Enscribe Programmer's Guide

2 Positioning Within Structured Files
Structured File Records
A record in an Enscribe structured file consists of one or more data fields, as illustrated in Figure 1
(page 25)
Figure 1 A Record With Three Fields in a Structured File
CUSTOMER Record
Name Address Region
Fields
Each record in a structured file is uniquely identified among other records in that file by the value
of its primary key. Figure 2 (page 26) illustrates the primary keys for the four different types of
structured files:
• The primary key for key-sequenced files is a particular data field within each record.
• The primary key for a queue file consists of a user key and a timestamp within each record.
• The primary key for entry-sequenced files is a record address maintained by the Enscribe
software.
• The primary key for relative files is a record number maintained by the Enscribe software.
The records within structured files are stored in ascending order by primary-key value.
Structured File Records 25