HP System Dictionary/XL SDMAIN Reference Manual (32256-90001)

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* There are two exceptions to this punctuation rule:

ATTRIBUTE-LIST and SUB-REPORT

Both of these keywords must be followed by an equal sign and the keyword value list must be enclosed in

parentheses to avoid conﬂicts. An example of this is:

REPORT ENTITY item-name;ENTITY-TYPE=element;

ATTRIBUTE-LIST=(max-record-size=256,min-record-size=128).

Table 3-2 lists the System Dictionary Command Language punctuation characters.

OBJECT-CLAUSE The user-deﬁned name of the object. This is the speciﬁc target of the action speciﬁed by

the command.

EXAMPLE: CREATE ENTITY ship-date;ENTITY-TYPE=element.

KEYWORD-

CLAUSE

A keyword clause can be either a single keyword or a keyword followed by an equal sign

(=) that is followed by either nothing, a single value, or a list of values separated by com-

mas. The keywords are SDMAIN-deﬁned, while their values are either SDMAIN-

deﬁned or user-deﬁned.* Keyword clauses are separated by semicolons.

EXAMPLE: CREATE ENTITY ship-date;ENTITY-TYPE=element.

Table 2: Command Language Punctuation Characters

CHARACT

DESCRIPTION

. Terminates commands. The period signiﬁes the end of a string of characters denoting a com-

mand. It is required for all commands except the COMMENT, EXIT, HELP, REDO,

RESTRUCTURE, SHOW, SHOWMACRO and START commands, where it is optional.

, Separates items in a list. The comma separates objects in an object list and values in a keyword

value list.

; Separates clauses. The semicolon separates object clauses from keyword clauses and keyword

clauses from each other.

= Speciﬁes a keyword and a keyword value list, or an attribute and an attribute list, i.e., ENTITY-

TYPE=element; ATTRIBUTE-LIST=(element-type=9,byte-length=8).

< > Used with the ATTRIBUTE-LIST or SUB-REPORT keyword clauses to specify the beginning

and end of a keyword value list and within any value clause allowing selection criteria to

denote precedence among Boolean operators.

Table 1: System Dictionary Language Elements

Language Element Description