COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

Program Execution
HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006
12-23
ADD DEFINE Command
Usage Considerations:
•
TAPE DEFINE Provides the Only Way to Use Labeled Tapes
For details, see Section 25, Executing and Debugging HP COBOL Programs, and
the Guardian User’s Guide.
•
You Can Use SPOOL DEFINES instead of COBOLSPOOLOPEN
•
Special DEFAULTS DEFINE: =_DEFAULTS DEFINE
Processes can use the =_DEFAULTS DEFINE without referring to it explicitly. The
file system uses this DEFINE whenever it needs the values stored in the DEFINE’s
attributes. You cannot delete the =_DEFAULTS DEFINE or change its name.
ADD DEFINE Command
Your COBOL program can, in the ASSIGN clause of a file-control entry, associate a
DEFINE name with a COBOL file name, just as it would associate a file-system file
name with a COBOL file name. When the process compiled from that source attempts
to open that file, the file system looks for the stored set of attribute/value pairs and
uses them to complete the specification of the file before making it available to the
process. If it cannot make a file available (based on what it finds, or fails to find), the
open operation fails.
To create and name a DEFINE, you use the ADD DEFINE command. Suppose that
your current CLASS attribute has the value MAP. If your COBOL program includes this
file-control entry:
SELECT MARKET-ANALYSIS
ASSIGN TO "=MARKT"
ACCESS MODE IS DYNAMIC
RECORD KEY IS PRODUCT-CODE
FILE STATUS IS M-STAT.
Before executing your program, you must issue a command of this form:
>ADD DEFINE =MARKT, FILE \MAG.$EAST.APRIL.SALES
to associate the file SALES in subvolume APRIL on volume $EAST on system \MAG
with the name =MARKT.