User guide

Tasks Involved in Developing Your Data Base
Developing the Data Base
058058 Tandem Computers Incorporated 2–9
Loading Data Base Files Choose a method of loading the data into the physical files. Use either an application
program or the ENABLE subsystem.
Using an application program is most advantageous when the data already exists in
some machine readable form (such as on a disc file or a tape), but some data
conversion operation must be performed before the data is loaded. When an
application program is used, include the data declaration source code optionally
produced by DDL to insure that the data is handled in a consistent manner.
Using the ENABLE subsystem is most advantageous when the data is to be entered
from a terminal. ENABLE accesses the dictionary record description of the data being
loaded, generates an interactive application under PATHWAY, and provides a screen
for terminal access to a single record type. The terminal display screen consists of field
names and values in columnar format and contains appropriate annotations to assist
the operator in entering data. For more information about ENABLE, refer to the
ENABLE User’s Guide.
Occasionally FUP is used to either load or reload data. For example, FUP could be
used if the data already exists in a machine readable form and data conversion is not
needed. If FUP is used, remember to load alternate key files. If an alternate key file
exists, but is empty, ENFORM retrieves no data when that alternate key path is chosen
as its search strategy.