Rewriting a variable block file in cobol

arjun.h · New User Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 20 Location: India

i Think i got something similar to this topic.

I have a variable lenght file flat file(LRECL=84) , what i want to do is to replace a record with another one.
Eg: I want to replace the first record with the second one.

Record 1: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Record 2: BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

The Issue am facing is with file status 44 . I read through some documents and figured out its a issue with the record length. I feel rewrite option cannot be used if record length are different or is there any way that i can rewrite ?

I have used the below code as FD

FD STG-FILE
RECORD IS VARYING IN SIZE FROM 1 TO 80 CHARACTERS
DEPENDING ON WS-STG-REC-LEN
LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD
RECORDING MODE V
BLOCK CONTAINS 0 RECORDS
DATA RECORD IS STG-FILE-REC.
01 STG-FILE-REC PIC X(80).

is it possible to rewrite if i pass the length value( larger Record value ) to WS-STG-REC-LEN and try to rewrite ? I tried this way but failed.

Job abend:
COMP CD=S000|U4038

Log:
IGZ0020S A logic error occurred. Neither FILE STATUS nor a declarative was specified for file STG in program
at relative location X'253E'. The status code was 44.

If there is no way then i will have to opt another way of doing this

Help me if you are free !!

Thanks

Nic Clouston · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:01 pm

No - you create a new file. Your record has to use the space used by the previous record. If your new record was longer then it would start over-writing the next record. If your new record is shorter you may, just may, get away with it but I would have to read the manual on that.

arjun.h · New User Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 20 Location: India

Nic,

I think you are right , if i replace record two with one as below it shouldn't throw any error.

Eg:

Record 1: AAAAAAAAA
Record 2: BBBB

The issue is when the second record is larger .

I cannot create a new file as i have to do the process on the same file, so What am planning to do is replace the record with space and then add it again with the new data .

I dont have a good feeling doing this way but i hope this is the only way out.

Thanks you very much

Bill Woodger · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:38 pm

arjun.h,

Please don't "tailgate" an old topic with a new question, but start a new topic. It is easy to refer to the old topic with the URL tags, if you feel that it helps.
Your post has been updated to the include the link where you made the reference.

Bill Woodger · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:23 pm

Whilst updating a flat/QSAM/PS is possible, it is generally not good practice. If your program collapses, you have trashed your input file.

If you do want to go with the update despite that, you'll find you can't change the record-length - that is, neither bigger nor smaller.

Anuj Dhawan · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:39 pm

The COBOL REWRITE statement supports sequential direct access files, but, the kind of situation you put up front, it does not sound like a good choice for a solution. Having said that, if you tell us what and why you want to do this, there might be some feasible answers.

arjun.h · New User Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 20 Location: India

Anuj,

I have two two file

File A : Action file
File B : This is the file on which i am trying to rewrite

File A will contain indicators and record identifiers which tells the program what action needs to be performed on which records( Eg rewrite , add , delete) has to be performed on file B.

File B is master file , having Data. Depending upon the action specified in File A file B needs to be Modified . Also to mention the Indicators in the file A are dependent on each other.

Eg: File A

Add AAAAAAAAAAAA
Delete AAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAA record needs to be added in the first step, after which if the indicator is Delete then i have to delete it . ( This doesn't sound logical , am just putting this up so that we understand the requirement)

Did i make some sense to you ?

arjun.h · New User Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 20 Location: India

Bill,

I am updating a Temporary file before i copy it to the original file. I don't have issues if i my program abend. Infact i have condition when the program should abend . So if i restart my JCL i will have a new input file again to process.

Bill Woodger · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:29 pm

Fine, then, but you can't change the length.

Anuj Dhawan · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:49 pm

For every game there are some rules you need to abide by -- one can't make his/her own. If s/he insists, perhaps -- s/he choose or create a new game, depeding on the caliber. Said that, as Bill indicates, you can not change the length.

From the COBOL Language Reference manual:

Anuj Dhawan · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:53 pm

dick scherrer · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:10 pm

Hello,

Jose Mateo · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:19 pm

Good day to all!

Usually flat files are recreated specially if you are expanding record size. I think your best bet is to keep your original input file and create a new one from your input and the updated records.