File and Data Description

  • File Description Entry Skeleton
    The file description comprises information concerning the physical structure, identification, and record-names pertaining to a given file.
  • Data Description Entry Skeleton
    A data description entry specifies the characteristics of a particular item of data
  • The ANY LENGTH Clause
    The ANY LENGTH clause specifies that the length of a linkage section item may vary at runtime and is determined by the length of the argument.
  • The BLANK WHEN ZERO Clause
    The BLANK WHEN ZERO clause permits the blanking of an item when its value is zero.
  • The BLOCK CONTAINS Clause
    The BLOCK CONTAINS clause specifies the size of a physical record.
  • The CODE-SET Clause
    The CODE-SET clause specifies the character code set used to represent data on the external media.
  • The ATTRIBUTE,CUSTOM-ATTRIBUTE Clause
    The ATTRIBUTE- or CUSTOM-ATTRIBUTE clause specifies an attribute that provides metadata (information) about a .NET native data item or a property that will be visible using reflection.
  • The DATA RECORDS Clause
    The DATA RECORDS clause serves only as documentation for the names of data records with their associated file.
  • The Data-name or FILLER Clause
    A data-name specifies the name of the data being described. The word FILLER can be used to specify an elementary item of the logical record that cannot be referred to explicitly.
  • The EXTERNAL Clause
    The EXTERNAL clause specifies that a data item or a file connector is external. The constituent data items and group items of an external data record are available to every runtime element in the run unit that describes that record.
  • The GLOBAL Clause
    The GLOBAL clause specifies that a data-name, a file-name, or a report-name is a global name. A global name is available to every program contained within the program which declares it.
  • The GROUP-USAGE Clause
    A GROUP-USAGE clause with a BIT phrase specifies that the group item defined by the subject of the entry is to be treated as an elementary item of usage bit and category boolean, unless specified otherwise.
  • The JUSTIFIED Clause
    The JUSTIFIED clause specifies non-standard positioning of data within a receiving data item.
  • The LABEL RECORDS Clause
    The LABEL RECORDS clause specifies whether labels are present.
  • Level Number
    The level-number shows the hierarchy of data within a logical record.
  • The LINAGE Clause
    The LINAGE clause allows the user to specify the depth of a logical page in terms of number of lines. The user can also specify the size of the top and bottom margins on the logical page, and the line number, within the page body, at which the footing area begins.
  • The OCCURS Clause
    The OCCURS clause eliminates the need for separate entries for repeated data items and supplies information required for the application of subscripts or indices.
  • The PICTURE Clause
    The PICTURE clause describes the general characteristics and editing requirements of an elementary item.
  • The PROPERTY Clause
    The PROPERTY clause indicates that this data item is a property of the object in which this data description is contained and that GET and/or SET methods are to be generated accordingly.
  • The RECORD Clause
  • The RECORDING MODE Clause
    The RECORDING MODE clause specifies the format of the logical records in the file.
  • The REDEFINES Clause
    The REDEFINES clause allows the same computer storage area to be described by different data description entries.
  • The RENAMES Clause
    The RENAMES clause permits alternative, possibly overlapping, groupings of elementary items.
  • The SIGN Clause
    The SIGN clause specifies the position and the mode of representation of the operational sign when it is necessary to describe these properties explicitly.
  • The SYNCHRONIZED Clause
    The SYNCHRONIZED clause specifies the alignment of an elementary item on the natural boundaries of the computer memory.
  • The THREAD-LOCAL Clause
    The THREAD-LOCAL clause specifies that there is a distinct copy of a data item or file connector for each thread entering a program.
  • The TYPEDEF Clause
    The TYPEDEF clause defines a record as a programmer-defined type definition.
  • The USAGE Clause
    The USAGE clause specifies the format of a data item in the computer storage.
  • The VALUE Clause
    The VALUE clause defines the value of constants, the initial value of working storage and local storage items, and the values associated with a condition name.
  • The VALUE OF Clause
    The VALUE OF clause specifies the description of an item in the label records associated with a file.
Parent topic: Data Division