To create a report, only two things are required:
You can report from many different types of data sources (with variations for different operating environments), including the following:
For a complete list, see the Describing Data With Graphical Tools manual.
By looking at the Master File, you can determine what fields are in the data source, what they are named, and how they are formatted. You can also determine how the segments in the data source relate to each other. Although you can create a very simple report without this information, knowing the structure of the data source enables you to generate creative and sophisticated reports.
You can supplement the information in the Master File by generating a picture of the data source structure (that is, of how the data source segments relate to each other). Use the following command:
CHECK FILE filename PICTURE RETRIEVE
In the picture, segments are shown in the order in which they are retrieved. Four fields of each segment appear.
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