Suprtool 5.6 for HP-UX:

User Manual

Doc-To-Help Standard Manual

by Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.

Permission is granted to reprint this document (but not for profit), provided that copyright notice is given.

Qedit and Suprtool are trademarks of Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. Oracle is a trademark of Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, California, USA. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.

Suite 372 - 7360 137 Street

Surrey, B.C. CanadaV3W 1A3

Phone: 604.501.2001

Fax: 604.501.2003

Support: 289.480.1060

E-mail: sales@robelle.com

E-mail: support@robelle.com

Web: www.robelle.com

Table of Contents 3

Welcome to Suprtool 15

Introduction......................................................................................................... 15

Suprtool Components............................................................................................ 15

STExport - Data Export Utility................................................................... 15

Suprlink - Multidataset Access.................................................................... 16

Documentation..................................................................................................... 16

Notation.............................................................................................................. 16

Suprtool Version 5.6 18

Highlights in Suprtool 5.6...................................................................................... 18

Highlights in Suprtool 5.5...................................................................................... 18

Highlights in HP-UX version 5.4.01........................................................................ 19

Highlights in HP-UX version 5.4............................................................................. 19

Installing Suprtool 20

Overview............................................................................................................. 20

Who Needs To Use These Instructions..................................................................... 20

Instructions for HP-UX........................................................................................... 20

Instructions for AMXW.......................................................................................... 20

Suprtool Roadmap for HP-UX 21

Road Map to Suprtool on HP-UX............................................................................ 21

Suprtool for HP-UX................................................................................... 21

Suprtool for HP-UX, with Dynamic Image loading.......................................... 21

Suprtool for AMXW.................................................................................. 21

Quick Start Guide for Suprtool 22

How to Run Suprtool............................................................................................ 22

What is a Task?................................................................................................... 22

Copying Files...................................................................................................... 23

Copying One File..................................................................................... 23

Appending to a File................................................................................... 23

Fields in Data Files............................................................................................... 23

What is a Self-Describing File?................................................................... 23

Creating an SD File................................................................................... 23

Define Fields in a Data File......................................................................... 23

Create an SD File from a Data File............................................................... 24

Repeating Commands............................................................................................ 24

Repeating a Command............................................................................... 24

Selecting Database Records..................................................................................... 25

Select All Records..................................................................................... 25

Look at the First Few Records..................................................................... 25

Selecting by Criteria.............................................................................................. 26

Simple Criteria......................................................................................... 26

Complex Criteria...................................................................................... 26

String of Digits......................................................................................... 26

Selecting by Date.................................................................................................. 26

Select by Today's Date............................................................................... 27

Select by Particular Date............................................................................. 27

Select by Year.......................................................................................... 27

Select Prior Month.................................................................................... 27

Selecting by Lists of Values.................................................................................... 28

Finding Data Based on a List...................................................................... 28

Finding Data Based on a File...................................................................... 28

Finding Data Based on Another Table’s Criteria............................................. 29

Finding Data in a Data File......................................................................... 29

Sorting Database Records....................................................................................... 29

Sort Records............................................................................................ 29

Sort Records in Descending Order................................................................ 30

Sort by Multiple Keys............................................................................... 30

Duplicate Records................................................................................................. 30

Report without Duplicate Records................................................................ 30

Report Only the Duplicate Records............................................................... 31

Report Only the Unique Records.................................................................. 31

Report Only the Duplicates and Their Originals.............................................. 32

Deleting Duplicate Data File Records............................................................ 32

Decimal Places..................................................................................................... 33

Converting Numbers.............................................................................................. 33

Counts and Subtotals............................................................................................. 34

Count and Subtotal on Sort Keys................................................................. 34

Sort by Count or Subtotal.......................................................................... 34

Total by Field.......................................................................................... 35

Running Totals........................................................................................ 35

Running SubTotals................................................................................... 35

Listing Records.................................................................................................... 36

Changing the Output Record Format........................................................................ 36

Producing a Condensed Table Listing....................................................................... 37

Simple Reports..................................................................................................... 37

Your First Report...................................................................................... 37

Column Headings..................................................................................... 38

Printing Mailing Labels............................................................................. 38

Running Suprtool under HP-UX 41

Running Suprtool................................................................................................. 41

Configuring Different Shells.................................................................................... 41

Bourne and Korn Shells............................................................................. 41

C Shell................................................................................................... 41

Setting Up a PATH for Suprtool.............................................................................. 42

Bourne and Korn Shells............................................................................. 42

C Shell................................................................................................... 42

Dynamic Loading.................................................................................................. 42

Control Characters and stty..................................................................................... 44

Suprmgr Configuration Files................................................................................... 44

On-Line vs. Batch Access....................................................................................... 45

Command Line Options......................................................................................... 45

Initial Command Line: -ccmdstring............................................................. 45

Default Outcount File Name: -oc................................................................. 45

Exit with Verify: -v.................................................................................. 46

Combining -c and -v.................................................................................. 46

Loader Warnings....................................................................................... 46

HP-UX Notes....................................................................................................... 46

Shell Commands...................................................................................... 46

Hardcoded File Names and ROBELLE Variable.......................................................... 47

ROBELLE Variable................................................................................... 47

/opt/robelle/suprmgr.................................................................................. 47

/opt/robelle/help/suprtool............................................................................ 47

Outcount File........................................................................................... 47

Differences Between MPE and HP-UX....................................................................... 48

Record Length.......................................................................................... 48

Line Feeds............................................................................................... 48

Duplicate Output Files............................................................................... 48

Classic Reals............................................................................................ 48

Input from Stdlist...................................................................................... 49

Missing Features....................................................................................... 49

Suprtool and AMXW 51

What is AMXW................................................................................................... 51

What is Suprtool for AMXW.................................................................................. 51

Running Suprtool................................................................................................. 51

Symbolic Links and running Supramxw.................................................................... 51

Suprtool/AMXW.................................................................................................. 52

Form Command....................................................................................... 52

Numrecs Command................................................................................... 52

Output Command..................................................................................... 52

Temporary Files....................................................................................... 53

Appending Records................................................................................... 53

Table operations....................................................................................... 53

Variable Substitution................................................................................. 53

Set Commands......................................................................................... 53

Command Details for AMXW 54

AMXW............................................................................................................... 54

Numrecs Command [N]......................................................................................... 55

Set Commands..................................................................................................... 56

AMXW Externalsd.................................................................................... 56

AMXW PerfWrite..................................................................................... 56

Filecode.................................................................................................. 56

Squeeze................................................................................................... 57

Suprtool Issues and Solutions 58

A Suprtool Task................................................................................................... 58

Input Choices........................................................................................... 58

Processing Selections................................................................................. 58

Output Choices......................................................................................... 58

Large File Support................................................................................................ 59

Suprtool and Allbase............................................................................................. 59

Data-Types.............................................................................................. 59

Date and Time Types................................................................................ 60

Restrictions.............................................................................................. 60

Suprtool and Oracle............................................................................................... 60

Data-Types.............................................................................................. 60

Number Data-Type.................................................................................... 61

Order By vs. Sort...................................................................................... 61

Restrictions.............................................................................................. 61

SDUnix Utility..................................................................................................... 62

Installation............................................................................................... 62

SDUnix Parameters................................................................................... 63

LF vs. NOLF........................................................................................... 63

Examples................................................................................................. 63

Link vs. Query......................................................................................... 64

Suprtool and Self-Describing Files........................................................................... 64

Create an SD File from a Table.................................................................... 64

Create an SD File from a Data File............................................................... 64

SD Files as Input...................................................................................... 65

Listing SD Files....................................................................................... 65

Decimal Places and Date Formats................................................................. 65

Extended Field Names............................................................................... 65

Restrictions of SD Files............................................................................. 66

Suprtool and Sorting Files...................................................................................... 66

Suprtool and Personal Computers............................................................................ 66

Downloading to the PC.............................................................................. 66

Decimal Places......................................................................................... 67

Spreadsheets............................................................................................. 67

Suprtool and PowerHouse Applications..................................................................... 67

Suprtool with Quiz/QTP............................................................................ 67

Step 1: Create a Subfile with Quiz................................................................ 68

Step 2: Output Erase in Suprtool................................................................. 68

Step 3: Report with Quiz............................................................................ 68

Using QTP to Create Subfiles..................................................................... 68

Creating Subfile with Script File.................................................................. 68

Quiz: Generating Suprtool Commands.......................................................... 69

Year 2000 Solutions with Suprtool.......................................................................... 69

What If I Have Four-Digit Years?................................................................. 69

What does Set Date Cutoff do?.................................................................... 70

Stddate and Set Date Cutoff......................................................................... 70

What does Set Date ForceCentury do?.......................................................... 70

What If I Have Two-Digit Years?................................................................. 71

What Is Wrong with Two-Digit Years?........................................................ 71

How Do $Today and $Date Work?.............................................................. 72

Will Suprtool Generate an Error for Two-Digit Year Dates?.............................. 72

How Do I Use $Today and $Date with yymmdd Dates?................................... 72

aammdd Date Format................................................................................. 73

Invalid Dates............................................................................................ 73

Can Suprtool Convert Two-Digit Years to Four Digits?.................................. 73

Case 1: Converting a J2 Date from yymmdd to ccyymmdd.............................. 73

Case 2: X6 yymmdd Data to X8 ccyymmdd................................................. 75

Case 3: Different Date Formats X6 MMDDYY Data to X6 YYMMDD.............. 76

Year 2000 Testing..................................................................................... 77

Performance Issues................................................................................................. 78

Eloquence Performance............................................................................... 78

Sort Performance....................................................................................... 78

Oracle Performance.................................................................................... 78

Analyzing Performance Data........................................................................ 79

Variable Substitution............................................................................................. 79

Suprtool Commands 80

General Notes....................................................................................................... 80

Abbreviating............................................................................................ 80

Uppercase or Lowercase.............................................................................. 80

Multiple Commands per Line...................................................................... 81

Continuation............................................................................................ 81

Comments on Command Lines................................................................... 82

HP-UX Commands................................................................................... 82

Calculator................................................................................................ 82

Control-Y Interrupt.................................................................................... 82

Add Command [Add]........................................................................................... 83

Notes...................................................................................................... 83

Examples................................................................................................. 83

Base Command [BA]............................................................................................ 85

Before Command [B]............................................................................................ 87

Chain Command [C]............................................................................................ 89

Clean Command [CL]........................................................................................... 91

Removing Bad Characters........................................................................... 91

Define Command [D]............................................................................................ 93

Delete Command [DEL]........................................................................................ 98

Do Command [DO]............................................................................................ 100

Duplicate Command [DU].................................................................................... 101

Edit Command [ED]........................................................................................... 106

Exit Command [E]............................................................................................. 107

Export Command [EXP]...................................................................................... 109

Extract Command [EXT]..................................................................................... 110

Constants............................................................................................... 110

Dates..................................................................................................... 112

Range of Fields....................................................................................... 114

Numeric Expressions................................................................................ 116

$SubTotal Function................................................................................. 117

$Total Function...................................................................................... 118

$Counter Function................................................................................... 118

String Expressions................................................................................... 119

Splitting Variable Length Strings............................................................... 120

Cleaning your Data.................................................................................. 121

Un-printables.......................................................................................... 121

Clean Command Syntax........................................................................... 122

Setting the Clean Character....................................................................... 122

Cleaning a Field...................................................................................... 122

Cleaning your data................................................................................... 122

Extract from a Table................................................................................. 123

Data Conversion...................................................................................... 124

$Number Function................................................................................... 125

Numeric to Byte Conversion..................................................................... 126

$Edit Function........................................................................................ 127

Placeholders and Format Characters............................................................ 127

Byte-Type Formatting.............................................................................. 127

Z-placeholder for byte-fields....................................................................... 128

Overflow and limits................................................................................. 128

Numeric field edit-masks........................................................................... 129

Signs.................................................................................................... 129

Decimal Places........................................................................................ 130

Data and Edit mask:................................................................................. 130

Currency and Dollar signs......................................................................... 130

Overflow and floating dollar....................................................................... 131

Set CurrencySymbol................................................................................ 131

Overflow and limits................................................................................. 131

Restrictions............................................................................................ 131

Form Command [F]............................................................................................ 134

Get Command [G].............................................................................................. 137

Help Command [H]............................................................................................ 139

If Command [IF]................................................................................................ 140

Expressions............................................................................................ 140

Constants............................................................................................... 143

Subscripts.............................................................................................. 144

Numeric Expressions................................................................................ 145

String Expressions................................................................................... 147

Date Selection......................................................................................... 150

Long Expressions.................................................................................... 155

Input Command [I]............................................................................................. 158

Item Command [IT]............................................................................................ 160

Date Formats.......................................................................................... 160

Decimal Places........................................................................................ 163

Notes.................................................................................................... 164

Key Command [K]............................................................................................. 166

Link Command [LIN]......................................................................................... 168

List Command [L].............................................................................................. 169

Format.................................................................................................. 169

LaserJet Listings..................................................................................... 170

Headings in Listings................................................................................ 171

Simple Reports....................................................................................... 172

List Device............................................................................................. 173

List File................................................................................................ 173

Listredo Command [LISTREDO].......................................................................... 176

Numrecs Command [N]....................................................................................... 177

Open Command [OP].......................................................................................... 178

Remote Databases and Oracle Issues............................................................ 178

Output Command [O]......................................................................................... 179

Put Command [P].............................................................................................. 185

Q Command [Q]................................................................................................ 186

Redo Command [REDO]..................................................................................... 187

Reset Command [R]........................................................................................... 190

Select Command [SEL]....................................................................................... 191

Set Command [S]............................................................................................... 192

Allbase.................................................................................................. 194

Arithmetic.............................................................................................. 194

Baseclose............................................................................................... 194

Blocksize............................................................................................... 194

Buffer.................................................................................................... 194

CleanChar.............................................................................................. 194

CurrencySymbol..................................................................................... 195

Date Cutoff............................................................................................. 195

Date ForceCentury................................................................................... 196

Date IfYY2000Error................................................................................. 196

Date MapToPHDate8............................................................................... 197

DecimalSymbol...................................................................................... 197

Defer..................................................................................................... 197

DumpOnError......................................................................................... 198

EditStopError......................................................................................... 198

Eofread.................................................................................................. 198

FastRead................................................................................................ 198

Filecode................................................................................................. 199

Filename................................................................................................ 199

Firstrec.................................................................................................. 199

Hints..................................................................................................... 199

HPUXCmdErr “<string>”........................................................................ 199

Ifcheck................................................................................................... 200

Ignore.................................................................................................... 200

InitExtents............................................................................................. 200

ItemAbbreviateDate.................................................................................. 200

ItemLock............................................................................................... 201

Interactive.............................................................................................. 201

LabelledTapeRewind................................................................................ 201

Limits................................................................................................... 201

Table Size.............................................................................................. 202

Read Only.............................................................................................. 202

List....................................................................................................... 202

List Date................................................................................................ 202

List PCL............................................................................................... 203

List Time.............................................................................................. 204

List FormFeed........................................................................................ 204

Lock..................................................................................................... 204

MakeAbsent........................................................................................... 205

NLS...................................................................................................... 205

NumBug................................................................................................ 205

Openmode.............................................................................................. 206

Oracle Rows........................................................................................... 206

Oracle Integer.......................................................................................... 206

Oracle OpenFix....................................................................................... 206

Oracle PassShift...................................................................................... 207

Oracle SpaceNull..................................................................................... 207

Oracle ZeroNull....................................................................................... 207

Pattern................................................................................................... 208

Prefetch.................................................................................................. 208

Privmode............................................................................................... 208

Progress................................................................................................. 208

Prompt.................................................................................................. 209

RealMap................................................................................................ 209

Recover................................................................................................. 209

Redo..................................................................................................... 210

SDExtname............................................................................................ 211

Sortfast.................................................................................................. 211

Squeeze................................................................................................. 211

Statistics................................................................................................ 211

Subsystem............................................................................................. 211

Suspend................................................................................................. 211

ThousandSymbol.................................................................................... 211

Userlabels.............................................................................................. 212

Varsub................................................................................................... 212

VarsubCompat........................................................................................ 212

VarsubDebug.......................................................................................... 212

Warnings............................................................................................... 213

Sort Command [SO]........................................................................................... 214

Table Command [TA].......................................................................................... 216

Adding Individual Values to a Table........................................................... 216

Adding Values from a File........................................................................ 217

Total Command [T]............................................................................................ 220

Update Command [UP]....................................................................................... 222

Use Command [U].............................................................................................. 223

Userpause Command [USER]............................................................................... 225

Verify Command [V]........................................................................................... 226

Xeq Command [X]............................................................................................. 227

Calculator Command [=]...................................................................................... 228

Suprtool Errors and Warnings 231

Two Types Of Messages....................................................................................... 231

Errors................................................................................................................ 231

Warnings........................................................................................................... 232

Welcome to STExport 233

Welcome to STExport......................................................................................... 233

Installing STExport............................................................................................. 233

Accessing STExport 235

How To Run STExport........................................................................................ 235

How to Xeq an STExport Task.............................................................................. 235

Hardcoded File Names and ROBELLE Variable........................................................ 235

ROBELLE Variable................................................................................. 235

Using STExport in Batch..................................................................................... 236

Command Line Options....................................................................................... 236

Default Outcount File Name: -oc............................................................... 236

Variable Substitution -v............................................................................ 236

Introduction to STExport 237

Importing Data.................................................................................................... 237

Input File........................................................................................................... 237

Data-Types......................................................................................................... 237

Formatting Commands......................................................................................... 238

Commands......................................................................................................... 238

Performance Considerations................................................................................... 238

STExport Commands 239

General Notes..................................................................................................... 239

Abbreviating........................................................................................... 239

Uppercase or Lowercase............................................................................ 239

Comments on Command Lines.................................................................. 239

HP-UX Commands.................................................................................. 239

File Names............................................................................................. 240

Calculator.............................................................................................. 240

Control-Y.............................................................................................. 240

Before Command [B].......................................................................................... 241

Clean Command [CL]......................................................................................... 243

Removing Bad Characters......................................................................... 243

Columns Command [C]...................................................................................... 244

Date Command [DA].......................................................................................... 245

Decimal Command [DEC]................................................................................... 247

Delimiter Command [DE].................................................................................... 248

Do Command [DO]............................................................................................ 249

Escape Command [ES]........................................................................................ 250

Exit Command [E]............................................................................................. 251

Exit Abort [EA]...................................................................................... 251

Exit Suspend [ES]................................................................................... 251

Exit Xeq [EX]......................................................................................... 251

Floating Command [FL]...................................................................................... 253

Form Command [F]............................................................................................ 254

Heading Command [HEA]................................................................................... 255

Help Command [H]............................................................................................ 257

HTML Command [HT]....................................................................................... 258

Dynamic Web Pages................................................................................ 260

Web Server............................................................................................ 260

Shell Script............................................................................................ 261

Perl Script.............................................................................................. 263

CGI Script............................................................................................. 264

Input Command [I]............................................................................................. 266

Listredo Command [LISTREDO].......................................................................... 267

Output Command [O]......................................................................................... 268

Quote Command [Q]........................................................................................... 269

Redo Command [REDO]..................................................................................... 270

Reset Command [R]........................................................................................... 271

Set Command [S]............................................................................................... 272

CleanChar.............................................................................................. 272

Mapped................................................................................................. 272

Redo..................................................................................................... 272

Statistics................................................................................................ 273

Varsub................................................................................................... 273

VarsubCompat........................................................................................ 274

VarsubDebug.......................................................................................... 274

Warnings............................................................................................... 274

Xmltagchar............................................................................................. 275

ZonedFix............................................................................................... 275

Sign Command [SI]............................................................................................ 276

Spaces Command [SP]........................................................................................ 277

Use Command [U].............................................................................................. 278

Verify Command [V]........................................................................................... 279

Xeq Command [X]............................................................................................. 280

XML Command [XML]...................................................................................... 281

Zero Command [Z]............................................................................................. 284

Example of STExport Output 285

Example............................................................................................................ 285

Limits Within STExport 289

Maximums......................................................................................................... 289

Welcome to Dbedit 290

Introduction........................................................................................................ 290

Restrictions........................................................................................................ 290

Functions of Dbedit............................................................................................. 290

Performance of Dbedit........................................................................................... 291

Field Lists......................................................................................................... 291

Database Locking................................................................................................ 292

Decimal Points................................................................................................... 292

Critical-Item Update............................................................................................. 293

Dbedit Commands 294

General Notes..................................................................................................... 294

Abbreviating........................................................................................... 294

Uppercase or Lowercase............................................................................ 294

Continuation.......................................................................................... 294

Control-Y.............................................................................................. 295

Comments on Command Lines.................................................................. 295

OS Commands....................................................................................... 295

Calculator.............................................................................................. 295

Example Database.................................................................................... 296

Prompting for Search Criteria..................................................................... 296

Command Parameters........................................................................................... 296

File Parameter......................................................................................... 296

Option Parameter..................................................................................... 297

Numeric-Value Option.............................................................................. 297

All Option............................................................................................. 297

Key Option............................................................................................ 298

Limit Option.......................................................................................... 298

Related Option........................................................................................ 298

Under Option.......................................................................................... 299

Updatekey Option.................................................................................... 299

Subcommands.................................................................................................... 299

Add Command [A]............................................................................................. 301

Before Command [B].......................................................................................... 302

Change Command [C]......................................................................................... 303

Delete Command [D].......................................................................................... 304

Do Command [DO]............................................................................................ 305

Exit Command [E]............................................................................................. 306

File Command [F].............................................................................................. 307

Form Command [FO]......................................................................................... 308

Help Command [H]............................................................................................ 309

List Command [L].............................................................................................. 310

Listredo Command [LISTREDO].......................................................................... 311

Modify Command [M]........................................................................................ 312

Q Command [Q]................................................................................................ 313

Redo Command [REDO]..................................................................................... 314

Set Command [S]............................................................................................... 315

LP........................................................................................................ 315

Prompt.................................................................................................. 315

Quiet..................................................................................................... 315

Reset..................................................................................................... 315

Underline............................................................................................... 316

Verify.................................................................................................... 316

Use Command [U].............................................................................................. 317

Verify Command [V]........................................................................................... 318

Welcome to Suprlink 319

Welcome to Suprlink........................................................................................... 319

Terminology and HP-UX...................................................................................... 319

Notation............................................................................................................ 319

Installing Suprlink............................................................................................... 320

Hardcoded File Names and ROBELLE Variable........................................................ 320

ROBELLE Variable................................................................................. 320

Accessing Suprlink 321

How To Run Suprlink......................................................................................... 321

How to Xeq a Suprlink Task................................................................................. 321

Suprtool Link Command...................................................................................... 321

Exit with Verify.................................................................................................. 321

Using Suprlink in Batch....................................................................................... 322

Command Line Options....................................................................................... 322

Default Outcount File Name: -oc............................................................... 322

Variable Substitution -v............................................................................ 322

Introduction to Suprlink 323

How Report Programs Work................................................................................. 323

Input Files......................................................................................................... 323

Link Files.......................................................................................................... 323

Output Files....................................................................................................... 324

Sort Keys........................................................................................................... 324

Selection Logic................................................................................................... 324

A Link Example.................................................................................................. 324

A Join Example.................................................................................................. 325

Performance Considerations................................................................................... 326

Another Example................................................................................................. 327

Illegal Digits...................................................................................................... 327

Selecting Non-Matches......................................................................................... 328

Suprlink with Quiz/QTP...................................................................................... 328

Suprlink Commands 331

General Notes..................................................................................................... 331

Abbreviating........................................................................................... 331

Uppercase or Lowercase............................................................................ 331

Continuation.......................................................................................... 331

Comments on Command Lines.................................................................. 332

HP-UX Commands.................................................................................. 332

File Names............................................................................................. 332

Calculator.............................................................................................. 332

Control-Y.............................................................................................. 332

Before Command [B].......................................................................................... 334

Do Command [DO]............................................................................................ 336

Exit Command [E]............................................................................................. 337

Exit Abort [EA]...................................................................................... 337

Exit Suspend [ES]................................................................................... 337

Exit Xeq [EX]......................................................................................... 337

Form Command [F]............................................................................................ 338

Help Command [H]............................................................................................ 340

Input Command [I]............................................................................................. 341

Join Command [J].............................................................................................. 342

Link Command [L]............................................................................................. 344

Listredo Command [LISTREDO].......................................................................... 346

Output Command [O]......................................................................................... 347

Redo Command [REDO]..................................................................................... 348

Reset Command [R]........................................................................................... 349

Set Command [S]............................................................................................... 350

Mapped................................................................................................. 350

Redo..................................................................................................... 350

Statistics................................................................................................ 351

Varsub................................................................................................... 351

VarsubCompat........................................................................................ 351

VarsubDebug.......................................................................................... 352

Use Command [U].............................................................................................. 353

Verify Command [V]........................................................................................... 354

Xeq Command [X]............................................................................................. 355

Example Suprlink Output 357

Example............................................................................................................ 357

Limits Within Suprlink 359

Maximums......................................................................................................... 359

Welcome to Calling Suprtool 361

Calling Suprtool................................................................................................. 361

Suprtool2 Routine............................................................................................... 361

Importance of the Exit Command........................................................................... 361

Environment Variables......................................................................................... 362

Control Record................................................................................................... 362

Examples of Calling Suprtool 365

Copying the Examples......................................................................................... 365

COBOL Example.................................................................................... 365

C Sample............................................................................................... 368

Installing the Suprtool2 Interface 370

Installing........................................................................................................... 370

AMXW................................................................................................. 371

Suprtool2 Error Messages 372

Error Numbers.................................................................................................... 372

Glossary of Terms 374

Commonly-used Terms........................................................................................ 374

Special Characters................................................................................................ 377

Index 382

Welcome to Suprtool

Introduction

Welcome to version 5.6 of Suprtool -- the HP-UX handyman for Eloquence, Oracle and Allbase databases and fixed-length data files. Use Suprtool to quickly select and sort data records. Combine multiple data files using Suprlink/UX. Use STExport to convert fields in a self-describing input file into an output file that can be imported into other applications.

The Suprtool commands are:

Add	EDit	ITem	Q	Use
BAse	Exit	Key	REDO	USERpause
Before	EXPort	LINk	Reset	Verify
Chain	EXTract	List	SELect	Xeq
Clean	Form	LISTREDO	Set	:MPE or HP-UX command
Define	Get	Numrecs	SOrt	=expression
DELete	Help	OPen	TAble
DO	IF	Output	Total
Duplicate	Input	Put	UPdate

The minimum abbreviation of each command is shown in capital letters.

Suprtool Components

The Suprtool package consists not only of Suprtool, but also of other programs that perform useful database functions. These other programs are STExport and Suprlink.

STExport - Data Export Utility

STExport converts fields in a self-describing input file into an output file that can be imported into different applications.

Use STExport to produce a formatted output file that can be used to import data into databases and applications.

Other databases have different requirements for the format of input data. You will have to experiment with the various STExport formatting options to find a format that your particular database tool accepts.

Suprlink - Multidataset Access

Suprlink is a program that works with Suprtool to add "multidataset" capability to Suprtool. Suprlink is not a set of callable routines. To use it, you can run Suprlink by entering the command /opt/robelle/bin/suprlink.

Rather than take the regular path to multiple datasets -- random retrieval via Eloquence keys -- we have chosen to follow a different path: fast serial extracts plus a very efficient merge.

To understand what Suprlink does, think of the process of writing a report. Your report program (written in COBOL, RPG, PowerHouse, or some other language) hunts all over the database with DBFIND and DBGET to collect your data.

It would be faster if the report program could just read a sorted disc file with a big record containing all the data necessary for the report, and this is Suprlink's function. Suprtool can extract the desired fields from the desired records of the sales detail dataset and put them in a disc file. Then Suprtool can extract the desired fields from the customer master dataset and write them to a second disc file. If Suprtool sorts both files by customer, Suprlink can "link" them together, producing a third file whose composite record consists of the related fields from both files. This file is just what we need to feed into the report program. For example, a sales report program might read a disc file whose records consist of sales transactions plus customer information and this file has been sorted by customer number and date. If there are several sales for the same customer, the customer information is just repeated in each record. The report program reads the records, checks for level breaks, and formats and prints the records.

Documentation

The user manual contains the full description of all the Suprtool suite of products including Dbedit, Suprlink, STExport, Dbedit and Suprtool2, as well as usage tips and commands for each. The manuals are up-to-date with all the latest changes. To see only the changes in the latest version, see the "What's New" section of the manual, or see the change notice.

You can download our manuals and Change Notices in various formats and even order printed (hardcopy) manuals from our web site at:

http://www.robelle.com/library/manuals/.

Notation

The Suprtool documentation uses a common notation in describing all commands. Here is a sample command definition:

EXTRACT field (subscript)] [=value] [,...]

UPPERcase letters - literal symbols to be used in the command as they appear (e.g., EXTRACT).

Lowercase, underlined or italic - "variables" to be filled in by the user (example: field). Each such "variable" is defined elsewhere in terms of literal symbols (consult the index). In the help file, underlining and italics are not available and variables appear simply in lowercase.

Brackets - enclose optional fields (example: [(subscript)]).

Braces - enclose comments in examples. For example, >INPUT ACTREC {input from a data file}. Braces can be used for comments in actual Suprtool commands.

Up lines - separate alternatives from which you select (example: Set Ignore [On|Off]); sometimes, the alternatives are shown listed on several lines.

Dot-dot-dot (...) - indicates that the variable may be repeated many times in the command.

Other special characters - literal symbols that must appear in the command as they are shown in the format (example: the comma above). Some commas in Suprtool are optional.

In examples, there is an implied carriage return at the end of each line.

Suprtool Version 5.6

Highlights in Suprtool 5.6

· Suprtool for Itanium and Suprtool/Open did not properly handle Display type sorts with over punch characters.

· Suprtool, Suprlink and STExport now handle 512 fields on HP-UX and Open platforms.

· Suprtools' extract command now has three special keywords to help with extract using a range, which is designed to make your Suprtool scripts more easily maintained. Suprtool now has $all, $first and $last which respectively means all fields, the first field or the last field. Note that $first and $last may only be used in a range extract.

· $subcount has been added to keep a running count for a given sort break.