Dictionary/3000 Reference Manual (32244-90001)

44 Chapter3
Using the DICTDBM Commands
Using Commands to Define HP Inform/3000 Groups
Adding Elements to Groups
The ADD GROUP command string associates data elements with previously created
groups. The data element must already exist in the data Dictionary. The Dictionary will
prevent you from associating elements with a PARENT group by issuing an error message
and reissuing the prompt for GROUP. (Note that an element need not be associated with a
file at the time the ADD GROUP command string is executed; however, the element must
have been added to a file before HP Inform/3000 is executed.)
In response to the prompt for ELEMENT, enter the name of the data element. Responding
to the ELEMENT ALIAS prompt is optional. HP Inform/3000 uses the element alias name
in its Data Names Menu; if no element alias is given, the data element name (primary
name) is used. Note that this element alias name should be meaningful to the HP
Inform/3000 user since it will appear on HP Inform/3000's Data Names Menu. It may or
may not be the same as the element alias name specified when the element is added to a
file.
NOTE The element alias name is only used by HP Inform/3000 on its Data Names
Menu. The data element name (primary name) will be used as the report
heading for that element unless a heading has been specified in response to
the HEADING TEXT prompt of the CREATE ELEMENT command string.
In addition, the data element name (primary name) will be used in HP
Inform/3000's "SELECTION CRITERIA FOR data name(s) " prompt unless
you have responded to the ENTRY TEXT prompt of the CREATE ELEMENT
command string. If you wish this to match the element alias name, you must
specify the element alias name as the HEADING TEXT and the ENTRY
TEXT on the CREATE ELEMENT command string.
The prompt for FILE allows you to designate the name of the specific file which should be
used to retrieve the values of an element when a report is being created from this group.
For example, the data element "date" may be the date a product was purchased in one file,
and the date the product was shipped in another file. Thus it is important to specify from
which file you want the values for "date" to be taken. This would apply even if the data
element "date" had been given different alias names when it was added to the different
files. (This particular situation could be avoided if two separate data elements, such as
"pur-date" and "ship-date" , are created in the Dictionary and added to the appropriate
file.) Note that when a file name is specified in response to the FILE prompt, the element
must already be associated with that file.
If, on the other hand, it is not important which file is used (for example, suppose the data
element "soc-sec-no" existed in more than one file), it is better not to respond to the FILE
prompt. This allows HP Inform/3000 to retrieve the values in a more efficient manner.
If a file specified in response to FILE is an IMAGE data set with more than one PARENT
file (BASE), the prompt PARENT FILE is issued next and must be answered.
The next prompt, VALUE AS A LINK, can be used to specify which elements should be
selected to link the desired elements into a logical record for reporting:
• If each of the elements being associated with a group can link all the files, do not
respond to the VALUE AS A LINK prompt for any of them.