Reading Master File Fields Into Dialogue Manager Variables

The -READFILE command reads a file by first reading its Master File and creating Dialogue Manager amper variables based on the ACTUAL formats for each field in the Master File. It then reads the file and, if necessary, converts the fields from numeric values to alphanumeric strings before returning them to the created variables. Display options in the USAGE formats are not propagated to the variables. The names of the amper variables are the field names prefixed with an ampersand (&).

Reference: Usage Notes for -READFILE

A -RUN command does not close the file. You must issue a -CLOSE command to close the file. You must be careful not to delete, change, or reallocate the file before closing it.
If multiple fields have the same field name, only one variable is created, and it contains the value of the last field in the Master File.
-READFILE does not work if the Master File contains DBA restrictions. The following message is generated:
```
(FOC339) DIALOGUE MANAGER -READ FAILED: CHECK FILEDEF OR ALLOCATION FOR: -READFILE filename
```
-READFILE is not supported with text fields. The following message is generated:
```
(FOC702) THE OPTION SPECIFIED IS NOT AVAILABLE WITH TEXT FIELDS: fieldname
```
-READFILE cannot read FOCUS or XFOCUS data sources. The file to be read must have an associated Master File.

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Example: Reading Fields From a Data Source Into Dialogue Manager Variables Using -READFILE

The following request creates a binary HOLD file, then uses -READFILE to read the first record from the HOLD file and type the values that were retrieved into Dialogue Manager variables. Note that the names of the variables are the field names prefixed with an ampersand.

TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE                           
PRINT LAST_NAME FIRST_NAME DEPARTMENT CURR_SAL
BY EMP_ID                                     
ON TABLE HOLD AS READF1 FORMAT BINARY         
END                                           
-RUN                                          
-READFILE READF1                              
-TYPE LAST_NAME  IS &LAST_NAME                
-TYPE FIRST_NAME IS &FIRST_NAME               
-TYPE DEPARTMENT IS &DEPARTMENT               
-TYPE CURR_SAL   IS &CURR_SAL                 
-TYPE EMP_ID     IS &EMP_ID

The output is:

>   NUMBER OF RECORDS IN TABLE=       12  LINES=     12 
                                                        
 HOLDING BINARY FILE...                                             
LAST_NAME  IS STEVENS                                   
FIRST_NAME IS ALFRED                                    
DEPARTMENT IS PRODUCTION                                
CURR_SAL   IS     11000.00                              
EMP_ID     IS 071382660