The primary function of the adapater is to extract data from an ADABAS structure and pass it to FOCUS for reporting purposes. The adapter issues the instructions that ADABAS uses to retrieve information from a database. Since this process is transparent, you do not need to learn ADABAS commands.

The adapter does not recreate the data in FOCUS format. Instead, it links the FOCUS report facility and the ADABAS data source using FOCUS Master and Access Files that you create based on your ADABAS database. FOCUS uses Master and Access Files to understand the data. The Master File describes the field layout and is the logical description of the file. The Access File describes the physical attributes of the file, such as the database number, file number, descriptors, security, and so on.

If you have the Write component of the adapter, you can use the FOCUS MODIFY and Maintain facilities to maintain ADABAS data sources.

The adapter does not support the alternate file view feature of FOCUS.