Rational Developer for System z, Version 7.6

New Data Element wizard

Fill in all the fields of this wizard to create a Data Element.

Project
Choose a project in the dropdown list or enter the name of the project in which the instance will be saved.

A project represents the physical distribution of your instances in your workspace. It groups directories and files. It is used to organize resources which will be built, shared or versioned.

A Pacbase project contains a sub-set of files which correspond to the models and/or generated sources making up a Pacbase application.

There can be various projects for each location (a location is the equivalent of a database).

Package
Choose a package in the dropdown list or enter the name of a new package.

A package corresponds to a logical group of information.

The logical resources contained in a package can be distributed into various projects.

In the 'Navigator' view of the 'Design' perspective, you will see that the packages represent the branches of your projects. Each package contains its own instances.

For the resources transferred from Pacbase, the naming convention of a package will be {Repository Name}.{Library Path}.{Library Name} So respecting this naming when you create a package is a good idea. To reflect the library hierarchy, you can enter the library names (starting from the highest-level library), and separate each with a period (ex: 'COM.CIF'). This way, the 'Navigator' view will display a first-level branch, COM, with its instances, and a second-level branch, CIF, with its own instances.

Name
This name references the Data Element independently of any Data Structure, Report or Screen to which the Data Element might belong (there is no need to include a Report, Screen or Segment name in the Data Element name since this is automatically performed).

This name consists of alphabetic or numeric characters only. The following table lists the Data Element names that cannot be created:

Name Reserved for
FILLER Field alignment

ENPR

GRPR

ERUT

Error check fields on transaction files (options of the Batch Function)

Data Element error check

Segment error check

User-defined errors

Inherits from
A Data Element is an elementary concept. In your applications, you may want to use several technical variants of this concept. So to guarantee the coherence of your data, you manage these variants by creating parent and child Data Elements.

All Data Elements from the same 'family' are logically linked in the Database. A child Data Element cannot be a parent as well. The inheritance tree of the current instance is displayed on the right of the tab. This tree displays its parent, if any, as well as its children, if any.

To specify a parent Data Element, click the Change button and select a Data Element in the selection wizard.

Internal format
This format, displayed in the Overview tab, is required, except if the Data Element is a Property.

The internal format is used when the Data Element is called in:

  • An application file (permanent file, database, temporary file),
  • A Screen as an input field, if no conversational format has been specified. (See the 'type of line' field in the '-D Lines' tab of the Data Element editor).
This format is automatically transferred into the Segments where the Data Element is called. But you eventually select the appropriate format in the -CD Lines tab of the Programs which call these Segments.

You must ensure the compatibility between the input and internal formats.

The internal format must be coded like a COBOL picture (without print characters).
Notes:
  • If the format of a numeric Data Element is more than 10 characters long, you must omit the 9 that would normally be entered after the V (for example: S9(10)V9(3) must be entered as S9(10)V(3)). This way of coding must not be used when the format is shorter than 10 characters
  • For Unicode-type Data Elements, you must indicate 'N(n)' or a signed or unsigned numeric format.
The INTERNAL USAGE clause is associated with this format.
Note: if Unicode-type Data Elements have a signed numeric internal format, their internal usage must be X or 1.
Data Elements that represent a date can be assigned a symbolic format:
Symbolic value Meaning
D Without century (DDMMYY or MMDDYY)
I Without century (YYMMDD)
E Without century (DD/MM/YY or MM/DD/YY)
S With century (CCYYMMDD)
C With century (DDMMCCYY or MMDDCCYY)
M With century (DD/MM/CCYY or MM/DD/CCYY)
G Gregorian format (CCYY-MM-DD)
T Time format (HH:MM:SS)
TS Timestamp format
Note: For the formats which include a separator (E, G, M and T), you can specify, after the character which represents the format, a separator if you do not want to use the separator included by default in the format (For example, A 'G/' format will generate CCYY/MM/DD instead of CCYY-MM-DD, which is the default Gregorian format).

For details on the use of the formats with the various types of database blocks, see the summary tables in chapter 'Columns: Data Elements' of the 'Relational SQL Database Description' Manual at this URL:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=37&uid=swg27005477

Generation parameters
Generation parameters are specified in libraries. These parameters are related to the adaptation to the operating system in use.

You select the library by clicking the Browse... button.

Label
Enter the label, which identifies the new instance. It will then constitute a search criterion for a subsequent search.
Open editor on finish
Check this box if you want the editor of the instance you are creating to open up automatically. The editor will open up on the Overview tab. From there, you will be able to access the other tabs to specify all the characteristics of the instance.

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