Data Build Manual

Input to Data Build
Introduction to Data Build
1–4 099331 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Input to Data Build Data Build supports input records that are:
On tape or disk file input media
Fixed length or (for tape only) variable length
In EBCDIC or ASCII
Normal data or in Integration Exchange Format (IXF)
Comma Separated Values (CSV) on disk (not tape)
Note Do not confuse the abbreviation IXF used throughout this manual with the Tandem file transfer utility
called IXF. For more information about IXF and non-IXF input to Data Build, see Section 7, “Data Build
Reference.”
Data Build converts source system input data as follows:
Input Converts To
Non-IXF Enscribe or NonStop SQL
IXF NonStop SQL
Data Build converts IBM fields as follows:
Input Converts To
EBCDIC character ASCII character
Packed decimal Binary
Data Build handles data (to be used as is) without field conversion as follows:
Input Handles As
ASCII character ASCII character
Binary Binary
Source Record Descriptions File
When you convert non-IXF data with Data Build, you need to prepare a field-by-field
record description of the input data record. This field-by-field record description is
called the Source Record Descriptions file and is described in detail in Section 3. Data
Build uses the source record descriptions to identify the data type and size of each
input field and to create the input and output record DDL structures. The DDL
structures include information that specifies any field data conversion required.