You may use any editor to change the Master File. There are several reasons why the Master File may need to be customized, for example:
One of the following warnings is issued:
FR027W - 'SUFFIX=ISAM' SPECIFIED; 'ALIAS = KEY' FIELD SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE FOCUS DESCRIPTION MANUALLY TO IDENTIFY THE ISAM KEY
FR028W - 'SUFFIX=VSAM' SPECIFIED;'ALIAS = KEY' FIELD SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE FOCUS DESCRIPTION MANUALLY TO IDENTIFY THE VSAM KEY
The COBOL FD describes a VSAM file that contains secondary indexes and you want to add this information to the Master File.
The COBOL FD contains multiple record types. The Translator cannot determine what values are associated with which records.
You want to use commented REDEFINE fields instead of the original fields.
You want to add date formats (for example, YMD) to date fields. The Translator cannot reliably determine date fields, or their appropriate format.
You want to change display lengths or formats for numeric fields. For example, all unsigned zoned fields may be described as either packed or alphanumeric. You may want to change the formats for one or more of these fields. Also, you may want to increase the size of numeric fields to support totals.
You want to change fieldnames from COBOL to something more user friendly. You may also want to rename fields generated by the Translator.
You want to display occurrence numbers for repeating groups by adding the ORDER field.
You want to add comments to the Master File. Comments begin with a dollar sign ($) in column one.
You want to remove segments generated from OCCURS or REDEFINE clauses when the number of segments in the Master File exceeds the maximum of 64.
You want to add DESCRIPTION or TITLE attributes to the field definition.
You should always check the Master File for errors after making any changes to it.
| Information Builders |