Guardian Procedure Calls Reference Manual

E DEFINEs
This appendix describes DEFINEs and the attributes of the different classes of DEFINEs. For
information about using DEFINEs programmatically, see the Guardian Programmer's Guide. For
information about using DEFINEs interactively with a TACL process, see the Guardian User's Guide.
What Is a DEFINE?
A DEFINE is a named set of attributes and associated values. In a DEFINE (as with an ASSIGN
command) you can specify information that is to be communicated to processes you start. The
operating system (file system or I/O processes) usually process DEFINES, while application programs
or run-time libraries process ASSIGNS.
There are eight classes of DEFINEs. You can use the classes of DEFINEs in these ways:
• Use a CLASS CATALOG DEFINE to specify a substitute name for an SQL catalog name.
• Use a CLASS DEFAULTS DEFINE to specify process defaults, such as default volume and
subvolume.
• Use a CLASS MAP DEFINE to specify a substitute name for a file name.
• Use a CLASS SEARCH DEFINE to specify a list of subvolumes for resolving file names with a
search list.
• Use CLASS SORT and SUBSORT DEFINEs to specify defaults for the FASTSORT utility and for
parallel sorts running under FASTSORT.
• Use a CLASS SPOOL DEFINE to specify the attributes of a spooler job.
• Use a CLASS TAPE DEFINE to specify the attributes of a file on labeled tape.
• Use a CLASS TAPECATALOG DEFINE to use the tape cataloging facilities of the DSM/TC
product.
DEFINE Names
A DEFINE is identified by a name, which you specify when creating the DEFINE. The name must
conform to these rules:
• The name must be 2 to 24 characters long.
• The first character must be an equal sign (=).
• The second character must be a letter. (DEFINE names whose second character is an underscore
are reserved for use by HP.)
• The remaining characters can be letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, or circumflexes(^).
• When specified as the value of a procedure parameter that has a fixed length of 24 characters,
a DEFINE name must be left-justified in the DEFINE name buffer and padded on the right with
blanks.
Uppercase and lowercase letters in a DEFINE name are equivalent. For example, the name
=MY^DEFINE is equivalent to =My^Define.
DEFINE Attributes
A set of attributes is associated with each DEFINE. One attribute that is associated with every
DEFINE is the CLASS attribute. The CLASS attribute determines which other attributes can be
associated with the DEFINE.
Each attribute has:
• An attribute name that you cannot change.
• A data type that determines the kind of value that you can assign to the attribute.
• A value that you assign programmatically by a call to the DEFINESETATTR procedure, or
interactively by the TACL SET DEFINE command. Some attributes have default values.
1546 DEFINEs