Introduction to Pathmaker

Glossary
Glossary–2 067867 Tandem Computers Incorporated
data field area. On a Pathmaker default screen, the area between the two rows of equal
signs that contains all of the data fields and the headings that identify them.
data field attribute. A characteristic of a data field. Data field attributes can include:
length, data type, default value, allowable values, video attributes, protection from
data entry, display format, heading, upshifting of entered data, and help text.
data type. A category of data. Specific data types can vary from programming
language to programming language. For example, in COBOL, data can be numeric,
alphanumeric, alphabetic, alphanumeric edited, and numeric edited.
database. A structured set of information, stored on some relatively permanent
medium, describing some entities such as the employees of a business. The physical
database usually is kept in one or more disk files that application programs can add to,
delete from, alter, or read.
database requester. See DB requester.
DB (database) requester. A type of Pathmaker requester that uses a set of predefined
services to read, insert, delete, or update data. This kind of requester cannot call
custom services but can call other requesters. A DB requester uses standard services
contained in a standard server (sometimes called a general server) whose performance
might not be as efficient as that of custom services; it is not the responsibility of the
standard server to guarantee referential integrity.
DB requester application. A type of Pathmaker application created to add, maintain, or
retrieve information from one or more related tables (or files) in a database. DB
requester applications cannot perform calculations or data manipulations or, more
importantly, perform complex integrity checks on the database. A DB requester
application is usually composed of one or more DB (database) requesters, one or more
standard services (packaged into standard servers), and one or more menu requesters.
DDL (Data Definition Language).
A Tandem product that provides both a language used to define data and a program
that compiles the data definitions and generates various types of output. The output
can include data dictionary entries, FUP commands, and source code that describes
the data, in a variety of programming languages.
DDL dictionary. A database that contains the formal description of an application's data
in accordance with the data definitions found in a schema. A DDL dictionary is part of
every Pathmaker catalog. Several Tandem products, including the Pathmaker
product, recognize the format of these dictionary files and use the information in them
to perform various tasks, such as reporting, program generation, and the creation of
SQL commands for table creation.
decoration. Any screen element that displays unchanging text on a screen. Decorations
that the Pathmaker product automatically creates include the requester title and data
field headings. Using the screen painter, lines, borders, boxes, column headings, or
other displayed text can be manually added.
default screen. The application screen that the Pathmaker product creates from the
screen layout information application developers provide.