Contents

Introducing Suprtool Version 5.6 4

Overview............................................................................................................... 4

Highlights in Suprtool 5.6....................................................................................... 4

Compatibility........................................................................................................ 5

Documentation....................................................................................................... 5

Installation 6

Overview............................................................................................................... 6

Installation Instructions............................................................................................ 6

Installation Assistance............................................................................................. 6

Enhancements in Version 5.6 7

Introduction........................................................................................................... 7

Extract Command................................................................................................... 7

Data Items Support................................................................................................. 8

$SubCount............................................................................................................ 8

Enhancements in Version 5.5 9

Introduction........................................................................................................... 9

X86 Linux Support................................................................................................. 9

Bugs Fixed 10

Bugs Fixed In Suprtool 5.5.11................................................................................ 10

Bugs Fixed In Suprtool 5.5.04................................................................................ 10

Bugs Fixed In Suprtool 5.5.03................................................................................ 10

Bugs Fixed In Suprtool 5.5.02................................................................................ 10

Introducing Suprtool Version 5.6

Overview

Suprtool/Open is a new version of Suprtool designed to be platform independant. Suprtool/Open is designed to read, select, and sort data from Oracle, and Eloquence databases and data files with fixed-length records. Suprtool/Open is designed to be similar to Suprtool for MPE and Suprtool for HP-UX.

Suprlink/Open provides high-speed data-file linking based on a sort key. Use STExport to convert fields in a self-describing input file into an output file that can be imported into different applications.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.6

· Suprtool for Itanium and Suprtool/Open did not properly handle sorting of display type with over punch.

· Suprtool, Suprlink and STExport now handle 512 fields on HP-UX and Open platforms.

· Suprtools' extract command now has three special keywords to help with extract using a range, which is designed to make your Suprtool scripts more easily maintained. Suprtool now has $all, $first and $last which respectively means all fields, the first field or the last field. Note that $first and $last may only be used in a range extract.

· $subcount has been added to keep a running count for a given sort break.

· Suprtool had problems with brackets and arithmetic expressions for packed-decimal and display data-types. (Build 12)

· Suprtool had problems with improper rounding for Packed-decimal, Quad and Zoned-Decimal data types and arithmetic expressions. (Build 12)

· Suprtool would use an incorrect field definition when copying a file where the input file had a duplicate field name with different field definition, the second field would utilize the first definition.

· Suprtool/Open would potentially incorrectly set the decimal or date attribute on a straight copy of an SD file. This was introduced by the fix to copying SD files with duplicate fieldnames and was in 5.5.04 pre-release and 5.5.11 and 5.6 Build 1. This is fixed in Suprtool/Open 5.6 Build 3.

Compatibility

Suprtool/Open first release is designed to be compatible with Suprtool for HP-UX.

Documentation

The user manual contains the full description of all the Suprtool suite of products including Dbedit, Suprlink, STExport, 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.

You can download our manuals and Change Notices in various formats and order printed (hardcopy) manuals from our web site at:

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

Installation

Overview

The following instructions describe the installation process of a new Suprtool release. The new version overwrites an existing version of Suprtool on your system.

Installation Instructions

There are typically two main types of installations. The first and most often utilized is the Download instructions. You can find the download install instructions here:

http://www.robelle.com/downloads/install-soprod.html

Installation Assistance

If you have any questions or run into any problems, please call us. Technical support is available on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific time at 1.800.453.8970. Technical support can also be obtained via e-mail at: support@robelle.com

Enhancements in Version 5.6

Introduction

Suprtool is constantly being updated with new features. The following section describes the new enhancements to Suprtool since Suprtool 5.5

Extract Command

Suprtool's extract command now has three new keywords, which can be used for extract range feature. You can now say extract $all, extract $first / $last on an SD file or Image/Eloquence dataset. The intention is to make your scripts more easily maintained. If you had a script that you wanted to put a sequence number at the beginning and then extract the rest of the dataset you previously had to specify the starting field and the ending field. For example if the first field in a dataset was order-no and the last field was pst-code you may have a script that looked like this.

base orddb

get customers

def seq-no,1,4,double

ext seq-no=$counter

ext order-no / pst-code

out newfile,link

xeq

If you added any fields to the beginning or end of the dataset you would have to re-write the script. Now you can write the script as being:

base orddb

get customers

def seq-no,1,4,double

ext seq-no=$counter

ext $all

out newfile,link

xeq

You can also write the script using $first / $last as your preference, but $first and $last are also useful if you need to add data into the middle of the fields you extract:

base orddb

get customers

def seq-no,1,4,double

ext $first / zip

ext seq-no=$counter

ext tax-code / $last

out newfile,link

xeq

Please note that if a self-describing file has a fieldname that is a duplicate field and one of the duplicate fields is the last field in the file, then $first / $last and $all, will only extract up to the first occurrence of the duplicate fieldname. This may seem as an issue but it is consistent with what Suprtool does currently with extract from a range. Currently and prior to the $first / $last enhancement Suprtool would have extracted only up to the first occurrence of the field if you had a file such as this:

>form

File: newfile (SD Version B.00.00) Has linefeeds

Entry: Offset

CHAR-FIELD X5 1

INT-FIELD I1 6

DBL-FIELD I2 8

PACKED-FIELD P12 12

PACKED*-FIELD P12 18

QUAD-FIELD I4 24

ID-FIELD I1 32

LOGICAL-FIELD K1 34

DBLLOG-FIELD K2 36

ZONED-FIELD Z5 40

FILLER X36 45

FILLER X36 81

Entry Length: 116 Blocking: 1

Notice that FILLER is a duplicate named field, so if you entered, extract char-field / filler, Suprtool would only extract up to and including the first FILLER field. For consistency, extract $first / $last behaves the same way.

Data Items Support

Suprtool now supports 512 data items in both Eloquence datasets and SD files and Oracle fields. STExport and Suprlink have also been updated to support the increased number of data items in the SD fields that they read, but please note that other limitations still exist. [5.5.10]

$SubCount

$SubCount has been added to provide a counter that only gets reset at a given sort break.

In file1sd

Sort char-field

Def control-count,1,4,double

Ext $first / $last

Ext control-count=$subcount(char-field)

Out newfile,link

xeq

What Suprtool will do in this case is start incrementing a number starting with 1, and increase by 1 for any given char-field value. This way you can add a counter based on a sort break for a given field.

Enhancements in Version 5.5

Introduction

Suprtool is constantly being updated with new features. The following section describes the new enhancements to Suprtool since Suprtool 5.4.

X86 Linux Support

Suprtool Open now runs on X86 Linux versions. Suprtool is dependent on Glib 2.7.

Bugs Fixed

Bugs Fixed In Suprtool 5.6

Arithmetic Expressions. Suprtool/Open had problems with arithmetic expressions with brackets for Packed-Decimal and Zoned-Decimal data types.

Arithmetic Expressions. Suprtool/Open had problems with rounding for arithmetic expressions with Quad Integers, Packed-Decimal and Zoned-Decimal data types.

Bugs Fixed In Suprtool 5.5.11

Sort Display Over Punch. Suprtool for Itanium and Suprtool/Open did not properly sort display type data with Over punch characters.