COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.08+, J06.03+)

HP COBOL programs can create, read, write, and purge all of the preceding forms of sequential
file. To create an entry-sequenced file that has alternate keys, however, the COBOL program must
use the FILE_CREATE_ procedure (see Unstructured Files).
Entry-Sequenced Files
An HP COBOL program can create and write an entry-sequenced file that any other HP product
can later read. An HP COBOL program can read an entry-sequenced file created by any HP
product.
An HP COBOL program can use the FILE_CREATE_ procedure to create an entry-sequenced file
that has alternate keys. An HP COBOL program cannot create an entry-sequenced file that has
alternate keys directly, because the operating environment maintains the alternate keys in one or
more separate files, whose names are recorded with the operating environment information about
the entry-sequenced file (see Alternate Record Keys).
Outside an HP COBOL program, you can use the TACL command FUP CREATE to create an
entry-sequenced file that has alternate keys.
Unstructured Files
An HP COBOL program cannot create an unstructured file directly because the HP COBOL language
cannot describe a file as unstructured. To create an unstructured file indirectly, an HP COBOL
program calls the FILE_CREATE_ procedure.
An easier way to create an unstructured disk file is to use FUP outside of any HP COBOL program.
You can use the routine COBOL_ASSIGN_ to set file-code to 101 (for an EDIT file) or to set
file-type to 0 (for a non-EDIT file).
Suppose that your HP COBOL program needs an unstructured disk file named MYTEMP on volume
$MYVOL that accommodates 5K eighty-byte records in one extent. Suppose that your HP COBOL
program includes this data description:
01 WS-TEMP-NAME.
03 WS-VOL-NAME PIC X(8).
03 WS-SUBVOL-NAME PIC X(8).
03 WS-FILE-NAME PIC X(8).
This HP COBOL code creates MYTEMP:
ENTER "COBOL_ASSIGN_" USING MYTEMP, OMITTED, 0
The value zero in the third parameter causes the file to be unstructured. The omitted parameter is
for the file code (which defaults to zero).
The FUP command that is equivalent to the preceding HP COBOL code that created MYTEMP is:
FUP CREATE $MYVOL.MYTEMP, TYPE U
Additional FUP parameters enable you to specify these attributes:
• File code
• Primary extent size
• Secondary extent size
• Whether the file is audited by TMF
• Whether the file’s label is to be copied to the disk every time the file’s EOF value changes
For more information about FUP, see the Guardian Programmer’s Guide.
Creating and Using HP COBOL Sequential Files 865