Re: triggers & s36 update pgms

[Douglas Handy <dhandy1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ken/Jim,

>The S/36 environment works slightly different than most of the 400
>machines, for example, I'm not sure it recognizes a data base..db2 etc,
>as most of it's file structures were 'flat' or 'indexed'.

To RPG II programs they are "flat", but to OS/400 they are a bona fide
externally described file.  It is just the definitions which are somewhat
lacking.   A sequential file has one "field" consisting of the entire record.
An indexed file with the key at either the begining or the end of the record has
two fields named something like K00001 and F00001.  If the key is in the middle
you get three fields: F00001, K00001, and F00002.

Alternate indexes get extra points for more key fields. <g>

Other than the fact S36EE filenames allow an embedded period, they are handled
very much like regular DB2 files.  (And then there are the IDDU definitions...)

>I doubt also, that you'll find anything that resembles a trigger in the
>36 arena.

I use triggers on S36EE files all the time.  In fact it is how I did a major Y2K
restructing and conversion from S36EE to native.  For the transition period, I
set up triggers on the S36EE files which reformatted the data and kept the
equivalent native file in sync.  Likewise, a trigger on the native side went the
other direction so I could have a gradual implementation and phase-out of the
old code. 

As programs were converted, more and more operations acted on the native files
with the triggers keeping the S36EE copy in sync rather than the other way
around.  When no S36EE programs were left using a given file, the triggers could
be removed and no traces of the S36EE heritage were left.   In the meantime, the
S36EE applications never knew they were updating two sets of files.

Triggers work just fine against S36EE files.

Doug

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