Additional Data Dictionary Utilities
In addition to the DD Editor, several utilities are available to query and maintain data dictionaries non-interactively. Typically, PRO/5 applications will just query the data dictionary, but there may be situations where it is desirable to modify a user's data dictionary on site without programmer intervention. In these cases, the data dictionary maintenance utilities are useful.
Two other utilities, _ddmake.utl and _dderase.utl, do not affect the data dictionary. They are convenient for initializing data files non-interactively.
Finally, there are some low-level maintenance utilities primarily intended for use by the DD Editor and TAOS: The BBx Developer's Workbench. They are for applications requiring extremely detailed data dictionary information.
Routines
Refer to the following when using routines:
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As with all other EUS Toolkit programs, first initialize the EUS environment:
CALL "_acu.utl"
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If there is any input, call _lkeymap.utl.
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The dictionary must be opened before any of the query or modification programs can be used:
CALL BBEXT$+"_ddopen.utl"
The _ddopen.utl utility OPENs all data dictionary files. It also sets various system globals to track both the channels the dictionary files were opened on, and the templates that should be used to access the dictionary.
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The dictionary must be closed after use:
CALL BBEXT$+"_ddclose.utl"
The _ddclose.utl utility closes all data dictionary files that were opened using _ddopen.utl.
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All changes to the data dictionary must be through the supplied Dictionary Maintenance Routines to ensure that the dictionary is not corrupted.
Modules
Access to the data dictionary is through the following interface modules:
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_ddopen.utl |
Open data dictionary files. Programs must call this routine before using any other data dictionary interface routines. |
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_ddclose.utl |
Close data dictionary. Call this routine after all queries or maintenance to the data dictionary are completed. This prevents wasted system resources and keeps data dictionary files from being vulnerable to corruption. |
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_ddfil.utl |
Maintenance and query functions for files defined in the data dictionary. |
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_ddfld.utl |
Maintenance and query functions for fields defined within a record. This module also includes the data dictionary import and export functions, based on string templates. |
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_ddguess.utl |
This module can be used to guess the record structure of an existing file, based on looking for patterns of numeric and string variables in the first record in the file. It is used to help build a template. |
The following two utilities have no effect on the data dictionary itself but are used for initializing and creating data files defined in the data dictionary.
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_ddmake.utl |
Make the data file defined by a given data dictionary specification. |
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_dderase.utl |
Erase a data file. |
Low-level Utilities
The following utilities are used by the _ddedit.utl program and by TAOS:
_ddinfo.utl
_ddidx.utl
_ddseg.utl
_ddtyp.utl
_ddrul.utl
_ddfilr.utl
_ddfldr.utl
_ddtypr.utl
_ddrlen.utl
_ddstat.utl