Designer Guide

10.5.7
- 10.5.6
- 10.5
- 10.4.1
- 10.4.0

Back Next

Field Attributes

When you review a COBOL source, you see several attributes for each field, the COBOL equivalent of a column, that represent how you can configure a field in a COBOL file.

Among these attributes, the picture clause is the most fundamental, since it shows how the COBOL file represents data. COBOL uses its own set of conventions for configuring how data is formatted within the column. For example, the picture X(32) indicates that text data in the field is 32 bytes long. The picture clause 9(7) indicates that the field contains numeric data of no more than 7 digits in length. The picture N(8), an Nstring datatype containing double-byte characters, indicates that the text data in the field is 16 bytes long.

You may need to adjust the definition of a field in the Source Analyzer, modifying the picture in the process. Since the Integration Service uses the source definition as a map for finding data in the source file, you need to be cautious when you make such adjustments.

The following table describes the attributes you can set in the Columns tab of a COBOL source definition:

Attribute	Description
Physical offsets (POffs)	Offset of the field in the file. The Designer calculates this read-only setting using the physical length, picture, usage, and REDEFINES settings for the field.
Physical length (PLen)	Number of bytes in this field.
Column name	Name of the field.
Level	An indicator used to identify all fields that provide data for the same record. If you want to group fields, you set all its columns to the same level. Using this feature, it is possible to create multiple record types, which are the equivalent of separate tables of data from the same COBOL source.
Occurs	A COBOL statement indicating that multiple instances of this field appear in the same record.
Datatype	Field datatype: String, Nstring, or Numeric.
Precision (Prec)	Precision of numeric values in the field.
Scale	Scale of numeric values in the field.
Picture	How the file represents data.
Usage	Storage format for data in the field. Different COBOL conventions exist, such as COMP-1 and COMP-X. All available conventions appear in the list of usages for each field.
Key Type	Type of key constraint to apply to this field. When you configure a field as a primary key, the Integration Service generates unique numeric IDs for this field when running a workflow using the COBOL file as a source.
Signed (S)	Indicates whether numeric values in the field are signed.
Trailing sign (T)	If selected, indicates that the sign (+ or -) exists in the last digit of the field. If not selected, the sign appears as the first character in the field.
Included sign (I)	Indicates whether the sign is included in any value appearing in the field.
Real decimal point (R)	For numeric values, specifies whether the decimal point is a period (.) or a V character.
Redefines	Indicates that the field uses a REDEFINES statement in COBOL to base its own field definition on that of another field.
Shift key	You can define the shift state for shift-sensitive COBOL files that do not contain shift keys. This attribute appears when you select User Defined Shift State in the Edit Flat File Information dialog box for fixed-width files. Choose Shift-In if the column contains single-byte characters. Choose Shift-Out if the column contains multibyte characters.
Business Name	Additional comments about the field.

Rename Saved Search

Table of Contents

Designer Guide

Designer Guide

Field Attributes

Field Attributes