Introduction to Data Management

Managing Records With ENSCRIBE
15873 Tandem Computers Incorporated 4-5
Relationship to
NonStop SQL
ENSCRIBE is a mature product that has served many users well. It does not,
however, offer all the state-of-the-art power, flexibility, and convenience of the new
NonStop SQL software. Unlike NonStop SQL, for example, ENSCRIBE does not:
Manipulate entire tables or views; ENSCRIBE, instead, processes data on a record-
by-record basis only
Use an active data dictionary; changes to an ENSCRIBE dictionary are not
automatically reflected in the database, and vice versa
Have an integrated query interface and report writer; the ENFORM product, used
for queries and reports, is a separate software product
Provide automatic checking of values entered in data fields for proper type,
constraint violations, or uniqueness
A NonStop SQL utility lets programmers translate SQL files into ENSCRIBE file
format, and vice versa. Programmers can mix SQL statements and ENSCRIBE calls
within the same program and even within the same transaction.
Relationship to
Other Products
The ENSCRIBE database record manager interacts with the GUARDIAN 90 operating
system. Specifically, records are moved to and from your application by the file
system, and between the file system and disk by the DP2 disk process. In addition, a
uniform way of handling file names is furnished by the naming system.
ENSCRIBE interacts with the EXPAND network software to manage the distribution
of data across networks, and with TMF to provide database consistency.
To create and load ENSCRIBE files, you often call upon the services of the File Utility
Program (FUP).
Through the programming languages supported by the NonStop system, you can
refer directly to ENSCRIBE files and records. These languages include BASIC, C,
COBOL 74, COBOL85, FORTRAN, Pascal, and the Transaction Application Language
(TAL). Source code in these languages is typically submitted to the compiler from
files prepared by the Tandem text editors, EDIT and PS TEXT EDIT (TEDIT).
ENSCRIBE, of course, also interacts with DDL, ENABLE, and ENFORM to perform
data definition, application generation, and query entry and report production,
respectively.