M-TEST (#1) Calculated Flimit: 2

This error is usually caused by restoring a earlier version of the dataset from a backup tape.

Remote Databases

When trying to access a database on a remote computer, the Get command may fail with the error "Privileged File Violation (FSERR 45)". See the discussion under the Base command for workarounds to this problem.

Help Command [H]

Show what commands and options are available in Suprtool.

HELP [ command | keyword [ ,option ] ]

(Default: browse through the entire help file)

Command Help

If you specify any parameters, Help first assumes that you want help on a Suprtool command. If you know the structure of the help file, you can additionally specify one of the keywords under the command name.

>help ext {help on the Extract command}

>help ext,notes {Notes section of the Extract command}

Keyword Help

If Suprtool cannot find any help in the "Commands" section of the help file, it assumes that you specified one of the outer-level keywords in the help file. To see this list of keywords, type help with no parameters. You see a short introduction to Suprtool and then a list of keywords. You can specify any of these keywords on the Help command. You can also specify a subkeyword.

>help start {Quick Start section}

>help start,task {Task section of Quick Start}

Quick Help - HQ

HQ asks Suprtool to look under the keyword Quick in the help file. Quick contains the text from the Suprtool Quick Reference Guide, offering the experienced user a quick review of the syntax of any command.

>hq input {quick description of Input}

>hq commands {quick list of command names}

Notes

If no parameters are specified, Help allows you to browse through the "help" file. The Help Command uses the QHELP subsystem to allow you to look at the material in the file Suprtool.Help.Robelle (which contains most of the user manual). For "help in help", type "?" when you see the QHELP prompt character ("?"). The help file is organized into levels. To go back to the previous level, press Return instead of a key name. If you press F8, you will exit the QHELP subsystem and return to Suprtool.

If Command [IF]

Specifies a subset of records to select from the input source during the next extract task. The If command supports full logical expressions, with comparisons between all data-types, between data fields and constant values, or between one data field and another. The If command also provides partial string compares, bit field extracts, subscripted IMAGE fields, AND-OR-NOT operators, and parentheses to override precedence. You can use arithmetic expressions involving any numeric data-types.

IF expression

Note: The examples below show multiple If commands. These are for illustrative purposes only. Suprtool does not permit multiple If commands in a single task. Instead you can combine multiple conditions using AND and OR.

Alternatives to the If command

There are a few selection criteria that the If command cannot perform. In these cases, you need to use other Suprtool commands. If you wish to select by record numbers, use the record number options in the Get or Input commands. If you wish to limit the number of records selected, use the Numrecs command. See also "Chain Command [C]" on page 115 for an alternative to the Get/If combination of commands.

There Is No Else Clause

The If command in Suprtool does not have an Else clause but the output command does. To select the records that do not match the If criteria, you can use output,else to get both the selected data and the data that was not selected by an if criteria. See the output command for details.

>get dataset {this task is the "If … then"}

>if expression

>output file1,else,link {file1 and temp file else created}

>xeq

You can also use a second task with the same criteria negated by a NOT.

>get dataset {this task is the "If … then"}

>if expression

>output file1,link

>xeq

>get dataset {this task is the "else"}

>if not (expression)

>output file2,link

>xeq

Expressions

An expression specifies the logical criteria that Suprtool uses to select records from the input source.

Simple Expressions

The simplest expression is a single comparison between two fields (e.g., A=B) or a field and a constant (e.g., A="XX"):

field relation field

field relation constant

Fields

A field can be a temporary, Defined field, or a field from a self-describing file, or an IMAGE field (with possible subscripts; see below). Each field has a type (see "Key Command [K]" on page 196 for further details). The constant must match the type of the field. If the field has a byte-type, you must surround the constant with quotes.

>if name="TAMMY ROSCOE" {name is byte}

>if rating>10000 {rating is integer}

>if balance=arrears {compare two fields}

Constants

A constant is a value that matches the data-type of field. Constants are either a string constant in quotes, a numeric constant, or a date constant specified with $date or $today. See the next section about Constants for more details.

Constant	Type
"NATHAN ARMSTRONG"	string constant
12345	numeric constant
$date(00/07/09)	date constant July 9, 2000

Relations

A relation is one of the size comparison symbols (Suprtool does not use words like "EQUALS" as in QUERY):

Relational operator	Means
=	equal to
>	greater than
<	less than
>=	greater than or equal to
<=	less than or equal to
<>	not equal to

Complex Expressions

Complex expressions can be made by combining the AND, OR, and NOT operators, arithmetic operators (+, -, *, / and mod), and parentheses. The order of precedence of operators, from highest to lowest, is

Operator	Precedence
( ... )	Highest.
NOT	Take the opposite.
AND	Both must be true.
OR	One or the other must be true.
-	Unary minus.
* /	Higher than addition and subtraction.
+ -	Lowest.

Use parentheses where necessary to change the order of evaluation.

>if status="1" and amount>100 or purchased="000115"

>if (status="1" or status="2") and amount>100

Multiple Values

You can check a data field for several test values without using the AND and OR operators. After the equals or not-equals sign, list the alternate values separated by commas.

The OR operator is = (equal sign). Instead of "IF A=5 OR A=6 OR A=7", use "IF A=5,6,7". This selects a record if A is equal to 5, 6, or 7.

The AND operator is <>. Instead of "IF A<>5 AND A<>6 AND A<>7", use "IF A<>5,6,7". This selects a record if A is anything but 5, 6, or 7.

>if field = 5,6,7

>if part = "12345","67890","39201","92308","14892"

>if delivered <> 981231,990101

This method works well if you are searching for a small number of values. Use the $lookup function to check a data field for many test values.

IF $LOOKUP(tablename, fieldname)

The $lookup function returns TRUE, if the specified field name contains a value from the specified table. You can also look for values that are not in a table.

IF NOT $LOOKUP(tablename,fieldname)

See the Table command for a complete description of how to combine tables and the $lookup function.

$lookup parameter	function
tablename	The name of a table specified in the Table command.
fieldname	A field from the input record. This field cannot be real-type. It must be exactly the same length as the item used in the Table command.

Multiple Values and Table Data

Suprtools can use the “data” loaded into a Table in a comparison operation. The $lookup function will return the data value from the table to compare against another field or literal.

In file1sd

Table mytable,char-field,data,tabfile,data(id-field)

If $lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field) = int-field

So using the case above, if no entry is found in the table, zero is returned, and if int-field is equal to zero, then the record will qualify.

If you don’t want to have any values returned from the table lookup, you just preface the if with a standard lookup.

>get ord-details

>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)

>if $lookup(cust-table,cust-no) and &

$lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code

>output orders

>xeq

When using $lookup to return data, the $lookup must always be on then left side of the expression. If not Suprtool will stop with an error:

>if id-field=$lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field)

Error: $lookup in this context (data comparison) must be on left side

Performance of $Lookup

Short-circuit evaluation means that the If command does not always need to evaluate all the parts of the command.

Due to the nature of the $lookup function, it can be, at times CPU intensive, however, since the If command uses short-circuit evaluation, $lookup should be specified as the last part of the If command. For example,

>if status = "10" and $lookup(cust-table,account)

is faster than

>if $lookup(cust-table,account) and status = "10"

because Suprtool can evaluate status = "10" faster than $lookup. When the status is not "10" Suprtool knows the record will not be selected, therefore there is no need to do the $lookup.

$Null(fieldname)

The If $null(fieldname) command selects any rows that have null values in them. This feature is available only for SQL databases and only on columns that allow null values:

>if $null(SALESTOTAL)

If you want to find only those values that are not null, you can add the NOT keyword in front of $null:

>if not $null(SALESTOTAL)

Constants

This section describes numeric and string constants. See also Date Selection.

Numeric Constants

Numeric constants are not enclosed in quotes. Numeric constants may be just simple whole numbers (e.g., 5, 0, -56, 10004) or they may have a decimal point (e.g., 5., 0.0, -.56, 99.9, 1.4). Real and IEEE numbers may also have a scale factor (e.g., 5E-5, 0.01E+4). "Over-punches" for the sign are not required, or recognized, in Suprtool. Always enter -11 as -11, not 1J for a DISPLAY field.

String Constants

String constants are delimited with double- or single-quote marks. That is, either "VANC" or 'VANC'. Any characters within quotes are not upshifted. If the constant is shorter than the field to which it is being compared, the constant is padded with blanks. String constants are expected for fields of type BYTE, U, or X, but numeric constants are expected for fields of type Z (zoned decimal).

>if field = " " {check for all blanks}

>if field = "XX" {double-quotes are okay}

>if field = 'XX' {so are single-quotes}

If you want to compare for a quote itself, you include two quotes in the string for each quote you want.

>if field = "AB""CD" {look for AB"CD}

Character Constants

Use the ^-character to specify any ASCII character. The number (the actual ASCII value), or letter (^A means control A), must follow immediately after the ^-character. Suprtool treats character constants as strings. When you compare the constant to a field longer than one byte, Suprtool pads the constant with spaces.

>define field,1,1 {byte field}

>if field = ^0 {binary zero}

>if field = ^G {Control-G (bell)}

>if field = ^27 {escape}

>if field = ^252 {Roman-8 box}

To look for "null values" or "low values" in byte-fields, it is usually sufficient to check the first byte for a binary zero:

>define first-byte,bigfield,1,byte

>if first-byte = ^0

Subscripts

Use subscripts to access individual items in repeated fields, or to access substrings.

Numeric Subscripts

For repeated numeric fields only one index is allowed.

If Table has the form 10J2, it holds ten double integers.

· Table(1) is the first sub-item.

· Table is the same as Table(1).

· Table(5) is the fifth sub-item.

>if table(5) = 23

>if table(2) = 20 or table(4) = 30

>if table(8) = 31 and table(9) = 28

Character Subscripts

Character string fields may have 1, 2, or 3 subscripts after them. Character string fields are allowed more than one subscript value.

If ADDR has the form 5X30, it consists of 5 substrings of 30 characters each.

· ADDR(1) is the first 30-character sub-item of ADDR.

· ADDR without subscript is the same as ADDR(1).

· ADDR(2) is the second 30-character sub-item of ADDR.

· ADDR(2,4) is the second sub-item, starting with the 4th byte and extending for the remainder of the sub-item, 27 bytes.

· ADDR(2,4,6) starts at the same location, but extends for only 6 bytes.

If NAME has the form X50, it is not a repeated field.

· NAME is the same as NAME(1).

· NAME(1,4,6) is the first (and only) sub-item, starting at the 4th byte and extending for 6 bytes.

· NAME(1,10) is a field that starts at the 10th byte and implicitly extends to the end of the field (for the remaining 41 bytes).

>if name(1,4,6) = "HAWAII"

>if addr(3) = "VANCOUVER, B.C."

>if addr(3,11,20) == "@B.C.@" {pattern matching}

Numeric Expressions

Bit Selections

The If command can extract and test any series of one or more contiguous bits in a field. Suprtool allows bit extracts only on Integer or Logical fields of two bytes in length (one 16-bit word). To do a bit extract from another type of field, first use Define to redefine the data as a two-byte Logical field.

Once Suprtool extracts a bit string, it always treats it as an Unsigned Integer, a Logical, and never interprets it as negative. The format for bit extracts calls for a starting bit number and a bit count. The 16 bits in a computer word are numbered from the left, 0 to 15. The two bytes to extract from need not be on a "word boundary" (i.e., they can start in any byte position). See "Define Command [D]" on page 119 for how to define a two-byte logical field.

field . (startbit : bitcount)

>define bitfield,name,2,logical

>if bitfield.(4:2)=3

How to Check a Byte for a Numeric Value

Because Suprtool does not have one-byte integers, it can be difficult to check a single byte for a specific numeric value. Use a two-byte integer Define field and the bit-extract operator to solve this problem:

>define word,transcode,2,integer

>if word.(0:8)=13

See "Character Constants" on page 171 for an alternate method.

Decimal Places

Use the Item command to specify the number of implied decimal places in an item. If you do not do this, you must scale all numbers in the If command. For example, let's assume that you want to find all inventory records with a cost equal to $80.59. If you do not use the Item command, your If command would look like this:

>if cost = 8059 {no decimal places}

By telling Suprtool about the number of decimal places in the cost item, your If command looks more natural (which usually means you will make fewer mistakes):

>item cost,decimal,2

>if cost = 80.59 {decimal places included}

Numeric Conversion

The If command can compare two numeric fields to each other (not just one field to a constant). All relation operators are supported: <, <=, =, <>, >, and >=. However, you cannot compare a byte-field to a numeric-type field.

Suprtool usually converts the field on the left side of a relational operator to floating-point. Then the floating-point number is converted into the type of the field on the right side of a relational operator and the comparison is done. The exceptions to this rule are integer-to-double, packed-to-packed, and display-to-display comparisons, which use a direct comparison algorithm.

Truncation errors can occur when Suprtool converts from one field type to floating-point. See also Accuracy and Numeric Truncation.

Arithmetic Expressions

You can specify arithmetic expressions for any numeric data-type in the If command. Arithmetic expressions involve the operators +, -, *, / and mod. The Mod operator returns the remainder between a dividend and a divisor. Arithmetic expressions cannot start with a numeric constant (e.g., if 2 + a = 10 is invalid). Arithmetic is not allowed on byte-type fields. If you have a byte-type field that consists entirely of numeric digits, redefine the field as display type and use the redefined field name in the If command.

Examples

>if field + 10 = 1115 {numeric field}

>if cost * qty > 10000

>if total < qty * price + tax

>if yymmdd-date / 100 mod 100 <= 03 {first quarter}

Division by Zero

Suprtool reports an error and the input record number if an arithmetic computation results in division by zero. Use Set Ignore On to force Suprtool to ignore division by zero errors. With Set Ignore On, the result of division by zero is zero.

Your task executes more slowly if you have a lot of division by zero errors and you have asked Suprtool to ignore them. A better approach is to check for zero in the If expression before using it in division:

>if $read

- qty <> 0 and {avoid division by zero!}

- total / qty > 100

- //

Missing Features

Arithmetic overflow in computations will cause Suprtool to abort.

Accuracy

By default, Suprtool uses floating-point arithmetic to compute. In some cases, there can be slight inaccuracies due to rounding errors. Rounding errors are more likely with Classic floating-point arithmetic (Set Arith Classic). For example, the following expression fails if you have a single integer field with the value 7 or -7:

>set arith classic

>if integer-field / 10 * 10 = 7

This expression does not fail when using IEEE floating-point (Set Arith IEEE). If you are developing Suprtool applications for both Classic MPE and MPE/iX, we suggest that you enable Set Arith Classic in Suprtool/iX to ensure exactly the same results in both applications.

Numeric Truncation

The accuracy of arithmetic computations is limited to approximately sixteen digits. Suprtool may truncate four-word integers (quad) or large packed-decimal or display numbers when they are converted to floating-point. Suprtool does not produce any error or warning in this case.

$Abs function

Suprtool supports an $abs function, which returns the absolute value of a number. For example, if a field called Credit contains the value -547.83, the $abs function returns 547.83.

This function will work on a field or even on an expression such as:

>if $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07) > 500.00

This function will also work in the Extract command:

>def newcredit,1,4,double

>ext newcredit = $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07)

$Truncate function

This function will work fields and expressions:

>if $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07) > 200

This function will also work in the Extract command:

>def newdev,1,4,double

>ext newdev = $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07)

String Expressions

You can do comparisons with byte-type fields in numerous ways using Suprtool. These powerful features minimize the number of tasks you must execute in order to select the data you need. The fewer the number of tasks, the faster your data is delivered to the users and applications that need it.

You can combine byte-type fields together and use the built-in string functions to create string expressions. String expressions involve the + operator and the other string functions such as $lower, $upper, $trim, $ltrim and $rtrim.

Fixed vs. Variable Length Strings

String comparisons are done using fixed- and variable-length strings. For most users, there should be no difference between the two types of strings. When doing string comparisons, Suprtool always pads shorter strings with spaces, with the one exception of comparing two fixed-length fields (see "Byte Fields" below).

String expressions involving the + operator or the $upper, $lower, $trim, $ltrim and $rtrim built-in functions are done using variable-length strings. Suprtool keeps track of the length of every string, and all operations are done using the actual string length. For fields, the length of the string is the length of the field. If you do not want to retain all of the spaces in a field, use one of the built-in trimming functions.

When creating string expressions, string constants are created with the exact length of the constant. For example, the string constant "abc" is three characters long and the string "a" is one.

Byte Fields

For historical reasons, comparing two byte-type fields to each other is a special case. If the two fields are exactly the same length, Suprtool compares them completely. If one field is shorter, the comparison is done for the length of the shortest field. Suprtool does not check for spaces in the trailing characters of the longer field. For example,

>define short, 1,10 {ten character field}

>define long ,11,15 {fifteen character field}

>if short = long

In this example, Suprtool compares the ten bytes in the short field with the first ten bytes of the long field, but ignores the last five bytes of the long field. If the expression on either side of the equal sign consisted of more than one field (using the + operator) or involved any of the string functions, ($upper, $lower, $trim, $ltrim or $rtrim), Suprtool would have compared both sides of the equal sign by padding the shorter field with spaces. It is only the case where you are directly comparing one byte-type field to another that Suprtool uses the length of the shortest field for the comparison.

You cannot compare a byte-field to a numeric-type field. If you have a byte-field that consists entirely of numeric digits, redefine the field as a display-type and use the redefined field name in the If command.

Character Type

Byte-type fields can also be checked to see whether they contain only Alpha, Numeric, Alphanumeric, or Special characters. The complete field is compared against the specified character types.

Type	Characters
Alpha	A-Z, a-z (52 characters)
Numeric	0-9 (10 characters)
Special	anything else (194 characters, including spaces, punctuation, Roman-8 letters, binary junk)
Alphanumeric	A-Z, a-z, 0-9 (62 characters)

For the test result to be true, all the characters in the field must be of the specified character type. To test a substring, use the Define command to define a subfield.

>if field = alpha

>if field <> numeric

Examples:

String	Class
"1234"	numeric
"12.3"	no class, contains both numeric and special
"ABCD"	alpha
"B JONES"	no class, contains both alpha and special
" "	special
"A1B2"	alphanumeric

Pattern Matching

Suprtool can also select records based on a pattern of characters, rather than an exact string of characters. For example, use the following to select all records with "CONNOR" anywhere in the Name field,

>if name == "@CONNOR@"

The double equals (==) is the operator for pattern matching. The at signs (@) means anything before or after "CONNOR" is acceptable, including nothing.

For character fields, there are two comparison operators for patterns: "==" (matches), and "><" (does not match). The pattern is specified as a quoted string, using the same special characters as in the MPE :Listf command. Embedded spaces are allowed in the pattern and must be matched in the target field.

These are the special characters:

Character	Meaning
@	Zero, or more, characters of any type.
#	A single numeric character.
?	A single alphabetic or numeric character.
~	Zero, or more, blank characters.
&	Escape character to match the next character explicitly (&@ looks for the @ character).
^	Reserved for future use.
!	Reserved for future use.

Any other character must be matched, one for one.

>if name=="@ZANDER@" {does name contain ZANDER anywhere?}

>if name=='@ZANDER@ARMSTRONG@’ {does name contain ZANDER, perhaps …}

{… other characters, then ARMSTRONG?}

>if name><"@#@" {does name not contain numerics?}

>if name=='@qedit@','@suprtool@' {qedit or suprtool?}

For more information, see Special Characters in the Glossary.

Finding Special Characters

With the $Clean function you can clean "bad" characters inside of text fields, however the $Clean function does not report back what records were "cleaned". For this reason we have the $FindClean function. $FindClean will return true if it finds a character defined using the Clean command. This makes it extremely easy to find a set of Special characters that you can define.

>in cleansd

>clean "^9","^10"

>if $findclean(nonprint)

>list

The above task will list the record if the field nonprint has a Tab (Decimal 9) or a Line Feed (Decimal 10) anywhere in the field. You can Find and clean the "bad" characters from a field at the same time:

>in cleansd

>clean "^9:^10"

>if $findclean(nonprint)

>extract nonprint=$clean(nonprint)

>list

Trimming Spaces ($Trim, $Ltrim, $Rtrim)

Use one of three built-in string functions to remove leading or trailing spaces from a string expression. The three functions are:

$Trim:	Remove leading and trailing spaces from the string expression.
$LTrim:	Remove leading spaces.
$RTrim:	Remove trailing spaces.

Because Suprtool pads shorter strings with spaces when doing comparisons, trimming spaces is most useful when creating a combined string with several fields. For example, you might want to combine a person's first and last name (including a space between the two):

>if $trim(first) + " " + $trim(last) = "Joe Smith"

Mixed Case ($Upper and $Lower)

By default, Suprtool does an exact match when comparing two string expressions. If the expressions vary in the capitalization of characters, Suprtool finds them to be different. To do caseless string comparisons or pattern matches, use the $upper or $lower functions. Both ASCII and Roman-8 characters are shifted by $upper and $lower. For example,

>if $upper(city) = "VANCOUVER"

>if $lower(city) = "edmonton"

Note that if you use the $upper or $lower functions, Suprtool does not upshift or downshift any constants used in the comparison. You must explicitly specify the constants in the correct case or you can use $upper or $lower with the constant:

>if $upper(city) = $upper("vancouver")

Use the $upper or $lower functions for caseless pattern matching. As with other comparison operators, you must specify constants in the correct case when doing pattern matching:

>if $upper(city) == "VAN@"

>if $lower(city) == "ed@"

You can use $upper and $lower with string expressions that combine many fields and string functions as shown in the following example:

>if $read

- $upper($trim(first) +

- " " +

- $trim(last))

- = "JOE SMITH"

- //

Date Selection

The If command has four functions to help select records based on dates: $date, $today, $days and $stddate. The $date function works for any date. The $today function works for the current date and dates relative to today. The $stddate and $days functions work for almost any date. To use these date functions, you must first identify the date format of an item by using the Item command.

The $date function makes it easier to specify a target date for certain date formats (e.g., PHdate or ASK). To select records based on a specific date, use this feature:

>if field=$date(year/month/day)

Suprtool checks the date's validity. To select the transactions for January 1999, you would do the following:

>item trans-date,date,phdate

>if trans-date >= $date(1999/01/01) and &

trans-date <= $date(1999/01/31)

Relative Dates

You can specify a relative date using the $date function. Then you can create job streams that don't rely on hard-coded dates. The general syntax of the $date function is:

$date(year/month/day)

The year can be a specific number (e.g., 2000) or an asterisk "*" for the current year. To specify a relative year, you add or subtract years from the one you specified:

>if field=$date(2000/01/01) {January 1, 2000}

>if field=$date(2000-1/01/01) {January 1, 1999}

>if field=$date(*-1/01/01) {January 1, last year}

The month can be a specific number (e.g., 6 for June) or an asterisk "*" for the current month. To specify a relative month, you add or subtract months from the one you specified:

>if field=$date(2000/06-1/01) {May 1, 2000}

>if field=$date(*/*/01) {start of current year and month}

>if field=$date(*/*-1/01) {start of last month}

>if field=$date(*/*-18/*) {exactly eighteen months ago}

The day can be a specific number (e.g., 15), an asterisk "*" for the current day, the word "first" for the first day of the month, or the word "last" for the last day of the month. You cannot add or subtract relative days; use $today instead.

>if field=$date(2001/01/first) {January 1, 2001}

>if field=$date(*/*/*) {today's date}

>if field=$date(*/*-1/last) {last day of previous month}

Combining these features makes it possible to generate batch jobs that require no operator input. For example, to select all of the transactions for last month you would use:

>item trans-date,date,phdate

>if trans-date >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &

trans-date <= $date(*/*-1/last)

Month End

Suprtool is always expecting a valid date. Suppose that you have a month-end job that contains the following If command:

>if field = $date(*/*-1/*)

When you run the job on May 31, 2000, if Suprtool were to use the literal interpretation of $date(*/*-1/*), it would use the date April 31, 2000. In fact, there is no such date; April has only 30 days. Whenever you specify * for the day, and the day is greater than the last day of the month you specified, Suprtool uses the actual last day of the month instead of the current day of the month. In our example, Suprtool would use April 30, 2000. Suprtool will take leap years into account when calculating the last day of February.

Today's Date

To select records based on today's date, use the following:

>if field=$today {today's date}

>if field=$today(-1) {yesterday's date}

>if field=$today(+1) {tomorrow's date}

Use the Item command to qualify the field as a date. The $today function accepts one optional argument which is the number of days before or after today. The maximum number of days in either direction is 9999.

yymmdd and Beyond 1999

Because dates spanning the turn of the century will not collate properly for the yymmdd form, you need to use $stddate to compare these dates.

>item ship-date,date,yymmdd

>if ship-date < $date(2000/12/31) {will not work}

>if $stddate(ship-date) < $date(2000/12/31) {will work}

Finding Invalid Dates

Use the $invalid function to find invalid dates. An invalid date is a number in a date format whose date equivalent cannot be found on a calendar. For example, a month value of 99 would be considered invalid.

>base store.demo

Database password [;]?

>get d-sales

>item deliv-date,date,ccyymmdd

>if $invalid(deliv-date)

>out baddates,link

>xeq

$Stddate Function

The $stddate function converts any date format in nearly any data-type container and internally converts it to the ccyymmdd format in a double integer container.

This allows you to compare dates with dissimilar formats and data-types. For example,

>in orddets

>item order-date,date,ccyymmdd

>item bill-date,date,mmddyyyy

>if $stddate(bill-date) <= order-date

>output badords,link

>xeq

This feature is also available for dates that have two-digit years. The century portion of the date will be generated by $stddate, which uses the normal cutoff rules specified by Set Date Cutoff.

>in invdets

>set date cutoff 20

>item invoice-date,date,yymmdd

>item close-date,date,mmddyyyy

>if $stddate(close-date) <= $stddate(invoice-date)

>out badinvs,link

>xeq

In this case all invoice-date values with a yy portion between 20 and 99 will have a 19 for the century. All invoice date values with a yy portion of less than 20 will have 20 for the date generated by the $stddate function.

Invalid Dates

A date must be valid before $stddate can convert it to the ccyymmdd format. Otherwise, a value of 0 will be returned for any invalid dates. An invalid date is a number in a date format whose date equivalent cannot be found on a calendar. This includes dates selected by the $invalid function. We can eliminate the invalid dates from the above task by changinn Jue If command slightly.

>get invoice-detail

>set date cutoff 20

>item invoice-date,date,yymmdd

>item close-date,date,mmddyyyy

>if (not $invalid(close-date) &

or not $invalid(invoice-date)) &

and $stddate(close-date) <= $stddate(invoice-date)

>out badinvs,link

>xeq

In this example, if either the close-date or the invoice-date are invalid, then they will not be evaluated by the $stddate function and will not be selected. Although your requirements may be different, you need to remember that invalid dates evaluated by the $stddate function will return a 0 value.

$Days Function

Suprtool supports a $days function, which converts any supported date to a Julian Day number (the number of days since 4713 BC). This allows for Date arithmetic, in which you can calculate the difference between two dates, even if they have dissimilar formats.

For example you could find all orders that were not shipped within 30 days of being ordered.

>form ordfile

File: ORDFILE.SALES.MFG (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

ORDER-DATE X8 1 <<CCYYMMDD>>

SHIP-DATE X8 9 <<MMDDYYYY>>

ORDER-NUMBER X6 17

Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 22 Blocking: 16

>in ordfile

>if $days(SHIP-DATE) - $days(ORDER-DATE) >=30

>list

>xeq

Invalid Dates

As with the $stddate function, if a date is not a valid date, then the result of the $days function will be zero. In the example above, if the order has not yet been shipped, then the SHIP-DATE will likely be blank, or zero, or some other special value. $Days(SHIP-DATE) will be zero, and the resulting calculation will be a negative number.

Notes on Relative Dates

The $date and $today functions always generate a constant from the date, just as if you had typed it. For example, when run on February 13, 2001, the follwing task:

>item field,date,yymmdd

>if field > $today

is the same as:

>if field > 010213

Suprtool normally does no date conversion of the actual dates. Dates that do not start with the year do not collate correctly, so Suprtool does not allow relative comparisons with them (<, <=, >, and >=), although you may still compare for strict equality or inequality. The following examples will be rejected by Suprtool:

>item trans-date,date,ddmmyy

>if trans-date >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &

trans-date <= $date(*/*-1/last)

Error: Invalid date format for the comparison

>input myfile

>define mydate,1,6

>item mydate,date,ddmmyy {e.g., 301100}

>define ....

>if mydate > $date(00/11/01)

Error: Invalid date format for the comparison

>if mydate > $date(01/11/00)

Error: Invalid date: Year = 1 Month = 11 Day = 00

Although you cannot do relative date comparisons against non-collating dates in their normal format, you can convert the date into ccyymmdd format using the $stddate function. This date format will collate and, therefore, you can do relative date comparisons using the $stddate function.

>item trans-date,date,ddmmyyyy

>if $stddate(trans-date) >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &

$stddate(trans-date) <= $date(*/*-1/last)

If the date format does not allow the specification of a certain day, such as yymm, ccyymm, yyyymm, aamm, ccyy and mmyyyy, then you do not need to specify the entire date format, although Suprtool will allow either format for $date.

>item trans-month,date,yymm

>item purch-date,date,yymm

>if trans-month <= $date(*/*/*) and &

purch-date >= $date(00/01)

Because dates beyond 1999 in the yymmdd and yymm date types do not collate correctly, relative comparisons are no longer valid. Suprtool produces an error in the following case:

>item trans-date,date,yymmdd

>if trans-date >= $date(2001/01/01)

Error: Cannot use a date beyond 1999 for this date format.

You can override this setting by entering the Set Date Ifyy2000error command:

>set date ifyy2000error Off

>item trans-date,date,yymmdd

>if trans-date >= $date(2001/01/01)

Century and $Date

Suprtool needs to generate a $date or $today date in the ccyymmdd format. If you specify a two-digit year in the $date function, Suprtool needs to assume a century for the given date:

>item trans-date,date,ccyymmdd

>if trans-date >= $date(01/01/01)

Suprtool assumes 20 for the century if the specified year is less than the Set Date Cutoff value, and 19 if the specified two-digit year is greater than or equal to this value.

Oracle Dates

Oracle dates contain both the date and the time. The $date and $today functions check the date, but ignore the time.

Date Limits

Non-Collating Date Types

You can use the $stddate function to convert the non-collating date format to a J2 data item with a date format of ccyymmdd.

For example, to select the purchases by the field purch-date for November 2000 in a ddmmyy X6 field, you would use the $stddate function as follows:

>item purch-date,date,ddmmyy

>if $stddate(purch-date) >= $date(2000/11/first) and &

$stddate(purch-date) <= $date(2000/11/last)

Dynamic Date Selection

Using a first pass to generate a Suprtool command dynamically, then using that command in a second pass, is a powerful technique.

You can use the If command for dynamic date selection. Suppose you have a control file that maintains the start and end of a range of dates in which you are interested. You can use the control file to select records from another file or dataset, based on this date range. This is a two-step process, in which the first Suprtool pass creates the If command with your dates, and the second pass does the actual selection from the dataset.

>input datecntl {read the one-line control file}

>define start-date,1,6,byte {start date is the first six bytes}

>define end-date,7,6,byte {end date is the next six bytes}

>extract "if sales-date >= '" {assemble the If command}

>extract start-date

>extract "' and sales-date <= '"

>extract end-date

>extract "'"

>output seldate,temp {write the If command to a file}

>xeq

This task produces a usefile that looks like this:

if sales-date >= '001101' and sales-date <= '001231'

Now you can use this file to do the actual selection:

>base salesdb,5,password

>get sales-detail

>use seldate {use the file that has the If command}

>output sdetail

>exit

Adjust Batch Jobs for Holidays

In automating production batch jobs, it would be very nice to know, at the MPE command level, whether today is a holiday (or yesterday or tomorrow). You can use

if hpday = 1 then

to check for Sunday, but you can't use

if hpday = holiday then

Everyone has their own schedule of holidays. Here is how we cope with this problem in our backup job, using Suprtool to compare yesterday's date to a list of holidays for the year:

!comment Occasionally the backup is not run. This is

!comment usually because of holidays, when nobody is in the

!comment office. The file SKIPDAYS.STREAMS.PROD contains a

!comment list of holidays in YYMMDD ASCII format. Because

!comment the backup job runs after midnight, it checks if

!comment YESTERDAY's date is in the SKIPDAYS file. If it

!comment is, the SKIPTODAY JCW is set to 1.

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

input skipdays.streams.prod

define skipdate,1,6

item skipdate,date,yymmdd

if skipdate = $today(-1)

output $null

exit

!setjcw skiptoday = suprtooloutcount

!if skiptoday > 0 then

! tellop --- Yesterday was a holiday. No Backup today.

!else

! comment Insert the BACKUP commands here:

! comment STORE, etc.

!endif

The skipdays file is a regular text file with records in the following format:

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4

000101 New Years Day

000414 Good Friday

000524 Victoria Day

001009 Thanksgiving (Canada)

001111 Remembrance Day

001225 Christmas

001226 Boxing Day

010101 New Years Day

010405 Good Friday

010520 Victoria Day

011014 Thanksgiving (Canada)

011111 Remembrance Day

011225 Christmas

011226 Boxing Day

Long Expressions

Long If commands can use an ampersand to continue the command over several lines:

>if status = "20" and &

>> state = "AZ", &

>> "CA", &

>> "OR" {no ampersand on the last line}

This is awkward to use and, for internal reasons, the maximum length is restricted to 256 characters. The $read function makes it easier to enter long If commands. Its maximum length is based on the complexity of the expression, not on the number of characters.

$Read Function

The $read function reads the If expression from $stdinx, or from the usefile if the If command is in a usefile. $Read continues to prompt for input lines until you press Return or enter "//." You must remember to enter all the necessary parts of the If expression, including connectors like AND and OR and commas. You do not use an ampersand (&) to continue from one line to the next when using $read.

>if $read {prompt for the expression}

-status = "20" and {$read prompts with "-"}

-state = "AZ", {the comma is still needed}

- "CA",

- "OR" {no comma on the last line}

- {blank line to terminate $read}

Redoing $Read

When prompting for an expression, $read saves each line in the redo stack and accepts the Before, Do, Listredo, and Redo commands. This provides an easy way to specify all or part of a previous $read expression.

Error: Data Overflow

While the $read function permits long expressions, there are other internal limits within the If command. The first is a limit on the amount of space for constants. Suprtool must blank-fill all string constants to their full length. The following example overflows the data space:

>define char-256,1,256

>if char-256 = "a","b","c"

Error: Data Overflow

In this example, Suprtool attempted to create three 256-byte constants. There wasn't enough room for the last constant. Solutions to this problem include:

1. If possible, define short fields. If you have long field names, you may want to use the Define command to define shorter subfields.

2. Use tables and $lookup for many values.

3. Split the extract task into multiple passes. On the first pass, use an If expression that results in the fewest possible number of output records. Use the output file from the first pass as input to the second. Apply the remainder of your If expression during the second pass.

Error: Code Overflow

Suprtool translates If commands to an internal machine representation. There is a limit on the size of this code. When an error occurs, there is little you can do except use tables and $lookup wherever possible, and when this fails use multiple passes.

$Read in Usefiles

When you specify $read in a usefile, Suprtool expects the If expression to appear in the usefile. This provides a method for storing and executing complicated If commands.

You can also manipulate Suprtool into prompting for portions of an If command. When the If command with $read is the last command in a usefile, Suprtool satisfies the $read from $stdinx. The $read function can appear anywhere in which a space can appear, so you can use this to prompt the user for values.

>use prompt.use

>in sdfile {first line of usefile}

>if status=$read and & {continue the If command}

state = $read {last line of the usefile}

-"10" {prompt for status}

-// {end of prompt for status}

-"AZ", {prompt for state}

-"CA", {user must remember comma}

-"OR" {user also enters quotes}

-// {end of the second read}

Notes

Suprtool is not designed to be used by end users. We prefer that you write intelligent front-ends that understand user applications and hide the details of Suprtool from end users. We recommend that you use $read from usefiles only for one-time tasks, or for tasks used by experienced Suprtool users who do not require a friendly user interface.

$-functions

Some $-functions were originally designed for if command and some are more suited for the extract command. Because of this some $-functions don’t work in the if command, such as $edit, and others such as $number have interesting side effects.

Specifically with $number, when you work on byte type fields, they will be updated internally to be treated as display:

Get dataset

Def display-field,byte-field,display

If $number(display-field) > 10000

Out somefile,link

xeq

The field byte-field will have leading zeroes and treated as a display.

Input Command [I]

Opens the file that will be the input source for the next extract task. This file can be an MPE disc file, an MPE tape file, a KSAM file, * for $stdinx, a card file, or some other MPE file with fixed-length records. Suprtool executes the Input command immediately -- it does not wait for an Xeq command before opening the Input file.

INPUT file [=setname] [(startrecord/[endrecord])]

[(#count)]

(Default: all input records)

Input File

The first example shows the most common use of the Input command. An input file is specified as the input source to Suprtool. We select a subset of the input data with the If command. Before using the If command, we must define a field within the input record:

>input dinvent {input is from a disc file}

>define a,11,2,int {"A" is an integer that starts}

>output outfile { at the 11th byte of Dinvent}

>if a<10000 {records with field "A" less than}

>xeq { 10000 are written to Outfile}

Dataset Files

The =setname parameter notifies Suprtool that the records have the same internal data structure as the entries in this IMAGE dataset. You can then specify sort/select fields by field name instead of by the physical offset within the record. You must have done a previous Base command, and setname must exist in the database. You must have read access to all fields in the dataset entry, and the record length of the file must match that of the dataset entry.

Using the Define command is error-prone, because it forces you to calculate offsets and lengths of each field in your input record. If you used Suprtool to create a disc file from an IMAGE dataset, you do not need to use the Define command:

>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}

>get d-inventory {input from a dataset}

>output dinvent {automatically defined by Get}

>xeq {process this task and continue}

>input dinvent=d-inventory {same format as d-inventory}

>if unit-cost<10000 {use the actual IMAGE field name}

>sort cust-account {again, the IMAGE field name is used}

>list {list the selected records with}

>xeq { their field names and values}

Input from $Stdinx

If file is "*", $stdinx is opened as the source of input records. To terminate Input from $stdinx, hit Control-Y on your terminal after the last input record or make ":eod" the last input record in your batch job. Do not use ":eof:" to end the input data as this causes the batch job to abort.

The record size of the output file is determined by the record size of $stdinx. Because this record size varies in terminals and batch jobs, we recommend that you build the output file first and use the Output xxx,Erase option.

!job mgr.robelle

!purge outfile {create the output file}

!build outfile;rec=-80,16,f,ascii

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

>input * {input from $stdinx}

>output outfile,erase {output to an existing file}

>exit {end of Suprtool commands}

Line 1 of 2. {input data}

Line 2 of 2.

:eod {end of input data}

!listf outfile,2

!eoj {end of the job}

Permanent and Temporary Files

If you have both a temporary and a permanent file with the same name, Suprtool tries to open the temporary file.

Selection by Record Number

The (startrecord/endrecord) parameter specifies a range of input records by record number. The default value for endrecord is the highest record in the file. The first record number is 0 for MPE files and some KSAM files, or 1 for other KSAM files.

The (startrecord/endrecord) parameter must come after the =setname parameter, if it is present. You can check your record selections with the Verify command.

When debugging software, it is convenient to scan the first few records of a file. The startrecord/endrecord parameter makes it easy to scan these records:

>input dinvent(0/19) {first twenty records}

>list {produce a list of each record}

>xeq { in "OCTAL,CHAR" format}

Random Selection

The (#count) parameter specifies that every "nth" record in the input file should be selected. This option is designed for random sampling of the input file. The (startrecord/endrecord) parameter cannot be used with this parameter. Like (startrecord/endrecord), (#count) must come after the =setname, if present.

Test files can be constructed from random samplings of production files. We can build a test file with the #count parameter:

>input dinvent(#15) {every 15th record is read}

>output dtest {create an output file with every}

>xeq { 15th record from Dinvent}

Magnetic Tape Input

For Suprtool to read a file on magnetic tape, you must do two things:

1. Issue a :File command for the tape.

2. If more than 10,000 records will be read from the tape, you must specify the Numrecs command.

This example creates a disc file from the records on magnetic tape:

>:file tin;dev=tape {:File command for the tape drive}

>input *tin {you must specify "*" on the Input}

>numrecs 30000 {specify 30000 input tape records}

>output tout {we build the output file with}

>xeq { room for 30000 records}

The Input command is processed immediately. Suprtool does not wait for an Xeq or Exit command before opening the Input file. If the session seems to hang after the Input command, check the console to see whether it is waiting for the =reply.

Notes

Only one Input, Chain, or Get command is allowed per extract task. The Input command opens the specified file immediately. The file is held open until the input is reset or the current task completes.

If at least one sort key has been specified, the Input command is optional, but you can specify the input file by means of a :File command (:File Input=xxx).

Suprtool first attempts to open the input file as READ, SHARED, NO LOCKING. If it cannot open the file because someone else has it open with LOCKING, Suprtool tries again with LOCKING specified. If the input file is a KSAM/V file, Suprtool eventually closes the KSAM/V file and reopens it with LOCKING and INOUT access.

If you specify a self-describing input file with Oracle dates, Suprtool will automatically recognize the Oracle date attribute.

Item Command [IT]

Use the Item command to specify the number of implied decimal points or the date format for an item. The $date and $today functions of the If command work only with dates. The Item command must precede any If or Extract commands.

ITEM itemname,DATE | DECIMAL,attribute

Itemname

The itemname must be an IMAGE itemname, an SD field, or a Defined field. If the itemname exists both as an IMAGE itemname and as a Defined field, the attribute is associated with the IMAGE itemname and the Defined field is deleted. If the itemname exists both as an IMAGE itemname and as an SD field, the attribute is only associated with the IMAGE itemname and a warning is produced. The itemname cannot be qualified with a subscript.

Date Formats

For dates, the attribute must be one of the following:

Attribute	Attribute
ASK	ccyymm
Calendar	ccyy
ddmmyy	aammdd
ddmmyyyy	aamm
mmddyy	mmddaa
mmddyyyy	ddmmaa
Oracle	SRNChronos
PHdate	mmyyyy
yymm	yyddd
yymmdd	ccyyddd
yyyymm	HPCalendar
yyymmdd	JulianDay
yyyymmdd	EDSDate
ccyymmdd	PHDate8

Abbreviations

When specifying the Date keyword, you can use a leading subset for the date attribute. For example, if you want to specify the Calendar date type, you can specify only CA.

>item cal-date,date,ca

If you do not like this feature, you can turn it off by specifying the following command in your Suprmgr file:

>set itemabbreviatedate off

Data-Types for Dates

Each date attribute is compatible with certain data-types. For more information, see the table on data-types in the Define command. The following table shows the compatibilities:

Date-Attribute	Data-Type Compatibility
ASK	J1 and K1
Calendar	J1 and K1
ddmmyy	X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
ddmmyyyy	X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
mmddyy	X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
mmddyyyy	X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
Oracle	X7
PHdate	J1, K1, J2, and K2
yymm	X4, Z4, J1, and K1
yymmdd	X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
yyymmdd	J2, P8
yyyymmdd	X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
ccyymmdd	X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
ccyymm	X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
yyyymm	X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
aammdd	X6
aamm	X4
mmddaa	X6
ddmmaa	X6
ccyy	X4, Z4, J1, and K1
SRNChronos	X6
mmyyyy	X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
yyddd	X5, Z5, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
ccyyddd	X7, Z7, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
HPCalendar	J2, K2
EDSDate	J2, P8
JulianDay	J2
PHdate8	J1, K1, J2, and K2

Date Limits

Calendar

The Calendar attribute is provided for users who have fields containing the 16-bit MPE Calendar date format as an unsigned, logical value with seven bits for the year of the century (bits 0-6), followed by nine bits for the day of the year (bits 7-15). The Calendar date format only supports dates up to the end of the year 2027.

PHdate and PHdate8

The PHdate and PHdate8 attributes are compatible with the COGNOS PowerHouse date format. If the data-type is J1 or K1, the date is stored as a LOGICAL value with seven bits for the year of the century (bits 0-6), four bits for the month (bits 7-10), and five bits for the day (bits 11-15). If the data-type is J2 or K2, the date is stored as yyyymmdd.

PHDate and PHDate8 date formats are similar, however PHDate values for the year range from 0 - 99, whereas PHDate8 year values are from 0 - 127. A year of 0 in PHDate could mean either 1900 or 2000 depending on user applications. A year of 0 in PHDate8 means 1900, and 100 means 2000. The PHDate8 date format is found in PowerHouse version 8.19 and higher.

ASK

The ASK attribute is compatible with the ASK manufacturing software. ASK uses a special date format stored as a single integer or a single logical (i.e., J1 or K1 in IMAGE). This date is relative to January 1, 1973.

yyymmdd

The yyymmdd attribute is similar to yymmdd, except that the first digit denotes the century. If the first digit is a 1 (one) then the century is 19, and if the first digit is a 2 (two) then the century is 20. Only data-types of P8 and J2 are supported for this date attribute.

This date format is used by some third-party software packages such as MACS and APS.

EDSDATE

The EDSDATE date format is similar to the yyymmdd format, in which the first digit represents the century. The first digit in the EDSDATE is either 0 or 1: a 0 represents a century of 19 and a 1 represents a century of 20.

JulianDay

The JulianDay number is the absolute count of the days that have elapsed since January 1, 4713 BC on the Julian calendar.

Typically "Julian Day numbers" refer to an integer number corresponding to whole days, while the "Julian Date" may mean an integer plus a decimal value that resolves the Julian count to precise parts of a day. Suprtool supports the "JulianDay" number and does not attempt to support an hour or point in the day.

aammdd and Related Date Formats

The aammdd attribute is similar to yymmdd, except the aa portion of the date uses a combination of letters and numbers in order to represent dates beyond 1999.

The aammdd date format was developed by James Overman of HP for use in their MM3000 product. This format is available only for X6 data-type.

By substituting a letter of the alphabet in the first position of the year, we can extend a six-digit date and also ensure that the dates collate correctly. For example:

YY of AAMMDD	CCYY
00 - 09	1900 - 1909
90 - 99	1990 - 1999
A0 - A9	2000 - 2009
B0 - B9	2010 - 2019
C0 - C9	2020 - 2029

Because letters are greater than numbers in the collating sequence you can ensure that aammdd dates beyond 1999 will order correctly.

Suprtool also supports other date formats with this two-character year representation. These formats are aamm, mmddaa and ddmmaa.

Oracle

Oracle dates include both the date and the time. The $date and $today functions only apply to the date part of Oracle dates.

SRN Chronos

The Srnchronos date format is used in applications from Software Research Northwest. Like Oracle dates, this format includes the date and time, but the time portion is ignored by the $date and $today functions.

DDD Dates

Dates consisting of ddd in the format name use the ddd to represent the nth day in the current year. This means that January 1 will be day 001, and Dec 31 will be day 365 on non-leap years. Some people refer to these type of dates as Julian dates.

HPCalendar

The HPCalendar date format is supported by HP's new HPCalendar intrinsic and consists of a 32-bit integer number, whereby the first 23 bits represent the year and the last nine bits represent the day of the year.

Decimal Places

The decimal attribute is the number of implied decimal places in an item. The minimum number of implied decimal places is 0. The maximum is based on the data-type of the item:

Data-Type	Maximum Implied Decimal Places
I1	5
I2	10
I3	15
I4	19
K1	5
K2	10
Pn	n-1
Zn	n

You cannot specify implied decimal places for byte-, char-, real-, long-, or IEEE-type items.

Once you define a decimal place, almost every command in Suprtool is affected. Suprtool accepts numeric values with decimal points or scales integers according to the number of implied decimal places (e.g., specify two implied decimal places, then enter 1,000 to represent 1,000.00). All formatting commands format fields with a decimal point when appropriate.

Constant Values

When specifying numeric constants for a field with implied decimal places, there are different formats that you can use. For example, assume that we use the Item command to specify two implied decimal places for an amount field. The following are examples of constant values for this item:

Constant	Interpretation
0	zero value padded as necessary
1	$1.00
0.01	$0.01
.01	also acceptable for $0.01

Notes

Compound Items

When you specify a compound item, the attribute applies to all elements of the compound item.

>item monthly-totals,decimal,2 {12 occurrences}

>if monthly-totals(5) > 1000.00

You cannot apply an attribute to only one sub-item of a compound item:

>item monthly-totals(5),decimal,2

Error: Missing attribute for the Item Command

When to Specify the Item Command

The Item command affects almost all other Suprtool commands. It should be used as follows:

· For databases, specify it immediately after the Base command, but before any Extract or If commands.

· For MPE and KSAM files, it is best to specify the Define and Item commands immediately after the Input command.

Usefiles

You can use a usefile as a mini data dictionary for Suprtool. For databases, it is a good idea to put all the Item commands associated with a database into a usefile. After the Base command has been specified, the usefile can describe the items in the database to Suprtool. For MPE files, you can put both the Define and Item commands in a usefile and execute them right after the Input command for the file. If you use the Link output option, both date formats and implied decimal places are saved in the self-describing file so they never need to be specified again.

Key Command [K]

Specifies the next sort field for an extract task, using an explicit byte position in the record, not a field name. See "Sort Command [SO]" on page 247 for specifying sort fields by IMAGE field name or Defined field, or by field name in an SD file. Up to 20 Sort and Key commands may be specified per extract task; the first is the major sort field.

[KEY] byteposition,bytelen [,type] [,DESC]

(Default: type=BYTE, ASCENDING order).

Parameters

Desc specifies that the field is to be sorted in Descending order.

The byteposition is a number between 1 and the length of the input records, specifying where the sort field begins. The bytelen parameter is a number from 1 to the length of the record, specifying how long the sort field is.

The type is a word that gives the desired data-type of the field for sorting purposes:

Type	Description
BYTE	(unsigned, straight compare)
INT/INTEGER	(two's complement)
DOUBLE	(two's complement)
REAL	(Classic floating-point)
LONG	(Classic floating-point)
IEEE	(IEEE floating-point)
PACKED	(packed-decimal)
PACKED*	(packed-decimal, last nibble unused)
DISPLAY	(zoned-decimal numeric field)
LOGICAL	(unsigned, like BYTE, 2 characters)
CHARACTER	(for Native Language Support)

For compatibility with Sort.Pub.Sys, the Key command also accepts FPOINT as the data-type for IEEE numbers.

Examples

The first example sorts an integer (PIC S9(4) COMP) field which starts on the 11th byte of the input record. We sort the entire input file based on one key:

>input bigfile {input from a disc file}

>key 11,2,int {key is an integer that starts}

>output outfile { at the 11th byte of Bigfile}

>xeq {create Outfile and prompt for}

{ more Suprtool commands}

>input discfile {another input file}

>key 14,4,double,desc {double integer (PIC S9(9) COMP)}

>output ofile2 {sort input in descending order}

>exit

The following examples show the various data-types and combinations that are available with the Key command:

>key 1,10 {byte data-type}

>key 1,10,desc {descending sort sequence}

>key 11,4,double {I2 or J2, S9(9) COMP}

>key 1,6;11,4,ieee {X6 string and an E2 field at byte 11}

>key 21,6,packed {P12, S9(11) COMP-3}

>key 21,6,packed* {P12, S9(10) COMP-3, wasted byte}

Notes

The command name, Key, is optional. Any command that starts with a numeric character is assumed to be a Key command. The Verify command shows all of the current key fields, and the Reset command cancels them. If no sort fields are defined prior to the Xeq or Exit command, Suprtool performs a copy, not a sort.

Link Command [LIN]

Send commands to Suprlink.

LINK [ suprlink-command ]

Switching into Suprlink

If you enter Link with no parameters, Suprtool executes Suprlink.Pub.Robelle. Suprlink then prompts you for commands, just as it does when you run Suprlink from MPE. When you exit Suprlink, you are returned to Suprtool.

>link {invoke Suprlink}

SUPRLINK/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1988-2001

+input invoices by cust-no {Suprlink prompts for commands}

+link customer

+output invcust

+exit {do Suprlink task and return to Suprtool}

Passing Commands to Suprlink

You can send commands directly to Suprlink by specifying the Suprlink command as part of the Suprtool Link command. Suprlink executes the command and returns to Suprtool. Suprlink does not execute its task until it receives an Xeq or Exit command.

>link input invoices by cust-no

>link link customer {send "link customer" to Suprlink}

>link output invcust

>link exit {exit from Suprlink (not Suprtool)}

Notes

You can use the Suprtool2 interface and the Link command to "call" Suprlink. See the Suprcall User Manual for a complete example of how to use the interface to pass commands to Suprlink.

List Command [L]

The List command is used to produce formatted listings of the selected records. You may specify the List command, or the Output command, or both, or neither. If List is used instead of Output, Suprtool sets the Output to $null, so that only a listing is produced.

LIST [ OCTAL|HEX|DECIMAL ] [ CHAR ] [ NOREC ] [ LABELS ]

[ RECORD ] [ DUPLEX ] [ ONEPERLINE ] [ LP ]

[ NONAME ] [ NOSKIP ] [ STANDARD ] [ DEVICE name ]

[ DATE format ] [ TIME format ] [ PCL format ]

[ LEFTJUSTNUM ] [ RIGHTJUSTNUM ]

[ TITLE "string" ] [ HEADING "string" ["string" ...]]

(Default: Octal/Char or "Formatted")

If Suprtool knows about the fields in the input source (e.g., because you have used the Extract command), the list records are formatted with field names, and internal binary data-types (e.g., integer) are converted to ASCII. You cannot combine the Ask or Query,Num output-options with the List command.

Here is a typical use of List: to find any entries in the m-customer dataset that do not have a valid value for cust-status.

>base store,5,READER {input from a database}

>get m-customer {read this dataset}

>if cust-status<>10,20,30,40 {the only valid values}

>list {print bad entries}

>xeq

Format

You can override the defaults with a specification in the List command (e.g., List Hex,Char). If the input source is not self-describing and no Extract command is specified, the default output format is Octal,Char, which also shows both input and output record numbers.

Decimal Places

The List command formats numbers using the implied number of decimal places. For example, the following Suprtool commands format the unit cost with two decimal points. We specify the Rightjustnum keyword, because numbers with decimal points are hard to read if they are left justified:

>item cost,decimal,2 {two implied decimal points}

>list rightjustnum {numbers right justified}

>xeq { with decimal points}

Listing Record Numbers

The Norec keyword prevents the printing of the input and output record numbers. The input record numbers are not printed if Output xxx,Data is used and the file is sorted.

Listing User Labels

The Labels keyword causes user labels to be dumped in the format specified. The default format is Octal,Char. If Set Userlabels is Off, the user labels are not printed.

Listing One Field per Line

Suprtool normally attempts to list more than one field on every line of list output. The Oneperline keyword causes every field to be shown on a different line.

Listing without Field Names (Noname)

When Suprtool knows the record structure of the output file, it shows the name of each output field. The Noname keyword causes the field names to be suppressed. By only extracting a few fields, it is possible to fit the listed output for each record on one line.

Suppressing Blank Lines Between Records

By default, Suprtool prints a blank line between each record. The Noskip keyword removes this blank line. If you combine the Noskip, Norec, Noname, and Title options when extracting a few fields, Suprtool can produce a simple report.

Numeric Justification (Leftjustnum and Rightjustnum)

The List command normally left justifies all numeric fields. Specifying List Standard causes all numeric fields to be right-justified, unless you override the default with the Leftjustnum keyword.

Use the Leftjustnum or Rightjustnum keyword to specify the alignment of the numbers. The two keywords are mutually exclusive. The last one that appears on the command line is the one that is applied.

LaserJet Listings

There are two methods to select different printing options for a LaserJet and other PCL-compatible printers. You can permanently set the PCL option for all listings by using Set List PCL, or you can use the List command to select the PCL option for just one task. PCL stands for Printer Command Language, which is an HP standard for printers. The following is a summary of the PCL values:

PCL	Font	Orientation	Dimensions
1	Lineprinter	landscape	175 cols/60 lines
2	Courier	landscape	100 cols/45 lines
3	Courier "standard"	portrait	80 cols/60 lines
4	Lineprinter	portrait	132 cols/80 lines
5	Courier A4 "tight"	portrait	80 cols/60 lines
6	Lineprinter legal	landscape	223 cols/60 lines

See the Set command for a complete description of the PCL options. By default, Suprtool assumes that the List output device is not PCL-compatible (List PCL 0).

If you use the List command to your terminal with a global Set List PCL value other than zero, your terminal screen may be cleared. To avoid this situation, you can explicitly specify the PCL setting along with the device:

>get d-sales

>list serialp,pcl 2

>xeq

A4-Size Paper

Most of the PCL options, with the exception of PCL 5, were designed and tested with North American letter-size paper. This is especially true with PCL 5 for A4 paper: it reduces the horizontal spacing between characters so that 80 columns of Courier output fits on a single line. In addition, if you add 2000 to a PCL code, Suprtool adjusts the number of rows and columns for that option to match A4 paper. For example, to print Landscape on A4 paper, use PCL 2001 instead of PCL 1.

In general, selecting A4 paper gives you more space along the long side of the paper and less space along the short side. If you are happy with the way letter-size rows and columns work on A4 paper, simply do not add 2000 to the PCL code. If for some reason you want more columns than provided by Suprtool (e.g., you are using a PCL-compatible system printer with wider paper), you can override the size by using a :File command with the Rec= parameter, as in:

:file suprlist;dev=syslp;rec=-220

Roman-8 vs. ASCII

The PCL option requests a Roman-8 character set, but some combination font cartridges only supply the ASCII character set (half as many characters means twice as many fonts in a single cartridge). If you ask for Landscape Lineprinter and get Landscape Courier instead, your Lineprinter font probably has the ASCII character set instead of the Roman-8 character set. To request an ASCII font, add 1000 to the PCL code. For example, if you have a Super Cartridge (55 fonts in one!), use PCL 1001, 1004, and 1006. To select both ASCII and A4 paper, add 3000.

Double-Sided Printing on LaserJets

The LaserJet IID and IIID can print on both sides of the paper. The Duplex keyword enables double-sided printing on these printers.

>list duplex

Headings in Listings

Specifying a Title in the List command forces Suprtool to produce a formatted listing with page-headings, page-numbers, today's date and the current time. If you want just the date and page numbers, use an empty string. For example,

>list title " "

The following example prints a report on a LaserJet in Landscape (sideways) mode, using the tiny Lineprinter font, including a page heading with the title. The physical command line limit is 256 characters. As a result, the maximum size of the heading is less than 256 characters because the List command and heading options need to be included in the command line.

>in custs {self-describing file}

>if status<>10,20,30,40 {the only valid values}

>set list pcl 1 {select LaserJet option}

>list title "Invalid CUSTOMER Records"

>xeq {include title on listing}

Changing the Date Format

When you select page headings by specifying a title, each page includes today's date. By default, this date is formatted as mmm dd, ccyy (e.g., Mar 20, 2000). You can override this format with the Date keyword. Use the Set command to specify a different default date format for future List commands (e.g., Set List Date 2). The valid date formats are as follows:

Value	Format	Example
0 (default)	mmm dd, ccyy	Mar 20, 2000
1	yy/mm/dd	00/03/20
2	mm/dd/yy	03/20/00
3	dd/mm/yy	20/03/00
4	dd mmmyy	20 Mar00

>list title "Example Report" date 3

>xeq {heading date is in dd/mm/yy format}

Changing the Time Format

When you select page headings by specifying a title, each page includes the current time. By default, the time is in 24-hour format (e.g., 23:02). You can override this format with the Time keyword. Use the Set command to specify a different default time format for future List commands (e.g., Set List Time 2). The valid time formats are as follows:

Value	Format	Example
0	none
1 (default)	24-hour	23:02
2	AM/PM	11:02PM

>list title "Example Report" time 2

>xeq {time will be in AM/PM format}

Simple Reports

A Fast Method for Producing Simple Reports

For self-describing files and datasets, the Standard keyword is equivalent to List Noname,Noskip,Norec,Rightjustnum with default column headings. For data files, the Standard keyword is equivalent to List Octal,Char. In either case, the Standard keyword provides a default title that describes the input source. You can override the title, date format, time format, or any other option selected by the Standard keyword, by specifying them in addition to the Standard keyword. For example,

>get m-customer

>list standard {use all Suprtool defaults}

>xeq

>get m-customer

>list standard,date 3 {override the date format}

>xeq

>input mpefile

>list standard,char {override the format options}

>xeq

>input mpefile

>list standard,leftjustnum {left justify numbers}

>xeq

>get m-customer

>list standard,title "Customer List" {override title}

>xeq

>get m-customer

>list standard,heading " " {no column headings}

>xeq

Listings with Subheadings

When using the Title or Standard keywords, you can also include subheadings with the Heading keyword. You can specify multiple columns by repeating the string after the Heading option (e.g., List Heading "First " "Second") or specify the Heading option multiple times (e.g., List Heading "First ", Heading "Second"). Being able to specify multiple columns makes it easier to align column headings when using the Standard keyword. If you specify the Heading keyword without the Title keyword, a default title is produced.

>get m-customer {read this dataset}

>extract cust-account {Z8}

>extract name-first {X10}

>extract name-last {X16}

>extract credit-rating {J2}

>extract cust-status {X2}

>sort name-last

>sort name-first

>list standard,title "Customer List", &

heading "Account " " First and Last Names" &

" " "Credit " "Status"

>xeq

List Device

By default, the List command lists lines to $stdlist. There are several methods that you can use to redirect the output to a specific logical device or to a disc file. You can also redirect output to an attached printer.

File Suprlist

Suprtool lists lines to the file Suprlist. You can use a :File command for the Suprlist file to direct the list output to any line printer (or even to a disc file). The Suprlist file can have widths of 56 to 256 characters. If PCL is zero, Suprlist defaults to 78 columns wide. If your line printer paper is wider, specify the width using Rec= on the :File command.

>get m-customer

>:file suprlist;dev=lp;rec=-132 {list output to LP}

>list

>xeq

If PCL is non-zero, there is no need for Rec= on the :File command. Suprtool supplies the correct value.

Device LP

Use the LP option to send listings to the device "LP". If you have specified a :File command for Suprlist, it overrides the LP option. The LP option assumes that the list device is 132 columns wide.

>list lp

User Specified Device

Use the Device option to specify a specific logical device for the listing. The device name must appear after the Device option and may be a name or number. You may specify a remote device by preceding the remote device name with the system name and a pound sign (#). The Device option assumes that the list device is 132 columns wide.

>list device LP {same as List LP}

>list device serialp {send to device serialp}

>list device Goofy#LP {remote device LP on Goofy}

>list device Disc {create disc file "Suprlist"}

When redirecting the Suprlist file to disc, you must remember to add a disc value to the file equation because the default disc file size for the Suprlist file is 1,023 records.

>input sales

>:file suprlist=salefile;disc=20000

>list dev disc

>xeq

Listing to Attached Printer

If you wish to list to a printer that is attached to your terminal, use List Record. Suprtool uses Record mode on your terminal or PC to print on the attached printer. To use this option, you must be using an HP terminal or HP terminal emulator and your data communication settings must be setup correctly. This option opens a file named Suprcrt instead of Suprlist.

You can combine this option with other listing options. You cannot interrupt Record mode with Control-Y, but you can do a Soft Reset. This unlocks the keyboard and causes the rest of the output to appear on the screen. You can then stop it with Control-Y.

Notes

The List operation occurs logically after the sort phase, if any, and after any Extract, but before the final Output or Put operation. A Reset turns off the current List options.

For more examples of the List command, see Suprtool Issues and Solutions.

Listredo Command [LISTREDO]

The Listredo command displays any of the previous 1000 commands.

LISTREDO [ start [ / stop ] ] [;ABS] [;OUT=file]

[ string ] [;REL]

[ ALL | @ ] [;UNN]

(Default: display previous 20 commands)

(BJ and ,, are short for LISTREDO)

Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are retained. You can display a single command, a range of commands, all 1000, or all the commands whose name matches the string. You can print the commands with ABSolute line numbers (the default), RELative line numbers (-5/-4), or UNNumbered. You can write the commands to your terminal or Out to a temporary file. If you want to redo any of these commands, see Do, Redo, and Before.

Examples

>listredo 5

>listredo 5/10

>listredo help {print all Help commands}

>listredo -10 {print last ten commands}

>listredo ALL {print entire redo stack}

>listredo purge {print all Purge commands}

>listredo purge xx {print all "purge xx" commands}

>listredo @purge {print all with "purge" anywhere}

>listredo @;rel {print ALL, relative numbers}

>listredo 1/10;out=*lp {dump commands to printer}

>listredo @;unn;out=save {write commands to a file}

Notes

The :Listredo command can be abbreviated to BJ as in Qedit, or to ,, (comma comma) as in MPEX. You cannot use a semi-colon (;) to combine commands on the same line.

Persistent Redo

Numrecs Command [N]

Specify the size of the input file (for tape files), output file (for datasets), and the sort scratch file.

NUMRECS size | percentage%

(default: size=10,000 or EOF of input source)

Parameters

When you know that you are selecting a small subset of the entire input source, use the Numrecs command to reduce the size of the sort scratch file and, if required, the size of the output file. If you select more than size entries, Suprtool prints a warning message, and ignores the rest of the input records. However, the output file will have the records that were selected. Use a percent sign (%) to specify the Numrecs as a percentage of the input file size. The percentage can range from 1 to 500.

Using Numrecs for Tape Files

The Numrecs command is required to read more than 10,000 records from a tape file. Suppose you want to read a tape file with 30,000 records. You would use the Numrecs command to increase the size of the output file:

>:file t;dev=tape {define tape file}

>input *t {specify Suprtool input}

>numrecs 30000 {make room for 30000 records}

>output out2 {output file will have room for}

>xeq { 30000 records}

Reducing File Sizes

Suppose that the d-sales dataset contains 100,000 entries, but you use the If command to select 15% of the entries. We would specify 15 as the percentage on the Numrecs command to reduce the size of the sort scratch file and the output file:

>get d-sales {specify input}

>numrecs 15% {specify 15000 as file size}

>if sales-qty<100 {select a subset of d-sales}

>sort cust-account {sort using the dataset path}

>output out2 {output file will have room for}

>xeq { 15000 records}

MPE Files vs. Datasets

When you specify a source of records using the Input command (as opposed to reading a dataset using the Get or Chain command), Suprtool attempts to duplicate all of the input file's attributes in the output file. This includes the file limit. For this reason, the Numrecs value is ignored if the output file limit is smaller than the input file limit. Numrecs is still useful when reading MPE files to reduce the size of the sort scratch file.

Appending to Files

When you want to create a file that you can append to later, you need to use both the Numrecs command and the Set Squeeze Off command.

>get d-sales

>numrecs 200% {output file will have extra room}

>set squeeze off {reserve room between EOF and LIMIT}

>output dsale

>xeq

...

>get d-history

>output dsale,append {dsale has room for appending}

>xeq

Open Command [OP]

Specify an SQL database to open. Only one database can be open at a time.

OPEN ALLBASE dbename owner

Allbase Database

Use the Open command to connect to an Allbase database. You must specify your Allbase dbename and owner. To read data from an Allbase table or view, use the Select command. Use Set Allbase Rows to specify how many rows for Suprtool to fetch when it is reading Allbase data.

>open allbase inventory anne

Output Command [O]

Define the name of the output file as one of these: a new disc file (default), an existing MPE or KSAM file (Append or Erase option), * for $stdlist, a back reference to a :File command (*name), or =Input to sort a file into itself. If you use List, Put, Update or Total, Output defaults to $null. Output produces the same record format as the input source (adjusted by Extract commands), unless you override it with format keywords.

OUTPUT filename format [TEMP] [ERASE | APPEND]

(Default: DATA only, "new" file)

New Files

The filename is the name of a new MPE disc file to be built by Suprtool (Output xxx). Unless you use a :File command to specify explicitly the record length and blocking factor of the new file, Suprtool calculates the record length itself and chooses a blocking factor to optimize batch access to the new file.

If Suprtool cannot Save the new file because of a duplicate file name, you may purge the old file or give the new file a different name. If Suprtool is running in batch mode, it renames the new file as Outputnn, where nn is the lowest number between 00 and 20 that makes a valid new file name. The Outputnn file is built in the same group and account as the duplicate output file and not in your logon group and account. This prevents problems on private volumes.

In many cases, Suprtool creates the end-of-file and the file-limit the same. If you intend to append records to the output file, use Set Squeeze Off to force Suprtool not to reduce the file-limit when closing the output file.

Suprtool does not create new KSAM files. Use KSAMUTIL or the MPE/iX :Build command to create the KSAM file, then use Suprtool to load it as an existing file.

Temporary Files

By default, Suprtool saves the output file as a permanent file. Use the Temp option to force Suprtool to save the output file as a temporary file. If the output file already exists as a temporary file, Suprtool prompts you to purge the existing temporary file. If you do not want to purge the old temporary file, Suprtool prompts for a new temporary file name. In batch, Suprtool renames the output file as the temporary file Outputnn.

Permanent and Temporary Files

If you have a temporary file and a permanent file of the same name, Suprtool will attempt to create a new permanent file.

If your Output command specifies the append or erase options Suprtool will attempt to output to the temporary file.

Existing Files

The filename is the name of an old disc or KSAM file to erase (Output xxx,erase) or to append to (Output xxx,append). Output xxx,erase does not purge the existing file; it simply overwrites the contents of the file. The original attributes of the file such as record size, blocking factor, and file limit are not changed.

If the old file is a KSAM file, Suprtool attempts to add the output records to the KSAM tree structure. If duplicate keys are not allowed in the KSAM file, there may be FWRITE errors due to duplicates. The treatment of these is controlled by the Set Ignore command. By default, a duplicate error causes the extract task to terminate.

Tape or Line Printer Files

The filename is a back reference to a magnetic tape or line printer file via a :File command (Output *XX). When sending output to magnetic tape, you should specify the record size and blocking factor on the :File command. Use the same :File command (with the same record size and blocking factor) when reading the tape file.

$Stdlist

Specify output to $stdlist by a single asterisk (Output *). Use this filename with the ASCII option for a quick listing of a file or dataset.

Overwriting the Original File

Use the special filename=Input to specify erasing the unsorted records by writing the sorted records back into the original input file. Disc space is saved because a new output file is not required, but this option cannot be restarted! The =Input option can only be used for sorts to disc files and KSAM files, not to IMAGE datasets. You can use this feature to reorganize existing KSAM files by extracting the records you wish to retain, sorting them into your optimal key sequence, and writing them back into the same KSAM file.

>in workfeb

>key 1,10

>output=input

Note that typing "input" after the equal sign is optional. Any name typed after the equal sign is ignored; it is the equal sign itself that directs Suprtool to overwrite the input file.

Size of the Output File

Suprtool builds new output files with a capacity large enough to hold all the input records. You can determine the capacity (limit) in two ways:

1. You can make the capacity larger by specifying a Numrecs command with either a specific value or a percentage greater than 100.

>numrecs 150%

For IMAGE datasets, you can also reduce the size of the output file using Numrecs. When the input is not an IMAGE dataset and you select a Numrecs smaller than the number of records in the input file, Suprtool builds the output file the same size as the input file. However, it limits the number of records written to Numrecs.

2. You can use a :File command to override Suprtool's choice.

>:file sales; disc=100000
>output sales

The file is built by Suprtool as it begins the execution phase (when you type Xeq or Exit). If there is not enough disc space you get a file system error 46. Use a :File command to choose a smaller file size.

At the end of execution, Suprtool usually reduces the capacity (limit) to the actual number of records in the output file (EOF) which in turn reduces the disc space. If you do not want this to happen, use the Set Squeeze Off command.

Format Options

The format and length of the output records is determined by which of the following format keywords is selected:

Keyword(s)	Format
DATA	Default
ELSE	Records not qualified by if condition
KEY	Sort keys only
NUM	J2 record numbers only
NUM,KEY	J2 record numbers plus sort keys
NUM,DATA	J2 record numbers plus data record
QUERY	Self-describing file
LINK	New format self-describing file
NUM,QUERY	Query "numbers" format
ASK	COGELOG ASK select file
ASCII	Convert numeric to ASCII
DISPLAY	Convert numeric to display (zoned-decimal)
PRN	Personal computer format

DATA

DATA is the default; output records are the same length and format as the input records.

ELSE

ELSE tells the output command to output any records to the temporary ELSE file that do not qualify under a certain if command. If you have a task that looks for all records with an amount >= 0, then the records <0 will be written to a temporary file called ELSE. This file can be renamed with a file equation. The ELSE option cannot be used with num or key or any duplicate option or command or the Sort command. The ELSE file that gets created will look like the output file in terms of attributes.

KEY

KEY creates output records containing only the sort keys, concatenated from left to right (major key to minor key).

NUM

NUM creates output records of four bytes in length, containing the double-integer record number of each input record. The record number of the first record is 1 for IMAGE datasets, 0 for MPE files, and either 0 or 1 for KSAM files, depending on whether the FIRST=0 option was selected when the KSAM file was built. The NUM option is not recommended for IMAGE master datasets because entries in master datasets can migrate. Detail datasets and MPE and KSAM files are okay.

NUM,KEY

NUM,KEY creates output records containing the four-byte record number, followed by the sort key values, concatenated from left to right (major key to minor key).

NUM,DATA

NUM,DATA creates output records containing the four-byte record number, followed by the full data record. This can be useful to create "transaction" files from detail datasets that will later be updated back to the database after a processing stage.

QUERY

QUERY creates an MPE self-describing output file. A self-describing file has a file code of "SD" in the :Listf command and an actual file code of 1084. Self-describing files contain information about the structure of each record in the file. The file label contains the name, type, length, and offset of each field in the file.

Self-describing files have no provision for repeated fields. These fields appear with an "unknown" type in the file label. The QUERY option produces a file that is similar to the file produced by the SAVE command of QUERY.

LINK

The QUERY output option has some major drawbacks. Compound fields are not handled, date and decimal point information is not saved, and sort information is not part of the file description. The LINK option produces a self-describing file that solves all these problems. This option is the recommended way to generate files for Suprlink. We are also encouraging third-party software vendors to accept this format.

To convert a self-describing file back into a non-SD file, see "Suprtool and Self-Describing Files" on page 65.

NUM,QUERY

NUM,QUERY creates output records in QUERY "numbers" format. This is an undocumented feature of QUERY that is used by some application packages. Records in a "numbers" file contain the dataset number and the record number in ASCII format. A QUERY "numbers" file is usually used as input to a report program. Substituting Suprtool for QUERY in these batch jobs should improve the speed.

ASK

ASK is a QUERY-replacement tool from COGELOG. ASK creates output records in ASK select-file format. Suprtool can be used to scan and select records quickly from a dataset. ASK Version C can produce reports from the resulting select-file. This option cannot be used with any other Output option.

Recent versions of ASK read self-describing files. For these versions use the Link option instead of the Ask option.

ASCII

ASCII converts all binary input fields into their equivalent ASCII values. All binary fields are right-justified in their fields with a trailing sign. The sign can be a blank, "+", or "-". Byte fields are not affected by this option. The size of the ASCII field depends on the format of the binary field:

Field Format	Output Size
I1, J1	6 bytes
I2, J2	11 bytes
I3, J3	16 bytes
I4, J4	20 bytes
K1	5 bytes
K2	10 bytes
E2	12 bytes
E4	23 bytes
R2	12 bytes
R4	23 bytes
Zn	n+1 bytes
Pn	n bytes

Any fields with implied decimal places (see the Item command) are formatted with a decimal point in the correct position. Suprtool reserves two additional positions for each output field that has an implied decimal point.

DISPLAY

DISPLAY converts all binary input fields into their equivalent display values (also known as zoned-decimal). The size of the display field depends on the format of the binary field:

Field Format	Output Size
I1, J1	5 bytes
I2, J2	10 bytes
I3, J3	15 bytes
I4, J4	19 bytes
K1	5 bytes
K2	10 bytes
Pn	n-1 bytes
P*n	n-2 bytes

The last digit of the number is replaced with a letter corresponding to positive or negative values. See the following table.

Units Digit	Positive	Negative	No Sign
0	{	}	0
1	A	J	1
2	B	K	2
3	C	L	3
4	D	M	4
5	E	N	5
6	F	O	6
7	G	P	7
8	H	Q	8
9	I	R	9

Positive values for I- and J-type fields are converted into neutral (i.e., no sign) display values. The sign is preserved when converting packed fields to display.

DISPLAY is not supported for Real or IEEE fields. Byte fields are not affected by this option. Display fields in the input record are not converted into display.

PRN

Many PC software packages import PRN files (these files are also called delimited in some PC documentation). A PRN file has quotes around character-fields and a comma between each field. Binary values are output in ASCII with an optional leading sign. Not all applications accept PRN files; for more precise conversion of data, use STExport.

PRN converts each input-field to a fixed-width output-field, filling with trailing spaces where necessary. All binary values are converted into their equivalent ASCII value, left-justified in their fields. The sign precedes the ASCII value for the number and can be missing, "+", or "-". See the ASCII output-option for the field width of each data-type.

Output fields with implied decimal places (see "Decimal Places" on page 193) are formatted with a decimal point in the correct position. Like the ASCII option, Suprtool reserves two extra columns for each output field with implied decimal places.

Lotus 1-2-3 accepts records only up to 240 bytes long. Because the PRN option leaves room for the maximum value of any field, you may need to restrict the number of output fields using the Extract command.

While some PC software allows alternate characters to be used to delimit character fields, Lotus 1-2-3 accepts double quotes only. Since Lotus 1-2-3 rejects character fields that contains a double quote, Suprtool removes all double quotes from character fields when generating the PRN format. Suprtool removes quotes by replacing them with a space.

See STExport for a method of including header lines in the file to be down-loaded.

Examples

One reason to use $stdlist as the output file (indicated by * as the filename) is to obtain a quick listing of the ASCII fields in the input source. The following example lists the cust-account, name-last, and name-first fields of the m-customer dataset and separates them by two spaces:

>base store,5,READER {input from a database}

>get m-customer {use the m-customer dataset}

>extract cust-account {account number will be first}

>extract " " {two spaces}

>extract name-last {the customer's last name}

>extract " " {two more spaces}

>extract name-first {the customer's first name}

>output * {output the records to $stdlist}

>sort cust-account {sorted by the dataset's key field}

>exit

The following examples demonstrate other combinations of options on the Output command. The entire Issues chapter of the manual should be reviewed for extended examples using the Output command. Many Output options were intended for specific application areas.

>output newfile

>:file dtape;dev=tape;rec=40,20

>output *dtape

>output ksamfile,key,erase

>output accum,append

>output keyfile,key

>output transf,num,data

>output querynum,num,query

>output $null

If you want to find out how many records are qualified by some selection criteria, without producing an output file, send the output to $null. The Out= count on $stdlist, and the JCW SuprtoolOutCount are both set to the number of qualifying records.

ELSE

While Suprtool does not have traditional else logic in it's if command you can output all of the records "discarded" for a given task out to a temporary filed named ELSE.

This way you can output multiple files for a given task as in:

Notes

The output file must be an "old", existing file if the Append or Erase option has been specified. If you use a :File command to force Output to an old file without specifying one of these options, Suprtool rejects the file.

If the record length of the output file is not the same as expected by Suprtool, the records are automatically truncated or expanded with either binary zeros or blanks. If the blocking factor is not as expected, Suprtool automatically "reblocks" the records. Thus, Suprtool can be used to reblock disc or tape files economically into better block sizes in order to save disc space, or to improve on-line access, or to speed batch access.

Put Command [P]

Directs output records to be DBPUT into an IMAGE dataset. Put can be combined with Output to a file, but if no Output command is entered, Suprtool defaults the output file to $null. It is your responsibility to ensure that the output records match the format of the target dataset. The DATA option of the Output command is the only valid output option when Put is specified.

PUT setname [,database [,mode [,password]]]

(Default: base=Base, mode=1, pass=Creator)

Parameters

If database is not specified, setname must be a valid dataset of the Base previously opened. You must have write access to the dataset selected.

If database is included, the specified database is opened. The specified database can be redefined to reside on another system or in a different account/group via a :File command. The default open mode is 1 and the default password is Creator. This Put database is closed after the task is completed, unlike the database opened with Base. It is possible to copy records from one database to another with Suprtool.

In session mode, Suprtool prompts for the password if it is not included in the command. In batch mode, it is necessary to specify a database password without the password being echoed on the job stream listing. A special database password is provided to allow for this. When a question mark "?" is used as the database password, Suprtool prompts for the password on the next physical input line without echoing. This occurs in batch mode or in session mode.

Examples

For the first example, we assume that the D-SALES dataset is designed to contain a week's worth of transactions. Each night, the transactions from a week ago are moved to the monthly dataset: D-SALES-MON. The D-SALES and D-SALES-MON datasets have exactly the same field declarations. The following Suprtool task would move one day's transactions from D-SALES to D-SALES-MON.

>base store,1,write {requires write access to database}

>get d-sales {read the weekly dataset}

>if purge-date=000401 {select one day's transactions}

>put d-sales-mon {adding them to the monthly dataset}

>exit

For the next example, we assume that the D-SALES-MON dataset is in a different database. We prompt for the password for both databases:

>base store,1,? {Suprtool must prompt for password}

Password > {password not echoed}

>get d-sales

>if purch-date=000401 {select one day's transactions}

>put d-sales-mon,ostore,1,? {add to OSTORE database}

Password > {password not echoed}

>exit {the output file defaults to $null}

This example shows how Suprtool can read an MPE disc file and Put each record in a database:

>input dsales {"dsales" has exactly the same format}

>put d-sales,store { as the d-sales dataset}

>exit

Improving Put Performance with Deferred Output

Suprtool uses the standard Image intrinsic DBPut to add entries from a dataset. This makes tasks with a Put operation slower than the standard MR/NOBUF reads, but insures structural integrity of the database and that any Third-Party Indexes are kept in sync.

You can reduce the time needed to Put dataset entries by enabling deferred output for the Put database. When Set Defer is On and the Put database is opened in mode-3 (exclusive), Suprtool calls DBCONTROL to notify IMAGE that disc writes are to be deferred whenever possible. The database creator can enable deferred output processing for all users of a database with DBUTIL (enable base for autodefer).

Deferred output can improve the speed of DBPUT significantly, but it has a major drawback: if the system crashes (i.e., you have a system failure or a nonrecoverable power failure) while you are in deferred output mode, you must RESTORE your database from tape. If Suprtool stops due to an error, or if you abort Suprtool (i.e., break/abort or :abortjob) while the database is opened in deferred output mode, your database does not have to be restored.

Omnidex

If you are adding records to a dataset with Omnidex keys, you must have MPE/iX third-party indexing enabled in your database, or you must run Suprtool with Omnidex's call conversion facility.

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;xl="xl.pub.disc"

>base store

>input mpefile

>put d-sales {d-sales has Omnidex keys}

>exit

Notes

If the dataset selected for output is a master dataset, it is possible that some of the output records may be duplicate key values. If this happens, Suprtool prints an error message and terminates the task, unless you have enabled Set Ignore, in which case the duplicates are counted and reported at the end of the task. Duplicate records are not written to the output file.

To add individual entries into a dataset, specifying each field value in ASCII, use the #Add command of Dbedit.

Q Command [Q]

Prints a message on $stdlist.

Q [ "string" ]

(Default: print a blank line)

The string of up to 253 characters is printed on $stdlist. The string is truncated to the record width of $stdlist. In many cases, job streams are limited to 80 or 132 characters.

The string must be embedded in quotes. Either single-quotes (') or double-quotes (") are permitted. The quotes are not printed on $stdlist.

Use the Q command in usefiles for printing explanations. Put :COMMENT in usefiles for a nonprinting comment line, then invoke the file with the USEQ command.

Examples

The Q command is often combined with the Userpause command. The example is a usefile that provides an explanation of how long a task takes:

>q "We will select all transactions over $10,000. Since"

>q "there are many transactions, this task will take"

>q "some time (usually more than fifteen minutes)."

>userpause "Press any key when you are ready to start."

Redo Command [REDO]

Enables you to modify and repeat any of the previous 1000 command lines.

REDO [ start [ / stop ] ]

[ string ]

[ ALL | @ ]

(Default: redo the previous command)

(Comma "," is short for REDO)

The Redo command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them. If you don't need to change them, use the Do command. Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are retained. Use the :Listredo command to display the previous commands. You can redo a single command, a range of commands, or the most recent command whose name matches a string.

The Redo command uses MPE-style editing logic (D, I, R, U and >). The default mode is to replace characters. To delete, type DDDD under the characters to be removed. To insert, type I under the insertion spot, then the new characters. To undo your changes, type U. To append to the end of the line, use >xxx. To delete from the end of the line, use >DD. To replace at the end of the line, use >Rxxx. And to erase the rest of the line, use D>. If you prefer Qedit-style editing (Control-D, etc.), use the Before command instead of the Redo command.

Examples

>listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}

NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)

>redo {redo most recent command}

listf @.soruce {last command is printed}

our {you enter changes to it}

listf @.source {edited command is shown}

{you press Return}

>listredo all

>redo 5 {redo 5th command in stack}

>redo {redo previous command}

>redo -2 {redo command before previous}

>redo 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}

>redo -10/ {redo -10 through last}

>redo purge {redo last Purge command}

>redo purge temp {redo last "purge temp"}

>redo @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

Notes

The Redo command can be abbreviated to a comma, as in MPEX. You cannot use ";" to combine commands on the same line. The Suprredo file is always a temporary file. To save more commands, use a :File command on the Suprredo file before you run Suprtool:

:file suprredo;disc=5000

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

Hpmodify Keys – Reference

Here are the MPE-style REDO sub-commands:

Directive	Effect
i	INSERT. If text follows the i, this text is inserted in the current line starting at the i position.
r	REPLACE. If text follows the r, this text replaces the same number of characters in the current line beginning at the r position.
d	DELETE. Deletes a character from the current line for each d specified in the edit line. Note that "d d" does not specify a range as it does in MPE V but simply deletes one character above each d. Multiple d's may be followed by an INSERT or REPLACE operation.
d>	DELETE. Deletes to the end of the current line from the position specified by d>. May be followed by an INSERT or REPLACE operation.
>	APPEND. If text follows the >, this text is appended to the end of the current line. If a > without text is positioned beyond the end of the current line, then a simple replacement is performed instead.
>d	DELETE. Deletes from the end of the current line, right-to-left. Multiple d's and INSERT and REPLACE strings may be specified after >.
>r	REPLACE. Replaces characters at the end of the command line. The last (rightmost) character of the replacement string is at the end of the line.
c	CHANGE. Changes all occurrences of one string to another in the current line starting at the c. The search string and replace string must be properly delimited. A proper delimiter is a non-alphabetic character (such as ' " or /). The substitution is specified as cdelim search-string delim [replace-string [delim]]. Omitting the replace-string causes occurrences of search-string to be deleted, with no substitution.
u	UNDO. A single u in column one cancels the most recent edit of the current line. Using the Undo command twice in a row cancels all edits for the current line and re-establishes the original, unedited line. If u is placed anywhere other than column one of the current line, then a simple replacement is performed. Undo makes sense only if you have a line on which you have performed some editing that can be "undone."
other	Simple replacement. Any other character (not i, r, d, d>, >, >d, >r, c, or u) will be put into the current line at the position above where it is placed, replacing any existing character. Simple replacement also occurs for the editing characters i, r, c, or > if they are not followed by text; or if > appears at or beyond the current end of line.

Hpmodify Examples

Here are examples of the MPE-style REDO sub-commands in action:

Edit	Action
u	First occurrence undoes the previous edits. The u must be in column one.
u	Second occurrence undoes all edits on the current line. The u must be in column one.
rxyz	Replaces the current text with xyz starting at the position of r.
xyz	Replaces the current text with xyz starting at the position of x.
ixyz	Inserts xyz into the current line, starting at the position of the i.
ddd	Deletes three characters, one above each d.
d xyz	Deletes a single character above the d, skips one space, then replaces the current text with xyz starting at the position of x.
ddixyz	Deletes two characters, then inserts xyz in the current line starting at the position of the i.
d d	Deletes one character above the first d, skips two spaces and deletes a second character above the second d. It does not delete a range of characters, making it unlike the MPE V version of Redo.
d d>xyz	Deletes a single character above the first d, skips two spaces and deletes to the end of the line beginning at the second d, and then places xyz at the end of the line.
>xyz	Appends xyz to the end of the current line.
>ddxyz	Deletes the last two characters from the end of the current line and then places xyz at the end of the line.
>rxyz	Replaces the last three characters in the current line with xyz.
>ixyz	Appends xyz to the end of the line. In this case, the i command is superfluous, because > accomplishes the same result. Using >xyz would be sufficient.
c/ab/def	Changes all occurrences of ab to def.
c"ab"	Deletes all occurrences of "ab".
cxyz	Replaces the current text with cxyz, starting at c. Because delimiters have not been specified (as they were in the previous two examples), this is a simple replacement with the four characters.

Persistent Redo

Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save your redo commands. See "Redo" on page 242 for details.

Reset Command [R]

Resets aspects of the current task.

RESET [ ALL | @ | command [...] ]

(Default: Delete/Sort/Key/If/List)

Parameters

More than one command can be Reset at once by entering several commands separated by a space or a comma. If no parameters are specified, Suprtool cancels the previous Sort, Key, If, Delete, and List commands. The other commands remain unchanged.

If ALL is specified, all of the Input and Output commands are canceled and database/files are closed. In fact, the only options that are not reset to the initial condition are Define, Item, and Set options.

Examples

You began to specify a sort, but then you discovered that you specified the wrong database so you decided to start all over:

>base ostore,5,READER {open for read access only}

>get d-sales

>sort cust-account

>reset all {oops, wrong database}

>base store,5,READER {now we have correct one}

In the next example, you entered an incorrect If command:

>if delivered>000401 {wrong field used}

>reset if {only reset the If command}

>if purchased>000401 { and specify it again}

This time both the If command and the Extract commands are incorrect:

>if delivered>000401 {wrong field used}

>extract delivered { in both commands}

>reset if,extract {only reset the If and Extract}

>if purchased>000401 { commands and start again}

>extract purchased,account

Notes

By resetting certain commands, other commands are also reset. For example, resetting the Base command resets almost all other commands, except the Define and Output commands. Resetting the Put command closes the output database when the database for the Put command is different from the input database. Resetting the Chain, Get, or Input command resets everything except the Base, Define and Table commands. Resetting the Table command resets everything except the Base and Define commands. Resetting either the Define or Item command resets both Define and Item settings.

Select Command [SEL]

Specify a select statement for the currently open SQL database. The select command supports all of the features of the select command of the open SQL database. Only one select command can be specified at a time.

SELECT select-command

Allbase sorts data:

>select * from user.account@emp order by ename

Suprtool sorts data:

>select * from user.account@emp

>sort ename

The select-command can contain any expression or clause that is supported by the SQL database. Some features (e.g., ORDER BY) may be done faster by Suprtool (e.g., the Sort command).

Some Select commands can exceed the 256-character command line limitation. The Select command, however, can be considerably larger if you use the $read feature of the Select command. This feature is similar to the If command $read feature and is invoked by entering the Select command on a line by itself (unlike If, you do not specify $read explicitly).

>select

-ename,salary,tax_paid

-from scott.employee

-order by ename

-//

The Suprtool prompt changes from ">" to "-" after entering the Select command by itself on a line. The entire command gets sent to the Select command parser after terminating with two slash marks (//) or a blank line.

You might realize greater performance gains with the Select command if you specify only the columns that you need in your output file for either tables with many items or when you need only a couple of items from a given table.

The following Select command

>select col1,col2,col3 from user.account@emp

may be faster than

>select * from user.account@emp

Your mileage may vary.

Set Command [S]

Enables or disables certain operating options within Suprtool. These options are not reset by Xeq or Reset commands.

SET ALLBASE ROWS number

SET ARITHMETIC CLASSIC|IEEE

SET BASECLOSE ON|OFF

SET BLOCKSIZE [size]

SET BUFFER [size]

SET CLEANCHAR <string>

SET CURRENCYSYMBOL <string>

SET DATE CUTOFF [number]

SET DATE FORCECENTURY ON|OFF

SET DATE IFYY2000ERROR ON|OFF

SET DATE MAPTOPHDATE8 ON|OFF

SET DECIMALSYMBOL <string>

SET DEFER ON|OFF

SET DUMPONERROR ON|OFF

SET EOFREAD ON|OFF

SET FILECODE number

SET FIRSTREC [0|1]

SET HINTS ON|OFF

SET IFCHECK ON|OFF

SET IGNORE ON|OFF

SET ITEMABBREVIATEDATE ON|OFF

SET INTERACTIVE ON|OFF

SET ITEMLOCK <fieldname>

SET LABELLEDTAPEREWIND ON|OFF

SET LIMITS [Mpe ON|OFF] [ReadOnly ON|OFF] [Tablesize size]

SET LIST DATE number

SET LIST PCL [0|1|2|3|4|5|6]

SET LIST TIME number

SET LOCK [number]

SET NLS [number]

SET NUMBUG ON | OFF

SET OPENMODE [number]

SET ORACLE ROWS number (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)

SET ORACLE INTEGER ON | OFF (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)

SET ORACLE OPENFIX ON|OFF (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)

SET ORACE ZERONULL ON | OFF (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)

SET PATTERN NEW|OLD

SET PREFETCH [number]

SET PRIVMODE ON|OFF

SET PROGRESS Percent [number] Minimum [number]

SET PROMPT character

SET REALMAP ON|OFF (has no effect in Suprtool/MPE)

SET RECOVER ON|OFF

SET REDO filename

SET SORTFAST ON|OFF

SET SQUEEZE [ON|OFF]

SET STATISTICS ON|OFF

SET SUBSYSTEM ON|OFF

SET SUSPEND ON|OFF

SET THOUSANDSYMBOL <string>

SET USERLABELS ON|OFF

SET VARSUB ON|OFF

SET VARSUBCOMPAT ON|OFF

SET VARSUBDEBUG ON|OFF

SET WARNINGS ON|OFF

SET XLTRIM ON|OFF

Each option is its own Set command. That is, you cannot specify multiple options in the same command. Instead, use multiple Set commands. For example, to Set Squeeze Off and to define a PCL device for the List command, you would specify two Set commands:

>set squeeze off

>set list pcl 1

>set squeeze off;set list pcl 1

Add system-wide Set commands to the Suprmgr.Pub.Sys configuration file.

When Suprtool starts running, all the options are set to initial "factory settings". The Suprmgr file may contain Set commands to override the initial values. Set commands remain set until the end of the Suprtool run, or until changed by another Set command.

Some commands have optional parameters (e.g., the numeric value of Set Lock). If the command is specified without a value, the default that Suprtool uses may be different from the program's initial value. When that is the case, the command description will show the initial value and the default-when-omitted value.

Allbase

SET ALLBASE ROWS number

(Initially: 100)

If you open an Allbase database, Suprtool reads more than one row at a time when processing the input source. By default, Suprtool fetches 100 rows at a time. You can vary the number of rows that Suprtool fetches with Set Allbase Rows. The minimum number of rows is 1 and the maximum number is 990. You must specify Set Allbase Rows before entering the Select command.

Arithmetic

SET ARITHMETIC Classic | IEEE

(Initially: depends)

Specify which data-type Suprtool should use for arithmetic expressions by using Set Arithmetic. The default is Classic for Suprtool/V, and IEEE for Suprtool/iX and Suprtool/UX. This option is only supported in Suprtool/iX.

Baseclose

SET BASECLOSE ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Use Set Baseclose On to ensure that Suprtool closes your database whenever it exits. The default is for Suprtool to hold the database open when it suspends (e.g., when returning to Qedit).

Blocksize

SET BLOCKSIZE [size]

(Initially & Default: <none>)

When Suprtool is copying an MPE or KSAM file, it always attempts to duplicate the record size and blocking factor of the original file. In all other cases, Suprtool chooses an optimal blocking factor, but restricts the total block size to 2048 words. When Suprtool is computing the block size, it always chooses the smallest block size divisible by 128. Specifying an explicit block size forces Suprtool to pick the largest block size that can fit in the specified block size and still be divisible by 128.

Users may wish to add the Set Blocksize command to the Suprmgr file. Increasing the block size has two potential problems: small files may consume more disc space, and reading the file buffered requires more memory for the MPE file buffers. The maximum block size allowed is 8,192 words.

Buffer

SET BUFFER [ size ]

(Initially: depends; Default: no change)

Set Buffer varies the maximum number of words that Suprtool allocates for input and output buffers. This buffer size limits the number of data blocks that Suprtool reads at a time.

Suprtool overrides the maximum buffer size specified, if that is necessary to get the task done. For example, when the blocks size of the file is greater than buffer maximum specified.

The maximum value is 14,336 words in Suprtool/V and 24,576 words in Suprtool/iX. The default value used by Suprtool is the largest size that fits in the available data structures and still allows Suprtool to get the job done. Using Set Buffer to reduce the size of the buffer reduces the size of the stack that Suprtool uses for copy operations. Suprtool/V always uses a buffer size of 4096 words when sorting. This leaves the maximum amount of room in the stack for the sorting operation.

Some utilities that intercept all file system calls can have problems with the large read/write requests that Suprtool makes (e.g., some versions of Omnidex and Netbase versions less than 0.9.4). You can avoid this problem by adding a Set Buffer command to Suprmgr.Pub.Sys to reduce the default buffer size. Suprtool automatically detects when a file is considered Netbase remote and adjusts the buffer size for you. This requires Netbase 0.9.4 version or higher.

CleanChar

SET CleanChar " "

(Default: space)

>set CleanChar "."

This will set the character to replace any of the qualifying "to be cleaned" characters to be a period.

If you want to Clean a field and not replace with any character you just need to set the clean character in the following manner:

>set CleanChar “<null>”

CurrencySymbol

SET CurrencySymbol "$"

(Default: Dollar Sign)

This setting is used to change the Currency character which is used to edit the data in a field used by the $Number function. The defined currency symbol(s) is stripped from the field prior to converting to number, in the $number function. The CurrencySymbol can be up to four characters.

>set CurrencySymbol "$"

The default character for the Currency Symbol is the Dollar sign.

Date Cutoff

SET DATE CUTOFF [ number ]

(Initially: 10; Default: 00)

Date Cutoff tells Suprtool what century to use when Suprtool generates the date value from the $date and $stddate functions. This setting only affects the date values generated by the $date and $stddate function in the If and Extract commands. This does not affect user data.

Versions of Suprtool without Set Date Cutoff would assume 19 for the century for any user-specified $date with a two-digit year.

Now with Set Date Cutoff xx, Suprtool assumes the following: a value of 20 for the century if the two-digit year specified in the $date or $stddate functions is less than the value of Set Date Cutoff; a value of 19 for the century if the two-digit year is greater than or equal to Set Date Cutoff.

The initial value of Set Date Cutoff is 10. Therefore the default behavior in $date and $stddate is to treat the two-digit years with values of 00..09 as 2000..2009, and the two-digit years with values of 10..99 as 1910..1999.

yy Value in $date	With Cutoff 10	With Cutoff 25
00	2000	2000
…	…	…
09	2009	2009
10	1910	2010
11	1911	2011
…	…	…
24	1924	2024
25	1925	1925
26	1926	1926
…	…	…
99	1999	1999

We recommend that you always provide a four-digit year when using $date. However, for reasons of backward compatibility, we introduced Set Date Cutoff. See "Date ForceCentury" on page 228 for more information.

$Stddate and Set Date Cutoff

When $stddate has to convert from a date in only a two-digit format, the conversion to the four-digit date will use the value in Set Date Cutoff.

For example,

>get sales-detail

>set date cutoff 15

>def new-ship-date,1,4,double

>item ship-date,date,mmddyy

>ext order-no / sales-amount

>ext new-ship-date = $stddate(ship-date)

>out salesinfo,link

>xeq

In this example, if any ship-date has a year of 14 or less, then the century applied to the new-ship-date field will be 20. Ship-dates with a year of 15 or more will have a century of 19 applied.

Date ForceCentury

SET DATE FORCECENTURY ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Set Date ForceCentury On will not allow a yy date to be entered in the $date function, it will force the user to enter a full ccyy date.

>set date forcecentury on

>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd

>if date-field >= $date(00/12/10)

Error:You must specify the century or Set Date ForceCentury off

The default value for Set Date ForceCentury is off.

Date IfYY2000Error

SET DATE IFYY2000ERROR ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

By default Suprtool considers dates with a two-digit century component from the $date and $today functions to be invalid when the dates resolve to be greater than 1999 and the If operation is a relative operation (e.g., greater than or equal to). You can control whether Suprtool considers this condition an error by using the following Set command:

>set Date Ifyy2000Error Off

The following example shows what is considered to be an error by the If command and how the Set command can turn off the error check:

>def a,1,6

>item a,date,yymmdd

>if a >= $today

Error: Cannot use a date beyond 1999 for this format

>set date ifyy2000error off

We have chosen this condition to be an error by default because when the $today or $date function in the If command resolves a date in a yymmdd format to a value beyond 1999, the result is not always a useful value. For example, a December 10, 2000 date in a yymmdd format would have a value of 001210 and comparisons to this value could be logically incorrect.

If you would have included a Delete command in a dataset selection task, you could have removed all of your records.

Date MapToPHDate8

SET DATE MAPTOPHDATE8 ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

This set command will change any item command reference to phdate to mean phdate8, for assistance in converting to the newer phdate format found in PowerHouse version 8.19 and higher.

The set command:

>set date MapToPhdate8 on

only changes the reference to phdate8 in the item command, it does not change references that already exist in self-describing files nor does it change the data.

With this setting turned on any Item command reference, such as:

>item mydate,date,phdate

will actually mean phdate8.

DecimalSymbol

SET DecimalSymbol " "

(Default: period)

This setting is used to change the Decimal character which is used to edit the data in a field used by the $Number function.

>set DecimalSymbol "."

The default character for the Decimal Symbol is a period.

Defer

SET DEFER ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

DEFER requests Suprtool to use DBCONTROL for faster "deferred-output" when doing Puts in the output phase or Deletes in the input phase. In deferred output mode, IMAGE writes are not posted immediately to disc. If the system crashes while you are in deferred output mode (i.e., you have a system failure or a nonrecoverable power failure), you must RESTORE your database from tape. If Suprtool stops due to an error, or if you abort Suprtool (i.e., break/abort or :abortjob) while the database is opened with deferred output, you do not have to restore the database.

Set Defer On requires that the database be opened in mode-3 (exclusive). If you do not open the database in mode-3, Suprtool prints a warning and does the Put or Delete task anyway (without calling DBCONTROL). The database creator can also enable deferred output for all users of a database with DBUTIL (enable base for autodefer).

DumpOnError

SET DUMPONERROR ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

With DUMPONERROR, Suprtool attempts to produce a formatted listing of records that cause an IMAGE error. The information printed may include the input record number, the output record number and the data values of the record. Suprtool uses current options of the List command to print the data values. If no List command is specified, Suprtool uses the List defaults.

EditStopError

SET EDITSTOPERROR ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

An edit mask is limited to 32 characters in total for both numeric and byte type fields. If data overflows the edit-mask, by default Suprtool will fill that field with asterisks. To have Suprtool stop when it encounters an overflow when applying the edit-mask, just turn on editstoperror:

>set editstoperror on

This will force Suprtool to stop if there is data left over to place when applying the edit-mask. With numeric-type fields, leading zeroes do not cause overflow. With byte-type fields, spaces do not cause overflow.

Eofread

SET EOFREAD ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Suprtool's Get command reads to the highwater mark for detail datasets, and to the capacity of the dataset for master datasets.

Set Eofread On forces Suprtool to read to the capacity for both master and detail datasets.

If Set Eofread is used, it must be specified before the Get command. Hint: Use HowMessy to see the highwater mark of your detail datasets.

FastRead

SET FASTREAD [ ON | OFF ]

This command has no effect on Suprtool for MPE.

Filecode

SET FILECODE [ number ]

(Initially: 0; Default: no change)

When Suprtool writes to an old file (Output,Append and Output,Erase are the only cases), it leaves the filecode of the output file unchanged. When Suprtool creates a new file with the Output,Ask or Output,Query option, it gives the file a special filecode (1071 and 1084 respectively). When the input file has a nonzero filecode, Suprtool carries that filecode over to the new output file. See "Output Command [O]" on page 209 for details on Output options such as Ask, Erase, and Query. To convert a self-describing file into a non-SD file, see "Suprtool and Self-Describing Files" on page 65.

In all other cases, new files created by Suprtool have a default filecode of zero. You can specify an alternate default filecode using Set Filecode.

Specifying Set Filecode forces Suprtool to create the output file with a specific filecode whenever it was going to use zero. To be effective, this Set command should be added to the Suprmgr file. To configure Suprtool to use the filecode 222 on output files, you would add this line to your Suprmgr file:

set filecode 222

This feature is useful for MPEX users who wish to manage Suprtool output files. For example, to find all of the Suprtool output files you would do the following:

:run mpex.pub.vesoft

%!listf @.@.@(code='222')

%exit

Of course, you can still use a :File command explicitly to override the filecode of the output file.

Filename

You can change six of the seven built-in file names. The only filename you cannot change is Suprmgr.Pub.Sys. We recommend that you add these Set commands to Suprmgr.Pub.Sys. There are six options to Set Filename, one per built-in file name. SET FILENAME Help | Link | Edit | Hint | Export | Outcount

Examples

In these examples we assume that you want to move Suprtool and all its files to the Robelle group of the Dist account. We also assume that you wanted to rename the suprlink program from Suprlink to Linkprog.

>Set Filename Help suprhelp.robelle.dist

>Set Filename Link linkprog.robelle.dist

>Set Filename Edit dbedhelp.robelle.dist

>Set Filename Hint suprhint.robelle.dist

>Set Filename Export stexport.robelle.dist

Firstrec

SET FIRSTREC [ 0 | 1 ]

(Initial & Default: depends on file type)

FIRSTREC forces Suprtool to choose the first record number of the input file to be zero or one. If the input file is a KSAM file, this option overrides the setting in the KSAM key file.

This Set option is included primarily for RPG users. Any RPG program that takes advantage of KSAM record numbers assumes that the record numbers start at one and not zero, even though the KSAM file itself must be built with the first record defined as zero (RPG subtracts one before reading from the KSAM file).

Hints

SET HINTS ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

By default, Suprtool provides all users with a "hint of the day" each time they enter Suprtool. These hints introduce people to Suprtool features that they may be missing. You must have the file Suprhint.Help.Robelle on your system. To disable hints, put Set Hints Off in Suprmgr.Pub.Sys.

Ifcheck

SET IFCHECK ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

With Set Ifcheck On, the If command produces an error if any field used in the If command is not contained entirely within the input file record. For compatibility reasons, users may wish to disable this error checking by turning Set Ifcheck Off.

Ignore

SET IGNORE ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

IGNORE tells Suprtool to continue processing if there are errors in these situations: "duplicate-key" errors in writing to a KSAM file or IMAGE master dataset, "chain-head" errors in deleting entries from an input dataset or putting records to a detail dataset, a record changed before Suprtool could delete it, division by zero when doing an If, or invalid numeric data in an input file when doing an If.

InitExtents

SET INITEXTENTS ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Set InitExtents setting is an experimental setting designed to reduce the length of the extent B-tree for the creation of output files. Turning Set InitExtents on will make the Initial Extents equal to the maximum number of extents on the creation of an output file. Keep in mind that that this will increase the size of the chunks that it may need for large files. Consequently you may experience Out of Disc Space errors in some cases if large chunks of disc are not available.

ItemAbbreviateDate

SET ITEMABBREVIATEDATE ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

The specification of the Date format within the Item command by default expects the entire keyword. For example for the date format of Calendar, you would have to specify the entire token of Calendar. If you Set ItemAbbreviateDate On, you would only have to specify CAL for the Calendar date format.

ItemLock

SET ITEMLOCK <fieldname>

(Initially: Spaces)

Suprtool supports Item Level locking thru the Set ItemLock <fieldname> command. The set command must be specified after the Base and Get/Chain command has been specified and is only invoked for Delete and Update operations. For example:

!run suprtool.pub.robelle

base order,1,;

get dline

set itemlock item-num

del

out save,link

exit

This field/setting is reset after each task. Item-Level locking is not invoked for PUT operations.

There are some cases where Suprtool needs to use the "@" lock descriptor, when doing a dblock-mode 5 which is an unconditional Item Level lock but Dbutil show dbname locks will show it as a Dataset Level lock.

Interactive

SET INTERACTIVE ON | OFF

(Initially: depends)

If you run Suprtool from a session, Set Interactive is On. If you run Suprtool from a batch job or with Stdin or Stdlist re-directed, Set Interactive is Off. When it is On, Suprtool waits for answers to questions and continues processing even if there are errors. When it is Off, Suprtool aborts on any error, assumes the "correct" answer to any question, and generally acts as if there is not an intelligent being typing in the command. Suprtool chooses the "correct" answer, which allows the task to continue. In most cases, this is the default answer. However, there are cases where Suprtool picks a different answer from the default. For example, an "output filename,erase" command has a default answer of "no," but with Interactive Off, Suprtool uses the answer "yes."

However, if you run Suprtool on a Remote Session that was created from a batch job, Set Interactive is On even though you are NOT interactive. If you wish to have proper batch error processing, your first command after :Run Suprtool should be Set Interactive Off. Set Interactive Off is also useful when automating on-line tasks with usefiles:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4; &

info="set interactive off;use usefile"

LabelledTapeRewind

SET LABELLEDTAPEREWIND ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

With certain versions of MPE/iX, the rewind operation (fcontrol 5) failed on SCSI DAT drives. Before Suprtool can read the data on a tape, it must read the labels first. That means the tape must be returned to the BOT. If the tape does not rewind properly, you can turn this off with Set Labelledtaperewind Off.

Limits

SET LIMITS [MPE ON|OFF] [READONLY ON|OFF] [Tablesize size]

(Initially CM: MPE ON, ReadOnly OFF, Tablesize 1 megabyte)

(Initially NM: MPE ON, ReadOnly OFF, Tablesize 2,047 megabytes)

When Set Limits MPE is Off, you cannot execute any MPE command (e.g., :Purge). This is an irreversible option -- once disabled, it cannot be enabled again by the user. This option also applies to MPE commands executed inside Dbedit and Suprlink.

Table Size

The Table command allows you to load large tables. Once these tables reach the size of real memory on your machine, performance starts to degrade. Setting Tablesize restricts the total amount of table space to the specified number of megabytes. We suggest leaving at least one megabyte of real memory for MPE.

It is not necessary to enter both parameters in order to change one.

>set limits tablesize 2 {MPE ability unchanged}

Due to internal restrictions in the CM version of Suprtool, the maximum Tablesize is fifteen megabytes. The NM version of Suprtool is restricted to 2,047 megabytes per table. We recommend that you set the Tablesize to be around 50% of your total memory.

Read Only

Suprtool normally allows any user with the proper access capabilities to add, update and delete records to a database. To prevent users from accidentally updating their database, we provide the following setting within Suprtool:

>set limits ReadOnly On

The ReadOnly setting, once turned on, cannot be turned off for the current run of Suprtool. This disables all commands that potentially change data for the specified database.

If Set Limits ReadOnly is enabled, the following commands from within Suprtool and Dbedit will not be processed and will return an error:

Suprtool

· Delete

· Put

· Update

Dbedit

· Add

· Change

· Delete

· Modify

You can Set Limits Readonly on the command line using the Info String and Parm option. For example the following command file can be used to restrict who has write access to a given database. In this example only the Mgr user is allowed write access:

IF HPUSER = "MGR" THEN

run Suprtool.pub.robelle

else

run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=8;info='set limits readonly on'

endif

List

SET LIST option value

Use Set List to configure default values for the List command. You can configure the default date, time, and format for LaserJet listings.

List Date

SET LIST Date number

(Initially: 0)

When you select page headings with the List command by specifying a title, each page includes today's date. By default, this date is formatted as mmm dd, ccyy (e.g., Mar 20, 2000). Use Set List Date to specify a different default date format for future List commands (e.g., Set List Date 2). The valid date formats are as follows:

Value	Format	Example
0 (default)	mmm dd, ccyy	Mar 20, 2000
1	yy/mm/dd	00/03/20
2	mm/dd/yy	03/20/00
3	dd/mm/yy	20/03/00
4	dd mmmyy	20 Mar00

List PCL

SET LIST PCL [ 0|1|2|3|4|5|6 ]

(Initial & Default: 0)

Use Set List PCL to configure the default format for LaserJet listings. This option defines the List device as a PCL device and indicates the orientation and font for the report. Set List PCL affects only the List command; it is ignored by the Output command. PCL stands for Printer Command Language, which is an HP standard for printers. The LaserJet is one of the first PCL devices to be released by HP.

By default, Suprtool assumes that your List output device is not PCL-compatible (List PCL 0).

PCL 1. To print the Suprtool List output in Landscape mode (across the wide part of the paper) with the tiny Lineprinter font (16.66 pitch or 8 lines per inch), you should do the following (this setting prints 175 columns per line):

>:comment Maximum of 175 columns with this font

>set list pcl 1

>:comment You will need LaserJet with proper font cartridge

>list device laser123

PCL 2. To print the listing in Courier font, Landscape mode, 6 lines per inch, and 100 columns wide, use:

>set list pcl 2

>list device laserjet

PCL 3. This option selects the "standard" Portrait orientation with the Courier font of the LaserJet (80 columns across by 60 lines). You would use Set List PCL 3 when you insert a Font cartridge that overrides the default font (e.g., 92286F cartridge).

PCL 4. Selects Portrait orientation and Lineprinter font of the L cartridge (and others). This option prints 132 columns across the page by 80 lines.

PCL 5. Prints 80 columns on A4 paper by slightly narrowing the space between columns.

PCL 6. Prints tiny letters in Landscape mode on legal-size paper. This gives you 223 columns per line.

The PCL options, with the exception of PCL 5, were designed and tested with North American letter-size paper. Suprtool can adjust the number of rows and columns for each option to match A4 if you add 2000 to the PCL code. You can also select the ASCII character set (instead of the default Roman-8 character set) by adding 1000 to the PCL code. See "List Command [L]" on page 199 for more details.

Here is a complete table of the PCL codes:

PCL	L/P	Font	A4 paper Rows x Columns	Letter-size Rows x Columns	Notes
1	L	lp	58 x 188	60 x 175
2	L	courier	43 x 110	45 x 100
3	P	courier	64 x 77	60 x 80	"standard"
4	P	lp	85 x 128	80 x 132
5	P	courier	64 x 80	60 x 80	A4-squeeze
6	L	lp	60 x 223	60 x 223	legal-size

L and P mean Landscape or Portrait orientation.

List Time

SET LIST Time number

(Initially: 1)

When you select page headings with the List command by specifying a title, each page includes the current time. By default, the time is in 24-hour format (e.g., 23:02). Use Set List Time to specify a different default time format for future List commands (e.g., Set List Time 2). The valid time formats are as follows:

Value	Format	Example
0	none
1 (default)	24-hour	23:02
2	AM/PM	11:02PM

Lock

SET LOCK [ number ]

(Initially: 1; Default: 1000)

There are three different locking strategies that Suprtool uses for the Delete, Put, and Update commands. A complete discussion of locking is found in the IMAGE section of "Suprtool Issues and Solutions".

Set Lock 0. Locks the dataset(s) at the beginning of the task and unlocks it at the end. This option is good for middle-of-the-night tasks that are doing lots of Puts, Deletes, or Updates.

Set Lock 1 (initial value). Lock the dataset and unlock it around every Delete, Put and Update. This takes longer, but provides less database contention.

Set Lock n. Lock the dataset every n database transactions (Puts, Deletes, or Updates). This option is maintained as a compromise between Set Lock 0 and Set Lock 1.

MakeAbsent

SET MakeAbsent [ On|Off ]

Set MakeAbsent On, tells the prefetch module to make pages that are in memory to be released sooner.

>set makeabsent on

This feature is only relevant if prefetch is turned on with a setting of 1-5, which controls the size of a prefetch. Set MakeAbsent On has no impact if prefetch is turned off. For more information on this setting and its impact please read the following article from our web site at:

http://www.robelle.com/tips/st-performance.html

NLS

SET NLS [number]

(Initially: 0 or NLDATALANG JCW)

Use Set NLS with MPE files to specify the language to be used for sorting Character-type fields (see "Native Language Support" on page 69). The number corresponds to an NLS language; you cannot use the NLS language name. Suprtool uses the value of the NLDATALANG JCW to set the default NLS language. The common language numbers are:

Number	Language
00	Native-3000
01	American
02	Canadian-French
03	Danish
04	Dutch
05	English
06	Finnish
07	French
08	German
09	Italian
10	Norwegian
11	Portuguese
12	Spanish
13	Swedish

NumBug

SET Numbug [ On|Off ]

The $number function had a bug whereby it would add on two zeroes and or bad data if the input number did not have a decimal point. We have fixed the bug so that the number function no longer adds the two digits on the end in error.

However, some users worked around this issue by doing the following:

>extract target = $truncate($number(conv-field) / 100)

Since some users, used this work around, the fix to the $number function will then return incorrect results. Therefore, we added the set numbug command to have Suprtool revert from the correct behaviour to continue to have the bug.

By default, Suprtool will just convert the number and not add on the data at the end, however, if you have used the work around then you can add the command:

>set numbug on

to the script directly or globally in your suprmgr file.

Openmode

SET OPENMODE [ number ]

(Initial & Default: 1)

By default, Suprtool opens databases in mode-1 when the mode is omitted from the Base command. Using Set Openmode, you can specify an alternate mode for the Base command. A common choice would be Set Openmode 5, so that Suprtool would allow only read-access to the database (disabling the Delete command, for example).

Oracle Rows

SET ORACLE ROWS number

(Not supported in MPE)

This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle OpenFix

SET ORACLE OPENFIX ON|OFF

(Initially: OFF)

This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle Integer

SET ORACLE INTEGER ON|OFF

(Initially: OFF)

This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle PassShift

SET ORACLE PassShift ON|OFF

(Initially: OFF)

This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle ZeroNull

SET ORACLE ZERONULL ON|OFF

(Initially: OFF)

This option is not available in the MPE version.

Pattern

SET PATTERN NEW | OLD

(Initially: NEW)

Prior to Suprtool version 3.1, there was no method of checking for the "@", "#", "?", or "~" characters in a pattern. Version 3.1 introduced a new pattern-matching routine, adding an escape character "&", and two new reserved characters "^" and "!". Old Suprtool tasks that look for the specific characters &, ^, or ! will not work with the new pattern-matching routine. Users who are concerned about this can add the following command to their Suprmgr.Pub.Sys file:

set pattern old

Prefetch

SET PREFETCH [ number ]

(Initially: 0; Default: no change)

Suprtool can read data directly from disc into memory with multirecord NOBUF reads. However, Suprtool is often slowed down on MPE/iX while waiting for the file system to satisfy its read requests. Suprtool can increase its throughput by using prefetch on MPE/iX and instructing MPE/iX's memory manager to read the data from disc to memory ahead of time. This way, Suprtool doesn't have to wait when it needs the data because the data it is already in memory.

The Set Prefetch command tells the memory manager how far ahead of Suprtool it should fetch data. Setting this number too low won't give the memory manager sufficient time to get the data into memory before Suprtool needs it. Setting the number too high may mean that on a busy system the data will be overwritten before Suprtool gets a chance to use it.

Due to changes in MPE memory management in more recent versions of MPE, performance improvements from prefetching data has decreased and in some cases, such as systems with a large amount of memory, prefetching shows little or no performance gain and may impact other users. It is for this reason that we have changed the default value to zero, or off.

In short our advice at this stage is for you to try different values of prefetch and see if you see performance improvements with some key tasks, however since we are not seeing the performance gains we did 15 years ago, when prefetch was implemented we are turning it off.

Suprtool/iX ignores the Set Prefetch value when reading from a remote file or database, or from a KSAM/V, KSAM/XL, circular, or RIO file. Set Prefetch is ignored by Suprtool/V.

Privmode

SET PRIVMODE ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

Suprtool requires privileged mode to quickly scan IMAGE datasets. You can force Suprtool to read a dataset using DBGET by turning Set Privmode Off, but Suprtool runs about five times slower. You must specify Set Privmode Off before using the Base command. To enable fast serial reading, turn Set Privmode On and reopen the database with the Base command. This feature is intended for cases where bugs in MPE are causing Suprtool to fail.

Progress

SET PROGRESS Percent [ number ] Minimum [ number ]

(Initial & Defaults: Percent 5, Minimum 10000 (MPE/V) 50000 (MPE/iX))

The Set Progress command is used to turn the Suprtool progress report feature on or off. The PERCENT value specified tells Suprtool by which percentage increment to report the progress messages of any given input or output phase. The allowed range for set progress is from 0 to 25, the default is every 5 percent. If the PERCENT parameter is not specified, then the next parameter is considered to be the PERCENT value. This is to remain compatible with some earlier pre-release versions of Suprtool.

The MINIMUM value is the minimum number of records that an input file must have in order for the progress reports to be printed out. If the MINIMUM value is set to 15000, then the input file must have at least 15000 records or else progress messages are not printed out for the entire task. This value allows the user to turn off progress messages when reading smaller files. The default value for the Suprtool/V version of Suprtool is 10000 records, and the default value for the Suprtool/iX version of Suprtool is 50000 records. To always print progress messages, just set the minimum value to 0.

Suprtool does not produce any progress messages under the following conditions:

1. Set Progress is zero.

2. Output is to $stdlist via the Output * or List commands.

3. Chain command has been specified.

4. The number of records from the input source is less than the minimum value.

Suprtool checks whether or not to print a progress message at the end of each buffer (for NOBUF/MR reads). Consequently, not all progress increments are reported for small files or datasets.

Suprtool reports the phase that it is in: whether input phase, sort phase, output phase or combined input/output phase (not sort).

The content of the progress messages is as follows:

· Percentage complete

· Phase and the total number of records processed

· Delta-Sec(Min) - the time elapsed from the previous message

· Wall-Sec(Min) - the total elapsed time

· CPU-Sec - the total CPU-Seconds at this point

When using the record selection feature of the Get and Input commands, Suprtool cannot be absolutely certain of the total number of records. Therefore, the percentage calculation is estimated.

Prompt

SET PROMPT character

(Initially: > )

PROMPT tells Suprtool which character to use for prompting. Any special character can be used as the prompt character. For example:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>set prompt %

%base store,5

RealMap

SETREALMAP ON|OFF

(Initially: ON)

This option has no effect in Suprtool for MPE.

Recover

SET RECOVER ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

This option can be used with an If command, which selects only records with a -1 in the first word, to extract deleted records from a KSAM file. This is not supported for KSAM/XL files prior to MPE/iX 4.0. On MPE/iX 4.0 and later, Suprtool can recover deleted records if you do not build your KSAM/XL files with the reuse option. If you use the reuse option, Suprtool can only recover deleted records where the space has not yet been reused.

Redo

SET REDO filename

(Initially: none)

Commands that you enter at the Suprtool prompt are saved in something called the redo stack. You can recall commands from the redo stack using other commands such as Before, Do and Redo. By default, the redo stack is stored in a temporary file but is discarded as soon as you exit. This means that your redo stack is not preserved accross invocations of Suprtool.

Set Redo allows you to assign a permanent file as the redo stack. The redo stack is then available for future Suprtool invocations. To assign MYREDO as a persistent redo stack, enter:

>set redo myredo

If the file does not exist, Suprtool creates it. If it already exists, Suprtool uses it. All the commands you enter from this point are written to the persistent redo stack. The setting is valid for the duration of the Suprtool session. As soon as you exit Suprtool, the setting is discarded. Next time you run Suprtool, you will get the temporary stack.

If the filename is not qualified, the redo stack is created in the logon group and account. This may be desirable if you wish to have separate stacks. If you wish to always use the same persistent stacks, you should qualify the name.

The Verify command shows which stack is currently in use. If it shows <temporary>, it means Suprtool is using the default stack. Anything else is the name of the file used on the Set Redo command.

Concurrency

When Suprtool uses the default temporary stack, it is only accessible to that particular instance of Suprtool. You can run as many Suprtool instances as you need and each one gets its own redo stack. With temporary stacks, you will never get into concurrency problems.

If you start using a persistent redo stack, you might start running into these type of problems. A persistent redo stack can only be used by one Qedit instance at any one point in time. If you try to use a persistent redo stack that is already in use, you will get:

>set redo myredo

EXCLUSIVE VIOLATION: FILE BEING ACCESSED (FSERR 90)

Unable to open file for REDO stack

In this situation, Suprtool continues to use the redo stack active at the time so you can continue to work as normal.

Qedit also has the ability to have permanent redo stacks. It is advisable to have separate redo stacks for each product, as they will write commands to each others redo stack if you supply the same filename.

For example if you use the command:

>set redo myredo

you will have a redo stack called myredo for your Suprtool commands. If you exit Suprtool and run Qedit and supply the same command set redo command your Qedit commands will be written to the same file that was used for your Suprtool commands.

By default your permanent Redo stack will be built to 1000 commands. If you require a larger redo stack you can specify the size of the redo stack using a file equation prior to the set redo command.

>:file myredo;disc=10000

>set redo myredo

This will only be in effect the first time that the redo stack is built, subsequent file commands will not affect the size of the redo file. You can make the file bigger using tools such as MPEX's %altfile command, or by building a larger file and copying your current redo stack to the file.

Sortfast

SET SORTFAST ON | OFF

(Initially: depends)

Suprtool/iX has its own internal sort routines. These routines are as fast or faster than HP's sort routines, and do not require as much sort scratch space as HP's routines. Set Sortfast controls whether Suprtool's internal sort routines are called or whether HP's sort routines are used. In Suprtool/V, this option has no effect and defaults to Off. In Suprtool/iX, the Set Sortfast is On by default. In the unlikely event that problems are experienced with Suprtool's internal sort routines, HP's sort routines can be enabled with:

>set sortfast off

Squeeze

SET SQUEEZE [ ON | OFF ]

(Initial & Default: <neither>)

Turning Set Squeeze On forces Suprtool to always truncate the output file limit to the end-of-file when the output file is closed. Turning Set Squeeze Off forces Suprtool not to change the limit when closing the output file. By default or by specifying Set Squeeze (i.e., with no option) forces Suprtool to decide when to truncate the output limit to the end-of-file.

Suprtool will not squeeze a file limit if the input source is a file, the output file is not a new file, the output file is KSAM (CM, NM or KSAM64), or if the Ask or Num query output options were specified. In all other cases, Suprtool squeezes the file limit down to the EOF.

Set Squeeze Off can be combined with the Numrecs command to automate job streams in which data is appended to the output file. For example,

>get d-sales

>numrecs 200% {output file will have extra room}

>output dsale

>set squeeze off {reserve room between EOF and LIMIT}

>xeq

>get d-history

>output dsale,append {Dsale has room for appending}

>xeq

Statistics

SET STATISTICS ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

STATISTICS causes Suprtool to print statistics at the end of each task. This can be useful for determining the effectiveness of Suprtool's Get versus Chain commands.

Subsystem

SET SUBSYSTEM ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Normally, Suprtool ignores database subsystem access. Use Set Subsystem On to instruct Suprtool to examine the subsystem option of the database in the Base and Put commands. Subsystem access can be restricted to READ or NONE by using DBUTIL. If subsystem access is NONE, Suprtool does not open the database. If subsystem access is READ, the Suprtool Put and Delete commands are disallowed and the Dbedit Add, Delete, Modify, and Change commands are also disallowed.

Once you enable Set Subsystem On, you cannot disable it. This Set option applies to all databases; you cannot enable it for a specific database. Using the creator password overrides the subsystem flag and allows full access to the database. If you wish to take advantage of subsystem access, we recommend that Set Subsystem On be added to your Suprmgr file.

The following example restricts the STORE database to read access:

:run dbutil.pub.sys {must be DB creator}

>set store subsystems=read {read access only}

>exit

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>set subsystem on {check subsystem access}

>base store

Password [;]? {don't use creator}

>input infile {standard file input}

>put m-customer {Put will fail because we}

{do not have write access}

Error: You are not allowed access to this database

Suspend

SET SUSPEND ON | OFF

(Initially: varies)

SUSPEND instructs Suprtool to suspend after an Exit command.

The default is OFF when Suprtool is :RUN from MPE, when :RUN with Parm=32, or when invoked from the POSIX shell. Suspend is ON when Suprtool is :RUN from within another program (e.g., Qedit). In some cases it is desirable to turn this option OFF to prevent several invocations of Suprtool from being present at the same time. Users who run Suprtool from within MENU systems or QUICK may want to turn Suspend Off, or :Run Suprtool with Parm=32.

ThousandSymbol

SET ThousandSymbol " "

(Default: comma)

This setting is used to change the Thousand character which is used to edit the data in a field used by the $Number function.

>set ThousandSymbol ","

The default character for the Thousand Symbol is a comma.

Userlabels

SET USERLABELS ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

By default, Suprtool always copies user labels from the input file to the output file. User Labels are ignored when no Extract command has been issued and Set Userlabels is Off. However, if an Extract command is issued and Set Userlabels is Off, Suprtool still writes the Userlabels. If List Labels is requested, Suprtool prints the contents of the user labels before listing the data. If Userlabels is Off, Suprtool does no processing of user labels. To convert a self-describing file into a non-SD file, see "Suprtool and Self-Describing Files" on page 65.

Varsub

SET VARSUB ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

This option tells Suprtool to resolve any CI variables in any command. The default value for VarSub is Off for backward compatibility.

VarsubCompat

SET VarsubCompat [ ON | OFF ]

(Initially:OFF)

This command has no effect on Suprtool for MPE.

VarsubDebug

SET VARSUBDEBUG ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Set VarsubDebug on will print out the line after the variable substitution has occurred. This setting only works if Set Varsub is on and Set varsubdebug is on.

setvar outfile &

:"/GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901"

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

(Version 5.4 Internal) TUE, OCT 30, 2007, 2:58 PM Type H for he

>set varsub on

>set varsubdebug on

>in file1sd.suprtest

vd:in file1sd.suprtest

>output !outfile,link,temp

vd:output /GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123

vd:2345678901,link,temp

The output is formatted into 74 byte chunks and printed with a preceding “vd:” so the “substituted” line is clear.

Warnings

SET WARNINGS ON | OFF

(Initially: ON)

Suprtool normally prints warning messages out to $stdlist. You can turn off these messages when you are running from batch by issuing a Set Warnings off command. If you are simulating batch mode with the Set Interactive Off command, you must do the Set Warnings off after the Set Interactive Off.

The default for this setting is On.

Xltrim

SET Xltrim ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Suprtool will now release the disc space between EOF and the FLIMIT if Set Xltrim is on and Set Squeeze is either not set or Off. This releases the disc space after the EOF but leaves the Flimit alone. Set Squeeze on will still close the file such that the Flimit will be the same as the EOF.

The default for this setting is Off.

Sort Command [SO]

Specifies the next sort key via an IMAGE field name, or a field in a self-describing file, or a Defined field. See "Key Command [K]" on page 196 for sort keys specified by explicit byte position. Up to 20 Sort and Key commands can be specified per extract task. The first key entered is the major sort key.

SORT field [(subscript)] [DESCENDING]

(Default: Ascending order)

Field

The field specified must be an IMAGE data item that is a field of the input source, or a defined field, or a field from a self-describing file.

Subscript

If the field is a compound item (e.g., 2X25), the first sub-item is the default if no subscript is specified. You can sort on any sub-item by specifying the subscript. For example,

>sort address(2) {sorts on 2nd sub-item}

Descending vs. Ascending Order

By default, sorts are done in ascending order. Descending specifies that the field is to be sorted in descending order.

Examples

The most common use of the Sort command is to specify a sort field of a database field. You may use the Key command to specify all sorts. We recommend that the Sort command be used wherever possible. If the structure of your database changes, your Suprtool tasks still work if sort fields are specified with the Sort command:

>base store,5

>get d-sales {input from an IMAGE dataset}

>sort cust-account {primary sort field}

>sort purch-date,desc {newest transactions first}

>output dsales {write the sorted records to an MPE disc file}

>exit

In the next example we sort an MPE file. We create a field using the Define command. Rather than using the Key command, we use the Sort command to specify the sort field. If the MPE file changes, only the Define command must be changed:

>input dinvent {input is from an MPE file}

>define a,11,2,int {"A" is an integer that starts}

>output outfile { at the 11th byte of Dinvent}

>sort a {sort the input records by the "A" field}

>exit

With the =dataset form of the Input command, we can have even greater flexibility to use the Sort command. We assume that the MPE file Mcust has the same structure as the m-customer dataset. We sort the file using the first of the two street addresses in m-customer:

>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}

>input mcust=m-customer {same format as m-customer}

>sort street-address {a repeated field, but only}

>exit { the first address is used}

Notes

The Verify command shows all of the current Sort command values and the Reset command cancels them. If you have not defined any sort fields before the Xeq or Exit command, Suprtool performs a copy only, no sort.

>base store,5

>get d-sales

>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte

>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"

>sort cust-accountx {sorting on transformed field before it has value from function}

>dup none keys

>output dsales

>exit

>base store,5

>get d-sales

>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte

>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"

>sort cust-account {Note sorting on source field}

>dup none keys

>output dsales

>exit

or if two tasks are necessary:

>base store,5

>get d-sales

>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte

>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"

>output tempsales

>xeq

>in tempsales

>sort cust-acctx

>dup none keys

>output dsales

>exit

Table Command [TA]

Builds a table of values for testing in the If or Chain commands. There can be up to ten different tables. The Table command does not work with real-type keys.

TABLE tablename, itemname, table-keyword, table-values

Tables are used by the $lookup function of the If command and as input to the Chain command. The table keywords are Item, File, and Sorted. The total amount of table space is restricted by Set Limits Tablesize. Use the following scheme to select input records based on many data values:

1. Load a table with the values you are interested in.

2. Use the $lookup function of the If command to search the table.

3. Or, use the table with the Chain command to read a selected set of key values.

Adding Individual Values to a Table

To add a value for an item to a table, use:

TABLE tablename, itemname, ITEM, value [,value]

When you start entering the values for a table, you must enter all the values for that table before starting another table. Once you switch to another table, the previous table is "closed" and you cannot enter anymore values into it.

Parameters

tablename

Any identifier name up to sixteen characters long. This name can be the same as the name of a Define field or database itemname, but we recommend that you choose a unique name.

itemname

An item from the database specified in the Base command or a Define field. This cannot be a real-type item.

value

A specific value that must match the type of the item. String values are extended with blanks to the length of the item.

Examples

Suppose that you wanted to look for several part numbers. You could use the following If command:

>if part = "12345","67890","39201","92308","14892"

You could also load a table with the part numbers:

>table part-table,part,item,"12345"

>table part-table,part,item,"67890"

>table part-table,part,item,"39201"

>table part-table,part,item,"92308"

>table part-table,part,item,"14892"

and use a different If command:

>if $lookup(part-table,part)

Sometimes you need to look for all records that do not have any of a set of values,

>if part <> "12345","67890","39201","92308","14892"

You would use the same Table commands, but a slightly different If command,

>if not $lookup(part-table,part)

Values with Decimal Places

If the itemname for the table has implied decimal places, the Table command accepts decimal points and scales input values. For example,

>item cost,decimal,2 {two implied decimal points}

>table cost-table,cost,item,10,10.5,10.75

>if $lookup(cost-table,cost)

>out out3 {select records for 1000, 1050, and 1075}

>xeq

Adding Values from a File

You may need to look for hundreds of part numbers. The Table command accepts the table values from a file. The file must contain lookup values in exactly the same format as the itemname which describes the data. Duplicates are eliminated as they are loaded into the table. For a table consisting of values from a file use:

TABLE tablename, itemname, FILE | SORTED, filename [,HOLD][,DATA(field1,field2,field3…)]

Parameters

itemname

The item determines the data-type and length of the key values in the table. By default, you can only load a table from a file when the item is the first field in the file. If you load a Table from a self-describing file, Suprtool first checks for the field in the self-describing file.

FILE vs. SORTED

The File option assumes that the file of table values is not sorted. Sorting a large file of values is slow. If the file is already sorted, use the Sorted option: Suprtool checks the records to make sure they are in ascending order.

filename

A valid MPE file name.

Hold

By default, the Xeq command resets all tables. Use the Hold option when using the same table in more than one extract task. When Hold is specified, the Xeq command does not reset the table. Hold applies to individual tables, not all tables.

>table part-table,part,file,partin,hold

Data

The Table command allows for data to be loaded along with matching key values.

>table partab,part,file,partin,data(cost,desc)

You can specify up to 20 data fields as long as the total size of the key fields and data does not exceed 256 bytes. The Table file must be Self-Describing to use the data option.

When loading data into a table, Suprtool will eliminate the duplicate entries based on the key value, so some data values may not be loaded into the table.

For information on how to retrieve data from the table, please see the Extract command, or the Examples section of the Table command.

Examples

If all of your part numbers are in the file Partin, you use:

>table part-table,part,file,partin

>if $lookup(part-table,part)

The following example uses Suprtool to create a file of customer numbers that are in arrears. This file is then used to select the orders for these customers from the d-sales dataset. Instead of serially reading the file, we use the Chain command to take advantage of existing IMAGE search fields. The cust-account item occurs in both datasets. When the table is loaded, Suprtool obtains the cust-account field information from the self-describing custacct file.

>base store,5

>get m-customer

>if cust-status="30" {customers in arrears}

>out custacct,link {self-describing output for the Table command}

>xeq

>table cust-table,cust-account,file,custacct

>chain d-sales,cust-account=cust-table

>output dsales

>xeq

The next example sorts selected records from the d-inventory dataset. Because the output file is not a self-describing file, we must use the Extract command to make the key-field the first field in the file. We use this file to load a table and select the records from the m-product dataset.

>get d-inventory

>if on-hand-qty<10 {select records}

>ext product-no {product-no must be first}

>ext on-hand-qty {other fields follow}

>ext last-ship-date

>sort product-no {sort by key value}

>out invent {later, use this file in the Table command}

>xeq

>get m-product {contains product description}

>table product-table,product-no,sorted,invent

>if $lookup(product-table,product-no)

>sort product-no

>output mproduct

>xeq

The next example shows how to select part numbers from flat file parts, using the file Partin. We use the Define command to define where the part-no field is in the record. This example assumes that the Part numbers are in the first six bytes of each file.

>input parts

>def part-no,1,6 {define part-no}

>table part-table,part,file,partin {product-no must be first}

>if $lookup(part-table,part-no) {other fields follow}

>out somepart {output to a file}

>xeq

Suprtool can load up to ten tables, either from separate files or the same file. The following example assumes that the files are self-describing.

>input customer

>table cust-table,custno,file,custfile

>table zip-table,zipcode,file,custfile

>if $lookup(cust-table,custno) and $lookup(zip-table,zipcode)

>output newcust,link

>xeq

Keep in mind that using multiple tables may be more memory intensive and require more resources.

Data Example

Your boss comes to you with a list of new prices for certain parts and asks you to update the Part-Master dataset.

Just load the new prices into a Table, index by the product number (prodno),then Extract the price field from each record and replace it with a $lookup on the table. Here is the code:

>table newprices,prodno,file,bosslist,data(price)

>get part-master

>if $lookup(newprices,prodno)

>update

>extract price = $lookup(newprices,prodno,price)

>xeq

If you did not do the If $lookup then the price field would contain zeroes for those fields that did not have a matching record.

Notes on CM / MPE/V

The Xeq command clears any tables that are not held. Suprtool uses extra data segments to store the table values. You may not be able to load huge tables because of a lack of system resources (e.g., DST entries). To reduce the number of extra data segments Suprtool needs, you should configure the maximum extra data segment size to 32,764 words, using SYSDUMP on MPE V or SYSGEN on MPE/iX.

Searching huge tables is CPU-intensive. If you do this on-line, it seriously affects other users. While it is possible to load tables as large as 15 megabytes, we suggest that you make sure that there is enough real memory to hold the table. Remember that MPE takes at least one megabyte of real memory on Classic HP e3000s. Set Limits Tablesize restricts the maximum size of tables, so you can limit the total amount of table space to a specified number of megabytes.

In order to accomodate some large tables you may need to increase the value of Maximum number of XDS per process. The maximum value of this setting is 255 and can be changed using SYSDUMP on MPE V or SYSGEN on MPE/iX.

Notes on NM / MPE/iX

The Xeq command clears any tables that are not held. Searching huge tables is CPU-intensive. If you do this on-line, it seriously affects other users. While it is possible to load a table as large as 2047 megabytes, we suggest that you make sure that there is enough real memory to hold the table.

The Table command rejects RIO, KSAM, and CIR files when using the Sorted option.We do this because we cannot guareentee that we will get the records back in the correct order for anything other than standard files.The error returned when trying to use the Sorted option with one ofthese files is shown below:

Error: Unable to open the table file

SUPRFILEINIT Error 7

File is KSAM, variable-length, or undefined-length

Total Command [T]

Totals specified fields in the selected input records. Totals can be written to $stdlist (default), a file, or to the List device.

TOTAL field [(subscript)] [decimal-places]

$file filename [ APPEND | ERASE | TEMP ]

$file $list

(Default: subscript=first sub-item, decimal-places=0)

Parameters

Each totaled field must be an IMAGE field name, or a field from a self-describing file, or a Defined field. Total specifies that a total value for the field be printed after processing the records. There does not have to be any output file (i.e., it can be $null) for a total to be printed. There can be up to 15 totaled fields.

The subscript is valid only for compound items. If no subscript is specified, the first field of a compound item is totaled. The decimal-places provides a decimal point when the final total is printed. If the Item command specifies the number of implied decimal places, the decimal-places parameter is not needed. The values within each field are assumed to be aligned.

$File Options

By default, totals are written to $stdlist. Use the $file option to have the totals written to a file or to the List device. When writing to a file, the default is to create a new file. If Suprtool cannot save the file, it produces an error. The Append, Erase, and Temp options are the same as in the Output command.

The file specified in $file must have a minimum record size of 48 bytes.

If you want the totals written to the end of the List device (the output of the List command), specify $list as the $file file name. All other options are ignored when $list is specified.

To write totals to the output file, use Total $file xxx,Append, where xxx is the name of your output file. You also need to turn Set Squeeze Off (otherwise, there will not be room for the totals). Appending totals to the output file only works if the output file is a disc file.

Examples

The first example prints the totals for a single field.

>in file1

>def total-field,1,5

>total total-field

>xeq

Totals (TUE, OCT 10, 2000, 4:30 PM):

TOTAL-FIELD 611105+

The next example is identical to the previous one, except that we qualify the total with the number of decimal places.

>in file1

>total total-field,2

>xeq

Totals (TUE, OCT 10, 2000, 4:31 PM):

TOTAL-FIELD 6111.05

The previous example specified the number of decimal places by using the Total command. The next example is the preferred way to specify decimal places because it qualifies the cust-bal field with two decimal places for all Suprtool commands. This example also totals two fields (note that you need two Total commands) and shows how to total individual fields using subscripts.

>base test

>get dorder

>item cust-bal,decimal,2

>total cust-bal(1)

>total cust-bal(2)

>xeq

Totals (TUE, OCT 10, 2000, 4:32 PM):

CUST-BAL(1) 143598.16

CUST-BAL(2) 155399.73

All the examples so far have shown the totals being written to $stdlist. The next example writes the totals to the file totfile.

>base store

>get d-sales

>total sales-tax

>total sales-total

>total $file totfile

>xeq

To write the totals to the end of a Suprtool listing, use the $file option with $list as the file name. This example writes the totals to the end of the simple Suprtool report:

>base store

>get d-inventory

>list standard

>total unit-cost

>total $file $list

>xeq

Sort Break Totals

Please refer to the Duplicate command on how to generate sort break totals.

Notes

Totals are formatted and displayed in a form that is understood by people. If you want to return total values to a program, see the Calling Suprtool user manual.

You cannot combine the Total command with the Total option of the Duplicate command.

The Total command prints out a date and time stamp on the title line. This is for audit purposes.

Update Command [UP]

Update one or more noncritical fields in an IMAGE dataset.

UPDATE [ CIUPDATE ]

Specify the fields to be updated and their new values with the Extract command. The Update command must be specified after the Chain or Get command, but before the Extract command(s). You can update part of an IMAGE field by defining the part you are interested in updating and then using the defined field name in the Extract command. The Update command can change values in critical fields (IMAGE search or sort fields). To update critical fields, you must specify the Ciupdate option, and CIUPDATE must be On or Allowed in the database.

Example

This example selects all inventory items with a unit-cost less than $10.00 and increases the unit-cost by five percent.

>get d-inventory {input dataset}

>item unit-cost,decimal,2 {implied decimal places}

>if unit-cost < 10.00 {selection criteria}

>update {Update must come before Extract}

>extract unit-cost = & {calculate the new …}

unit-cost * 1.05 {… unit-cost value}

>xeq

This next example selects all inventory items with a part number of 12345677 and changes it to 12345678.

>get d-inventory {input dataset}

>if product-no = 12345677 {selection criteria}

>update ciupdate

>extract product-no = 12345678 {new unit-cost value}

>xeq

You can set CIUPDATE by using the DBUTIL Utility. To set CIUPDATE on just run Dbutil and use the Set command:

:run dbutil.pub.sys

>>set dbname ciupdate=on

>>exit

Notes

The only commands that can be combined with Update are selection commands (e.g., the If command). The following commands are not allowed: Delete, Duplicate, Key, List, Output, Put, Sort, or Total. You cannot update critical fields in master datasets. Update does not work with MPE or KSAM files.

If you are updating a packed or display field, remember that Suprtool uses unsigned values for non-negative numbers unless you add a leading plus sign to the number. See "Packed and Display Constants" on page 136 for more details.

Use Command [U]

Specifies a file of commands to be executed as a group.

USE[Q] filename

Database Date Items

A usefile makes your task easier by allowing common commands to be specified once in an external file. A common reason for usefiles is to isolate Define and Item commands for a database in one place. This makes future changes easier and prevents mistakes. In this example, we isolate all Item commands for dates from our database in a Suprtool usefile.

>use store.suprtool

define delivered,deliv_date

define purchased,purch_date

item delivered ,date ,yymmdd

item purchased ,date ,yymmdd

Dataset Field Definitions

In the store database, the street-address is a 2X25 item. Suppose that you always wanted to refer to the first and second part of the address with different names. The following usefile would access the m-customer dataset and define the two necessary fields:

>use mcust.suprtool

get m-customer

define street-address-1,street-address(1)

define street-address-2,street-address(2)

Info= and the Base Command

Our final example shows how to embed a database password in a usefile using the "?" password in the Base command.

>use store5.suprtool {hint: "5" is the open-mode}

base store,5,? {"?" means read password from usefile}

Password? {reads password from usefile, but no echo}

Quiet Execution

By default, Suprtool displays the commands in a usefile as they are executed. The quiet option is not used in the examples above so that you could see the actual commands inside each usefile. Suprtool can execute commands quietly using the Useq command:

>useq store.use {no commands are listed}

You can also combine the Use command with Info=. In the following example, we specify the store database and execute the usefile with our Item commands:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4; &

info="base store.db.mis,1,?;useq store.suprtool.mis"

In this example we open the database in mode-1, but the user is prompted for the database password. In a job stream, the database password would be the first line after ":run suprtool". We then quietly execute all the Item commands for the store database (from the file Store.Suprtool.Mis).

Nested Usefiles

Usefiles may be nested. In other words, a usefile may use another usefile to a depth of ten files. For example if the contents of the Usedef usefile has a references to Useext, both usefiles would be executed:

>in dsales

>use usedef

define delivered,deliv_date

define purchased,purch_date

item delivered ,date ,yymmdd

item purchased ,date ,yymmdd

use useext

ext cust-account

ext deliv-date

ext product-no

ext product-price

ext purch-date

ext sales-qty

ext sales-tax

ext sales-total

>xeq

Care must be taken when entering Use commands with a stacked command after a usefile reference. For example, if you enter

use usedef;def j,1,6,byte

the Define command will not be executed until after the Usedef and any other nested Use commands are finished.

Notes

The usefile may be an Editor /KEEP file,UNN or a Qedit workfile, but no more than 256 characters per record will be processed. For compatibility with Qedit, Useq can be abbreviated to UQ.

If a Use file ends with an ampersand, Suprtool will assume that you are continuing the current command on the next line, outside of the use file.

Userpause Command [USER]

The Userpause command prints a prompt message on the screen and waits for the user to press a key.

USERPAUSE [ "string" ]

(Default: read without a prompt)

Prints the string and waits for any key. Leading spaces in the string are printed.

Examples

In this example, we have a usefile that displays a message and then waits for the user before starting the task.

>q "We will select all transactions over $10,000. Since"

>q "there are many transactions, this task will take"

>q "some time (usually more than fifteen minutes)."

>userpause "Press any key when you are ready to start."

Verify Command [V]

Displays the specifications that you have entered so far.

VERIFY [ ALL | @ | VERSION | command [...] ]

(Default: Input, Output, Sort, Numrecs, changed Set values)

Parameters

More than one command can be verified at once by entering several command names separated by a comma or a space. The format of the Verify output is organized into columns wherever possible.

For Verify All, Suprtool prints all of the information concerning the current invocation of Suprtool, including the value of the Set options and the Suprtool version number.

For Verify Version, Suprtool prints out the version information.

Verify with no parameters prints the current values for Chain, Get, Input, Output, and Key or Sort commands. It also prints those Set options which are not currently at their default setting.

Examples

>verify

>verify input {current input file}

>verify if {selection criteria}

>verify all {all current options}

>verify version {version number of Suprtool}

Xeq Command [X]

Suspends entry of commands and begins the extract from the input source.

XEQ

Notes

After the Xeq, Suprtool processes the task and accepts commands to specify another task. Compare this with the Exit command, which stops Suprtool after processing the input. After an Xeq command, all parameters of Suprtool are reset to their initial values, except any database that is left open, the Set options, and the Defined fields even though their calculated offsets are not guaranteed to be correct for the next file processed.

Examples

>base cust

>get m-customer

>output mcstfile

>xeq {copies m-customer to Mcstfile}

>get d-customer

>output dcstfile

>xeq {copies d-customer to Dcstfile}

>exit {terminate, no task to do}

{last Xeq could have been Exit}

Calculator Command [=]

Evaluates an expression and prints the result in one of several formats.

=expression [,O | D | B | H | A | # | % | $]

Any command that begins with an equal sign (=) is treated as an expression to be evaluated. An expression consists of numbers and operators, followed by an optional display format.

The operators can be addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), or exponentiation (**). The value of the expression is printed immediately on $stdlist.

=20+15 {add two numbers together}

Result=35.0

=20*15 {multiply the same numbers}

Result=300.0

=20-15 {subtraction}

Result=5.0

=20/15 {divide, print precise result}

Result=1.33333333333

=20**15 {20 raised to the 15th power}

Result=.327680000000E+20

Order of Evaluation

Unlike most programming languages, the calculator always evaluates the calculation from left to right. This is similar to an electronic calculator, where each keystroke is operated on immediately. You can use parentheses to force the calculator to evaluate the expression in a different order.

=14+16+15/3 {compute an average}

Result=15.0

=14+16+(15/3) {add 14, 16, and the result of 15/3}

Result=35.0

=14+((16+15)/3) {add 16 + 15, divide by 3, then add to 14}

Result=24.3333333333

Percentages

A number in the calculator expression may be followed by a percent sign (%). The calculator assumes that you want to qualify the number as a percentage.

=125*5% {what is 5% of 125}

Result=6.25

=125+125*5% {add 5% of 125 to 125}

Result=12.5

=125+(125*5%) {oops, we needed to change the order}

Result=131.25 {this looks like the answer we wanted}

The last two examples show the importance of the order in which calculator evaluates the expression. We needed to use parentheses to force calculator to evaluate our expression in the correct order.

Display Formats

A calculator expression may be followed by a comma and a display letter. The default is decimal (#) and the options are hex ($ or H), octal (% or O), double (D), ASCII (A) and binary (B). With these options, the result is treated as a 32-bit integer.

=10,o {standard octal format}

Result=%000012

=-10,o {negative number in octal}

Result=%37777777766

=100,h {hexadecimal}

Result=$0064

In Double format, calculator prints the double result as two octal numbers (the way they appear in DEBUG). The first number represents the high-order 16-bits and the second number represents the low-order 16-bits.

=10,d {treat result as two 16-bit octal words}

Result=%000000 %000012

=1000000000,d {high-order 16-bits are no-zero}

Result=%035632 %145000

=-10,d {note negative value, 2's complement}

Result= %177777 %177766

In ASCII format, up to four characters are printed in Hex, Decimal, and ASCII display format.

=$2020,a

Result=$2020: 32,32 :" "

=%20161 %72145,a

Result=$2071: 32,113:" q" $7465:116,101:"te"

In binary format, the high-order 16-bits are examined. If these bits are not zero, they are printed as two groups of eight bits. A one (1) means that the bit is on and a zero (0) means that the bit is off. The low-order 16-bits are always printed as two groups of eight bits.

=10,b {high-order 16-bits suppressed}

Result=%(2)00000000 00001010

=-10,b {note negative value, 2's complement}

Result=%(2)11111111 11111111 %(2)11111111 11110110

=1000000000,b {high-order 16-bits are non-zero}

Result=%(2)00111011 10011010 %(2)11001010 00000000

Input Format

The calculator supports different input formats for numbers. Octal values are prefixed with a percent sign (%) and hex values with a dollar sign ($). An ASCII string of up to 4 characters is entered in quotes. The result of the last calculation is referred to using #.

=%12 {octal 12 or decimal 10}

Result=10.0

=%12,o {octal input and octal display format}

Result=%000012

=$10

Result=16.0

=%177766 {octal number that is really negative}

Result=-10.0

="abcd",h

Result=$61626364

=#,a {use result of last calculation}

Result=$6162: 97,98 :"ab" $6364: 99,100:"cd"

Programmers who make use of the MPE DEBUG software are often frustrated with the format that Double Integer numbers are printed. DEBUG prints them as two octal numbers. Calculator accepts two octal numbers as input and prints the result in standard decimal format.

=%35632 %145000 {treat as one double integer value}

Result=1000000000.0

=%177777 %177766 {negative double integer value}

Result=-10.0

Calculator Help

It may be difficult to remember all of the various options that the calculator offers. For this reason, you can obtain a short description of the calculator by entering the following:

=? {? gives help}

{prints a summary of = functions}

Introduction to Suprlink

How Report Programs Work

The best way to understand Suprlink is to examine the process of writing a report. Your report program will be written in COBOL, RPG, PowerHouse, or some other language. Imagine that instead of hunting all over the database with DBFIND and DBGET to collect your data, you just read a sorted disc file with a big record containing all the data on a given entity. For example, a sales report might read a disc file whose records consist of sales transactions plus customer information. This file has been sorted by customer number and date. If there are several sales for the same customer, the customer information is just repeated in each record. The report program reads the records, checks for level breaks, and formats and prints the records. Suprlink fits into this model of report programs.

Working from the database to the final flat file, how do we use Suprtool and Suprlink to produce the desired result? Obviously, Suprtool can extract the desired fields from the desired records of the sales detail dataset and put them in a disc file. And Suprtool can extract the desired fields from the customer master dataset and write them to a second disc file. What does Suprlink do?

If Suprtool sorts both files by customer, Suprlink can "link" them together, producing a third file whose composite record consists of the related fields from both files. This file is just what we need to feed into the report program.

The tests that we have performed indicate that this brute force method, which uses serial extracts, sorts, and a merge, is often significantly faster than the "official" IMAGE method of chasing down chains and hash synonyms.

Input Files

The primary Input file, which if doing a link operation is the file that should have the many or "detail" records. If any of the Link files contain duplicate records, Suprlink will select one of them to link to the primary record(s). The Suprlink Output file will have no more records than the Input file.

The Input file and Link files are created with the Output xxx,Link option in Suprtool. These files must be sorted by the same key field in ascending order.

Link Files

You can have up to seven Link files that are combined with the Input file. Suprlink merges the Input file and Link files by comparing the key fields of both files (you can optionally specify a secondary-key). The default is for Suprlink to exclude any Input records that do not have a matching record in all Link files. Specifying the Optional keyword on the Link command will force Suprlink to fill the Output record with default values (spaces and zeros) when it doesn't find a match in a specific Link file. If you want to link the sales transaction to both the customer master and the salesman master, it's probably faster to use traditional methods (e.g., DBFIND and DBGET).

Output Files

The Output file will be a self-describing file, containing data extracted from the Input file and the Link files. Suprlink combines the Input and Link records together in a fixed way, dropping the duplicated key fields and appending the remaining fields of each file in the order specified. You control which fields occur by using the Extract command in Suprtool, but you have no control over their order. Use the Form command to print out the final record format so that you can prepare COBOL COPYLIB or PowerHouse QSCHEMA definitions.

Sort Keys

The Input file and Link files must be sorted by the same key field. Their names do not have to be identical, but they must be the same type and have the same length. Suprlink does not support real- or long-type keys.

Selection Logic

Selection logic can be tricky, since it is distributed over independent Suprtool extract tasks, the Suprlink merge phase, and the final report program.

Suprtool Selection. You can use the If command to select which records you want from each dataset. You do have the option to select key values from one dataset, then load them into a Table and use $lookup to select related entries in another dataset. It makes sense to use If on every dataset, since you have another selection possibility when the files are linked. For example, you might select all customers in California and all invoices with an amount greater than $2000.

Suprlink Selection. The Input file limits the scope of the Output file. You cannot have more Output records than you do Input records, but you can have fewer. When you do a Link to another file, you have an implied selection criterion. That is, if Suprlink cannot find a record in the Link file with matching key value(s), the Input record is dropped from the Output file. If you have seven Link files, the Input record must match all seven or be dropped. This is the default selection logic. You can override this for any specific Link file by specifying the OPTIONAL keyword on the Link command. Only do this is you don't care whether that data exists or not, since Suprlink will supply default values for those Link fields.

A Link Example

You want to produce a report of all invoices over $2,000.00 for customers in California. The customer information is in the m-customer dataset, and the invoice information is in the d-invoice dataset. Here are the steps to produce this report:

1. Select and sort the California customers into the file customer.

2. Select and sort invoices over $2,000 into the file invoice.

3. Because there will often be more than one invoice per customer, specify the invoice file as input to Suprlink.

4. Link in the customer file.

5. Produce your report from the combined records in the output file.

>base sales {sales database}

>get m-customer {select all customers...}

>if state = "CA" {...in California}

>sort custnum {sort and link key}

>output customer,link {Link output option}

>xeq

We now have a self-describing file with all the customers from California sorted by the customer number. Next we select all invoices over $2,000.00 and sort them into customer number sequence:

>get d-invoice {select all invoices...}

>if amount>200000 {...over $2,000.00}

>sort custnum {sort and link key again}

>output invoices,link {remember the link option}

>exit

If we specify the cust file as input, the Output file will only contain one invoice per customer. Because we want to produce a report of all the selected invoices, we specify it as the input file:

+input invoices {driving input file, custnum is the key}

+link customer {combined with customers}

+output invcust {produces the file we want}

+exit

Each record of the invcust file will have both the invoice information and the customer information for each invoice of the Input file (i.e., one record per invoice). What happens if there is no customer record for a specific invoice? In this case, the invoice record does not appear in the Output file. To force Suprlink to include these records, use the optional keyword on the Link command:

+input invoices {sorted by custnum}

+link customer optional {don't exclude invoices if...}

+output invcust {the customer information...}

+exit {...is missing}

A Join Example

Suprlink can join files together that have multiple key records in each file, what has been come to be know as a many-to-many link. Suprlink has traditionally been able to link an Input file with many records with the same key to a Link file that has a single record with the same key value.

The Join command, will link two files with many key records in both the input file and the "Linking" file. The syntax of the Join command is exactly the same as the Link command so a sample task would look as follows:

+input ordhist

+join orders

+output custord

+xeq

The above task will link multiple records of the file ordhist, to the multiple records of the file in orders. This assumes that the files are sorted by a common key. In SQL terms this is known as an Inner Join. An Outer Join, one where the keys do not necessarily have a match can be achieved by adding the optional keyword to the Join command:

+input ordhist

+join orders optional

+output joined

+xeq

In SQL parlance, once again you can achieve both a Left Outer Join and Right Outer Join by reversing the order of the files, between the input and the join commands.

To give you an example of how the Join operation would work consider the following data. First we have an inventory file with multiple records for the same product-no. This data is stored in the file dinv:

50512001 {Rest of data}

50512003 {Rest of data}

The next file will have sales records, once again with multiple key values, this data is stored in the file dsales:

50512001 {Rest of data}

If you did the following task assuming both files are sorted by the product-no:

+in dinv

+join dsales

+out invsales

+xeq

The resulting file would have four records, with the multiple matching dinv and dsales records. The record layout would have the dinv information first followed by the dsales information. If you add the optional keyword on the join command the resulting file would have 5 records. The matching 4 records from dinv and dsales as well as the dinv record that did not match with the numeric fields set to zero and the byte fields set to spaces.

Only one Join operation is allowed per task.

By default, Suprlink will join files base on the primary sorted key in the self-describing file. You can specify a secondary key for the files to be joined on in a similar manner to how the Link command did:

+in orders

+join dsales by order-no product-no

+out ordsales

+xeq

Performance Considerations

Select only the records you need, unless the time to load a table of desired key values, plus the time needed to do $lookup for each record, is longer than the time to extract and sort the entire dataset. Use the Sorted and Hold options of the Table command when loading a table. Because of the time needed to search a large table, it is often faster to extract all of the records and let Suprlink skip over the ones it doesn't need.

This method does a lot of sorts. Sorting time can vary depending on system load and available memory, but it increases dramatically for large records and large datasets. You should try to use Suprtool's Extract command to reduce the record size, and consider using Suprtool's If command to reduce the number of records.

Suprlink needs enough disc space to invert a significant subset of your database, then link it into an Output file. Although all of the Suprlink files can be job temporary, you still need enough disc space for the original database, the final Output file, the primary Input file, and each of the Link files. One of the tradeoffs with this method is more disc space for faster elapsed time.

Another Example

From the sales records, retrieve all of the sales for October, 2000 and append the customer name, salesman code, and year-to-date sales total to the sales record (these fields are located in the customer records).

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base mybase

>get sales-detail {or use Chain command}

>extract customernum,saledate,saleamt,...

>item saledate,date,phdate

>if saledate >= $date(95/10/01) and &

> saledate <= $date(95/10/31)

>sort customernum

>sort saledate

>output sales,link,temp {creates temporary SD file}

>xeq

>get customer-master {get entire dataset}

>extract customernum,name

>extract salesman,ytdsales

>sort customernum

>output custs,link,temp

>exit

:run suprlink.pub.robelle

+input sales {link sales...}

+link custs {...to custs...}

+output repts temp {...producing REPTS!}

+xeq {...run the task}

+form repts {fields in repts}

+exit

:purge sales,temp {these two files...}

:purge custs,temp {...no longer needed}

:file infile = repts,oldtemp

:file outfile;dev=lp

:run myprog

:purge repts,temp

Illegal Digits

Whenever Suprlink is processing files with packed- or zoned-decimal keys, errors can occur because of invalid digits in the keys. Suprlink reports the input and link record numbers with illegal digits and processing stops. You can use Suprtool to examine input and link records, by using record selection with Suprtool's input command. A packed-decimal number consists of nibbles (there are two nibbles in each byte). The last nibble is the sign of the number. The remaining nibbles must each contain a number in the range 0-9. A zoned-decimal number must have a valid digit in each byte and end in "0"-"9", "A"-"R", "{", or "}".

Selecting Non-Matches

Consider a common problem easily solved with Quiz from Cognos: finding all records in a file which have no corresponding records in a related file. For example, to find all records in an invoice lines file with no corresponding invoice master record, the following Quiz code could be written.

>access lines link to header optional

>select if not record header exists

>report invoiceno of lines

>go

This small amount of code, however, can take a long time to execute, depending on the size of the Lines and Header files. A Quiz program will usually take longer as new links are added, causing the size of the record complex to grow.

Suprlink can provide the same information, possibly in a fraction of the time. The technique as applied to the same problem requires four steps:

1. Sort the Lines file by Invoiceno.

2. Add a new constant field, Linkflag, to the Header file and fill it with "Y". Sort by Invoiceno.

3. Link the two files with Suprlink using the Optional parameter.

4. Select the record complexes where linkflag does not contain a "Y".

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>base invdb

>get lines

>sort invoiceno

>output file1,temp,link

>xeq

>get header

>define linkflag,1,1

>extract invoiceno,linkflag="Y"

>sort invoiceno

>output file2,temp,link

>xeq

>link input file1

>link link file2 optional

>link output file3,temp

>link xeq

>input file3

>if linkflag <> "Y"

>extract invoiceno

>list standard

>exit

Any invoice line with a corresponding record in the invoice Header file will have a "Y" in the linkflag field. Records failing the match will contain the default space.

This technique can easily be adapted for use as a command file, to minimize the amount of code added to a job stream. See the "MPE/iX Programming" section of the Suprtool User Manual for ideas about command files.

Linking MPE and KSAM Files

Suprlink's input or link files can come from datasets, MPE files or KSAM files. Before linking either an MPE or KSAM file, you must convert the file into a self-describing file. Because MPE and KSAM files have no implied structure, you must use Suprtool's Define and Extract commands to define the structure of the file.

Suprlink's only requirement is that the file contain a sort field and some optional data fields. The sort field does not have to be the first field in the record. The following example demonstrates how to convert an MPE file into a self-describing file:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

>input mpecust {regular MPE file}

>def first-fields,1,10 {fields before the sort field}

>def sort-field,11,6 {sort field for this file}

>def last-fields,17,20 {fields after the sort field}

>extract first-fields {remember to extract all of the}

>extract sort-field { fields in the correct order}

>extract last-fields

>sort sort-field {must also remember the sort}

>output sdfile,link {use the Link option}

>xeq

This example would sort the entire MPE file. To select a subset, you would define more fields and use the If command. Treat KSAM files exactly the same way. Suprtool does not read KSAM files in sorted order, so you must remember to specify the sort explicitly when converting the KSAM file to a self-describing file.

Suprlink cannot create nor write to KSAM files. You can use Suprtool to load a KSAM file with the output from Suprlink.

CI Variable Substitution

Suprlink is able to substitute any CI variables from any command line source, whether thru interactive, use file or batch input.

In order to use this feature, first issue the following Set command:

set varsub on

Variable Substitution is not on by default for backward compatibility.

Batch

Since the Streams facility (under default setups) will replace any "!" found in the first column of a job stream. Anytime you want to specify an entire line thru Variable Substitution you will need to leave a space before the variable is specified.

!setvar input "i dfile by message-no"

!run suprlink.pub.robelle

+set varsub on

+ !input

Notes

For MPE commands some variables will be resolved twice when passed off to MPE, which will give different values for a variable.

Setting variables at the CI level:

MPEXL:setvar x 10

MPEXL:setvar y "!!x"

MPEXL:showvar [xy]

X = 10

Y = !x

Setting variables within Suprlink

+set varsub on

+setvar a 10

+setvar b "!!a"

+showvar [ab]

A = 10

B = 10

Because Suprlink does one level of variable substitution prior to the command being passed off to MPE, setting variables in Suprlink that involves other variables will give different results from MPE. We recommend that you set the variables prior to running Suprlink, or that you temporarily turn off variable substitution with the Set Varsub Off command.

+set varsub off

+setvar a 10

+setvar b "!!a"

+showvar [ab]

A = 10

B = !a

+set varsub on

Suprlink with Quiz/QTP

Quiz and QTP are part of PowerHouse, a popular fourth generation language sold by Cognos. You can use Suprtool and Suprlink to improve the performance of PowerHouse applications. For a complete discussion of how to use Suprtool and Quiz together, refer to the "Suprtool with Quiz/QTP" section of the Suprtool User Manual.

Suprlink can write to PowerHouse subfiles that have been created with Quiz or QTP. Subfiles are "self documenting" files that contain a complete description of the file's record structure. This information is stored in user labels in the file, and is known as a "mini-dictionary." When you access the subfile in Quiz, its description is read from the mini-dictionary. You must ensure that the PowerHouse subfile description exactly matches the record layout of Suprlink's output file. Remember that Suprlink will drop the common "key" fields from the link files.

Step 1: Create the Subfile with QTP

Before running Suprlink, you create an empty subfile with QTP:

:purge invcust

:qtp

>access d-invoice link custnum to &

> custnum of m-customer

>subfile invcust keep size numrecs include &

> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum, &

> name, address

>set input limit 0

>go

The subfile must contain all of the fields that Suprlink will produce in the output file, with the same attributes (data-type and length) and in the same order. Use the Include option of QTP's Subfile command to define each of the fields in the correct order.

The numrecs parameter must be replaced with the number of records that will be created by the Suprlink run. The default numrecs is 1023 when the input limit is set to 0.

Step 2: Output Erase in Suprlink

Once you have created the PowerHouse subfile, use the Erase option of Suprlink's Output command to load the file. This will overwrite any data in the subfile, but it will not touch the PowerHouse mini-dictionary in the user labels:

+input invoices {created by Suprtool}

+link customer {sorted by custnum}

+output invcust erase {created by QTP}

+exit

Step 3: Report with Quiz

The INVCUST file contains the sorted records for the Quiz report. Quiz knows the structure of this file because of the initial QTP commands that we used to create the file. Now use Quiz to generate the report:

quiz

>access *invcust

>report ...

>go

Notes on Subfiles

One of the advantages that Suprlink has over the link function in PowerHouse is that Suprlink does not require the "key" field in the link files to be a database key. Because Suprlink uses a serial-merge approach, its files only need to have a common field with the same data-type and length. If you do use Suprlink to link files that do not share a common database key, you need some extra steps to create the PowerHouse subfile.

Since Suprlink cannot currently write to NM Ksam files you cannot directly write to PowerHouse indexed subfiles. You can use Suprtool to load file to the Indexed KSAM file.

Defining Fields in QTP

In our example above, "custnum" can be used to link the d-invoice and m-customer datasets in QTP because custnum is an IMAGE key in the m-customer dataset. If custnum was not an IMAGE key, you could try declaring the record structure for the subfile with the QTP Define command:

:purge invcust

:qtp

>access d-invoice

>define name character size 20 = " "

>define address character size 20 = " "

>subfile invcust keep size numrecs include &

> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum, &

> name, address

>set input limit 0

>go

You must be careful to ensure that the data definitions of the Defined fields are correct. Note that you cannot assign default display specifications (such as Heading or Picture specifications) for Defined fields in QTP.

Linking Subfiles by Record Number

Another approach, which guarantees that the subfile will contain the correct data definitions and default display characteristics, is to create temporary subfiles with QTP for each dataset, then link them together by record number:

:purge invcust

:qtp

>access d-invoice

>subfile invtemp size 1 include &

> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum

>set input limit 0

>go

>access m-customer

>subfile custtemp size 1 include &

> name, address

>set input limit 0

>go

>access *invtemp link to record 0 of *custtemp

>subfile invcust keep size numrecs include &

> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum, &

> name, address

>set input limit 0

>go

Suprlink Commands

General Notes

When you run Suprlink, it prompts for commands on $stdlist with a "+" character and reads command lines from $stdinx. Suprlink commands contain a command name followed by one or more parameters, and are patterned after the same commands in Suprtool.

In this chapter, we describe the Suprlink commands in alphabetic order. Following each command name in brackets is the minimal abbreviation for the command. For example: [I] for Input and [L] for Link.

Abbreviating

You may shorten the command name to the first letter of the command name.

+v {verify}

+x {xeq}

Uppercase or Lowercase

You may enter the letters in either uppercase or lowercase, because Suprlink upshifts everything in the command line except literal strings within quotes ("abc"). These two commands are identical:

+EXIT

+exit

Continuation

The maximum physical command line is 256 characters. You may enter commands on multiple input lines by putting an "&" continuation character at the end of the line. The maximum total command length is 256 characters. The most common reason for continuing commands is to specify a lengthy Link command with secondary keys.

+input students

+link majors by ssn cmaj from &

ssn curmajor

+output outfile

+exit

Comments on Command Lines

Comments may appear at the end of any command line, when they are surrounded by braces. Many of the examples in this manual show comments at the end of each command line. You can enter a comment as the only item in a Suprlink command line. When continuing command lines, the comment can appear before or after the continuation character.

+ {link customer records to invoices. }

+input invoices {sorted by custnum}

+link customer {combined with customers}

+output invcust {produces the file we want}

+exit

STREAMX

You cannot change Suprtool's comment character, but you can change the {...} characters in STREAMX. The following example changes the STREAMX expression characters from {...} to ~...~:

!job example,user.acct

::setbraces ~~

!run suprlink.pub.robelle

+input invoices {driving input file, custnum is the key}

+link customer {combined with customers}

+output invcust {produces the file we want}

+exit

!tell ~hpjobname~,~hpuser~.~hpaccount~;Example done.

!eoj

MPE Commands

Suprlink also accepts MPE commands, with or without a colon.

+:comment

+comment

For commands that are the same in both Suprlink and MPE, Suprlink only executes the MPE command if you type the colon. For example:

+help {you get Suprlink help}

+:help {you get MPE help}

MPE/iX Commands

Suprlink/iX will execute any MPE command (e.g., Run), UDCs, and command files. Caution: programs that suspend, instead of terminating, are not killed by the HPCICOMMAND intrinsic.

File Names

Suprlink's Input, Link and Output commands accept a file name in either MPE or POSIX format. File names starting with "/", "./", or "../" are treated as POSIX file names. All other file names are assumed to be MPE file names. MPE file names are upshifted and POSIX file names are not. POSIX file names are limited to a maximum of 240 characters. Here are some examples of POSIX file names:

:hello david,mgr.dev,david

:CHDIR SUBDIR

:run suprlink.pub.robelle

+input ./file

+verify input

/DEV/DAVID/SUBDIR/file

Calculator

You can obtain a short description of the calculator by entering the following:

=? {? gives help}

{prints a summary of = functions}

For a detailed description of the calculator and its options, see the Suprtool manual.

Control-Y

You can interrupt a Suprlink task with the Control-Y key (hold down Control while striking Y). Suprlink responds by telling you how far it has gotten (IN=, OUT=, etc.), and asking if you wish to stop. Hit the Return key to continue or type YES to stop the task.

Before Command [B]

Repeat any combination of the previous 1000 command lines, with or without editing.

BEFORE [ start [ / stop ] ]

[ string ]

[ ALL | @ ]

(Default: redo previous line)

(BQ=redo without change)

The Before command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them. If you don't need to change them, use BQ or Do.

Examples

+listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}

NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)

+Before {redo most recent command}

listf @.soruce {last command is printed}

our {you enter changes to it}

listf @.source {the edited command is shown}

{you press Return}

+listredo -10/

+before 5 {redo 5th command in stack}

+bef 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}

+b listf {redo last listf command}

+b listf temp {redo "listf temp" command}

+b @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

+before -2 {redo command before previous}

+before -5/-2 {redo by relative lines}

Modify Operators

If you wish to change any characters within the line, the modify operators are the regular Control Codes used in Qedit:

· Any printing characters replace the ones above.

· Control-D plus spaces deletes columns above.

· Control-B puts you into "insert before" mode.

· Control-A starts appending characters at the end of line.

· Control-A, Control-D, plus spaces, deletes from the end.

· Control-T ends Insert Mode, allowing movement to a new column.

· Control-G recovers the original line.

· Control-O specifies "overwrite" mode (needed for spaces).

Persistent Redo

Do Command [DO]

The Do command will repeat (without changes) any of the previous 1000 commands.

DO [ start [ / stop ] ]

[ string ]

[ ALL | @ ]

(Default: repeat the previous command)

Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 of them are retained. Use the :Listredo command to display the previous commands. You can repeat a single command (do 5), a range of commands (do 5/10) or the most recent command whose name matches a string (do list). If you want to modify the commands before executing them, use Redo or Before.

Examples

+listredo

+do {do previous command again}

+do 39 {do command line 39 again}

+do 5/8 {do command lines 5 to 8 again}

+do link {do most recent Link command}

+do show {do last starting with "show"}

+do showjob job {do last "showjob job" command}

+do @job {do last containing "job"}

+do -2 {do command before previous}

+do -7/-5 {do by relative line number}

+do 5/ {do command lines 5 to last}

Notes

The Do command cannot be abbreviated.

Persistent Redo

Exit Command [E]

Exit Suprlink in one of three ways. By default, perform the current linkage task, if any, then leave Suprlink. Users are often frustrated when they exit Suprlink after specifying part of a task and Suprlink starts processing the task. Use the Abort or Suspend options to exit Suprlink conveniently without executing the current task.

EXIT [ ABORT | SUSPEND | XEQ ]

(Default: XEQ)

Typing Exit with no parameters means Exit Xeq. Suprlink recognizes special command names which specify both the Exit command and an exit option (e.g., ES means Exit Suspend).

Exit Abort [EA]

Cancels the current operation and terminates Suprlink. The Exit command without parameters always attempts to perform the task currently specified, while Exit Abort cancels the task and terminates immediately. Should Suprlink be executed as a son process, Exit will only suspend Suprlink, while Exit Abort will actually terminate the process.

Examples

+:comment. You began to specify a linkage, stopped for

+:comment. coffee, and decided to cancel the task

+:comment. upon your return.

+input invoices

... coffee break ...

+exit abort {cancel linkage and terminate}

Exit Suspend [ES]

When running Suprlink as a son process (e.g., from Qedit), it would be nice to suspend Suprlink without executing the current task. Exit Suspend does this. After returning to Suprlink, all specifications for the current task are still in effect.

Examples

:run qedit.pub.robelle

/:run suprlink.pub.robelle

+input invoices

+link customer {start specifying options}

+exit suspend {return to Qedit without an Xeq}

SUPRLINK.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y

/...

/:activate suprlink

SUPRLINK.PUB.ROBELLE

+output invcust {continue specifications}

+xeq {execute the current task}

Exit Xeq [EX]

To perform the current linkage task, you can either use Xeq (which leaves you inside Suprlink, ready to define another task) or Exit Xeq (which leaves Suprlink when done with the task).

After the Suprlink task completes, Suprlink either terminates, or suspends and awakens a father process (i.e., :RUN from within Qedit). Exit Xeq is the default option (i.e., specifying exit starts execution of the current task).

Examples

:run suprlink.pub.robelle

+exit {no input was specified}

End Of Program

:run suprlink.pub.robelle

+input invoices

+link customer

+output invcust

+exit {link and stop}

Form Command [F]

Display the fields in a self-describing file.

FORM [filename]

If no file name is specified, the fields in the input file are displayed. The display shows the field type and field length in IMAGE notation. An I1-field is a single integer. Packed-fields show the number of nibbles (subtract one to obtain the number of digits). Byte and zoned-decimal fields show the byte length.

When showing the form of a self-describing file, Suprlink shows the byte offset of each field after the subcount, type, and sublength. The first field always appears at offset one.

There are two types of self-describing files. One type is produced with Suprtool's Query output option. You produce the other type with the Link output option. The Form command shows the internal self-describing version number, enabling you to tell the difference.

A.00.00 - Query Output Option

Compound fields have a question mark for the type, and the length is the number of bytes in the field. Sort information about the file is missing. Here is an example form listing:

+form custfile

File: CUSTFILE.EXAMPLE.ROBELLE (SD Version A.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CHARACTER X5 1 {length is five bytes}

ZONED Z5 6 {room for five digits}

INTEGER I1 11 {single integer}

DOUBLE I2 13 {double integer}

PACKED P6 17 {room for five digits}

QUAD I4 20 {eight-byte integer}

REPEATINT ?6 28 {compound field}

LOGICAL K1 34 {single logical}

DBLLOG K2 36 {double logical}

Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 44 Blocking: 64

B.00.00 - Link Output Option

These self-describing files contain information about how the file is sorted. Compound fields are handled correctly, so the Form command shows compound fields just as you would see them in IMAGE. The Item command in Suprtool identifies the date format of an item. The Link output option saves the date format and any decimals as part of the field description:

+form datafile

File: DATAFILE.EXAMPLE.ROBELLE (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CHARACTER X5 1 <<Sort #1 >>

REPEATINT 3I1 6 {compound field}

DATE J2 12 <<YYYYMMDD>>

DOLLAR P6 16 << .2 >>

Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 16 Blocking: 64

Formout File

+:file formout;dev=lp

+form custfile {writes to line printer}

+:file formout;dev=disc

+form invfile {writes to temporary file}

Help Command [H]

Show what commands and options are available in Suprlink.

HELP [ command | keyword [ ,option ] ]

(Default: browse through the entire help file)

Command Help

If you specify any parameters, Help first assumes that you want help on a specific Suprlink command. If you know the structure of the help file, you can specify one of the keywords under the command name.

+help link {help on the Link command}

+help link,notes {notes section of the Link command}

Keyword Help

If we cannot find any help in the "Commands" section of the help file, we assume that you specified one of the outer-level keywords in the help file. To see this list of keywords, type help with no parameters. You will see a short introduction to Suprlink and then a list of keywords. You can specify any of these keywords on the Help command. You can also specify a subkeyword.

+help before,example {example section of Before command}

Quick Help - HQ

HQ asks Suprlink to look under the keyword QUICK in the help file. QUICK contains the text from the Suprlink Quick Reference Guide, offering the experienced user a quick review of the syntax of any command.

+hq input {quick description of Input}

+hq commands {quick list of command names}

Notes

If no parameters are specified, Help allows you to browse through the help file, Suprlink.Help.Robelle. The Help command uses the Qhelp subsystem from the QLIB. For "help in help", type "?" when you see the Qhelp prompt character ("?"). The help file is organized into levels. To go back to the previous level, press Return. Press F8 to exit the Qhelp subsystem and return to Suprlink.

Input Command [I]

Specifies the primary input source and the name of the key field by which it is sorted.

INPUT filename [ BY key-field ]

There can be only one Input file per linkage task, but up to seven Link files. The Input file should be created by Suprtool using the Output-Link option and must be sorted by key-field. The key field can be any type, except for Real or Long. The primary Input file may have more than one record per key value, and each record may appear in the Output file.

It is best to have Suprtool Extract only the fields you will actually need, since if any of the Suprtool extracts result in enormous Output files, the time to do the sort may be prohibitive.

The BY-clause is only necessary when the Input file has been created using the Suprtool Output-Query option instead of the Output-Link option. Output-Link adds the sort field information to the self-describing file, so that you do not have to specify it in a BY clause.

Join Command [J]

Join the Input file to another Join file, this links files with multiple key values in both the input file and the Join file.

JOIN filename [BY join-keys [FROM input-keys]]

[OPTIONAL | REQUIRED]

(Default: REQUIRED)

File Name

The Join file should be created by Suprtool with the Output,Link option; it should only contain the fields that you actually need in the final report, plus any sort fields . If you do a :LISTF of the file, it should show "SD" as the CODE; this means it is self-describing. It contains a description of its own record structure in some special user labels; this allows you to refer to the same field names as in the original database and Suprlink can compute where they occur in the record. For example:

+input sales {Sales is sorted by custno}

+join custfile {key is custno}

+output custsale {Join two files...}

+exit {...into custsale}

Join Keys

Suprlink allows files to be linked by up to two keys, a primary and a secondary key field.

By default, Suprlink assumes that the key field to the Join file is the same key field specified for the Input file. If the Join key field is different from the Input key field, use the BY-clause to specify the correct key field:

+input customer {key-name is custnum}

+join sales by custno {new name for the same field}

You would also use the BY-clause if the Link file was created using the Suprtool Output,Query option instead of Output,Link.

Secondary Keys

Suprlink has an option that allows you to select which join record you want by matching a second key field in the master.

JOIN filename BY primary-key secondary-key

This option forces Suprlink to compare both the primary-key and the secondary-key when comparing an input record to a join record. For example,

+input ordhist {key-name is cust}

+join orders by cust prod {Orders contains prod}

This example says that the file Orders is sorted by both cust and prod fields. The join will occur on those records that match both keys.

Secondary Input Key

It is possible that the second key field has a different name in the input file and the Join file. The FROM-clause lets you handle this case:

+input students {key-name is ssn}

+join orders by ord prod from orders products

Note that you must specify the Input file key field as part of the FROM-clause. This example is identical to the previous secondary key example, but in this case the current major field is called "products" in the ordhist file and "prod" in the orders file.

Optional Join

If there are no join records for a given key value of the input file, that input record is dropped from the output file (this is the default option, REQUIRED).

To make the join optional, specify the OPTIONAL keyword. When you use OPTIONAL, and Suprlink does not find a matching join record in the file, Suprlink fills in the linked fields with default values. The default for byte-type fields is spaces, for zoned-type the default is ASCII zeros "0", and for all other types the default is binary zeros. For example,

+input custfile {key-name is custno}

+join addrfile optional {don't drop customers...}

+output custaddr {...if there is no address}

+exit

Link Command [L]

Link the Input file to another Link file, maximum of seven input files.

LINK filename [BY link-keys [FROM input-keys]]

[OPTIONAL | REQUIRED]

(Default: REQUIRED)

File Name

The Link file should be created by Suprtool with the Output,Link option; it should only contain the fields that you actually need in the final report, plus any sort fields. If you do a :LISTF of the file, it should show "SD" as the CODE; this means it is self-describing. It contains a description of its own record structure in some special user labels; this allows you to refer to the same field names as in the original database and Suprlink can compute where they occur in the record. For example:

+input sales {Sales is sorted by custno}

+link custfile {key is custno}

+link addrfile

+output custsale {link three files...}

+exit {...into custsale}

Link Keys

Suprlink allows files to be linked by up to two keys, a primary and a secondary key field.

By default, Suprlink assumes that the key field to the Link file is the same key field specified for the Input file. If the Link key field is different from the Input key field, use the BY-clause to specify the correct key field:

+input customer {key-name is custnum}

+link sales by custno {new name for the same field}

You would also use the BY-clause if the Link file was created using the Suprtool Output,Query option instead of Output,Link.

Secondary Keys

Suppose that you are linking a master to a detail and the detail can have several entries for each master. Suprlink has an option that allows you to select which link record you want by matching a second key field in the master.

LINK filename BY primary-key secondary-key

This option forces Suprlink to compare both the primary-key and the secondary-key when comparing an input record to a link record. For example,

+input students {key-name is ssn}

+link majors by ssn cmaj {Students contains cmaj}

This example says that the file Majors is sorted by ssn and may contain more than one record per student. To select the desired record for each student, Suprlink matches the students' cmaj against the cmaj in the link record.

Secondary Input Key

It is possible that the second key field has a different name in the input file and the Link file. The FROM-clause lets you handle this case:

+input students {key-name is ssn}

+link majors by ssn cmaj from ssn curmajor

Note that you must specify the Input file key field as part of the FROM-clause. This example is identical to the previous secondary key example, but in this case the current major field is called "curmajor" in the students file and "cmaj" in the majors file.

Optional Linkage

If there is more than one link record with the same key value, Suprlink will select the first one it finds. You can sort by another value such as date-time to force a certain record to be first. Please note that this is unlike Quiz, which does a hierarchical expansion to include every record accessed. If there are no link records for a given key value of the input file, that input record is dropped from the output file (this is the default option, REQUIRED).

To make the linkage optional, specify the OPTIONAL keyword. When you use OPTIONAL, and Suprlink does not find a matching link record in the file, Suprlink fills in the linked fields with default values. The default for byte-type fields is spaces, for zoned-type the default is ASCII zeros "0", and for all other types the default is binary zeros. For example,

+input custfile {key-name is custno}

+link addrfile optional {don't drop customers...}

+output custaddr {...if there is no address}

+exit

Listredo Command [LISTREDO]

The Listredo command will display any of the previous 1000 commands.

LISTREDO [ start [ / stop ] ] [;ABS] [;OUT=file]

[ string ] [;REL]

[ ALL | @ ] [;UNN]

(Default: display previous 20 commands)

(BJ and ,, are short for LISTREDO)

Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are retained. You can display a single command, a range of commands, all 1000, or all the commands whose name matches the string. You can print the commands with ABSolute line numbers (the default), RELative line numbers (-5/-4), or UNNumbered. You can write the commands to your terminal or OUT to a temporary file. If you want to redo any of these commands, see Do, Redo, and Before.

Examples

+listredo 5

+listredo 5/10

+listredo help {print all Help commands}

+listredo -10 {print last ten commands}

+listredo ALL {print entire redo stack}

+listredo purge {print all Purge commands}

+listredo purge xx {print all "purge xx" commands}

+listredo @purge {print all with "purge" anywhere}

+listredo @;rel {print ALL, relative numbers}

+listredo 1/10;out=*lp {dump commands to printer}

+listredo @;unn;out=save {write commands to a file}

Notes

The Listredo command cannot be abbreviated, but BJ is accepted as a short form.

Persistent Redo

Output Command [O]

Specify the name of the output file and whether it is temporary.

OUTPUT filename [TEMP] [ERASE] [DATA] [LINK]

By default, the name of the Output-file is Output. The output file is a permanent, self-describing file, containing data extracted from the input file and the Link files. A few application tools may not read self-describing files. In this case, use the Data option to make the output file a standard MPE file with a filecode of zero and no user labels.

There are two different types of self-describing files. The first type is created with Suprtool's Output Query option. A superior form of self-describing file is produced with Suprtool's Output Link option. Suprlink creates the output self-describing file in the same format as the input file. We recommend that you use the same type of self-describing file for all input and link files.

Output Record Format

The record structure is determined by Suprlink, but is relatively easy to anticipate. Suprlink starts with all of the fields of the input file, in order. For each Link file, it appends the fields of the Link-file to the Output record, in order. Suprlink drops the key fields from the Link records, since they always contain duplicated data.

If a field name (other than one of the two explicit keys) is duplicated in several datasets, it will end up duplicated in the final output file. An example would be a Timestamp field that occurs in every dataset. Workaround: use the Extract command from Suprtool to take out only the fields you want, or to rename duplicate fields.

You can verify the format of the Output-file using the Form command. It shows the field names, length, and structure, in order. From this display, you can generate an appropriate COPYLIB or QSCHEMA definition.

Quiz Subfiles

The Erase option is provided for Quiz users who create an empty subfile using QTP or Quiz before running Suprtool and Suprlink. See the Suprlink with Quiz/QTP section for details.

Since Suprlink cannot currently write to NM Ksam files you cannot directly write to PowerHouse indexed subfiles. You can use Suprtool to load file to the Indexed KSAM file.

Size of the Output File

The output file is built with the same capacity as the input file. You can reduce the size of the output file using a :File command.

+:file allsales; disc=10000

+output allsales

Redo Command [REDO]

Enables you to modify and repeat any of the previous 1000 command lines.

REDO [ start [ / stop ] ]

[ string ]

[ ALL | @ ]

(Default: redo the previous command)

Examples

+listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}

NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)

+redo {redo most recent command}

listf @.soruce {last command is printed}

our {you enter changes to it}

listf @.source {edited command is shown}

{you press Return}

+listredo all

+redo 5 {redo 5th command in stack}

+redo {redo previous command}

+redo -2 {redo command before previous}

+redo 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}

+redo -10/ {redo -10 through last}

+redo purge {redo last Purge command}

+redo purge temp {redo last "purge temp"}

+redo @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

Notes

The Redo command cannot be abbreviated. To save more commands, use a :File command on the file LINKREDO before you run Suprlink:

:file linkredo;disc=5000

:run suprlink.pub.robelle

Persistent Redo

Reset Command [R]

Cancel the current linkage task.

RESET

Reset closes the current Input-file and any Link files, then resets the output file name to Output. This is actually a Reset All command; you cannot reset particular commands as you can do in Suprtool. If you try to reset an individual command, Suprlink prints a warning.

Set Command [S]

Enables or disables certain operating options within Suprlink. These options are not reset by Xeq or Reset commands.

SET [MAPPED ON|OFF]

[REDO filename]

[STATISTICS ON|OFF]

[VARSUB ON|OFF]

[VARSUBDEBUG ON|OFF]

Mapped

SET MAPPED ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

MAPPED forces Suprlink/iX to read the input and link files using mapped file access. Specifying this option is an error in Suprlink/V. If the input and link files are not in memory, the wall time performance is worse with Set Mapped On, but CPU time performance is better. You must Set Mapped On before specifying the input file.

Redo

SET REDO filename

(Initially: unnamed temporary file)

Commands entered at the Suprlink prompt are saved in something called the redo stack. You can recall commands from the redo stack by using other commands such as Before, Do and Redo. By default, the redo stack is stored in a temporary file and discarded as soon as you exit. This temporary stack is not preserved across Suprlink invocations.

The new Set Redo command assigns a permanent file as the redo stack, allowing the stack to become available for future Suprlink invocations. For example, to assign the Myredo file as a persistent redo stack, enter

+set redo myredo

If the file does not exist, Suprlink creates it. Otherwise, Suprlink uses the existing file. All subsequent commands are written to the persistent redo stack. The setting is valid for the duration of the Suprlink session. As soon as you exit Suprlink, the setting is discarded. Next time you run Suprlink, you will get the temporary stack.

If the file name is not qualified, the redo stack is created in the logon group and account. This may be desirable if you want to have separate stacks. If you want to always use the same persistent stacks, you should qualify the name.

The Verify command shows which stack is currently in use. If it shows <temporary>, it means Suprlink is using the default stack. Anything else is the name of the file used on the Set Redo command.

Concurrency

When Suprlink uses the default temporary stack, it is only accessible to that particular instance of Suprlink. You can run as many Suprlink instances as you need and each one gets its own redo stack. With temporary stacks, you will never get into concurrency problems.

If you start using a persistent redo stack, however, you might start running into concurrency problems. A persistent redo stack can only be used by one Qedit instance at a time. If you try to use a persistent redo stack that is already in use, you will get the following message:

+set redo myredo

EXCLUSIVE VIOLATION: FILE BEING ACCESSED (FSERR 90)

Unable to open file for REDO stack

In this situation, Suprlink continues to use the redo stack active at the time and lets you continue working as normal.

Qedit can also have permanent redo stacks. To prevent products from writing to each other's stack, it is advisable to have separate stacks for each product by giving them different file names.

For example, if you use

set redo myredo

you will have a redo stack called Myredo for your Suprlink commands. If you exit Suprlink, then run Qedit and supply the same Set Redo command, your Qedit commands will be written to the same file that was used for your Suprlink commands.

Statistics

SET STATISTICS ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

STATISTICS causes Suprlink to print statistics at the end of each task.

Varsub

SET VARSUB ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

Setting Variable Substitution causes Suprlink to resolve any CI variables in a command before processing.

VarsubDebug

SET VARSUBDEBUG ON | OFF

(Initially: OFF)

setvar outfile &

:"/GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901"

:run suprtool.pub.robelle

(Version 5.4 Internal) TUE, OCT 30, 2007, 2:58 PM Type H for he

>set varsub on

>set varsubdebug on

>in file1sd.suprtest

vd:in file1sd.suprtest

>output !outfile,link,temp

vd:output /GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123

vd:2345678901,link,temp

The output is formatted into 74 byte chunks and printed with a preceding “vd:” so the “substituted” line is clear.

Use Command [U]

Specifies a file of commands to be executed as a group.

USE[Q] filename

Examples

A usefile makes your task easier by allowing common commands to be specified once in an external file. For example, the following usefile contains all the commands for creating the invcust file:

+use usecust

input invoices {sorted by custnum}

link customer {combined with customers}

output invcust {produces the file we want}

exit

Suprlink prints the lines in the usefile, including the comment lines. This allows you to include instructions and reminders in the usefile. In the example above, there were no commands for the user to enter.

Notes

Usefiles cannot be nested in Suprlink. The usefile may be any unnumbered text file or a Qedit workfile, but no more than 256 characters per record will be processed.

By default, Suprlink displays the commands in a usefile as they are executed. Suprlink can execute commands quietly using the Useq command. For compatibility with Qedit, Useq can be abbreviated to UQ.

Verify Command [V]

Print the definition of the current linkage task.

VERIFY

Verify prints the current Input, Link, and Output files; in other words, it is a Verify All command.

Xeq Command [X]

Perform the current linkage task.

XEQ

Xeq checks that you have specified an input file and at least one Link file. Then it performs the linkage and creates the output file. Finally, it closes the files and resets, ready for you to specify another linkage task or Exit. If you also wish to leave Suprlink after completing the linkage task, use Exit instead of Xeq.

Example Suprlink Output

Example

The Form command displays the fields in a self-describing file. This information is stored in the user labels of an MPE file and is not accessible with other tools. Use the Form command to obtain the record layout of Suprlink output files.

The following example shows the Form command listing for an input file, a Link file, and the resulting output file. We start with an input file of invoices.

+form invoices

File: INVOICES.TEST.DATA (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CUSTNUM X8 1 <<Sort #1 >>

DELIVERED I2 9

PRODUCTNUM Z8 13

PRICE I2 21

PURCHASED I2 25

QTY I1 29

TAX I2 31

TOTAL I2 35

Limit: 100 EOF: 100 Entry Length: 38 Blocking: 107

Suprtool produced both the invoice and the customer file by using the Get, Extract, and Sort commands. The invoice file was produced with Suprtool's Output Link option. If you had used Suprtool's Output Query option, the Form command would not have printed any information about the key fields. The next listing is the customer file.

+form cust

File: CUST.TEST.DATA (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CITY X12 1

RATING I2 13

CUSTNUM X8 17 <<Sort #1 >>

STATUS X2 25

FIRSTNAME X10 27

LASTNAME X16 37

STATE X2 53

ADDRESS 2X25 55

ZIPCODE X6 105

Limit: 50 EOF: 50 Entry Length: 110 Blocking: 37

The street address is a compound-field. If you had used Suprtool's Output Query option, the field would have appeared with a question mark for the data-type. In that case, you cannot use the field as a key-field in Suprlink, but the actual data in the field will be processed and linked correctly. Your final report should be able to read this data just as if it came from the database. We use Suprlink to combine the invoice and cust files into one Output-file:

:run suprlink.pub.robelle

+i invoices by custnum

+l cust

+o invcust

The final Form command shows the record layout of the Output-file. You would use this file as input to your report program.

+form invcust

File: INVCUST.TEST.DATA (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset

CUSTNUM X8 1 <<Sort #1 >>

DELIVERED I2 9

PRODUCTNUM Z8 13

PRICE I2 21

PURCHASED I2 25

QTY I1 29

TAX I2 31

TOTAL I2 35

CITY X12 39

RATING I2 51

STATUS X2 55

FIRSTNAME X10 57

LASTNAME X16 67

STATE X2 83

ADDRESS 2X25 85

ZIPCODE X6 135

Limit: 100 EOF: 100 Entry Length: 140 Blocking: 29

' means string....................................................................... 488

! for HP-UX commands...................................................... 488

! for O/S commands............................................................ 488

" means string...................................................................... 488

"closed" tables..................................................................... 253

# as the Dbedit prompt character.................................. 333, 487

# changing the prompt character.......................................... 354

# matches number................................................................ 487

# means every n-th record.................................... 166, 191, 487

$abs function............................................................... 144, 177

$atoe, Extract function......................................................... 160

$Clean function.................................................................... 120

$Counter function................................................................ 146

$date function.............................................................. 140, 181

$date, how it works............................................................... 95

$days................................................................................... 183

$days function..................................................................... 141

$etoa, Extract function......................................................... 160

$file, Total command........................................................... 258

$FindClean function............................................................ 179

$invalid.......................................................................... 97, 182

$lookup data, If command............................................. 32, 172

$lookup function.................................................................. 172

$lookup, performance.......................................................... 173

$lower.......................................................................... 147, 180

$ltrim........................................................................... 147, 180

$null file....................................................................... 218, 219

$null, SQL........................................................................... 173

$number function......................................................... 230, 233

$read function...................................................................... 187

$rtrim........................................................................... 147, 180

$signed function.................................................................. 152

$stddate........................................................................ 141, 182

$stdinx file............................................................. 48, 190, 485

$stdlist file..................................................... 48, 206, 213, 485

$Subtotal function................................................................ 145

$today function............................................................ 140, 182

$today, how it works............................................................. 95

$Total function..................................................................... 145

$trim............................................................................ 147, 180

$truncate function........................................................ 145, 177

$upper.......................................................................... 147, 180

% means percentage............................................................. 489

& continuation character...................................... 333, 376, 487

& means escape (pattern)..................................................... 487

(

( means start parameter........................................................ 489

)

) means end parameter......................................................... 489

* means $stdinx / $stdlist / file command............................ 485

*tape, needs =reply.............................................................. 192

, means a list........................................................................ 488

/ means range of records...................................... 166, 191, 489

: for O/S commands............................................................. 488

? (prompt for database password)........................ 112, 219, 487

? means alphanumeric (pattern)............................................ 487

@ matches anything............................................................. 486

\ means range of fields......................................................... 142

^ means character constant........................................... 140, 174

{

{ start command line comment............................. 281, 334, 377

}

} end command line comment.............................. 281, 334, 377

< means less than................................................................. 486

<> means not equal to.......................................................... 486

= means calculator....................................................... 334, 485

= means equal to.................................................................. 485

= set name parameter........................................... 160, 190, 485

== means matches pattern.................................................... 486

=Input option of Output....................................................... 213

> changing the prompt character.......................................... 245

> is the prompt character...................................................... 486

> means greater than............................................................ 486

>< means doesn't match pattern........................................... 486

4096, record size.................................................................... 75

4GLs.............................................................................. 79, 408

A4-size paper....................................................................... 204

aammdd date format....................................................... 96, 195

abbreviating commands............................... 107, 281, 333, 376

Abort option on Exit............................................ 135, 294, 382

absolute field definition........................................................ 121

absolute value function................................................ 144, 177

accessing Speed Demon...................................................... 415

accuracy in numeric expressions.......................................... 176

Add command............................................................. 111, 340

Add command, locking........................................................ 330

Add Dates............................................................................ 142

adding records to a dataset................................................... 219

All option, Dbedit................................................................ 336

Allbase applications............................................................... 54

Allbase database.................................................................. 211

Allbase date and time............................................................. 55

Allbase, restrictions............................................................... 55

alphanumeric string test....................................................... 178

alternate values............................................................. 172, 253

alternatives to the If command............................................. 170

Analyzing Performance Data............................................... 103

AND operator...................................................................... 171

appending to a file........................................................ 209, 247

appending, Hpmodify.......................................................... 223

application systems................................................................ 89

APS, date format................................................................. 195

arithmetic expressions.................................................. 143, 176

arithmetic trap...................................................................... 270

Arithmetic, Set option.......................................................... 229

ascending order............................................................ 199, 251

ASCII option................................................................. 43, 216

ASK MANMAN date selection.......................................... 195

ASK option.......................................................................... 215

assertion errors.................................................................... 441

asterisk............................................................................... see *

at sign (@) in patterns.......................................................... 486

attached printer..................................................................... 207

backslash............................................................................. 489

Base command....................................................... 74, 112, 261

Base command, default mode.............................................. 242

base name parameter.................................................... 112, 219

Baseclose, Set option........................................................... 229

batch.............................................................. 50, 276, 362, 480

batch job to detect holidays.................................................. 186

batch passwords............................................................ 50, 112

Batch vs Interactive.............................................................. 269

Before command.......................................... 115, 284, 341, 379

Binary to Ascii, formatted.................................................... 156

bit extracts............................................................................ 175

Blank fill,extract command.................................................. 139

block size............................................................................. 480

Blocksize, Set option........................................................... 229

BOT and BACKSPACE error............................................. 237

braces................................................... 108, 281, 282, 334, 377

Bradmark............................................................................... 89

B-tree support...................................................................... 164

B-trees................................................................................... 59

Buffer, Set option................................................................ 229

built-in file names........................................................ 272, 358

BY-part of the Join command.............................................. 388

BY-part of the Link command............................................. 390

byte fields, comparing.......................................................... 178

bytelen parameter......................................................... 121, 199

byteposition parameter................................................. 121, 199

C invocation of Suprtool...................................................... 464

calculator.............................................................................. 109

Calculator............................................. 266, 283, 334, 378, 481

Calendar intrinsic, date format............................................. 195

calling STExport.................................................................. 137

calling Suprlink............................................................ 201, 471

calling Suprtool................................................................ 19, 74

Century and Date Cutoff...................................................... 185

Chain command................................................................... 117

Chain vs. Get speed............................................................. 103

Chain, Btrees....................................................................... 118

chained access...................................................................... 117

chains................................................................................... 481

Change command................................................................ 342

Change command, locking................................................... 330

changing built-in file names......................................... 272, 358

character constants....................................................... 140, 174

Chronos......................................................................... 93, 196

CI variables.............................................. 75, 78, 249, 312, 397

circular files........................................................................... 64

CIUPDATE, see critical-item update................................... 330

classic real numbers............................................................. 296

Clean.................................................................................... 230

Clean command................................................................... 120

Clean Command.................................................................. 310

Clean command, shift left.................................................... 120

Clean command, STExport.................................................. 286

CleanChar............................................................................ 230

CleanChar, Set..................................................................... 310

Cleaning data....................................................................... 149

CM to NM KSAM, conversion............................................. 62

COBOL define of P28......................................................... 132

COBOL example for Speed Demon.................................... 429

COBOL invocation of Suprlink........................................... 471

COBOL invocation of Suprtool........................................... 449

code overflow error............................................................. 188

Cognos, date fields.............................................................. 195

colon.................................................... 109, 282, 334, 377, 488

colon for MPE commands................................................... 483

column headings, List command............................................ 44

Column Headings,Html command....................................... 303

Columns command.............................................................. 287

combining commands on same line..................................... 107

comma......................................................................... 333, 488

command files.............................................. 109, 282, 334, 378

command line............................................................... 333, 376

commands............................................................ 279, 328, 333

commands, formatting......................................................... 279

commands, multiple............................................................. 107

comments............................................................. 281, 334, 377

Comparing against Key and Data................................... 32, 172

comparing strings as numbers............................................... 29

compatibility mode................................................................. 74

compiling..................................................................... 444, 445

compound items........................................................... 138, 251

condition code...................................................................... 421

configuring Dbedit................................................................. 50

configuring Suprtool.............................................................. 50

Connect, Oracle Open.......................................................... 242

constants...................................................................... 138, 173

constants in arithmetic expressions.............................. 144, 146

constants in the output file................................................... 138

continuing commands.................................................. 333, 376

control break........................................................................ 259

control characters................................................................. 481

control record for SPDEDBINIT........................................ 418

control record for Suprtool2................................................ 443

Control-Y.............................................. 58, 109, 283, 334, 378

Control-Y problems in Suprtool.......................................... 110

conventions............................................................................ 19

convert data for HP-UX........................................................ 66

Convert Dates to four digits................................................... 94

convert from binary to ASCII................................................ 40

converting an SD file..................................................... 70, 371

Converting dates.................................................................... 97

copying to another database................................................. 219

count duplicate records........................................................ 130

count parameter............................................................ 166, 191

count qualifying records...................................................... 218

Count, output restrictions..................................................... 132

Counts................................................................................... 40

creating Suprtool.................................................................... 49

critical fields, changing........................................................ 338

critical-item update............................... 330, 338, 342, 351, 357

data conversion.................................................................... 152

Data Memory protection trap................................................. 91

Data option.......................................................... 214, 306, 393

data overflow error.............................................................. 187

database editing.................................................................... 134

database maintenance............................................................. 58

database parameter............................................................... 481

database, open mode.................................................... 242, 407

database, opening................................................................. 112

database, output................................................................... 219

database, password.............................................. 112, 219, 407

database, remote............................................................. 74, 113

dataset parameter.................................................................. 482

dataset, end-of-file............................................................... 234

dataset, highwater mark....................................................... 234

dataset, input................................................................ 117, 166

dataset, locking...................................................................... 57

dataset, output...................................................................... 219

dataset, remote Jumbos.......................................................... 60

datasets greater than 4Gb....................................................... 59

data-types..................................................................... 122, 278

Date command..................................................................... 288

Date command, invalid dates............................................... 289

Date command, separator character...................................... 288

date constants....................................................................... 181

date format in List........................................................ 205, 239

date format, Date command................................................. 288

Date Formats, Item Command............................................... 68

date function of Extract........................................................ 140

date function of If................................................................ 181

date limits............................................................. 142, 185, 194

Date option.......................................................................... 236

date selection.................................................................. 29, 181

date selection by month.......................................................... 30

date selection with ASK MANMAN.................................. 195

date selection, specific day..................................................... 29

date selection, today............................................................... 29

Date, Set List....................................................................... 239

Date, Set option........................................................... 231, 232

Dates and Decimal places.................................................... 278

dates in the output file.......................................................... 140

dates, defining...................................................................... 193

dates, relative....................................................................... 181

dates, select by year............................................................... 30

Date-types, Suprtool and Powerhouse................................... 83

days function............................................................... 141, 183

DB-14.......................................................................... 440, 441

DB-32.......................................................................... 440, 441

DBCONTROL intrinsic...................................... 126, 220, 233

Dbedit.................................................................................... 18

Dbedit performance............................................................. 104

Dbedit, decimal points......................................................... 330

Dbedit, default configuration................................................. 50

DBGET, using..................................................................... 167

DBUTIL................................................ 89, 126, 220, 233, 485

ddd dates.............................................................................. 196

ddd, date format................................................................... 196

Decimal command............................................................... 290

decimal places................................................................ 39, 196

decimal places, Chain command.......................................... 117

decimal places, constant values............................................ 197

decimal places, Dbedit......................................................... 330

decimal places, defining....................................................... 193

decimal places, Extract command......................................... 139

decimal places, If command................................................. 175

Decimal Places, Item command............................................. 68

decimal places, List command.............................................. 202

decimal places, Table command........................................... 254

default field filling in Suprlink..................................... 389, 391

default input file............................................................. 49, 192

default output file................................................................... 49

default processing................................................................ 136

Defer, Set option.................................................................. 233

deferred output in IMAGE.................................. 126, 220, 233

Define command.......................................................... 121, 261

Define commmand, introduction............................................ 26

definition parameter............................................................. 121

delete all records warning.................................................... 127

Delete command.......................................... 110, 126, 240, 343

Delete command, locking..................................................... 330

Delete command, performance..................................... 104, 126

deleting duplicate records............................................... 36, 131

deleting entries..................................................................... 126

deleting entries, recovery............................................... 58, 126

deleting non-unique duplicate records.................................... 37

deleting records...................................................................... 33

deleting records safely........................................................... 58

delimited output files...................................................... 78, 217

Delimiter command.............................................................. 291

Delimiter, maximum length.................................................. 327

Demon program................................................................... 427

Demon.Pub.Robelle............................................................. 427

Demon.SuprJob.Robelle...................................................... 411

DemonUSL.Pub.Robelle..................................................... 411

DemonXL.Pub.Robelle....................................................... 419

Desc parameter............................................................ 199, 251

descending order.......................................................... 199, 251

DISC......................................................................... 89, 90, 91

disc space............................................................................. 247

disc space, reduced........................................................ 71, 209

display constants.................................................................. 139

display fields, maintaining the sign...................................... 152

Display option..................................................................... 216

distributed systems........................................................ 74, 113

division by zero........................................................... 144, 176

Do command............................................... 128, 292, 344, 381

documentation........................................................................ 19

double quotes....................................................................... 307

double-sided printing........................................................... 204

downshifting strings............................................................ 147

Dumponerror, Set option............................................. 110, 233

Duplicate and non-SD files.................................................. 131

Duplicate command............................................................. 129

duplicate field names............................................................ 393

duplicate key, KSAM error.................................................. 110

duplicate keys, order of sort................................................... 70

duplicate output file name...................................................... 50

duplicate records.......................................................... 129, 220

Duplicate records................................................................... 34

duplicate records, only........................................................... 35

duplicates, removing............................................................ 129

duplicates, saving................................................................. 129

duplicating files...................................................................... 49

dynamic dataset expansion................................................... 162

dynamic date selection......................................................... 185

EBCDIC conversions.......................................................... 160

EBCDIC tapes....................................................................... 72

Ecometry installation.............................................................. 23

Edit command...................................................................... 134

Edit strings........................................................................... 154

editing databases.................................................................. 134

EditStoperror, Set option..................................................... 234

EDSdate............................................................................... 195

Else clause of the IF command............................................ 170

else file................................................................................. 218

Else option........................................................................... 214

end-of-file, IMAGE............................................................. 234

endrecord parameter..................................................... 166, 191

Eofread, Set option.............................................................. 234

equal to sign......................................................... 190, 481, 485

Erase option of Output................................................. 374, 393

erasing files.................................................................. 212, 213

error block size.................................................................... 480

error messages in Suprtool.......................................... 269, 482

error messages, Speed Demon............................................. 439

error messages, Suprtool2................................................... 478

error recovery, Suprtool....................................................... 110

error, code overflow............................................................ 188

error, data overflow............................................................. 187

error, FLIMIT different....................................................... 167

error, record changed............................................................. 58

escape character................................................................... 174

Escape command, STExport................................................ 293

Euro currency symbol.......................................................... 140

example of Suprlink............................................................. 367

example replacement of DBGET......................................... 415

Exit command...................................... 135, 265, 294, 318, 345

Exit command, importance of.............................................. 442

Exit command, Suprlink.............................................. 382, 401

exit with verify....................................................... 48, 275, 361

exiting from batch jobs........................................................ 135

Export command.......................................................... 137, 275

Export, using from Suprtool................................................ 275

Expressions......................................................................... 170

Extract command........................................................... 42, 138

Extract command performance............................................. 104

Extract command, decimal places......................................... 139

Extract from a Table............................................................. 150

Extract from table................................................................. 256

Extract from Table............................................................... 254

Extract functions and Sort.................................................... 252

Extract functions Duplicate.................................................. 132

extracting a range................................................................. 142

extracting bits....................................................................... 159

extracting dates.................................................................... 140

extracting records................................................................. 170

fast sorting............................................................................. 71

Fastread, Set option............................................................. 234

FCOPY program................................................................... 64

Fflush tool........................................................................... 105

field list................................................................................ 329

field parameter............................................. 121, 138, 258, 482

field type.............................................................................. 199

Fieldname, Heading command............................................. 299

file access............................................................................... 63

File command...................................................................... 346

file equations, output command........................................... 306

file name parameter...................................................... 190, 212

file name, duplicated in batch................................................. 50

file names, built-in....................................................... 272, 358

file parameter, Dbedit........................................................... 335

file record length.................................................................. 218

file system error................................................................... 269

Filecode, Set option............................................................. 234

filename parameter............................................................... 482

files, same name........................................................... 191, 212

filling unmatched join fields................................................. 389

filling unmatched link fields................................................. 391

finding data based on a dataset............................................... 31

finding data based on a file.................................................... 31

finding invalid dates............................................................. 182

Firstrec, Set option......................................................... 92, 235

fixed columns...................................................................... 307

fixed-length, output file........................................................ 287

flattening an SD file............................................................... 70

FLIMIT different error........................................................ 167

FLIMIT greater warning...................................................... 167

Floating command............................................................... 296

floating sign......................................................................... 314

floating-point numbers......................................................... 296

Form command............................................ 161, 297, 347, 384

Form command, default....................................................... 164

Form command, keywords.......................................... 165, 347

formatting commands.......................................................... 279

Formout file................................................. 164, 298, 347, 385

FORTRAN invocation of Suprtool..................................... 453

four-digit years...................................................................... 93

fourth-generation languages................................................. 408

FROM-part of Join command............................................. 388

FROM-part of Link command............................................. 391

FSERR 45........................................................................... 114

generic search...................................................................... 484

Get command....................................................................... 166

Get command failure............................................................ 114

Get command, how many records....................................... 167

Get vs. Chain speed............................................................. 103

greater than (>).................................................................... 486

group SL.............................................................................. 414

hanging session, magtape input........................................... 192

Heading command............................................................... 299

heading, HTML option........................................................ 302

heading, maximum length.................................................... 327

Help command............................................. 169, 272, 301, 348

Help command, Suprlink............................................. 358, 386

Highlights 5.2........................................................................ 21

Highlights 5.3........................................................................ 21

Highlights 5.4........................................................................ 21

Highlights 5.4.10................................................................... 21

Highlights5.1.02.................................................................... 22

highwater mark............................................................ 167, 424

highwater mark, reading to.................................................. 234

holding tables for re-use...................................................... 254

holiday detection in batch jobs............................................. 186

how many records to read.................................................... 167

how to run........................................................................... 415

how to run, Suprtool.............................................................. 24

HowMessy Loadfile.............................................................. 70

HowMessy program............................................................ 167

HPCalendar, date................................................................. 196

HPCalendar,date format....................................................... 195

HPDesk program................................................... 48, 276, 362

Hpmodify editing, examples................................................ 223

HTML command................................................................. 302

HTML files, maximum size................................................. 302

IEEE numbers...................................................................... 296

If $lookup............................................................................ 172

If command.......................................................................... 170

If command performance..................................................... 104

If command too long, use $read........................................... 187

If command too long, use Table........................................... 253

If command, combining with Chain..................................... 118

If command, decimal places................................................. 175

If command, prompting for values....................................... 188

if then else............................................................................ 218

Ifcheck, Set option............................................................... 236

Ignore, Set option........................................................ 110, 236

illegal digits (packed or zoned)............................................ 370

IMAGE applications.............................................................. 55

Image, B-Trees...................................................................... 59

IMAGE, Ciupdate option.................................................... 330

IMAGE, end-of-file............................................................. 234

Info= on every activation....................................................... 47

Info= usage.................................................................... 46, 261

Initextents, Set option.......................................................... 236

initializing a field.................................................................. 138

input choices.......................................................................... 53

Input command.................................................... 190, 304, 387

input file............................................................................... 278

input file, maximum block size.................................... 327, 405

input file, maximum fields........................................... 327, 405

input file, maximum record length............................... 327, 405

input files............................................................................. 365

input key fields............................................................ 304, 387

installation.................................................................... 411, 477

Installation instructions, tape.................................................. 23

Installation instructions, web................................................. 23

Installing................................................................................ 23

installing interface into MPE................................................ 477

installing on MPE/iX........................................................... 412

installing Speed Demon....................................................... 411

installing STExport.............................................................. 272

installing Suprlink................................................................ 358

Interactive, Set..................................................................... 237

interface routine................................................................... 477

interface to Suprtool............................................................... 19

interrupt....................................................................... 283, 378

intrinsics.............................................................................. 421

introduction to Dbedit.......................................................... 328

introduction to Speed Demon.............................................. 407

introduction to STExport..................................................... 278

introduction to Suprlink....................................................... 365

invalid dates........................................................... 97, 182, 289

Invalid dates, $stddate.......................................................... 141

Invalid Dates, Extract command.......................................... 141

invalid stack marker abort.................................................... 110

ISO-8859-1 characters, HTML output................................ 303

Item command..................................................... 193, 236, 261

Itemlock, Set........................................................................ 236

JCW, SuprtoolOutCount....................................................... 50

job control word.......................................................... 276, 362

Job Control Word.................................................................. 49

Join........................................................................................ 18

Join command...................................................................... 388

Join Example....................................................................... 367

join key fields...................................................................... 388

J-type fields, SD files............................................................ 70

Julian dates.......................................................................... 196

Julian day number................................................................ 141

JulianDay data format.......................................................... 195

Jumbo dataset error.............................................................. 113

Jumbo datasets....................................................................... 59

Key command...................................................................... 199

key fields, input file..................................................... 304, 387

key fields, join file............................................................... 388

key fields, link file............................................................... 390

Key option........................................................................... 214

Key option, Dbedit............................................................... 336

KLONDIKE........................................................................ 105

KSAM , re-organization........................................................ 61

KSAM files........................................................... 60, 190, 212

KSAM files with lockwords.................................................. 65

KSAM files, linking............................................................ 371

KSAM, locking..................................................................... 60

KSAM, order of sort............................................................. 70

KSAM, recovering deleted records...................................... 245

KSAM, reuse......................................................................... 63

KSAM, self-describing.......................................................... 69

KSAM/V files....................................................................... 61

KSAM/XL, loading faster..................................................... 62

KSAM/XL, MPE/iX 4.0 and later......................................... 62

labelled tapes.................................................................. 72, 237

landscape output.................................................................. 239

Large Datasets....................................................................... 59

Large File Datasets................................................................ 60

LaserJet........................................................................ 203, 239

leading sign.......................................................................... 314

less than (<)......................................................................... 486

LFDS..................................................................................... 60

Limit option, Dbedit............................................................. 337

limits within STExport......................................................... 327

limits within Suprlink.......................................................... 405

Limits, Set............................................................................ 237

line printer............................................................................ 213

Link....................................................................................... 18

Link command..................................................... 201, 361, 390

Link file, maximum block size............................................. 405

Link file, maximum fields.................................................... 405

Link file, maximum number of............................................ 405

Link file, maximum record length........................................ 405

link files in Suprtool.............................................................. 70

link key fields...................................................................... 390

Link option.......................................................................... 215

Link vs. Query....................................................................... 67

Linkedit................................................................................ 445

linking files.......................................................................... 366

linking programs.......................................................... 444, 445

list clears screen................................................................... 203

List command.............................................................. 202, 349

list device............................................................................. 206

list to Suprlist....................................................................... 206

List, Char option.................................................................. 202

List, Column Headings........................................................ 206

List, Date default.................................................................. 239

List, Date option.................................................................. 205

List, Decimal option............................................................. 202

List, Duplex option.............................................................. 204

List, Heading option............................................................ 206

List, Hex option................................................................... 202

List, Labels option............................................................... 203

List, Leftjustnum option....................................................... 203

List, Noname option............................................................ 203

List, Norec option................................................................ 202

List, Noskip option.............................................................. 203

List, Octal option................................................................. 202

List, Oneperline option........................................................ 203

List, Record option.............................................................. 207

List, Rightjustnum option.................................................... 203

List, Standard option............................................................ 205

List, Time default................................................................. 240

List, Time option.................................................................. 205

List, Title option................................................................... 204

listing..................................................................................... 42

listing formats...................................................................... 202

listing labels......................................................................... 203

listing one per line................................................................ 203

listing with subheadings...................................................... 206

listing without field names................................................... 203

listing, producing simple reports.......................................... 205

listing, suppressing blank lines............................................ 203

Listredo command....................................... 208, 305, 350, 392

literals in the output file........................................................ 138

loadfile, HowMessy produces............................................... 70

loading a dataset..................................................................... 39

Lock, Set option............................................................. 57, 240

locking, each transaction........................................................ 57

locking, IMAGE.................................................... 57, 240, 330

locking, KSAM input............................................................ 60

locking, KSAM output.......................................................... 60

lockwords............................................................................ 447

lockwords on files................................................................. 65

long expressions.................................................................. 187

Lotus 1-2-3.......................................................................... 217

low values............................................................................ 174

lower-case.................................................................... 147, 180

LP device............................................................................. 207

LP, Set option...................................................................... 354

MACS, date format............................................................. 195

mailing labels......................................................................... 45

maintenance of databases....................................................... 58

MakeAbsent, Set option...................................................... 241

mapped file access in STExport........................................... 310

mapped file access in Suprlink............................................. 396

Mapped, Set option...................................................... 310, 396

master dataset expansion................................................ 59, 162

match pattern........................................................................ 486

maximum block size in Suprtool.......................................... 480

maximum delimiter length.................................................... 327

maximum heading length..................................................... 327

maximum input block size........................................... 327, 405

maximum input record length...................................... 327, 405

maximum link block size..................................................... 405

maximum link fields............................................................ 405

maximum link files.............................................................. 405

maximum link record length................................................ 405

maximum output fields........................................................ 406

maximum output record length.................................... 327, 406

maximum size, HTML files................................................. 302

MDX............................................................................. 59, 162

means range of fields........................................................... 489

measuring performance........................................................ 104

message files.......................................................................... 64

missing comma, error.................................................. 144, 146

MIT update.......................................................................... 411

mixed case comparisons...................................................... 180

mode parameter............................................................ 112, 219

mode-0 returns version number................................... 423, 426

mode-2 prints statistics........................................................ 426

mode-3 concurrent database access...................................... 423

Modify command................................................................ 351

Modify command, locking................................................... 330

modulo operator........................................................... 143, 176

moving STExport around.................................................... 272

moving Suprlink around...................................................... 358

moving Suprtool around...................................................... 446

MPE commands.................................. 109, 282, 334, 377, 483

MPE commands, disabling access....................... 237, 275, 361

MPE files............................................................................... 63

MPE files with lockwords..................................................... 65

MPE files, linking................................................................ 371

MPE V performance............................................................ 102

MPE XL................................................................. see MPE/iX

MPE, restricting................................................... 237, 275, 361

MPE/iX and Speed Demon......................................... 412, 419

MPE/iX commands............................. 109, 282, 334, 378, 483

MPE/iX file names.............................................................. 482

MPE/iX variables.................................................................. 75

MPE/iX, performance.................................................... 74, 102

MPE/iX, prefetch......................................................... 243, 408

multidataset access................................................................. 18

multiple commands per line................................. 107, 333, 488

multiple output files............................................................. 218

multiple search values.......................................................... 253

native language support................................................. 71, 241

native mode, performance...................................................... 74

negative value...................................................................... 152

Netbase........................................................................ 230, 413

network services............................................................ 74, 113

NLS option, Set command................................................... 241

no quotes............................................................................. 307

NOBUF/MR access.............................................................. 63

non-collating dates............................................................... 185

nonprinting characters.......................................................... 174

non-SD Files and duplicate.................................................. 131

not equal to (<>).................................................................. 486

NOT operator...................................................................... 171

NS/3000........................................................................ 74, 113

Nuggets............................................................................... 105

null values............................................................................ 174

Num option.......................................................................... 214

Num,Data option................................................................. 215

Num,Key option.................................................................. 215

Num,Query option............................................................... 215

number function................................................................... 153

number sign (#) in patterns.................................................. 487

Numbug............................................................................... 242

Numbug, Set option............................................................. 242

numeric bytes, Suprtool....................................................... 175

numeric constants................................................................ 173

numeric conversion, If command......................................... 176

numeric expressions............................................................ 143

numeric justification............................................................. 203

numeric string test................................................................ 178

Numeric to Byte conversion................................................ 154

numeric truncation............................................................... 177

Numeric-value option, Dbedit.............................................. 336

Numrecs command.............................................................. 209

numrecs parameter........................................................... 71, 72

offset parameter................................................................... 121

Omnidex.......................................... 89, 90, 127, 220, 230, 484

OmniQuest............................................................................ 91

Open command.................................................................... 211

option parameter, Dbedit...................................................... 336

optional command name...................................................... 200

optional Join option............................................................. 389

optional Link option............................................................. 391

OR operator......................................................................... 171

Oracle date format................................................................ 196

Oracle dates................................................................. 192, 288

out of disc space............................................................ 71, 209

output choices........................................................................ 53

Output command................................................. 212, 306, 393

output file format................................................................. 287

Output file format................................................................ 214

output file name duplicated............................................ 50, 480

Output file size..................................................................... 213

output file, maximum fields................................................. 406

output file, maximum record length............................. 327, 406

output file, Suprlink............................................................. 366

output filecode..................................................................... 234

output format....................................................................... 323

output limits with Count and Total....................................... 132

output record format............................................................ 402

Output, Append option........................................................ 212

Output, ASCII option.................................................... 43, 216

Output, ASK option............................................................. 215

Output, Data option............................................. 214, 306, 393

Output, Display option........................................................ 216

Output, Else option.............................................................. 214

Output, Erase option............................................................ 212

Output, Key option.............................................................. 214

Output, Link option............................................................. 215

Output, Num option............................................................. 214

Output, Num,Data option.................................................... 215

Output, Num,Key option..................................................... 215

Output, Num,Query option.................................................. 215

output, number of records................................................ 50, 51

Output, PRN option............................................................. 217

Output, Query option........................................................... 215

Output, Temp option............................................................ 212

overflow.............................................................................. 132

overpunches, not used......................................................... 173

overview of Dbedit.............................................................. 328

overwriting files................................................................... 213

packed constants.................................................................. 139

packed fields, maintaining the sign...................................... 152

packed-decimal fields........................................................... 123

packed-decimal, illegal digits............................................... 370

page headings in List........................................................... 204

parameters, Dbedit commands............................................. 335

parentheses.................................................................. 171, 489

Parm= values for STExport................................................. 276

Parm= values for Suprlink................................................... 362

Parm= values for Suprtool..................................................... 51

Parm=0 in Speed Demon..................................................... 427

Parm=1 in Speed Demon..................................................... 427

Parm=16 in Suprtool............................................................. 49

Parm=3 in Speed Demon..................................................... 428

Parm=32 in STExport.......................................................... 276

Parm=32 in Suprlink........................................................... 362

Parm=32 in Suprtool............................................................. 48

Parm=4 in Suprtool............................................................... 46

Parm=64 in STExport.......................................................... 275

Parm=64 in Suprlink........................................................... 361

Parm=64 in Suprtool............................................................. 48

Parm=8 in Suprtool............................................................... 47

Parm=8192 in STExport...................................................... 275

Parm=8192 in Suprlink....................................................... 361

Pascal example for Speed Demon........................................ 434

Pascal invocation of Suprtool.............................................. 466

password in batch.......................................................... 50, 112

password parameter..................................................... 112, 219

password upshifted.............................................................. 112

paths, IMAGE detail datasets.............................................. 117

pattern matching........................................... 179, 243, 486, 487

pausing for user................................................................... 263

PC files.......................................................................... 78, 217

PCL option, Set List.................................................... 203, 239

percent sign.................................................................. 481, 489

Performance Eloquence....................................................... 234

performance issues.............................................................. 102

performance of Dbedit......................................................... 329

performance of Speed Demon............................................. 104

performance of STExport.................................................... 279

performance of Suprtool...................................................... 104

Performance, Suprlink......................................................... 369

performance, when sorting.................................................. 103

permanent and temporary files............................................. 212

permanent and tempory files................................................ 191

Permanent redo.................................................... 245, 310, 396

Persistent redo..................................................... 245, 310, 396

personal computers................................................................ 78

PHdate option, Item command............................................. 195

positive value....................................................................... 152

POSIX file names................................................................ 483

PowerHouse.......................................................................... 79

PowerHouse applications...................................................... 79

PowerHouse dates............................................................... 195

PowerHouse define of P28.................................................. 132

PowerHouse subfiles............................................. 80, 373, 393

prefetch................................................................................ 408

Prefetch................................................................................ 241

preformatted, HTML option................................................ 302

prep, segmenter.................................................................... 444

Printer Command Language................................................ 239

printer, attached to terminal.................................................. 207

printing reports.............................................................. 43, 206

privileged file violation................................................ 114, 168

Privmode, Set option........................................................... 244

PRN option.................................................................... 78, 217

processing selections............................................................. 53

progress messages............................................................... 244

prompt character.................................................................. 486

Prompt, Set option....................................................... 245, 354

prompting using Quiz............................................................ 88

pseudo-batch tasks............................................................... 480

pub SL................................................................................. 413

Put command....................................................... 110, 219, 240

Put command, performance......................................... 104, 220

Q command................................................................. 221, 352

Qedit program................................ 79, 115, 274, 284, 295, 341

Qedit program and Suprlink................................ 360, 379, 383

Qedit program as parent process.................................... 47, 136

Qhelp........................................................... 169, 301, 348, 386

QSCHEMA definitions......................................................... 85

QShow.................................................................................. 86

QTP vs. Quiz......................................................................... 81

QTP, PowerHouse.............................................................. 373

QUERY "numbers" format................................................. 215

Query All option not supported........................................... 347

Query option........................................................................ 215

QUERY program.................................................................. 92

Query vs Link........................................................................ 67

question mark, database password............................... 112, 219

question, delete all records................................................... 127

Quick help................................................... 169, 301, 348, 386

Quick: generating Suprtool commands.................................. 88

Quiet, Set option.................................................................. 354

Quiz report writer.......................................... 79, 373, 391, 393

quote characters................................................................... 173

Quote command................................................................... 307

quotes, double...................................................................... 307

quotes, none......................................................................... 307

quotes, single....................................................................... 307

random sampling......................................................... 166, 191

range of fields...................................................................... 142

range, extracting................................................................... 142

read only mode.................................................................... 237

reading datasets...................................................................... 55

record changed error.............................................................. 58

record format, output............................................................. 42

Record Mode, List option.................................................... 207

record number selection............................................... 166, 191

record number, IMAGE...................................................... 166

record number, KSAM........................................................ 191

record number, MPE........................................................... 191

record number, Output......................................................... 214

record number, XSORT...................................................... 235

records, not qualifying......................................................... 218

records, number of qualifying.............................................. 218

Recover, Set option.............................................................. 245

redo command....................................................................... 27

Redo command............................................ 222, 308, 353, 394

Redo, number of commands................................ 222, 308, 394

Redo, Set............................................................. 245, 310, 396

reduced output..................................................................... 239

Reflection............................................................................... 79

Related option, Dbedit......................................................... 337

relative dates........................................................................ 181

relative dates, notes.............................................................. 184

relative field definitions........................................................ 121

remote database............................................................ 112, 168

remote systems.............................................................. 74, 113

remote systems FOPENs..................................................... 114

removing bad characters...................................................... 286

removing spaces.......................................................... 147, 180

repeated fields...................................................................... 174

repeated fields, Extract command......................................... 139

repeating commands.............................................................. 27

reports.................................................................................... 43

Reset command.................................................... 225, 309, 395

Reset, Set option.................................................................. 354

Resolving Variables............................................... 78, 312, 397

restrictions in Dbedit............................................................ 328

restrictions in Speed Demon................................................ 407

RIO files................................................................................ 64

Roman-8 characters, HTML output..................................... 303

Roman-8 vs. ASCII............................................................. 204

RPG, programming language................................................ 92

run parameters..................................................................... 446

running STExport................................................................ 274

running Suprlink.................................................................. 360

running Suprtool.................................................................... 46

running totals......................................................................... 41

scientific format................................................................... 296

SD files........................................... 25, see self-describing files

SD Files, restrictions............................................................. 68

SD KSAM files..................................................................... 69

SDUnix................................................................................. 66

search criteria....................................................................... 335

Select by list of values........................................................... 30

Select command................................................................... 226

Select command, Allbase rows............................................ 229

Select command, Oracle rows.............................................. 242

Select menu processor........................................... 47, 274, 360

Select performance............................................................... 226

Select, Long commands....................................................... 226

selecting multiple values...................................................... 172

selecting records.................................................................. 170

selecting records, database..................................................... 27

selection by date................................................................... 181

selection criteria..................................................................... 28

selection logic...................................................................... 366

selection using arithmetic..................................................... 176

self describing files, field name limit...................................... 67

self-describing file format............................................ 323, 402

self-describing files.......................... 66, 67, 131, 161, 215, 366

self-describing KSAM files................................................... 69

semicolon............................................................................. 333

semicolon means multiple commands.................................. 488

separator, dates.................................................................... 288

serial vs. chained read.................................................... 56, 117

session................................................................................... 79

session mode....................................................................... 480

Set Allbase........................................................................... 229

Set Arithmetic...................................................................... 229

Set Baseclose....................................................................... 229

Set Blocksize....................................................................... 229

Set Buffer............................................................................ 229

Set command, Dbedit........................................................... 354

Set command, STExport...................................................... 310

Set command, Suprlink........................................................ 396

Set command, Suprtool........................................................ 227

Set CurrencySymbol............................................................ 230

Set Date............................................................................... 232

Set Date Cutoff...................................................... 94, 185, 231

Set Date Forcecentury.................................................... 94, 232

Set DecimalSymbol............................................................. 233

Set Defer...................................................... 104, 126, 220, 233

Set Dumponerror......................................................... 110, 233

Set EditStoperror................................................................. 234

Set Eofread.......................................................................... 234

Set Fastread......................................................................... 234

Set Filecode......................................................................... 234

Set Firstrec..................................................................... 92, 235

Set Hints.............................................................................. 235

Set Ifcheck........................................................................... 236

Set Ignore.................................................... 110, 220, 236, 270

Set Itemabbreviatedate......................................................... 236

Set Labelledtaperewind........................................................ 237

Set Limits............................................................................. 237

Set List PCL................................................................ 203, 239

Set Lock......................................................................... 57, 240

Set LP, Dbedit..................................................................... 354

Set Mapped.................................................................. 310, 396

set name parameter....................................... 117, 166, 190, 219

Set NLS............................................................................... 241

Set Openmode..................................................................... 242

Set Oracle............................................................................ 242

Set Prefetch.......................................................................... 243

Set Privmode....................................................................... 244

Set Progress......................................................................... 244

Set Prompt, Dbedit.............................................................. 354

Set Prompt, Suprtool........................................................... 245

Set Quiet, Dbedit................................................................. 354

Set Recover.......................................................................... 245

Set Reset, Dbedit................................................................. 354

Set Sortfast.......................................................................... 246

Set Squeeze.......................................................................... 247

Set Statistics, STExport....................................................... 311

Set Statistics, Suprlink......................................................... 397

Set Statistics, Suprtool......................................................... 247

Set Subsystem..................................................................... 247

Set Suspend......................................................................... 248

Set ThousandSymbol........................................................... 248

Set Underline, Dbedit.......................................................... 355

Set Userlabels...................................................................... 248

Set VarSub.......................................................................... 249

Set Varsub, STExport.................................................. 312, 397

Set VarsubCompat............................................................... 249

Set VarSubDebug.................................................. 78, 312, 397

Set Verify, Dbedit................................................................ 355

Set Warnings....................................................................... 249

Set Warnings, STExport...................................................... 312

Set XMLtagchar, STExport................................................. 312

Set ZonedFix, STExport...................................................... 313

SICOGNOS........................................................................ 163

SICOGNOS, Superdex......................................................... 89

Sign command..................................................................... 314

signed function.................................................................... 152

simple tasks, file.................................................................... 25

single quotes........................................................................ 307

SL, group............................................................................. 414

SL, pub................................................................................ 413

SL, system................................................................... 411, 413

slash character...................................................................... 489

Slist234 file.......................................................................... 447

Software Research Northwest..................................... 105, 196

son process.................................................... 49, 135, 294, 382

sort break totals.................................................................... 259

Sort command...................................................................... 251

sort information not retained................................................ 131

sort keys.............................................................................. 366

sort speed....................................................................... 71, 103

sort, count.............................................................................. 41

sort, descending..................................................................... 33

sort, multiple keys.................................................................. 33

sort, subtotal.......................................................................... 41

Sortfast, Set option.............................................................. 246

sorting datasets.............................................................. 56, 251

sorting files.............................................................. 39, 70, 199

sorting records,database......................................................... 33

sorting, 4096 record size........................................................ 75

Sortscr file............................................................................. 71

Spaces command................................................................. 315

spaces, removing......................................................... 147, 180

SPDEDBINIT control record.............................................. 418

SPDEDBINIT intrinsic....................................................... 423

SPDEDBINIT version number........................................... 428

SPDEDBSCAN intrinsic.................................................... 425

SPDEDBSHUT intrinsic..................................................... 426

SPDEDBSHUT version number......................................... 428

SPDEEXPLAIN intrinsic.................................................... 422

SPDEPREFETCH JCW...................................................... 408

special characters................................................................. 485

special string test.................................................................. 178

specifying input................................... 117, 166, 190, 304, 387

Speed Demon........................................................................ 18

Speed Demon error messages.............................................. 439

Speed Demon performance.................................................. 104

Speed Demon vs. Suprtool.................................................. 408

speed of IMAGE extracts.............................................. 56, 407

speed under MPE/iX........................................................... 407

SPEEDWARE invocation of Suprtool................................ 468

SPL invocation of Suprtool................................................. 459

splitting strings.................................................................... 148

splitting strings, unprintables............................................... 148

spool file errors.................................................................... 269

SQL database, Allbase rows................................................ 229

SQL database, Oracle rows................................................. 242

SQL database, Select command........................................... 226

SQL database, specifying.................................................... 211

SQL database, structure....................................................... 163

Squeeze, Set option.............................................................. 247

SRN, Chronos date........................................................ 93, 196

St2xl.Pub.Robelle.................................................................. 74

startrecord parameter.................................................... 166, 191

Statistics, Set option............................................. 247, 311, 397

status area.................................................................... 421, 441

stddate function............................................................ 141, 182

STExport............................................................... 18, 137, 217

STExport summary.............................................................. 272

STExport task...................................................................... 274

Stexport.Pub.Robelle........................................................... 137

STExportFullCount............................................................. 277

STExportOutCount.............................................................. 277

STREAMX......................................................... 108, 282, 377

string constants............................................................ 173, 488

string constants, Extract command....................................... 139

string conversion................................................................. 146

string expressions................................................................ 177

string of digits........................................................................ 29

string replacement, Hpmodify.............................................. 223

string truncation................................................................... 147

string, as a delimiter............................................................. 291

string, heading command..................................................... 299

strings.................................................................................. 483

sub totaling............................................................................ 41

subcommands, Dbedit......................................................... 338

subfiles, PowerHouse.................................................... 80, 373

subscript parameter.............................................. 138, 258, 484

subscript parameter, character.............................................. 174

subscript parameter, Define................................................. 121

subscript parameter, numeric............................................... 174

substrings............................................................................ 174

subsystem access................................................................. 247

Subsystem, Set option......................................................... 247

subtotals......................................................................... 40, 130

Subtract Days...................................................................... 142

sum of field values............................................................... 258

summary of STExport......................................................... 278

summary of Suprlink........................................................... 365

Super Cartridge.................................................................... 204

Superdex........................................................................ 89, 484

Supr2job job stream............................................................. 477

Suprcall.................................................................................. 19

Suprcall.Suprjob.Robelle..................................................... 477

Suprhint.Help.Robelle......................................................... 235

Suprlink................................................................. 18, 201, 215

Suprlink performance.......................................................... 104

Suprlink, using from Suprtool............................................. 361

Suprlink.Pub.Robelle........................................................... 201

SuprlinkFullCount............................................................... 363

SuprlinkOutCount............................................................... 362

Suprlist file............................................................ 44, 206, 354

Suprmgr file........................................................................... 50

Suprtool in Suprlink............................................ 366, 388, 390

Suprtool package................................................................... 17

Suprtool performance.......................................................... 104

Suprtool vs. Speed Demon.................................................. 408

Suprtool, program file name................................................ 446

Suprtool2............................................................................... 19

Suprtool2 error messages.................................................... 478

Suprtool2 installation................................................... 445, 477

Suprtool2 routine......................................................... 137, 201

Suprtool2 routine, MPE/iX.................................................... 74

Suprtool2filecommand......................................................... 446

SuprtoolFullCount variable.................................................... 51

SuprtoolOutCount JCW................................................ 50, 444

Suspend option on Exit........................................ 135, 294, 382

Suspend, Set option............................................................. 248

suspending STExport.......................................................... 276

suspending Suprlink............................................................ 362

suspending Suprtool.............................................................. 48

system parameter................................................................. 113

system SL.................................................... 411, 412, 413, 477

system XL file............................................................. 413, 446

table and $lookup............................................................. 30, 31

Table command.................................................................... 253

Table command, decimal places........................................... 254

Table Data option................................................................. 255

Table, $lookup examples..................................................... 255

Table, Data example............................................................. 256

table, HTML option............................................................. 302

tables.................................................................................... 484

tables in Chain command..................................................... 117

tables, holding between Xeqs.............................................. 254

tables, maximum size................................................... 237, 257

tape files......................................................... 72, 190, 191, 213

tape files of large size........................................................... 209

tapes, EBCDIC format........................................................... 72

tapes, labelled......................................................................... 72

tapes, multivolume................................................................. 72

target field............................................................................ 143

task, locking........................................................................... 57

task, Suprtool................................................................... 24, 53

temporary files............................................................... 65, 212

third-party indexing............... 89, 127, 161, 163, 220, 270, 484

Third-party indexing, chain.................................................. 119

ThousandSymbol, Set option............................................... 248

time format in List........................................................ 205, 240

Time, Set List....................................................................... 240

title, HTML option............................................................... 302

titles, List command............................................................... 44

today function of Extract...................................................... 140

today function of If.............................................................. 182

Total command.................................................................... 258

Total Examples.................................................................... 258

Total, output restrictions...................................................... 132

totaling................................................................................... 41

totaling duplicate records..................................................... 130

totals to a file................................................................ 258, 259

totals to a program............................................................... 132

TPI......................................... 89, 163, see third-party indexing

TPI-keys................................................................................ 89

trailing sign.......................................................................... 314

TRANSACT......................................................................... 91

TRANSACT invocation of Suprtool................................... 456

trimming spaces........................................................... 147, 180

truncate function.......................................................... 145, 177

truncation, numeric.............................................................. 177

truncation, strings................................................................ 147

TurboIMAGE........................................................................ 57

two-digit years................................................................. 94, 95

type parameter...................................................... 121, 122, 199

UDCs.......................................... see User Defined Commands

Under option, Dbedit........................................................... 337

Underline, Set option........................................................... 355

Undo edit, Hpmodify........................................................... 223

unsigned value..................................................................... 152

Update command......................................................... 240, 260

Update command, performance........................................... 104

Update from a Table............................................................ 254

Updatekey option, Dbedit.................................................... 338

Updating records................................................................... 34

upper-case.................................................................... 147, 180

upshifting strings................................................................. 147

Use command........................................ 47, 261, 316, 356, 399

Use command with If $read................................................. 188

User Defined Commands.................... 109, 282, 334, 378, 483

user labels........................................................................ 65, 73

user labels in SD files............................................................ 70

user program calls Suprlink................................................. 471

User Prompting..................................................................... 77

user specified heading.......................................................... 299

Userlabels, Set option.......................................................... 248

Userpause command............................................................ 263

Using Speed Demon............................................................ 418

value tests............................................................................ 171

variable length strings.................................................. 147, 177

variable substitution......................................................... 75, 77

Variable Substitution................................................... 280, 372

Variable Substitution, Set option......................................... 249

variable, SuprtoolFullCount................................................... 51

variable-length, output file................................................... 287

variables in file names.......................................................... 482

Varsub, Set option....................................................... 312, 397

VarsubCompat, Set option................................................... 249

Verify command.................................. 252, 264, 317, 357, 400

Verify, Set option................................................................ 355

Version entry point.............................................................. 428

version numbers.................................................................. 428

VESOFT............................................................. 108, 282, 377

VESOFT, God program...................................................... 114

warning messages........................................................ 270, 485

warning, delete all records................................................... 127

warning, FLIMIT greater..................................................... 167

warning, using DBGET....................................................... 167

Warnings............................................................................. 249

when to use Suprtool............................................................. 56

wide listings......................................................................... 206

wider columns....................................................................... 44

Xeq command, STExport............................................ 295, 318

Xeq command, Suprlink.............................................. 382, 401

Xeq command, Suprtool.............................................. 136, 265

Xeq option on Exit............................................... 136, 295, 382

XL file......................................................................... 412, 419

XML, STExport.................................................................. 319

XSORT......................................................................... 92, 235

Year 2000............................................................................ 232

Year 2000 testing................................................................. 101

yes answer to questions............................................... 269, 485

yes response in pseudo-batch.............................................. 480

yyymmdd date format.......................................................... 195

Zero command..................................................................... 322

zoned constants.................................................................... 139

zoned-decimal, illegal digits................................................. 370

Z-type TPI-keys..................................................................... 89

STExport Program File Name	STExport Help File Name
stexport.Pub.Robelle	stexport.Help.Robelle
stexport.Pub.Robelle	stexport.Help.Robelle
stexport.Pub.Account	stexport.Help.Account
stexport.PubRob.Account	stexport.HelpRob.Account
stexport.Robelle.Dist	stexport.Help.Dist

Byte-Type:	STExport assumes that character information is stored in byte-type fields. By default, all byte-type fields are surrounded by quotes and trailing spaces are removed.
Numeric-Type:	The numeric data-types are integer, logical, floating-point, packed, and display. STExport converts the internal representation of each data-type into a string of ASCII digits. By default, all numeric-type fields have a leading sign and are variable length. Where appropriate, numeric-type fields are converted with a decimal point.
Floating-Type:	All commands that affect numeric-type fields also affect floating-type fields. In addition, you can use the Floating command to specify the format and decimal places for floating-type fields (i.e., Classic or IEEE floating-point numbers).
Date-Type:	If a field has a date format, STExport does extra formatting. By default, dates are formatted into yyyymmdd (e.g., 20001125).

Before	FLoating	Quote	Verif
CLean	Form	REDO	Xeq
Columns	HEAding	Reset	XML
DAte	HElp	Set	Zero
DElimiter	HTML	Sign	=expression
DO	Input	Spaces	:OS command
Escape	LISTREDO	SPaces
Exit	Output	Use

Command	Data-Type
Date	date-type
Floating	floating-type
Quote	byte-type
Sign	numeric-type
Spaces	byte-type
Zero	numeric-type

Symbol	Roman-8 value	name
`	169	grave mark
^	170	circumflex
~	172	tilde
ƒ	190	function symbol
ß	222	beta symbol
Š	235	capital-S, Icelandic
š	236	small-S, Icelandic
Ÿ	238	capital-Y, umlaut

Command	Function
ADD	Add new entries to a dataset.
CHANGE	Change a master search value in all related datasets.
DELETE	Delete entries from a dataset.
LIST	List the value of entries in a dataset.
MODIFY	Modify specific fields of an entry from a dataset.

Subcommand	Purpose
//	stops the current command immediately.
\\	same as // (you may also use the Control-Y key).
?	describes the current field, including any implied decimal points.
<	goes back one field to the previous field in the list.
<3	goes back three fields.
<<	returns to the first field in the list.
>	goes forward one field to the next field in the list.
>3	goes forward three fields.
>>	skips the rest of the fields in the list. This is especially useful when Dbedit is prompting you for multiple search and sort fields and you only want to enter the first.
'	uses blanks for the field (useful in batch).
*	uses the last value for this field.
[	forces what follows the [ to be a value and not a subcommand (e.g., [BOB tells Dbedit to use BOB as the actual value instead of interpreting the * to mean "last value").
@F	search for the field F (e.g., @bin-no). The field can include a subscript (e.g., @street-address(2)).
=	calculator.

Suprlink Program File Name	Suprlink Help File Name
Suprlink.Pub.Robelle	Suprlink.Help.Robelle
Suprlink.Pub.Account	Suprlink.Help.Account
Suprlink.PubRob.Account	Suprlink.HelpRob.Account
Suprlink.Robelle.Dist	Suprlink.Help.Dist

Parm	Purpose
32	don't suspend, terminate completely
64	check with user before Exiting
8192	don't allow MPE commands

Mode	Function
0	Return the version number of SPDEDBINIT. All the other parameters are ignored and Speed Demon is not initialized.
1	Initialize Speed Demon to sequentially access the dataset of the specified database.
2	Same as mode-1, but allows partial field lists.
3	Same as mode-2, but Speed Demon will read to the physical end of the dataset. Use this mode if your program expects changes to the dataset at the same time Speed Demon is reading it.

Word	Usage
1	Zero.
2	Major version number.
3	Minor version number.
4	Pre-release version number.
5-10	Zeros.

Mode	Function
0	Return the version number of SPDEDBSHUT. All the other parameters are ignored and Speed Demon is not closed.
1	Close the Speed Demon environment.
2	Close the Speed Demon environment and print a summary of the read operation on $stdlist.