Suprtool 5.

7 for MPE:

User Manual

by Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 1

Program and manual copyright © 1981-2015 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, 13711 – 72nd Avenue,
Surrey, B.C. Canada V3W 2P2

Phone: 604.501.2001
Support: 289.480.1060

E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.robelle.com

2 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 3  

Welcome to Suprtool 19  
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 19  
Suprtool Components ............................................................................................................... 19  
Database Editing ........................................................................................................ 20  
Speed Demon - Replacing DBGET Mode-2 .............................................................. 20  
STExport - Data Export Utility .................................................................................. 20  
Suprlink - Multidataset Access .................................................................................. 20  
Suprtool2 - Interface Routine ..................................................................................... 21  
Documentation .......................................................................................................................... 21  
Notation .................................................................................................................................... 21  

Highlights 23  
Highlights in Suprtool 5.7......................................................................................................... 23  
Highlights in Suprtool 5.6......................................................................................................... 23  
Highlights in Suprtool 5.5......................................................................................................... 23  
Highlights in Suprtool 5.4......................................................................................................... 23  
Highlights in Suprtool 5.3......................................................................................................... 24  
Highlights in Suprtool 5.2......................................................................................................... 24  
Highlights in Suprtool 5.1.02.................................................................................................... 24  

Installing Suprtool 26  
Overview................................................................................................................................... 26  
Ecometry Users ......................................................................................................................... 26  
Instructions ............................................................................................................................... 26  

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool 27  

How to Run Suprtool ................................................................................................................ 27  
What is a Task? ......................................................................................................................... 27  
Copying Files ............................................................................................................................ 28  
Copying One File ....................................................................................................... 28  
Appending to a File .................................................................................................... 28  
Concatenating Two Files ............................................................................................ 28  
Fields in Data Files ................................................................................................................... 28  
What is a Self-Describing File? ................................................................................. 28  
Creating an SD File .................................................................................................... 29  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 3

 Define Fields in a Data File ........................................................................................ 29  
Create an SD File from a Data File ............................................................................ 29  
Repeating Commands ............................................................................................................... 30  
Repeating a Command ............................................................................................... 30  
How to Save On-line Commands to a File ................................................................. 30  
Selecting Database Records ...................................................................................................... 30  
Select All Records ...................................................................................................... 31  
Select a Random Sample ............................................................................................ 31  
Look at the First Few Records.................................................................................... 31  
Selecting by Criteria ................................................................................................................. 31  
Simple Criteria............................................................................................................ 31  
Complex Criteria ........................................................................................................ 31  
String of Digits ........................................................................................................... 32  
Selecting by Date ...................................................................................................................... 32  
Select by Today's Date ............................................................................................... 32  
Select by Particular Date ............................................................................................ 32  
Select by Year............................................................................................................. 33  
Select Prior Month ...................................................................................................... 33  
Selecting by Lists of Values ..................................................................................................... 33  
Finding Data Based on a List ..................................................................................... 33  
Finding Data Based on a File ..................................................................................... 34  
Finding Data Based on Another Dataset's Criteria ..................................................... 34  
Finding Data in a Data File ........................................................................................ 35  
Comparing against a Key and Data ............................................................................ 35  
Sorting Database Records ......................................................................................................... 36  
Sort Records ............................................................................................................... 36  
Sort Records in Descending Order ............................................................................. 36  
Sort by Multiple Keys ................................................................................................ 36  
Deleting Records ....................................................................................................................... 36  
Updating Records...................................................................................................................... 37  
Duplicate Records ..................................................................................................................... 37  
Report without Duplicate Records ............................................................................. 37  
Report Only the Duplicate Records ............................................................................ 38  
Report Only the Unique Records ............................................................................... 38  
Report Only the Duplicates and Their Originals ........................................................ 39  
Deleting Duplicate Database Records ........................................................................ 39  
Deleting Non-Unique Duplicate Database Records ................................................... 40  
Deleting Duplicate Data File Records ........................................................................ 41  
Sorting IMAGE to KSAM ........................................................................................................ 42  
Loading a Dataset ..................................................................................................................... 42  
Decimal Places .......................................................................................................................... 42  
Converting Numbers ................................................................................................................. 43  
Counts and Subtotals ................................................................................................................ 43  
Count and Subtotal on Sort Keys ............................................................................... 43  
Sort by Count or Subtotal ........................................................................................... 44  
Total by Field ............................................................................................................. 44  
Running Totals ........................................................................................................... 44  
Running SubTotals ..................................................................................................... 44  
Listing Records ......................................................................................................................... 45  
Changing the Output Record Format ........................................................................................ 45  
Producing a Condensed Dataset Listing ................................................................................... 46  
Simple Reports .......................................................................................................................... 46  
Your First Report ........................................................................................................ 46  
Printing a Report......................................................................................................... 47  
Specifying Your Own Title ........................................................................................ 47  
Column Headings ....................................................................................................... 47  

4 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

 Printing Mailing Labels .............................................................................................. 48  

Running Suprtool under MPE 49  

How to Run Suprtool ................................................................................................................ 49  
How to Xeq a Suprtool Task .................................................................................................... 49  
Info= for Commands ................................................................................................................ 49  
Son Process ............................................................................................................................... 50  
Combining Info= and Son Process ........................................................................................... 50  
Exit with Verify ........................................................................................................................ 51  
Preventing Suprtool from Suspending ...................................................................................... 51  
Stdin and Stdlist Files ............................................................................................................... 51  
Input and Output Files .............................................................................................................. 52  
Using CREATEPROCESS ....................................................................................................... 52  
Duplicating Files ....................................................................................................................... 52  
Job Control Word ..................................................................................................................... 52  
Suprmgr Configuration File ...................................................................................................... 53  
Using Suprtool in Batch............................................................................................................ 53  
SuprtoolOutCount JCW ............................................................................................................ 53  
SuprtoolFullCount Variable...................................................................................................... 54  
Summary of Parm= Values ....................................................................................................... 54  

Suprtool Issues and Solutions 55  

A Suprtool Task ........................................................................................................................ 55  
Input Choices.............................................................................................................. 55  
Processing Selections ................................................................................................. 55  
Output Choices ........................................................................................................... 55  
Suprtool and Allbase................................................................................................................. 56  
Data-Types ................................................................................................................. 56  
Date and Time Types ................................................................................................. 57  
Restrictions ................................................................................................................. 57  
Suprtool and IMAGE ................................................................................................................ 57  
Reading Datasets ........................................................................................................ 57  
Serial vs. Keyed Access ............................................................................................. 58  
When to Use Suprtool with IMAGE .......................................................................... 58  
TurboIMAGE Compatibility ...................................................................................... 59  
Locking of IMAGE Datasets...................................................................................... 59  
Database Maintenance (Delete, Put) .......................................................................... 60  
B-trees ........................................................................................................................ 61  
Master Dataset Expansion (MDX) ............................................................................. 61  
Jumbo Datasets and Large Datasets ........................................................................... 61  
Suprtool and KSAM Files ........................................................................................................ 62  
Locking Output KSAM Files ..................................................................................... 62  
Locking Input KSAM Files ........................................................................................ 62  
Compatibility Mode KSAM/V Files .......................................................................... 63  
Reorganizing KSAM/V Files ..................................................................................... 63  
KSAM/XL Files ......................................................................................................... 64  
Loading KSAM/XL Files ........................................................................................... 64  
How Do I Convert CM Ksam to NM KSAM?........................................................... 64  
Reuse option and KSAM/XL Files ............................................................................ 65  
Suprtool and MPE Files ............................................................................................................ 65  
Buffered and NOBUF File Access ............................................................................. 65  
Message Files ............................................................................................................. 66  
Circular Files .............................................................................................................. 66  
RIO Files .................................................................................................................... 66  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 5

 Temporary Files.......................................................................................................... 67  
Lockwords .................................................................................................................. 67  
Copying User Labels .................................................................................................. 67  
SDUnix Utility .......................................................................................................................... 68  
SDUnix Parameters .................................................................................................... 68  
LF vs. NOLF .............................................................................................................. 68  
Examples .................................................................................................................... 68  
Link vs. Query ............................................................................................................ 69  
Suprtool and Self-Describing Files ........................................................................................... 69  
Create an SD File from a Dataset ............................................................................... 69  
Create an SD File from a Data File ............................................................................ 69  
SD Files as Input ........................................................................................................ 70  
Listing SD Files .......................................................................................................... 70  
Decimal Places and Date Formats .............................................................................. 70  
Restrictions of SD Files .............................................................................................. 70  
Creating KSAM SD Files ........................................................................................... 71  
HowMessy Loadfile ................................................................................................... 72  
Notes on SD Files ....................................................................................................... 72  
Convert an SD File to a Disc File ............................................................................... 72  
Suprtool and Sorting Files ........................................................................................................ 72  
Fast Sorting ................................................................................................................. 73  
Native Language Support ........................................................................................... 73  
With Reduced Disc Space .......................................................................................... 73  
Suprtool and Tape Files ............................................................................................................ 74  
Labelled Tapes............................................................................................................ 74  
Multiple Files.............................................................................................................. 75  
Notes ........................................................................................................................... 75  
File User Labels .......................................................................................................... 75  
Suprtool and Remote File Access ............................................................................................. 76  
Network Services (NS) ............................................................................................... 76  
Suprtool and MPE/iX ................................................................................................................ 76  
Calling Suprtool in Native Mode ............................................................................... 76  
User XL Files ............................................................................................................. 76  
When Errors Occur ..................................................................................................... 77  
Sorting with Suprtool/iX ............................................................................................ 77  
Suprtool and CI Variable Substitution ...................................................................................... 77  
Example ...................................................................................................................... 77  
Batch Requires Indent ................................................................................................ 78  
Avoiding Double Resolution ...................................................................................... 78  
Suprlink and STExport ............................................................................................... 79  
Suprtool and User Prompting.................................................................................................... 79  
Example ...................................................................................................................... 80  
Resolving Variables.................................................................................................... 80  
Suprtool and Personal Computers ............................................................................................. 80  
Downloading to the PC .............................................................................................. 81  
Decimal Places ........................................................................................................... 81  
Spreadsheets ............................................................................................................... 81  
Suprtool and PowerHouse Applications ................................................................................... 81  
Suprtool with Quiz/QTP ............................................................................................. 81  
Step 1: Create a Subfile with Quiz ............................................................................ 82  
Step 2: Output Erase in Suprtool ............................................................................... 82  
Step 3: Report with Quiz ........................................................................................... 82  
Using QTP to Create Subfiles .................................................................................... 83  
Creating Subfile with Command File ......................................................................... 83  
Suprtool and PowerHouse Data-Types ...................................................................... 85  
Suprtool Definitions - QSCHEMA ............................................................................ 87  

6 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

 Notes on QSHOW Output .......................................................................................... 88  
The Quiz Report ......................................................................................................... 89  
Quiz: Generating Suprtool Commands ...................................................................... 90  
Generating Suprtool Commands from Quick............................................................. 90  
Suprtool and Application Systems............................................................................................ 91  
Third-Party Indexing .................................................................................................. 91  
Z-type TPI-keys.......................................................................................................... 91  
Omnidex without TPI ................................................................................................. 92  
OmniQuest ................................................................................................................. 93  
Suprtool with TRANSACT ........................................................................................ 93  
XSORT and RPG ....................................................................................................... 94  
QUERY Program ....................................................................................................... 94  
SRN Chronos Dates ................................................................................................... 95  
Year 2000 Solutions with Suprtool........................................................................................... 95  
What If I Have Four-Digit Years? .............................................................................. 95  
What does Set Date Cutoff do? .................................................................................. 96  
Stddate and Set Date Cutoff ....................................................................................... 96  
What does Set Date ForceCentury do? ...................................................................... 96  
What If I Have Two-Digit Years? .............................................................................. 96  
What Is Wrong with Two-Digit Years? ..................................................................... 97  
How Do $Today and $Date Work? ............................................................................ 97  
Will Suprtool Generate an Error for Two-Digit Year Dates? .................................... 98  
How Do I Use $Today and $Date with yymmdd Dates? ........................................... 98  
aammdd Date Format ................................................................................................. 98  
Invalid Dates .............................................................................................................. 99  
Can Suprtool Convert Two-Digit Years to Four Digits? ........................................... 99  
Case 1: Converting a J2 Date from yymmdd to ccyymmdd ..................................... 99  
Case 2: X6 yymmdd Data to X8 ccyymmdd ........................................................... 101  
Case 3: Different Date Formats X6 MMDDYY Data to X6 YYMMDD ............... 102  
Year 2000 Testing .................................................................................................... 103  
Performance Issues ................................................................................................................. 104  
Native Mode and Compatibility Mode .................................................................... 104  
CPU-Bound? ............................................................................................................ 104  
Sort Speed ................................................................................................................ 105  
Analyzing Performance Data ................................................................................... 105  
Suprtool Performance Hints ..................................................................................... 106  
Obtaining Accurate Measurements .......................................................................... 106  
Performance Summary ............................................................................................. 107  
Suprtool Functions .................................................................................................................. 107  
UC4/Scripting and Functions ................................................................................................. 107  
String/Byte Functions ............................................................................................................. 108  
$TRIM (Works on byte type fields) ....................................................................................... 108  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 108  
Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields) ................................................................... 108  
Example:................................................................................................................... 108  
Data Examples Before and After: ............................................................................ 109  
$LTRIM (Works on Byte type fields) .................................................................................... 109  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 109  
Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields) ................................................................... 109  
Example:................................................................................................................... 109  
Data Examples before and after: .............................................................................. 109  
$RTRIM (Works on Byte type fields) .................................................................................... 109  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 110  
Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields) ................................................................... 110  
Example:................................................................................................................... 110  
Data Examples: ........................................................................................................ 110  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 7

 Data Result ............................................................................................................... 110  
$UPPER (Works on Byte-type fields) .................................................................................... 110  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 110  
Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields) ................................................................... 110  
Example: ................................................................................................................... 110  
Data Examples: ......................................................................................................... 110  
$LOWER (Works on Byte-type fields) .................................................................................. 111  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 111  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 111  
Example: ................................................................................................................... 111  
Data Examples: ......................................................................................................... 111  
$PROPER (Works on Byte-type fields) ................................................................................. 111  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 111  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 111  
Example: ................................................................................................................... 111  
Data Examples: ......................................................................................................... 111  
$SPLIT (Works on Byte-type fields) ...................................................................................... 112  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 112  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 112  
Data Examples: ......................................................................................................... 112  
Data Examples: ......................................................................................................... 112  
$FINDCLEAN (Works on Byte-type fields) .......................................................................... 112  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 112  
$CLEAN (Works on Byte-type fields) ................................................................................... 112  
If Usage: (Not commonly used) ............................................................................... 113  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 113  
Example: ................................................................................................................... 113  
Data Examples: ......................................................................................................... 113  
$TRANSLATE (Works on Byte-type fields) ......................................................................... 113  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 113  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 113  
Data Examples: (Using above code) ........................................................................ 113  
$ETOA .................................................................................................................................... 113  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 114  
$ATOE .................................................................................................................................... 114  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 114  
String Addition ....................................................................................................................... 114  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 114  
Example: ................................................................................................................... 114  
Data Result: .............................................................................................................. 114  
Numeric Functions .................................................................................................................. 114  
$TRUNCATE ......................................................................................................................... 114  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 115  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 115  
$ABS ....................................................................................................................................... 115  
IF Usage: .................................................................................................................. 115  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 115  
$TOTAL ................................................................................................................................. 115  
IF Usage: .................................................................................................................. 115  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 115  
$SUBTOTAL .......................................................................................................................... 115  
IF Usage: .................................................................................................................. 115  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 116  
Example of $TOTAL and $SUBTOTAL ................................................................. 116  
$COUNTER ............................................................................................................................ 116  
IF Usage: .................................................................................................................. 116  

8 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

 Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 117  
$SUBCOUNT ......................................................................................................................... 117  
IF Usage: .................................................................................................................. 117  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 117  
Examples for $counter and $subcount: .................................................................... 117  
$SIGNED ................................................................................................................................ 118  
IF Usage: .................................................................................................................. 118  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 118  
Arithmetic Operations ............................................................................................................ 118  
+ - * / mod ................................................................................................................ 118  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 118  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 118  
Conversion/Formatting ........................................................................................................... 118  
$NUMBER ............................................................................................................................. 118  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 119  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 119  
Data Examples: ........................................................................................................ 119  
$EDIT ..................................................................................................................................... 119  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 119  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 119  
Data Examples: ........................................................................................................ 119  
Other Functions ...................................................................................................................... 119  
$LOOKUP .............................................................................................................................. 119  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 120  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 120  
$READ ................................................................................................................................... 120  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 120  
Date Functions ........................................................................................................................ 120  
$TODAY ................................................................................................................................ 120  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 120  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 120  
$DATE .................................................................................................................................... 121  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 121  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 121  
$INVALID .............................................................................................................................. 121  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 121  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 121  
$STDDATE ............................................................................................................................ 121  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 121  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 121  
$DAYS ................................................................................................................................... 122  
If Usage: ................................................................................................................... 122  
Extract Usage: .......................................................................................................... 122  

Suprtool Commands 123  

General Notes ......................................................................................................................... 123  
Abbreviating ............................................................................................................. 123  
Uppercase or Lowercase .......................................................................................... 123  
Multiple Commands per Line .................................................................................. 123  
Continuation ............................................................................................................. 124  
Comments on Command Lines ................................................................................ 124  
STREAMX ............................................................................................................... 124  
MPE Commands ...................................................................................................... 125  
MPE/iX Commands ................................................................................................. 125  
Calculator ................................................................................................................. 125  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 9

 Control-Y Interrupt ................................................................................................... 125  
Error Recovery ......................................................................................................... 126  
Add Command [AD].............................................................................................................. 127  
Base Command [BA] ............................................................................................................. 128  
Before Command [B] ............................................................................................................. 131  
Chain Command [C] .............................................................................................................. 133  
Clean Command [CL] ............................................................................................................ 136  
Removing Bad Characters ........................................................................................ 136  
Define Command [D] ............................................................................................................ 137  
Delete Command [DEL] ........................................................................................................ 142  
Do Command [DO]................................................................................................................ 144  
Duplicate Command [DU] ..................................................................................................... 145  
Edit Command [ED] .............................................................................................................. 150  
Exit Command [E] ................................................................................................................. 151  
Export Command [EXP] ........................................................................................................ 153  
Extract Command [EXT] ....................................................................................................... 154  
Constants .................................................................................................................. 154  
Dates ......................................................................................................................... 156  
Range of Fields ......................................................................................................... 158  
Numeric Expressions ................................................................................................ 160  
$SubTotal Function .................................................................................................. 162  
$Total Function ........................................................................................................ 162  
$Counter Function .................................................................................................... 162  
String Expressions .................................................................................................... 163  
Splitting Variable Length Strings ............................................................................. 164  
Cleaning your Data ................................................................................................... 166  
Clean Command Syntax ........................................................................................... 166  
Setting the Clean Character ...................................................................................... 166  
Cleaning a Field ........................................................................................................ 166  
Cleaning your data .................................................................................................... 167  
Extract from a Table ................................................................................................. 167  
Data Conversion ....................................................................................................... 168  
$Number Function .................................................................................................... 170  
Numeric to Byte Conversion .................................................................................... 171  
$Edit Function .......................................................................................................... 171  
Placeholders and Format Characters ........................................................................ 171  
Byte-Type Formatting .............................................................................................. 171  
Z-placeholder for byte-fields .................................................................................... 172  
Overflow and limits .................................................................................................. 172  
Numeric field edit-masks ......................................................................................... 173  
Signs ......................................................................................................................... 173  
Decimal Places ......................................................................................................... 174  
Data and Edit mask:.................................................................................................. 174  
Currency and Dollar signs ........................................................................................ 174  
Overflow and floating dollar .................................................................................... 175  
Set CurrencySymbol ................................................................................................. 175  
Overflow and limits .................................................................................................. 175  
Form Command [F] ............................................................................................................... 178  
Get Command [G].................................................................................................................. 183  
Help Command [H]................................................................................................................ 186  
If Command [IF] .................................................................................................................... 187  
Expressions ............................................................................................................... 187  
Constants .................................................................................................................. 190  
Subscripts ................................................................................................................. 191  
Numeric Expressions ................................................................................................ 192  
String Expressions .................................................................................................... 194  

10 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

 Date Selection .......................................................................................................... 198  
Long Expressions ..................................................................................................... 204  
Input Command [I] ................................................................................................................ 207  
Item Command [IT] ............................................................................................................... 210  
Date Formats ............................................................................................................ 210  
Decimal Places ......................................................................................................... 213  
Notes......................................................................................................................... 214  
Key Command [K] ................................................................................................................ 216  
Link Command [LIN] ............................................................................................................ 218  
List Command [L] ................................................................................................................. 219  
Format ...................................................................................................................... 219  
LaserJet Listings ....................................................................................................... 220  
Headings in Listings ................................................................................................. 221  
Simple Reports ......................................................................................................... 222  
List Device ............................................................................................................... 223  
Listredo Command [LISTREDO] ......................................................................................... 225  
Numrecs Command [N] ......................................................................................................... 226  
Open Command [OP] ............................................................................................................ 228  
Output Command [O] ............................................................................................................ 229  
Put Command [P] .................................................................................................................. 236  
Q Command [Q] .................................................................................................................... 238  
Redo Command [REDO] ....................................................................................................... 239  
Reset Command [R] .............................................................................................................. 242  
Select Command [SEL] .......................................................................................................... 243  
Set Command [S] ................................................................................................................... 244  
Allbase ...................................................................................................................... 246  
Arithmetic................................................................................................................. 246  
Baseclose .................................................................................................................. 246  
Blocksize .................................................................................................................. 246  
Buffer ....................................................................................................................... 246  
CleanChar ................................................................................................................. 247  
CurrencySymbol....................................................................................................... 247  
Date Cutoff ............................................................................................................... 247  
Date ForceCentury ................................................................................................... 249  
Date IfYY2000Error ................................................................................................ 249  
Date MapToPHDate8 ............................................................................................... 249  
DecimalSymbol ........................................................................................................ 250  
Defer ......................................................................................................................... 250  
DumpOnError........................................................................................................... 250  
EditStopError ........................................................................................................... 250  
Eofread ..................................................................................................................... 251  
FastRead ................................................................................................................... 251  
Filecode .................................................................................................................... 251  
Filename ................................................................................................................... 252  
Firstrec ...................................................................................................................... 252  
Hints ......................................................................................................................... 252  
Ifcheck ...................................................................................................................... 252  
Ignore ....................................................................................................................... 253  
InitExtents ................................................................................................................ 253  
ItemAbbreviateDate ................................................................................................. 253  
ItemLock .................................................................................................................. 253  
Interactive ................................................................................................................. 254  
LabelledTapeRewind ............................................................................................... 254  
Limits ....................................................................................................................... 254  
List ............................................................................................................................ 255  
List Date ................................................................................................................... 255  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 11

 List PCL.................................................................................................................... 256  
List Time .................................................................................................................. 257  
Lock .......................................................................................................................... 257  
MakeAbsent .............................................................................................................. 258  
NLS........................................................................................................................... 258  
NumBug ................................................................................................................... 259  
Openmode................................................................................................................. 259  
Oracle Rows ............................................................................................................. 259  
Oracle OpenFix ........................................................................................................ 259  
Oracle Integer ........................................................................................................... 259  
Oracle PassShift........................................................................................................ 259  
Oracle ZeroNull ........................................................................................................ 260  
Pattern ....................................................................................................................... 260  
Prefetch ..................................................................................................................... 260  
Privmode................................................................................................................... 261  
Progress .................................................................................................................... 261  
Prompt ...................................................................................................................... 262  
RealMap ................................................................................................................... 262  
Recover ..................................................................................................................... 262  
Redo .......................................................................................................................... 262  
Sortfast ...................................................................................................................... 263  
Squeeze ..................................................................................................................... 264  
Statistics .................................................................................................................... 264  
Subsystem ................................................................................................................. 264  
Suspend..................................................................................................................... 265  
ThousandSymbol ...................................................................................................... 265  
Userlabels ................................................................................................................. 265  
Varsub....................................................................................................................... 266  
VarsubCompat .......................................................................................................... 266  
VarsubDebug ............................................................................................................ 266  
Warnings................................................................................................................... 266  
Xltrim ....................................................................................................................... 267  
Sort Command [SO] .............................................................................................................. 268  
Table Command [TA] ............................................................................................................. 270  
Adding Individual Values to a Table........................................................................ 270  
Adding Values from a File ....................................................................................... 271  
TRanslate Command [TR] ...................................................................................................... 275  
Total Command [T] ................................................................................................................ 277  
Update Command [UP].......................................................................................................... 279  
Use Command [U] ................................................................................................................. 280  
Userpause Command [USER] ............................................................................................... 282  
Verify Command [V] ............................................................................................................. 283  
Xeq Command [X] ................................................................................................................. 284  
Calculator Command [=] ........................................................................................................ 285  

Suprtool Errors and Warnings 288  

Two Types Of Messages ......................................................................................................... 288  
Errors....................................................................................................................................... 288  
Warnings ................................................................................................................................. 289  

Welcome to STExport 291  

Welcome to STExport............................................................................................................. 291  
Installing STExport ................................................................................................................. 291  
Built-In File Names................................................................................................................. 291  

12 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

 Accessing STExport 293  
How To Run STExport ........................................................................................................... 293  
How to Xeq an STExport Task ............................................................................................... 293  
Son Process ............................................................................................................................. 293  
Suprtool Export Command ..................................................................................................... 294  
Preventing MPE Commands................................................................................................... 294  
Exit with Verify ...................................................................................................................... 294  
Preventing STExport from Suspending .................................................................................. 294  
Job Control Word ................................................................................................................... 295  
Using STExport in Batch ........................................................................................................ 295  
Summary of Parm= Values ..................................................................................................... 295  
STExportOutCount JCW ........................................................................................................ 295  
STExportFullCount Variable .................................................................................................. 296  

Introduction to STExport 297  

Importing Data ........................................................................................................................ 297  
Input File ................................................................................................................................. 297  
Data-Types .............................................................................................................................. 297  
Formatting Commands ........................................................................................................... 298  
Commands .............................................................................................................................. 298  
Performance Considerations ................................................................................................... 298  
CI Variable Substitution ......................................................................................................... 299  

STExport Commands 301  

General Notes ......................................................................................................................... 301  
Abbreviating ............................................................................................................. 301  
Uppercase or Lowercase .......................................................................................... 301  
Comments on Command Lines ................................................................................ 301  
STREAMX ............................................................................................................... 302  
MPE Commands ...................................................................................................... 302  
MPE/iX Commands ................................................................................................. 302  
File Names................................................................................................................ 302  
Calculator ................................................................................................................. 303  
Control-Y ................................................................................................................. 303  
Before Command [B] ............................................................................................................ 304  
Clean Command [CL]............................................................................................................ 306  
Removing Bad Characters ........................................................................................ 306  
Columns Command [C] ......................................................................................................... 307  
Date Command [DA] ............................................................................................................. 308  
Decimal Command [DEC] .................................................................................................... 310  
Delimiter Command [DE] ..................................................................................................... 311  
Do Command [DO] ............................................................................................................... 312  
Escape Command [ES] .......................................................................................................... 313  
Exit Command [E] ................................................................................................................. 314  
Exit Abort [EA] ........................................................................................................ 314  
Exit Suspend [ES] .................................................................................................... 314  
Exit Xeq [EX]........................................................................................................... 315  
Floating Command [FL] ........................................................................................................ 316  
Form Command [F] ............................................................................................................... 317  
Heading Command [HEA] .................................................................................................... 319  
Help Command [H] ............................................................................................................... 321  
HTML Command [HT] ......................................................................................................... 322  
Input Command [I] ................................................................................................................ 324  
Listredo Command [LISTREDO] ......................................................................................... 325  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 13

 Output Command [O] ............................................................................................................ 326  
Quote Command [Q].............................................................................................................. 327  
Redo Command [REDO] ....................................................................................................... 328  
Reset Command [R] ............................................................................................................... 329  
Set Command [S] ................................................................................................................... 330  
CleanChar ................................................................................................................. 330  
Mapped ..................................................................................................................... 330  
Redo .......................................................................................................................... 330  
Statistics .................................................................................................................... 331  
Varsub....................................................................................................................... 332  
VarsubDebug ............................................................................................................ 332  
Warnings................................................................................................................... 332  
Xmltagchar ............................................................................................................... 332  
ZonedFix................................................................................................................... 333  
Sign Command [SI] ............................................................................................................... 334  
Spaces Command [SP] ........................................................................................................... 335  
Use Command [U] ................................................................................................................. 336  
Verify Command [V] ............................................................................................................. 337  
Xeq Command [X] ................................................................................................................. 338  
XML Command [XML] ........................................................................................................ 339  
Zero Command [Z] ................................................................................................................ 342  

Example of STExport Output 343  

Example .................................................................................................................................. 343  

Limits Within STExport 347  

Maximums .............................................................................................................................. 347  

Welcome to Dbedit 348  

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 348  
Restrictions ............................................................................................................................. 348  
Functions of Dbedit................................................................................................................. 348  
Performance of Dbedit ............................................................................................................ 349  
Field Lists ............................................................................................................................... 349  
Database Locking.................................................................................................................... 350  
Decimal Points ........................................................................................................................ 350  
Critical-Item Update ............................................................................................................... 350  

Dbedit Commands 353  

General Notes.......................................................................................................................... 353  
Abbreviating ............................................................................................................. 353  
Uppercase or Lowercase........................................................................................... 353  
Continuation ............................................................................................................. 353  
Control-Y .................................................................................................................. 354  
Comments on Command Lines ................................................................................ 354  
MPE Commands ....................................................................................................... 354  
MPE/iX Commands.................................................................................................. 354  
Calculator ................................................................................................................. 354  
Example Database .................................................................................................... 355  
Prompting for Search Criteria .................................................................................. 355  
Command Parameters ............................................................................................................. 355  
File Parameter ........................................................................................................... 355  
Option Parameter ...................................................................................................... 356  

14 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

 Numeric-Value Option ............................................................................................. 356  
All Option ................................................................................................................. 356  
Key Option ............................................................................................................... 356  
Limit Option ............................................................................................................. 357  
Related Option .......................................................................................................... 357  
Under Option ............................................................................................................ 357  
Updatekey Option .................................................................................................... 358  
Subcommands ......................................................................................................................... 358  
Add Command [A] ................................................................................................................ 360  
Before Command [B] ............................................................................................................ 361  
Change Command [C] ........................................................................................................... 362  
Delete Command [D] ............................................................................................................. 363  
Do Command [DO] ............................................................................................................... 364  
Exit Command [E] ................................................................................................................. 365  
File Command [F].................................................................................................................. 366  
Form Command [FO] ............................................................................................................ 367  
Help Command [H] ............................................................................................................... 368  
List Command [L] ................................................................................................................. 369  
Listredo Command [LISTREDO] ......................................................................................... 370  
Modify Command [M] .......................................................................................................... 371  
Q Command [Q] .................................................................................................................... 372  
Redo Command [REDO] ....................................................................................................... 373  
Set Command [S] ................................................................................................................... 374  
LP ............................................................................................................................. 374  
Prompt ...................................................................................................................... 374  
Quiet ......................................................................................................................... 374  
Reset ......................................................................................................................... 374  
Underline .................................................................................................................. 375  
Verify ....................................................................................................................... 375  
Use Command [U] ................................................................................................................. 376  
Verify Command [V] ............................................................................................................. 377  

Welcome to Suprlink 378  

Welcome to Suprlink .............................................................................................................. 378  
Installing Suprlink .................................................................................................................. 378  
Built-In File Names ................................................................................................................ 378  

Accessing Suprlink 380  

How To Run Suprlink ............................................................................................................. 380  
How to Xeq a Suprlink Task .................................................................................................. 380  
Son Process ............................................................................................................................. 380  
Suprtool Link Command ........................................................................................................ 381  
Preventing MPE Commands................................................................................................... 381  
Exit with Verify ...................................................................................................................... 381  
Preventing Suprlink from Suspending .................................................................................... 382  
Job Control Word ................................................................................................................... 382  
Using Suprlink in Batch.......................................................................................................... 382  
Summary of Parm= Values ..................................................................................................... 382  
SuprlinkOutCount JCW .......................................................................................................... 382  
SuprlinkFullCount Variable.................................................................................................... 383  

Introduction to Suprlink 385  

How Report Programs Work .................................................................................................. 385  
Input Files ............................................................................................................................... 385  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 15

 Link Files ................................................................................................................................ 386  
Output Files ............................................................................................................................. 386  
Sort Keys ................................................................................................................................. 386  
Selection Logic ....................................................................................................................... 386  
A Link Example ...................................................................................................................... 387  
A Join Example ....................................................................................................................... 387  
Performance Considerations ................................................................................................... 389  
Another Example .................................................................................................................... 389  
Illegal Digits............................................................................................................................ 390  
Selecting Non-Matches ........................................................................................................... 390  
Linking MPE and KSAM Files .............................................................................................. 391  
CI Variable Substitution ......................................................................................................... 392  
Suprlink with Quiz/QTP ......................................................................................................... 393  

Suprlink Commands 396  

General Notes.......................................................................................................................... 396  
Abbreviating ............................................................................................................. 396  
Uppercase or Lowercase........................................................................................... 396  
Continuation ............................................................................................................. 396  
Comments on Command Lines ................................................................................ 397  
STREAMX ............................................................................................................... 397  
MPE Commands ....................................................................................................... 397  
MPE/iX Commands.................................................................................................. 398  
File Names ................................................................................................................ 398  
Calculator ................................................................................................................. 398  
Control-Y .................................................................................................................. 398  
Before Command [B] ............................................................................................................. 399  
Do Command [DO]................................................................................................................ 401  
Exit Command [E] ................................................................................................................. 402  
Exit Abort [EA] ........................................................................................................ 402  
Exit Suspend [ES]..................................................................................................... 402  
Exit Xeq [EX] ........................................................................................................... 402  
Form Command [F] ............................................................................................................... 404  
Help Command [H]................................................................................................................ 406  
Input Command [I] ................................................................................................................ 407  
Join Command [J] .................................................................................................................. 408  
Link Command [L] ................................................................................................................ 410  
Listredo Command [LISTREDO].......................................................................................... 412  
Output Command [O] ............................................................................................................ 413  
Redo Command [REDO] ....................................................................................................... 414  
Reset Command [R] ............................................................................................................... 415  
Set Command [S] ................................................................................................................... 416  
Mapped ..................................................................................................................... 416  
Redo .......................................................................................................................... 416  
Statistics .................................................................................................................... 417  
Varsub....................................................................................................................... 417  
VarsubDebug ............................................................................................................ 417  
Use Command [U] ................................................................................................................. 419  
Verify Command [V] ............................................................................................................. 420  
Xeq Command [X] ................................................................................................................. 421  

Example Suprlink Output 422  

Example .................................................................................................................................. 422  

16 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Table of Contents

 Limits Within Suprlink 425  
Maximums .............................................................................................................................. 425  

Welcome to Speed Demon 427  

Welcome to Speed Demon ..................................................................................................... 427  
MPE V .................................................................................................................................... 427  
MPE/iX ................................................................................................................................... 427  
Conditions of Use ................................................................................................................... 427  
Speed Demon vs. Suprtool ..................................................................................................... 428  
Fourth-Generation Languages (4GLs) .................................................................................... 428  
Caveats for Privileged Mode Users ........................................................................................ 428  
SPDEPREFETCH JCW.......................................................................................................... 428  

Installing Speed Demon 431  

Compatibility and Native Mode Versions .............................................................................. 431  
System SL Installation ............................................................................................................ 431  
User XL Installation ............................................................................................................... 432  
Group or Pub SL Installation .................................................................................................. 433  
Netbase ..................................................................................................................... 433  
Pub SL ...................................................................................................................... 433  
Group SL .................................................................................................................. 434  

Accessing Speed Demon 435  

Accessing Speed Demon ........................................................................................................ 435  
Original Program Using DBGET ........................................................................................... 435  
Modified Program Using Speed Demon................................................................................. 436  
How to Use Speed Demon ...................................................................................................... 438  
SPDEDBINIT and the Control Record................................................................................... 438  
Error Handling ........................................................................................................................ 438  
MPE/iX ................................................................................................................................... 439  

Speed Demon Intrinsics 441  

The Intrinsics .......................................................................................................................... 441  
The Status Array ..................................................................................................................... 441  
SPDEEXPLAIN Intrinsic ....................................................................................................... 442  
SPDEDBINIT Intrinsic ........................................................................................................... 443  
SPDEDBSCAN Intrinsic ........................................................................................................ 445  
SPDEDBSHUT Intrinsic ........................................................................................................ 446  

The Demon Program 447  

The Demon-stration Program ................................................................................................. 447  
Reading with Speed Demon (Parm=0) ................................................................................... 447  
Reading with DBGET (Parm=1) ............................................................................................ 447  
Reading All IMAGE Blocks (Parm=3) .................................................................................. 448  
Verifying Version Numbers ................................................................................................... 448  

Examples of Calling Speed Demon 449  

Copying the Examples ............................................................................................................ 449  
COBOL Example.................................................................................................................... 449  
Pascal Example ....................................................................................................................... 454  

Table of Contents Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 17

 Speed Demon Error Messages 459  
Error Messages and Numbers ................................................................................................. 459  
Assertion Errors ...................................................................................................................... 461  

Welcome to Calling Suprtool 462  

Calling Suprtool ...................................................................................................................... 462  
Suprtool2 Routine ................................................................................................................... 462  
Importance of the Exit Command ........................................................................................... 462  
Control Record ........................................................................................................................ 463  
Compiling and Linking on MPE V ......................................................................................... 464  
Compiling and Linking on MPE/iX ........................................................................................ 465  
Suprtool Run Parameters ........................................................................................................ 466  
Lockwords on Suprtool ........................................................................................................... 467  

Examples of Calling Suprtool 469  

Copying the Examples ............................................................................................................ 469  
COBOL Example .................................................................................................................... 469  
FORTRAN Example ............................................................................................................... 473  
TRANSACT Example ............................................................................................................ 476  
SPL Example .......................................................................................................................... 479  
C Example ............................................................................................................................... 484  
Pascal Example ....................................................................................................................... 486  
SPEEDWARE Example ......................................................................................................... 488  

Calling Suprlink 491  

The Suprtool2 Interface .......................................................................................................... 491  
Restrictions ............................................................................................................................. 491  
COBOL Example .................................................................................................................... 491  

Installing the Suprtool2 Interface 497  

Compatibility Mode Installation ............................................................................................. 497  
Installing into the System SL .................................................................................................. 497  

Suprtool2 Error Messages 498  

Error Numbers ........................................................................................................................ 498  

Glossary of Terms 500  

Commonly-used Terms ........................................................................................................... 500  
Special Characters ................................................................................................................... 505  

Index 510  

18 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Suprtool

Welcome to Suprtool

Introduction
Welcome to version 5.4 of Suprtool — the HP e3000 handyman for Image and
Allbase databases, MPE files, and KSAM files. Suprtool provides fast batch
reporting on your HP e3000. With Suprtool, you can select records from a file
(IMAGE, Allbase, KSAM, or MPE) to feed into your report program. Typically,
Suprtool enables you to produce the same report five times faster.
Suprtool performs best when you are selecting less than 50% of the entries. Once
selected, you can rearrange, sort, print, or total them. You need to modify your report
program to read a file instead of a dataset.
In addition, Suprtool solves dozens of other problems. The Dbedit subsystem allows
convenient, interactive editing of databases, the Suprlink subsystem allows multiple
dataset access, and the Speed Demon intrinsics allow a user program to improve the
speed of serial DBGET calls by a factor of five. Use STExport to convert fields from
a self-describing input file to an output file that can be imported into other
applications. The interface routine Suprtool2 allows your application programs to
invoke Suprtool.
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 Dbedit, Speed Demon,
STExport, Suprlink, and Suprtool2.

Welcome to Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 19

 Database Editing
Dbedit is a separate module of Suprtool that permits the user to add, change, list, or
delete individual records or "chains" of records from an IMAGE database. You enter
Dbedit via the Edit command of Suprtool, after specifying a database with the Base
command. The Dbedit prompt character is #, not >, and the commands are:
Add File Q :mpe command
Before FOrm REDO =expression
Change Help Set
Delete List Use
DO LISTREDO Verify
Exit Modify

Speed Demon - Replacing DBGET Mode-2

One part of the Suprtool package is Speed Demon, a set of intrinsics that you call in
your programs instead of DBGET mode-2 to read serially through a dataset; it should
be about five times faster.
While Speed Demon lacks Suprtool's ability to extract fields or select and sort
records, it has the advantage that it delivers the records directly into your program.
Speed Demon/V is about 50% slower than Suprtool, but there is no need to read an
output file, as with Suprtool. Speed Demon/iX runs at the same speed as Suprtool.
With Speed Demon, your application program is responsible for selecting records
and sorting them (e.g., using the Sort verb in COBOL).
Application programs should invoke Suprtool when they expect to select a small
percentage of the records (i.e., when the overhead of reading the output file will be
minimized). Application programs should call Speed Demon when they expect to
select a large percentage of the records.

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 must :run
Suprlink.Pub.Robelle or use Suprtool's Link command.
Rather than take the regular path to multiple datasets -- random retrieval via IMAGE
keys -- with its well-known performance problems, we have chosen to follow a
different path: fast serial extracts plus a very efficient merge. The tests that we have
performed indicate that this method is often significantly faster than the "official"
IMAGE method of chasing down chains and hash synonyms.

20 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Suprtool

 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. 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.

Suprtool2 - Interface Routine

How would a user application program invoke Suprtool to perform a desired task?
Robelle provides an interface routine that runs Suprtool for a user program, passing
commands from the program to Suprtool (the same commands you would type into
Suprtool). This routine (or procedure, subroutine, intrinsic) allows user programs to
call Suprtool. A typical use of this interface would be for a COBOL program to ask
Suprtool to extract a selected subset from a large IMAGE dataset and write it to a
disc file, which the COBOL program would then read and format into a report. User
programs written in COBOL, TRANSACT, Speedware, SPL, FORTRAN, Pascal,
COBOL/iX, FORTRAN/iX, or Pascal/iX can call Suprtool2.

Documentation
The user manual contains the full description of all the Suprtool suite of products
including 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 in PDF format or HTML format 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] [,...]
1. UPPERcase letters - literal symbols to be used in the command as they
appear (e.g., EXTRACT).
2. Lowercase, underlined or italic - "variables" to be filled in by the user
(example: field). Each such "variable" is defined elsewhere in terms of

Welcome to Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 21

 literal symbols (consult the index). In the help file, underlining and
italics are not available and variables appear simply in lowercase.
3. Brackets - enclose optional fields (example: [(subscript)]).
4. Braces - enclose comments in examples. For example, >INPUT
ACTREC {input from a data file}. Braces can be used for comments in
actual Suprtool commands.
5. Up lines - separate alternatives from which you select (example: Set
Ignore [On|Off]); sometimes, the alternatives are shown listed on
several lines.
6. Dot-dot-dot (...) - indicates that the variable may be repeated many
times in the command.
7. 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.

Examples
The examples in this manual use the revised STORE database described in the
IMAGE/3000 Handbook.

22 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Suprtool

Highlights

Highlights in Suprtool 5.7

• STExport now has a “suprmgr” file similar to Suprtool. STExport will process
all the commands found in STEXPMGR.PUB.SYS.
• Suprlink now has a “suprmgr” file similar to Suprtool. Suprlink will process all
the commands found in LINKMGR.PUB.SYS.
• Suprtool now has the $proper function which will shift the first character in a
string and any first character after a space or ampersand.
• Suprtool now has the Translate command and a $translate function to obfuscate
test data or any byte field from being readable.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.6

• 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.
•

Highlights in Suprtool 5.5

• Set XLTRIM On now tells Suprtool to close a file and release the disc space
between EOF and the Flimit.
STExport's Escape command has been re-engineered to fix some corner cases
that didn't work previously

Highlights in Suprtool 5.4

• Bradmark's DbGeneral can produce Jumbo datasets that are a single chunk,
Suprtool did not handle these single chunk master jumbo datasets properly

Highlights Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 23

 as the last block calculation was done only after opening the last chunk
itself. We have adjusted the logic in making sure the calculation is done for
this case earlier. Adager does not create these single chunk jumbo datasets.
There is an un-documented $control directive in dbschema called
$forcejumbo, which will produce one of these single chunk jumbos so we
are supporting it in Suprtool 5.3.11.
• The Output command now has the Else verb which will send records that do
not qualify with the if command to a temporary "ELSE" file.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.3

• There are no visible changes in this production version of Suprtool. Internal
changes have been made for future enhancements.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.2

• STExport now has Set ZonedFix On, this setting can be used to zero
out any zoned fields that were unable to be converted from zoned to
byte and typically have a "?" in the result. This is often caused by
hidden characters or bad data.
• Suprtools $edit function now accepts the colon character as a delimiter
character in order for edit masks for time fields.
• Suprtools if command would not allow a field name starting with
SPECIAL if it was on the right side of the equation.

Highlights in Suprtool 5.1.02

• STExport did not handle files with 256 fields in an SD file.
• Suprtool can now execute the if and extract expression
$stddate($days(a) + 10) in one task.
• Suprtool now supports stand-alone zoned decimal keys.
• Suprlink has had internal changes in terms of how it manages its data
structures.
• If the data item used in data portion of a $lookup function was 8 bytes
or greater in length, type display or byte, the if command would fail
with an arithmetic stack error.
• Set VarsubDebug has been added to print the line after variable
substitution has occurred.
• Suprtool now reads NM KSAM files with MR NOBUF if an IF
command is specified.
• STExport XML command did not convert compound items (2)..(n)
properly.
• Multiple literal compares now work in the IF command

24 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Highlights

 • If $lookup can now return the data portion loaded into a table to use in
a comparison.
• STExport HTML command did not calculate the maximum record size
properly in some cases.
• Suprtool default prefetch value has been changed from 2 to 0.
• Suprtool chain command now handles J2 TPI keys in Master datasets.
• The $edit function would replace a number with a colon if the edit
mask had a different number of decimal places than the item had and
the last number to be rounded was a nine.

Highlights Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 25

Installing Suprtool

Overview
We have two types of Installations, Tape and Download. We provide links to the
Installation instructions on our web site for each type of Install.

Ecometry Users
Users of the Ecometry application need to use the installation instructions supplied
by Ecometry Corporation. Those instructions have extra steps for updating the
Ecometry code accounts.
You will find the Ecometry version of these instructions at
http://www.robelle.com/ecometry/
Types of installations, tape, download combined qedit and suprtool tape.

Instructions
If you received a production release tape from Robelle, then you can install using the
instructions on this web page:
http://www.robelle.com/support/install/tape/stprod.html
If you downloaded the Suprtool production release from our web site then the
instructions can be found here for the ftp download method:
http://www.robelle.com/downloads/install-stprod-ftp.html
and here for the WRQ download method:
http://www.robelle.com/downloads/install-stprod-wrq.html

26 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Installing Suprtool

Getting a Quick Start with
Suprtool

How to Run Suprtool

Use the following command to access Suprtool:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle

SUPRTOOL/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2001.

(Version 5.4) SUN, JUN 17, 2007, 11:47 AM Type H for help.
Today's Hint. To see ALL of the options available in Suprtool,
use >VERIFY ALL.
>

Suprtool prints its version number and the current time right after a banner Suprtool
then prompts with ">". Press Return after typing each command. For example, if you
type the help command:
>help

Suprtool prints some help text and a keyword list. Type a keyword or press Return to
leave Help.
To exit Suprtool, type "Exit" at the Suprtool prompt.
>exit

What is a Task?
Tasks are the building blocks with which Suprtool helps you to solve data processing
problems. In a task, Suprtool reads information from a file or database, selects and
processes some information, and writes out the result. You can visualize a Suprtool
task like this:

Input Suprtool Output

Records selects and Records
processes

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 27

 The examples that follow all consist of Suprtool tasks. Simple solutions require only
one task. Complex solutions consist of several tasks, often with the output of one
task becoming the input for the next task.

Copying Files

Copying One File

Use the Input command to specify a data file.
>input file1
>output result
>xeq

The Output command creates the file called "result", which is a copy of the input
file.

Appending to a File
To append to an existing file, use the Append option in the Output command.
>input file2
>output result,append
>xeq

Concatenating Two Files

To concatenate two files, you have to tell Suprtool two things:
1. The size of the resulting file.
2. Not to truncate the empty space at the end of the resulting file.
Once you've done this, concatenating two files is just like copying a file, then
appending to a file.
>:file result; disc=50000 {maximum 50,000 records}
>set squeeze off {don't truncate space}

>input file1 {copy the first file}

>output result
>xeq

>input file2 {append the second file}

>output result,append
>xeq

Fields in Data Files

What is a Self-Describing File?

A self-describing (SD) file is a file that contains field information. These files have
the advantage of behaving like data files, which can provide field information to
Suprtool without you having to Define all the fields.

28 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 Creating an SD File
To create an SD file, use the Link option in the Output command.
>get d-sales
>output result,link
>xeq

Now the data file "result" has the same field names as the dataset d-sales. Suprtool
can read this data file and know about the fields automatically.
>input result
>if sales-total>20000 and product-price<5000
>output custlist
>xeq

Define Fields in a Data File

A regular data file does not have any field information associated with it. If you need
to work with the fields in a data file, you need to tell Suprtool about the fields using
the Define command. For example, say you have a data file with lines that look like
this:
12345678John Rutherford <32>
98765432Catherine Smith <29>
| | | |
Account First name Last name Age
8-byte 12-byte 16-byte 2-byte integer
Use these Define commands to tell Suprtool about the fields:
>input datafile
>define account, 1, 8, byte
>define first-name, 9, 12, byte
>define last-name, 21, 16, byte
>define age, 37, 2, int
| | | |
field name | Length |
Start Data-type
position

Now you can use the field names "account", "first-name", "last-name", and "age" to
refer to the corresponding parts of the line, just as if this were a database record.
>input datafile
>define ...
>if age>65
>ext account, last-name
>output result
>xeq

Create an SD File from a Data File

To create an SD file from a data file, follow these steps:
1. Define the fields that you want to include in the SD file.
2. Extract the fields in the order you want.
3. Use the Link option in the Output command to create the SD file.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 29

 >input datafile
>define account, 1, 1, byte
>define first-name, 9, 12, byte
>define last-name, 21, 16, byte
>define age, 37, 2, int

>extract account, age, first-name, last-name

>output result,link
>xeq

Repeating Commands

Repeating a Command
Use the Listredo command to see a list of your most recent commands. Use the Do
command to repeat a command, or use the Redo command to modify a command
before repeating it.
>listredo {20 most recent commands}
>listredo input {most recent Input commands}

>input result
>...
>xeq
>do input {repeat previous Input command}

>input result
>if quantity > 10000
>...
>redo if {modify previous If command, then repeat}

If you have used two commands that begin with the same letter, you have to be
careful when repeating those commands. Make sure you use enough letters to
identify each command distinctly from the other. In the following example, if you
wish to repeat the Input command instead of the If command, you need to use "do i
s" instead of just "do i".
>i somefile
>if <expression>
>...
>xeq
>do i s {repeats previous Input command}

How to Save On-line Commands to a File

After you have performed a task on-line, you can save the commands you've used to
a file. You can edit this file to help you create Suprtool batch jobs.
>listredo all;unn;out=somefile

Selecting Database Records

These examples show you how to get records from an IMAGE dataset. It assumes
you have opened the demo database with the Base command. The results are written
to a data file called "result", which can be read either by a program or by a report
writer.

30 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store.demo.robelle , 5 , READER {read access}

Select All Records

This example extracts all the records from the dataset. Note that we didn't specify
any selection criteria, so Suprtool selects all the records.
>get d-sales {input dataset}
>output result {output file}
>xeq {Xeq command performs the task}

Select a Random Sample

Sometimes you may need to select a random sample from your dataset to test a new
report or program. You can easily do this by adding a #count parameter to the Get
command. The #count value tells Suprtool to select only every nth record. The
example shows you how to select 5% of your database.
>get d-sales(#20) {every 20th record is 5%}
>output result
>xeq

Look at the First Few Records

If you want to look at the first few records of a dataset, use the Numrecs command.
This command tells Suprtool to extract at most the number of records specified.
Then, instead of sending the result to a file, send it to the screen with "output
*,ascii". The example shows you how to look at the first 10 records in your dataset.
>get d-sales
>numrecs 10 {first 10 records}
>output *,ascii {output to screen, format numbers}
>xeq

Selecting by Criteria

Simple Criteria
To tell Suprtool to choose records based on certain criteria, use the If command.
Think of the If command as a shorthand for "Select all records that have...". In this
example Suprtool extracts all records with a sales-total value greater than 20000
from the d-sales dataset.
>get d-sales
>if sales-total > 20000 {select}
>output result
>xeq

Complex Criteria
To choose records using more complex criteria, combine several simple criteria
using AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses. In this example Suprtool extracts all records
that have a sales-total value greater than 20000 and a product-price value less than
5000 from the d-sales dataset.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 31

 >get d-sales
>if sales-total>20000 and product-price<5000
>output result
>xeq

String of Digits
If you have a byte-type field that consists entirely of digits, and you want to use this
field as a numeric field, you need to define a new display field on top of the existing
field. For example, suppose your data looks like the following, where the customer
account number is stored in the 8-digit byte-type field at the start of the record:
20476789...rest of customer record...

To find all customers with an account greater than 20470000, you would do the
following:
>get dataset
>define accountnum, account, 8, display
>if accountnum > 20470000
>output result
>xeq

Selecting by Date
Because IMAGE doesn't provide a built-in date type, most databases store dates as
numeric or character fields.
Before Suprtool can use a date field, it has to know the format of a particular date
field. Use the Item command to specify the format. For example, to tell Suprtool that
the item purch-date is a date field with a format of yyyymmdd (e.g., 20010319), you
would use:
>item purch-date, date, yyyymmdd {date format}

In the following date examples, we show the Item command in each example. In
practice, however, you only need to use the Item command once per date field, not
once per task.

Select by Today's Date

For this example, select all the sales records whose purchase date is today. Note the
use of $today in the If command to indicate today's date.
>get d-sales
>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd
>if purch-date = $today {select today's date}
>output result
>xeq

Other tricks with $today

>if purch-date = $today(-1) {yesterday}
>if purch-date = $today(+1) {tomorrow}

Select by Particular Date

To specify a particular date, use the $date function in the If command. The $date
function has the form $date(year /month /day). This example selects all the sales
transactions for August 12, 2000.

32 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 >get d-sales
>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd
>if purch-date = $date(2000/08/12)
>output result
>xeq

Select by Year
Suppose we want to select all the sales transactions for 2000. Suprtool does not have
a short-hand for specifying "everything in that year". To specify an entire year, use a
date range from January 1st to December 31st.
>get d-sales
>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd
>if purch-date >= $date(2000/01/01) and &
purch-date <= $date(2000/12/31)
>output result
>xeq

Select Prior Month

In the $date function, use a * to indicate the current year, month, or day. Similarly, a
*-1 means the previous year, month, or day. For this example, select all the sales
transactions for the prior month. Note the use of the special keywords "first" and
"last" to indicate the first and last day of the month.
>get d-sales
>item purch-date,date,yyyymmdd
>if purch-date >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &
purch-date <= $date(*/*-1/last)
>output result
>xeq

Selecting by Lists of Values

Sometimes you want to find records based on criteria contained in another file or
dataset.

Finding Data Based on a List

Suppose we want to find all orders for the customers "1234", "9876", and "5555."
We simply use a list of values after the equal sign in the If command. A match is
made if a customer matches any one of the values in the list.
>get ord-details
>if cust-no = "1234", "9876", "5555"
>output orders
>xeq

If we wanted to find orders for all customers except "1234", "9876", and "5555", we
would simply change the equal sign in the If command to a not-equal sign. A match
is made if a customer does not match any values in the list.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 33

 >get ord-details
>if cust-no <> "1234", "9876", "5555"
>output orders
>xeq

Finding Data Based on a File

If you have a large list of values in a file, you can load them into Suprtool and select
data based on this list. First use the Table command to load values from an external
file into a table. Then use the function of the If command to match data to the table.
Suppose our list is in a file called Custlist. The table we create is called cust-table.
>get ord-details
>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist
>if $lookup(cust-table, cust-no)
>output orders
>xeq

If you want to find all customers not on the list, just negate the If condition.
>if not $lookup(cust-table, cust-no)

You can also compare both a key value and data using the Table data feature.
>get ord-details
>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)
>if $lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code
>output orders
>xeq

What the above code does is load a table with key values and data, then as you are
reading serially thru the database, Suprtool looks up the key value in the table and
retrieves the associated data and returns it and compares against the field on the right
hand side of the equation. If no entry is found in the table then Suprtool returns
spaces for byte type fields and zero for numeric fields. This means of course that in
our example that if a cust-no did not exist in the table, the state-code returned would
be blank and if the state-code was blank in the ord-details dataset the record would
qualify.
If you don’t want to have any values returned from the table lookup, you just preface
the if with a standard lookup.
>get ord-details
>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)
>if $lookup(cust-table,cust-no) and &
$lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code
>output orders
>xeq

When using $lookup to return data, the $lookup must always be on the right side of
the equation. If not Suprtool will stop with an error:
If id-field=$lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field)
Error: $lookup in this context (data comparison) must be on left side

Finding Data Based on Another Dataset's Criteria

Sometimes you need to find data from one dataset based on conditions from another
dataset. This is a typical example: you want to find all of the pending orders for those
customers whose accounts receivable balance is 0.
First we find the customers with an AR balance of 0, and extract their customer
numbers to a file.

34 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 >get cust-ar
>if ar-balance = 0
>ext cust-no
>output custlist
>xeq

Now we can find information by loading a file of customer numbers into a table and
then applying the $lookup feature.
>get ord-details
>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist
>if status="PENDING" and $lookup(cust-table,cust-no)
>output orders
>xeq

Finding Data in a Data File

So far, the examples have looked up data from a database. If you want to look up
information in a data file, you need to tell Suprtool about the fields. Use the Define
command to do this.
The following example gives you some idea of the byte-size of one kind of record in
a data file.
John Smith 12345678
Anna-May Richardson 98765432
12-bytes 16-bytes 8-bytes
If you want to look up customers based on a list of customer numbers in the file
Custlist, use the following task. Notice how the start position and number of bytes is
entered into the Define command. This defines the position within the input file, not
the table file.
>input flatfile
>define cust-no, 29, 8, byte
>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist
>if $lookup(cust-table, cust-no)
>output result

Comparing against a Key and Data

Suprtools can use the “data” loaded into a Table in a comparison operation. The
$lookup function will return the data value from the table to compare against another
field or literal.
In file1sd
Table mytable,char-field,data,tabfile,data(id-field)
If $lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field) = int-field

So what Suprtool will do in this case is read a record, lookup the record in the table
and retrieve the data item in the table. If Suprtool does NOT find an entry in the
table, a zero will be returned if the data type is numeric and spaces will be returned if
it is a byte type.
So using the case above, if no entry is found in the table, zero is returned, and if int-
field is equal to zero, then the record will qualify.
If you don’t want to have any values returned from the table lookup, you just preface
the if with a standard lookup.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 35

 >get ord-details
>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)
>if $lookup(cust-table,cust-no) and &
$lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code
>output orders
>xeq

When using $lookup to return data, the $lookup must always be on then left side of
the expression. If not Suprtool will stop with an error:
>if id-field=$lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field)
Error: $lookup in this context (data comparison) must be on left side

Sorting Database Records

Sort Records
This extracts all records from the dataset d-sales into a data file called "result". The
records are sorted by the field cust-account. Use the Sort command to do sorting.
>get d-sales
>sort cust-account {sort by cust-account}
>output result
>xeq

Sort Records in Descending Order

This extracts all records from the dataset d-sales into a data file called RESULT. The
records are sorted by the field sales-total in descending order (i.e., show highest
totals first). Use the Desc option in the Sort command to do this.
>get d-sales
>sort sales-total desc {descending order}
>output result
>xeq

Sort by Multiple Keys

This extracts all records from the dataset d-sales into a data file called "result". The
records are sorted by the field cust-account, then by sales-total in descending order.
Use two Sort commands to do this, since the Sort command only accepts one field at
a time.
>get d-sales {input}
>sort cust-account {first sort key}
>sort sales-total desc {second sort key}
>output result {output}
>xeq

Deleting Records
To delete records safely from a database, you need two Suprtool tasks. The first task
backs up the data to be deleted; the second task deletes the records. You can interrupt
and restart the two-task method without harming your records. It may be faster to
combine the two tasks, but it can present problems: if you abort the task part-way
through, your database will be partially deleted, but you will not have a backup of
the deleted records.

36 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 The first task copies the data to a backup file:
>get d-sales
>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231
>output archives
>xeq

The second task deletes the entries:

>get d-sales
>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231
>delete
>output $null
>xeq

Updating Records
To update records you can specify the fields to be updated with the Extract
command(s). The Update command must be entered before the Extract command.
You can Update part of a field by defining a portion of the field with the define
command and using the defined field in the Extract command.
You can update critical fields (IMAGE search or sort fields), by specifying the
Ciupdate option on the Update command. CIUPDATE must be turned on or Allowed
in the database. This can be turned on from within the DBUTIL utility.
You can also update using Arithmetic Expressions:
>get d-sales
>update
>extract total = price * qty + tax
>xeq

You can update critical fields:

>get d-sales
>update ciupdate
>if product-no = 12345677
>ext product-no = 12345678
>xeq

Duplicate Records
In the following examples, the key field is in the first four bytes of the record.
"Duplicate-ness" is based on records having the same key value. In any group of
records with the same key value, the first record is considered to be the "original",
and the rest are considered to be the "duplicates".

Report without Duplicate Records

This is an example of filtering out duplicated records (the original remains). This is
done by using the None option of the Duplicate command.
Input Result
1111 a 1111 a
2222 b 2222 b
2222 c 3333 e
2222 d

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 37

 3333 e
>get dataset
>sort keyfield
>dup none keys
>output result
>xeq

Report Only the Duplicate Records

This is an example of keeping only the duplicated records (the original is not kept).
This example is the opposite of the previous example. Use the Only option of the
Duplicate command to do this.
Input Result
1111 a 2222 c
2222 b 2222 d
2222 c
2222 d
3333 e
>get dataset
>sort keyfield
>dup only keys
>output result
>xeq

Report Only the Unique Records

This example shows how to report only those records without duplicates. That is, if
the records have duplicates, both the originals and their duplicates are omitted from
the report.
Input Result
1111 a 1111 a
2222 b 3333 e
2222 c
2222 d
3333 e
You have to use two Suprtool tasks to accomplish this. The first task creates an
intermediate file Dupfile that contains the keys of the duplicate records. The second
task creates the desired output file Result that contains only the unique records.

38 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 >get dataset
>sort keyfield
>extract keyfield
>dup only keys
>output dupfile
>xeq

>get dataset
>table dup-table, keyfield, sorted, dupfile
>if not $lookup(dup-table, keyfield)
>output result
>xeq

Report Only the Duplicates and Their Originals

This performs the opposite function to the one outlined above. It keeps only the
duplicates and their originals.
Input Result
1111 a 2222 b
2222 b 2222 c
2222 c 2222 d
2222 d
3333 e
Once again, you have to use two Suprtool tasks to accomplish this. The first task
creates an intermediate file Dupfile that contains the keys of the duplicate records.
The second task creates the output file Result that contains only duplicate files and
their originals.
>get dataset
>sort keyfield
>extract keyfield
>dup only keys
>output dupfile
>xeq

>get dataset
>table dup-table, keyfield, sorted, dupfile
>if $lookup(dup-table, keyfield)
>output result
>xeq

Deleting Duplicate Database Records

The method shown here assumes that each record can be distinguished from each
other, even though they have duplicate keys. You cannot use just one task to delete
duplicates. To do the job safely, you need three tasks.
1. Identify which records to delete.
2. Archive those records.
3. Delete those records.
Task 1: Identify which records to delete.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 39

 >get dataset
>define rec,1,length of your record
>sort key1 {sort enough keys to uniquely …}
>sort key2 {… identify all the duplicates}
>dup only keys
>out dupfile
>xeq

Task 2: Write records to archive.

>get dataset
>table duptab, rec, sorted, dupfile, hold
>if $lookup(duptab, rec)
>output archive
>xeq

Task 3: Delete the records.

>get dataset
>if $lookup(duptab, rec)
>delete
>xeq

Deleting Non-Unique Duplicate Database Records

If you need to delete duplicates that cannot be uniquely identified (i.e., the entire
record is a duplicate), use the following set of four tasks:
Task 1: Get a list of the duplicates.
>get dataset
>define rec,1,length of your record
>sort rec
>dup only record
>out dupfile
>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

a a
a a
a c
b
c
c
Task 2: Get a unique list of the duplicates.
>input dupfile
>dup none record
>output dupfile2
>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

a a a
a a c
a c
b
c
c

40 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 Task 3: Delete the duplicate records, including the original.
>get dataset
>table duptab, rec, sorted, dupfile2
>if $lookup(duptab, rec)
>delete
>output archive
>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

b a a
a c
c
Task 4: Restore one copy of the original duplicates.
>input dupfile2
>put dataset
>xeq

Dataset Dupfile Dupfile2

a a a
b a c
c c

Deleting Duplicate Data File Records

This is a similar procedure to deleting database records. The main difference is that
you use the Input and Output commands instead of the Get and Delete commands.
You also need to define your sort fields.
Task 1: Identify which records to delete.
>input datafile
>define key1,1,8
>define key2,13,12
>define rec,1,length of your record
>sort key1
>sort key2
>dup only keys
>out dupfile
>xeq

Task 2: Write records to archive.

>input datafile
>table duptab, rec, sorted, dupfile, hold
>if $lookup(duptab, rec)
>output archive
>xeq

Task 3: Delete the records.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 41

 >input datafile
>if not $lookup(duptab, rec)
>output result
>xeq

Sorting IMAGE to KSAM

Here is how to extract all customer numbers from a master dataset, sort them, then
write them to an existing KSAM file, erasing the KSAM's previous contents. Please
note that this gives you sorted access to your IMAGE data if used properly.
>base store.data
Password > {password is not echoed}
>get m-customer
>sort cust-account
>out keycust,key,erase {keycust was built with KSAMUTIL}
>exit {xeq implied, then leave Suprtool}

Loading a Dataset
To load records into an IMAGE dataset from a disc file, use these commands:
>base store.data {specify which database}
>input transfile {input is from a disc file}
>put d-sales {add each record to the D-SALES dataset}
>xeq {execute the current task}

The layout of the input file must have the exact same format as the target.

Decimal Places
Data in files and databases often have an implied number of decimal places. For
example, dollar amounts usually have two implied decimal places for the cents. In
this case, the number stored is scaled by a factor of one hundred (e.g., you would
enter 10000 to represent $100.00).
>get d-sales
>if total-sales > 99900 {find sales > $999}
>out result
>xeq

You can use Suprtool's Item command to identify defined fields or database items
that have an implied number of decimal places.
You can use Suprtool's Item command to identify defined fields or database items
that have an implied number of decimal places. Once you do this, you can then enter
regular, unscaled numbers. For example, to enter five cents, use 0.05; to enter
$100.00, use 100. If a field is a dollar and cents amount scaled by 100, use the
following to tell Suprtool about the decimal place:
>item total-sales, DECIMAL, 2

With the Item command, the previous example becomes more understandable:

42 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 >get d-sales
>item total-sales, decimal, 2
>if total-sales > 999 {find sales > $999}
>out result
>xeq

Converting Numbers
There are several ways to convert binary numbers (e.g. I2, P8) into human-readable
ASCII form. You can use STExport's Output,ASCII or Output,DISPLAY if you
want to convert all numbers.
If you want to convert only some of your numeric fields, you can use Suprtool's
numeric conversion feature to convert the binary fields to display fields.
define mynumber,1,6,display
get dataset
ext some-fields...
ext mynumber = binary-number
output filename
xeq

Note that this technique also works for converting a number from one numeric type
to another numeric type.
You may also convert from binary to ASCII directly by using the $edit function.
define mynumber,1,6,byte
get dataset
ext some-fields...
ext mynumber = $edit(binary-number,"999999")
output filename
xeq

Counts and Subtotals

Count and Subtotal on Sort Keys

This example counts the number of sales transactions for each customer and
produces the total sales for each customer. We use the Count and Total options of the
Duplicate command. Note that we made the output file self-describing so we can
easily work with it later.
>get d-sales
>ext cust-account
>sort cust-account {need to sort by key}
>item sales-total,decimal,2 {decimal places}
>dup none keys count total sales-total
>list standard
>out result, link
>xeq

The output file contains three fields. The first field is the cust-account that we
extracted. Suprtool created two new fields at the end of each output record: st-count
and st-total-1. St-count contains the number of times each cust-account occurred,
while st-total-1 contains the total sales for each cust-account.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 43

 Sort by Count or Subtotal
When Suprtool counts or subtotals, the output is sorted according to the key fields. If
you want your output file to be sorted by the count or by a total, you must process
the output file with a second task. The following example sorts the previous file of
totals by ST-COUNT. We choose a descending sort sequence, so that we can see
first the customers with the largest number of orders.
>input result {input from previous task}
>sort st-count, desc {highest counts appear first}
>list standard {produce a simple report}
>xeq

Total by Field
If you want to get a single total for a field, without caring about subtotals on sort
breaks, you can use the Total command. Total prints out the result on $stdlist. For
example, to compute the total sales value for 2000 transactions, use these commands:
>get d-sales
>if purch-date>=000101 and purch-date<=001231
>total sales-total
>output $null
>xeq

Running Totals
You can get a running total on a field using the $total function.. The target data must
be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to help avoid overflow issues. A sample use
of the total function could be:
>def mytotal,1,14,packed
>get orders
>ext mytotal = $total(sales-amount)
>xeq

Running SubTotals
Suprtool has the ability to keep a running subtotal for any numeric field based on a
given sort key. The target data must be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to help
avoid overflow issues.
A sample use of the $subtotal function could be:
>def mytotal,1,14,packed
>get orders
>sort order-number
>ext order-number
>ext part-number
>ext description
>ext sales-amount
>ext mytotal = $subtotal(sales-amount,order-number)
>out sales,link
>xeq

This would result in a file containing a running subtotal in the field mytotal for a
given order-number. You could then generate a simple report with the simple
Suprtool commands:

44 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 >in sales
>list standard
>xeq

The basic syntax for the $subtotal function in the extract command is:
extract targetfield = $subtotal(field,sort-field)

You must specify the sort command before referencing the sort-field in the $subtotal
function. You can subtotal up to ten fields per task.

Listing Records
You can print selected input records either formatted or with the Octal, Hex,
Decimal, or Character representations. To dump all sales records with a negative
amount, use these commands:
>get d-sales
>if sales-total < 0
>list lp
>xeq

This finds the entries that meet the selection criteria and prints them to the default
line printer, showing field names and field-values converted to ASCII. If you suspect
that your data is bad, you can dump the records in Octal/Char format instead:
>get d-sales
>if sales-total < 0
>list octal,char
>xeq

If you want the listing in column format, use List Standard:

>get d-sales
>if sales-total < 0
>list standard lp
>xeq

Changing the Output Record Format

You can change the output file record format by using the Extract command. The
Extract command causes Suprtool to assemble Output records by stringing together
fields extracted from Input records. You would use the following to extract two of
the nine fields from the customer records:
>get m-customer {input from a dataset}
>extract cust-account {extract the key value and …}
>extract credit-rating {… one other field}
>output out1 {output file will have two fields}
>xeq

You can easily insert data into the middle of a record, again using the Extract
command. Define the first and second halves of the record as two big chunks. Now
Extract the first part, note the constant you wish to insert, then Extract the second
part.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 45

 >input myfile {95 bytes wide}
>define part1,1,60,byte {first 60 bytes}
>define part2,61,35,byte {remaining 35}
>extract part1, "constant", part2 {extract an 8-byte constant}
>output newfile {103 bytes now}
>xeq

Producing a Condensed Dataset Listing

When debugging test databases, it is often desirable to produce a condensed listing
of a dataset on $stdlist. The following example combines the Extract command with
the ASCII output option (i.e., all binary and packed-decimal data is converted into
readable ASCII characters). For readability, each data value is prefixed with an
abbreviated field name. This listing is more compact than the one produced by the
List command.
>get m-customer
>extract "Account=",cust-account," "
>extract "C/R=",credit-rating
>output *,ascii {* implies $stdlist}
>xeq

The output would look like:

Account=04598921 C/R= 500000
Account=44657844 C/R= 2000000
Account=98753198 C/R= 300000

Simple Reports
You can produce simple reports with Suprtool's List command. You select the
records for the report with the If command and the fields for the report with the
Extract command. Reports can include running headings with the date, title, and
page number and an optional line of column headings. Suprtool can produce default
titles and headings.
>get m-customer
>item credit-rating,decimal,2
>extract cust-account
>extract credit-rating
>list standard
>xeq

The output would look like this:

Feb 16, 2000 Base STORE Set M-CUSTOMER Page 1
CUST-ACCO CREDIT-RATING

4598921 5000.00
44657844 20000.00
98753198 3000.00

Your First Report

Our report selects all customers in California, sorts the records by city, and reports
on the city, account number, and name of each California customer:

46 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

 >get m-customer {input dataset}
>if state = "CA" {California customers}
>sort city {sort by city name}
>extract city {city first on each line}
>extract cust-account {followed by account#}
>extract name-first {and first name}
>extract name-last {and finally last name}
>list standard {produce a quick report}
>xeq

These commands produce a report with four columns. The title consists of the Store
database and the m-customer dataset. The column headings are the name of each
field that we extracted.

Printing a Report
By default, the List command writes output to $stdlist, where lines are folded as
necessary to fit within 78 columns (to prevent line overflow).
To write the report to a system line printer, use the following :file command before
using the List command:
>:file suprlist;dev=lp;rec=-132

If you are writing a report to a LaserJet, we suggest that you add this command to
your task. It selects 175 column output in Landscape mode.
>set list pcl 1

Specifying Your Own Title

If you don't like Suprtool's default title, you can override it with your own:
>list standard,title "Customers in California"

Column Headings
Column headings default to uppercase field names. The names are truncated if they
are longer than the field itself. One space is inserted between fields.
Suprtool does not automatically align user-specified headings with the data columns.
We suggest specifying heading strings with the same length as the fields they
represent, while taking into account the space between the data columns.
In our example, we enter one column heading per line (using Suprtool's continuation
character "&"):
>list standard,heading &
{----+----1----+----2}
"City " & {field is X12}
"Account " & {field is Z8}
"First Name " & {field is X10}
"Last Name" {field is X16}

We included one space between fields. Note that an extra space was needed for the
Account heading (it is an 8-digit field, but we used 10 characters). Because cust-
account is a zoned-decimal field, an extra space is required for the sign.

Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 47

 Printing Mailing Labels
You can print mailing labels by combining the Extract command with the List
Oneperline command. We assume that each mailing label starts with two blank lines,
followed by the customer name and address, followed by another blank line. The
Suprtool commands to produce the labels are as follows:
>get m-customer {input customers}
>extract " " {first field}
>extract " " {second field}
>extract customer-name {name first}
>extract street-address(1) {three lines of address}
>extract street-address(2)
>extract street-address(3)
>extract " " {last blank field}
>list oneperline, noname, noskip, norec
>xeq

The extract " " line creates a single field that consists of a blank space. Each of these
blank fields results in a blank line on our mailing labels, since the List command puts
one field on each output line.
If you want to combine two fields on one line, you would first have to create an
output file with the combined fields and use this file as input to List Oneperline.

48 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Getting a Quick Start with Suprtool

Running Suprtool under MPE

How to Run Suprtool

To access Suprtool, type the "run" command:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle

SUPRTOOL/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2001.

(Version 5.4) SUN, JUN 17, 2001, 11:47 AM Type H for help.
>

Suprtool prints its version number and the current time right after a banner. It also
prints the name of the company that has licensed this copy of Suprtool.
Suprtool then prompts with ">". Press Return after typing each command. For
example, if you type the help command:
>help

Suprtool prints some help text and a keyword list. Type a keyword or press Return to
leave Help.

How to Xeq a Suprtool Task

Normally, you enter a series of commands. These commands specify the input
source, the output destination, and any special processing that is required. Finally,
you enter an Xeq or an Exit command. This begins the actual Suprtool extraction
task.
If you entered the Exit command, Suprtool finishes the current task, then returns you
to MPE. If you entered the Xeq command, Suprtool finishes the current task, then
prompts you for another task. This continues until you enter the Exit command. If
you wish to terminate Suprtool immediately (perhaps you are confused), enter Exit
Abort, which immediately returns you to MPE without attempting any task. If you
:Run Suprtool from another process (e.g., Qedit), you can suspend execution without
executing the current task with the Exit Suspend option.

Info= for Commands

If you run Suprtool with Parm=4, Suprtool processes up to 80 characters of
command input specified via Info=.

Running Suprtool under MPE Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 49

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="I ABC;O ABC2;E"

Suprtool terminates only if the Info= string contains an E command. Otherwise, it

prompts for more commands after processing the Info= command string. A warning
is printed if you accidentally specify an Info= string longer than 80 characters.
You may want to combine one of the more useful Suprtool commands with the Info=
option to standardize certain Suprtool operations. One restriction of the Info= string
is that it may only be 80 characters long. You may need to have many Suprtool
commands executed. For example, suppose that the file SUPRUSE contained
commands to set up a standard Suprtool extract, but the selection criteria changed
with each use. Invoke Suprtool with:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="USE SUPRUSE"

The user can enter the If command and an Exit command, all of the other options
could be in the Supruse file. An advantage of this method over using :RUN
SUPRTOOL;STDIN=XXX, is that the input file Supruse can be a Qedit file. With
the STDIN= option, the file must be an unnumbered /Keep file.

Son Process
If you run Suprtool within Qedit or SELECT, you can retain the Suprtool process
and re-activate quickly later.
:run qedit.pub.robelle
/:r suprtool.pub.robelle
>... {suprtool commands}
>exit
SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y
/... {qedit commands}
/:activate
SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE
>... {more suprtool commands}
>exit
Program Held. Use :ACTIVATE/:RUN;HOLD to re-run.
/... {more qedit commands}

Combining Info= and Son Process

Normally, when you re-activate Suprtool from a HELD state, Suprtool ignores the
original Info= string. However, if you run Suprtool with Parm=8, it re-processes the
Info= commands every time you activate it. One application of Parm=8 is with
usefiles. You can hold Suprtool suspended and have it execute a usefile each time
you awaken it. By changing the usefile between activations, you can make Suprtool
do any task you like:

50 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Running Suprtool under MPE

 :run qedit.pub.robelle
/... edit file named DOIT, of suprtool commands
/:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=8;info="USE DOIT"
... suprtool executes commands from DOIT
>exit {return to Qedit}
/... edit DOIT
/:activate {returns to Suprtool, executes Info= again}
... executes new commands in DOIT

Exit with Verify

Some users find that they Exit from Suprtool inadvertently. To require Suprtool to
get user approval on Exit, run Suprtool with Parm=64.
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=64
>e
Okay to exit [no]:
>

Preventing Suprtool from Suspending

If you run Suprtool from within HPDesk (and some other programs), Suprtool
suspends on Exit but HPDesk does not notice. The next time you run Suprtool you
will get a new copy of Suprtool. Eventually you will have many suspended copies of
Suprtool hanging from HPDesk, consuming system resources. Turning Set Suspend
Off forces Suprtool to terminate on Exit rather than suspend. You can force Set
Suspend Off by running Suprtool with Parm=32.
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=32

Stdin and Stdlist Files

Suprtool reads command lines from $stdinx, the MPE predefined name for the
standard job input file. This is usually the terminal or the stream file. You can
redirect the input by using an option of the :Run command. For example:
:comment kcommand created with editor
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;stdin=kcommand

You can also use the I/O redirection capabilities of MPE/iX to achieve the same
goal.
:run suprtool.pub.robelle<kcommand

This file must not be numbered; use /Keep xxx,unn in EDIT/3000 or use /KQ in
Qedit. The maximum record width of this input file is 256 characters. Note: the Stdin
file must not be a Qedit workfile.
Suprtool prints all ASCII output messages to $stdlist, the MPE predefined name for
the standard job listing file. This is usually the terminal or the line printer, but it can
be re-directed with the :Run command. For example:

Running Suprtool under MPE Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 51

 :comment throw away the output from suprtool.
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;stdlist=$null.

Input and Output Files

As with SORT/3000, it is possible to specify both the input file and the output file
using :File commands, and then specify only the Key fields as Suprtool commands.
Only one task is allowed per RUN with this method:
:file input=oldxx
:file output=newxx
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
Suprtool/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2001
(Version 5.4)
>key 1,10
>key 20,5
>exit

Using CREATEPROCESS
Since both command input and message output are under user control, it is possible
to run Suprtool as a "son process" from within an application program (see the MPE
Manual for CREATEPROCESS). You can check the Job Control Word to see if
Suprtool called Quit and terminated in an error state. See the Suprcall user manual
for a complete description of a working interface that is available to all Suprtool
users.

Duplicating Files
One of the most common reasons for using Suprtool in a SESSION is to duplicate a
disc file quickly. Accordingly, Suprtool has a special option to facilitate this
function. If you :RUN the Suprtool program with Parm=16, a file copy is implied
from Input to Output and no commands are needed. :File commands are used to
specify the names of the files. For example:
:file input = xxx
:file output = xxxnew
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=16
:reset input
:reset output

With the User Defined Command facility (UDC) of MPE, you can reduce all of this
to a single command,
:dup xxx,xxxnew.

The Info= parameter is ignored in this mode.

Note that the MPE/iX Copy command is faster than Suprtool for simple file
duplication.

Job Control Word

Suprtool sets the system job control word JCW to a fatal state when Suprtool fails in
a batch job. Suprtool sets only the high-order bit of the JCW job control word. That

52 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Running Suprtool under MPE

 is, it adds 32,768 to the existing JCW value. HP subsystems use the other bits of the
JCW job control word, so Suprtool does nothing to them.

Suprmgr Configuration File

Each time that you run Suprtool, Suprtool attempts to open and "use" a disc file
named Suprmgr in Pub.Sys. It does this to check whether the System Manager has
specified any default configuration values. The Suprmgr file may be an Editor /Keep
file,UNN or a Qedit workfile. No more than 256 characters per record are processed.
Because Suprtool treats the Suprmgr file exactly like a usefile, Suprmgr can include
any Suprtool commands. Use Set commands in the Suprmgr file to establish custom
defaults for the shop.
Dbedit Set values can also be changed from within the Suprmgr file. You must use
the Edit command, enter the Dbedit Set commands, and then Exit back to Suprtool.
If you forget the Exit, each execution of Suprtool leaves you in Dbedit. An example
Suprmgr file might be:
set dumponerror off {don't print error records}
set varsub on {enable variable substitution}
edit {enter Dbedit}
set quiet on {print shorter messages}
exit {return to Suprtool}

Using Suprtool in Batch

Suprtool operates in "session" mode or "batch" mode. In batch usage, any "error"
message causes Suprtool to quit, setting the Job Control Word to flush the remainder
of the JOB. Warning messages do not cause an abort.
In batch mode, Suprtool does not prompt for missing information as it does in
session mode. Instead, it attempts to choose the alternative that has the least chance
of destroying valid data. For example, if the output file is a duplicate file name in
batch mode, Suprtool saves the new output file with a "made up" name (Outputnn,
where nn is from 00 to 20), prints a warning message, and aborts. Another example
is that of missing database passwords. In session mode, Suprtool prompts for the
password; in batch mode, it uses the CREATOR password instead.

SuprtoolOutCount JCW
When Suprtool closes the output file, it sets a JCW named SuprtoolOutCount with
the number of output records. This is the same number reported in the total line (i.e.,
OUT=). You can use this JCW to control job stream execution by checking if the
SuprtoolOutCount JCW is non-zero. If there are more than 65,535 output records,
Suprtool sets SuprtoolOutCount to 65,535.
You can use the :Showjcw command to see the value of a JCW. For values greater
than 16K, Showjcw displays either the word WARN, FATAL or SYSTEM followed
by some digits. These words correspond to the following values:
Word Value
WARN 16384

Running Suprtool under MPE Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 53

 FATAL 32768
SYSTEM 49152

Add the value of the word to the number that appears with it for the true value of
SuprtoolOutCount. For example,
:showjcw suprtooloutcount
SUPRTOOLOUTCOUNT = WARN8616

16384 + 8616 = 25000

The MPE/iX :Showvar command can also be used to see the value of a JCW.
Showvar displays the full, correct number (e.g., 25,000) up to the maximum of
65,535.
Suprtool also sets two other JCWs: SuprtoolOutCount1 and SuprtoolOutCount2.
These communicate the full OUT= value to the Suprtool2 interface.

SuprtoolFullCount Variable
On MPE/iX, when Suprtool closes the output file, it also sets a variable named
SuprtoolFullCount with the number of output records. This is the same number
reported in the total line (i.e., OUT=). The advantage of the variable is that if more
than 65,535 records are written to the output file, the value of the SuprtoolFullCount
variable is not truncated.

Summary of Parm= Values

Value Meaning
4 execute Info string once
8 execute Info string on each re-activation
16 duplicate Input file to Output file
32 don't suspend, terminate completely
64 check with user before Exiting

Values may be combined by adding them together. For example, Parm = 96 means
"check with me before exiting, then when I do actually exit, terminate Suprtool
completely instead of suspending".

54 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Running Suprtool under MPE

Suprtool Issues and Solutions

A Suprtool Task
Suprtool's primary function is to extract data quickly; its focus is batch extraction.
The key principle is: the bigger the input data source and the smaller the subset of
data selected, the more performance improves.
Your aim is to replace serial reads and selection with Suprtool. To do this, break
your task into components: an input choice, some processing selections, and the
output choice.

Input Choices
Suprtool can read input from an MPE or KSAM file, an IMAGE dataset, or a tape
file. Using :File commands, any MPE file with fixed-length records can be read by
Suprtool. Your first action is usually to select a database with the Base command.
Then, use the Chain or Get command for input from a dataset, and the Input
command for all other input choices.
Often you select a subset of the input records using the If command. Only selected
records are passed to the processing stage and the output choice.

Processing Selections
If you do not specify any processing, the input records are quickly copied to the
output choice. Some of your processing choices are
1. Sort the records into ascending or descending sequence (Sort or Key).
No records are output until all of the selected input records have been
sorted.
2. Total one or more input record fields (Total).
3. Remove or select duplicate records (Duplicate).
4. Delete the records from an IMAGE dataset (Delete).

Output Choices
Usually you wish to extract a subset of your records to feed into a report program, so
the default output file is a data file. The default output file format matches the input
file format, unless you use the Extract command. The output choice can be an MPE

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 55

 or KSAM file, an IMAGE dataset, or a tape file. You can use :File commands to
create almost any fixed-length MPE file from Suprtool (including $stdlist). You can
specify different formats for the output file by qualifying the Output command. To
have readable ASCII output, use "output xxx,ascii". To produce "self-describing"
files, use Output xxx,Link.
By default, every output record is identical to the corresponding input record. The
Extract command assembles output records by stringing together fields extracted
from the input records. With the Extract command you can insert constant values
into the output record.
Each output record is written to the output choice. You can also see a formatted
listing of each record with the List command. Records can be added to an IMAGE
dataset just before being written to the output file (use the Put command). By default,
Suprtool builds a new file, unless you specify Append or Erase. You would use
Erase to write to a Quiz subfile (for details, see "Suprtool and PowerHouse
Applications" on page 81).

Suprtool and Allbase

Specify an Allbase database with the Open command. Once Suprtool has opened
the database, use the Form command to obtain information about the tables in the
database. Use the Select command to choose what data to read from your Allbase
database.
We have tested the Allbase module with Allbase version G.1.13 for MPE. We
believe that it will be compatible with future versions of Allbase. We have not tested
Suprtool with any of the F versions of Allbase. Allbase access is available as a
seperate add-on module to Suprtool.

Data-Types
When you specify a Select command, Suprtool figures out how to translate the
Allbase internal data-types into ones that Suprtool can process. Not all Allbase data-
types can be processed by Suprtool. The following table lists the Suprtool data-type
that corresponds to the Allbase data-type:

Allbase Data-Type Suprtool Data-type

Integer Double
Smallint Integer
Binary Not Supported
Char Byte
Varchar Byte
Real Ieee-32
Float Ieee-64
Decimal Packed
Numeric Packed
TID Not Supported
Date Byte
Time Byte
Datetime Byte

56 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Interval Byte
Varbinary Not Supported
Long binary Not Supported
Long varbinary Not Supported

Date and Time Types

Allbase has four types of fields that are associated with dates and times. These fields
are converted to byte-type data and are returned with specific lengths.
The date and time fields are returned with the following byte lengths:

Data-Type Length
Date 10
Time 8
Datetime 23
Interval 8

Restrictions
Suprtool cannot currently handle all Allbase database concepts. The current
restrictions are:
1. Suprtool requires that the ownername be specified when selecting a
particular table in the following manner:

>select * from purchdb.orders

In this example the owner is purchdb and the tablename is orders.

2. Suprtool does not currently handle the Allbase date format. You can
convert the Allbase date format to something that Suprtool can handle
with the TO_CHAR function in the Select statement. For example:
>select qty,TO_CHAR(date,'YYYYMMDD') from manufdb.testdata
>def mydate,date[1],8 {redefine testdate }
>item mydate,date,yyyymmdd {define the date format}
>if mydate<=$today(-900)

Suprtool and IMAGE

You specify an IMAGE database with the Base command. Once Suprtool has
opened the database, all IMAGE item, set, and field information is available. To
identify an IMAGE item as a date-field, use the Item command. Suprtool has
facilities to Get, Put, and Delete database records.

Reading Datasets
For Suprtool to read a dataset, it must have read-access to every field in the dataset.
If you have a database with item-level security, you must be careful to choose a

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 57

 database password that gives access to all of the fields in the dataset. The Creator
password always gives you full-read access to every dataset.
By default, Suprtool opens databases in mode-1. You may use any other mode
except mode-7. If you use the Delete or Put commands, you must open the database
with a mode that permits changes to the database. If Set Defer On has been specified,
the database must be opened in mode-3.

Serial vs. Keyed Access

The Get command provides serial access to a dataset; for chained access use the
Chain command. This leads to some results that seem obvious, but are easily
overlooked. If you specify input with the Get command and sort an IMAGE dataset
by a search field value such as custnum, Suprtool does a serial scan of the entire
dataset. It does not read down the chains for each custnum value. Therefore, if the
resulting sort file contains entries with identical sort values, they are sorted in the
order they were found in the serial scan, not in the order they had on the chains. It is
good practice to ensure that implicitly sorted paths can also be explicitly sorted,
without benefit of the IMAGE chains. If you specify date as a sort field, don't
overlook the possibility of two entries with the same custnum and date values. Do
they have an implied order, perhaps by trans-type?

When to Use Suprtool with IMAGE

Suprtool is a solution for those programs that serially read and select data from large
IMAGE datasets. Suprtool performs best when you are selecting less than 50% of the
entries from the dataset (also see the Speed Demon User Manual). To replace a
serial scan of a dataset, use the following steps:
1. Use the Get and If commands of Suprtool to scan and select your
entries.
2. Optionally, sort the records with Suprtool.
3. Use the Output command to put the selected records in an MPE file.
4. Change the application program to read the MPE file instead of the
IMAGE dataset. Each record in the file has exactly the same layout as a
record from the dataset.
Suppose that your program scans the d-sales dataset to produce a report of all d-sales
records with a sales-total greater than $10,000.00. Currently, your program looks like
this:
10-read-and-report section.
perform 10-10-get-d-sales
if not end-of-d-sales then
if dsa-sales-total > 10000 then
perform 20-report-d-sales
thru 20-report-d-sales-exit.

go to 10-read-and-report-exit.

10-10-get-d-sales.
*Use DBGET to read a d-sales record into buffer-d-sales.*

10-read-and-report-exit. exit.

Assuming that only a small percentage of the d-sales dataset have a sales-total
greater than $10,000.00, you would replace this scan with the following:

58 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store,5 {open for read access}
>get d-sales {scan the d-sales dataset}
>if sales-tot > 1000000 {note implied decimal}
>output dsales {output to an MPE file}
>exit

You would modify your application program to read the dsales MPE file:
10-read-and-report section.
read sales-file into buffer-d-sales at end
move true to end-of-sales-flag.

if not end-of-sales then

perform 20-report-d-sales
thru 20-report-d-sales-exit.

10-read-and-report. exit.

TurboIMAGE Compatibility
Suprtool is compatible with TurboIMAGE and TurboIMAGE/XL. Suprtool
automatically adjusts for a Turbo database; you do not need different versions of
Suprtool for different versions of IMAGE. Suprtool handles all of the limits
introduced with TurboIMAGE.

Locking of IMAGE Datasets

Suprtool calls DBDELETE, DBPUT, and DBUPDATE for the Delete, Put, and
Update commands. If the database is not open in mode-3 or mode-4, Suprtool must
lock the dataset when adding or deleting dataset records. The locking strategy is
determined by the value of Set Lock.

Locking for the Entire Task

Specifying Set Lock 0 forces Suprtool to lock either the Put and Delete datasets or
the Update dataset for the entire task. The lock is done after the Xeq command.
Suprtool uses a lock descriptor and one call to DBLOCK to lock two datasets in the
same database. If both a Delete and a Put were specified to different databases,
Suprtool locks them both, first the input dataset in one database, and then the output
dataset in the second base. After the task finishes, the Put and Delete datasets or the
Update dataset are unlocked.
Set Lock 0 provides the best performance, but other users cannot change the
database during the entire Suprtool task. The reason for improved performance is
twofold:
1. The database only needs to be locked once.
2. If Suprtool is reading the database with DBGET, it does not have to
reget records and ensure that they have not changed with each lock.

Locking for Each Transaction

Set Lock 1 (the default), causes Suprtool to lock and unlock around every
DBDELETE, DBPUT, and DBUPDATE transaction. This provides the least
contention with other users of the database, but may not be the best choice for large
overnight runs where exclusive access to the database is available.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 59

 Locking Once in a While
Any other value of Set Lock causes Suprtool to lock and unlock the datasets every n
transactions, where n is the value of Set Lock. A transaction is either a DBDELETE,
DBPUT, or DBUPDATE -- it is not the number of input records read. After the Xeq
command, Suprtool does not lock the datasets until the first DBDELETE, DBPUT,
or DBUPDATE. After unlocking the datasets, Suprtool does not do another lock
until a further DBDELETE, DBPUT, or DBUPDATE.

Record Changed Before It Could Be Deleted

If you are deleting or updating records when Set Lock is not zero, it is possible that a
record will be modified, removed, or a different record added in its place while
Suprtool has the database unlocked. Suprtool checks for this by retrieving the
database record once the database is locked and checking it against the original
record read. If any changes have occurred, Suprtool reports an error. If Set Ignore is
Off, Suprtool stops the current task when the error occurs. If Set Ignore is On,
Suprtool displays the records that were changed (with Set Dumponerror On) and
continues processing.

Control-Y with Locks and Dbedit Locking

If you type Control-Y during a Put, Delete, or Update, the dataset locks are still in
effect. Do NOT walk away from your terminal without answering YES or NO to the
"stop" question. The Edit command uses its own locking strategy. For complete
details on database locking with Dbedit, see the Dbedit manual.

Database Maintenance (Delete, Put)

The Delete and If commands of Suprtool give you a powerful facility for archiving
data without writing COBOL programs. Be careful when using the Delete and Put
commands. It is better to break up a Suprtool "run" into multiple passes in order to
make the job more fail-safe. For example, we might like to archive all of the 2000
transaction records to a disc file and have them deleted from the database. The
obvious way to achieve this is
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base actrec.data
>get artrans
>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231
>delete
>sort trans-date; sort cust-number
>output archives
>exit

What happens if this "run" is aborted part way through? You must :Restore your
database and do a recovery. Any aborts will leave the database partially deleted.
If we break up this operation into two parts, archive first and delete later, we can
easily restart the job in the case of an abort.
First, we read and sort the data into the archive file:

60 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base actrec.data
>get artrans
>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231
>sort trans-date; sort cust-number
>output archives
>xeq

Second, we read and delete the entries. This method takes slightly longer, but it can
always be restarted:
>get artrans
>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=001231
>delete
>output $null
>exit

Warning: there is a window of vulnerability here -- if any qualified records are

deleted or added by other jobs or sessions, the Delete pass may not delete the same
records as written to the file in the first pass. In many applications, you might be able
to use the extract file from the first pass to load a table in the second pass, then use
Chain or If $lookup to delete the exact same records.

B-trees
HP has provided a generic search and partial key retrieval feature to IMAGE/SQL by
attaching B-trees to a master dataset key item. This feature is available in versions of
IMAGE/SQL C.07.03 and later. To determine the version number of IMAGE, run
Query (:Run Query.Pub.Sys) and enter the Version command.
:run query.pub.sys
>version

Similarly, you can also run Dbutil.Pub.Sys, type Help, and look for the Addindex
command.
B-trees are built only on the key item of a manual or automatic master dataset.
However, if the path into a given detail dataset has an attached B-tree, you can
implicitly take advantage of the B-tree by using a partial-key lookup on the
associated detail.
Suprtool can take advantage of these B-trees via the Chain command. Suprtool also
shows any B-trees that it can utilize through the Form command.

Master Dataset Expansion (MDX)

In newer version of IMAGE/SQL, master datasets can expand while records are
being put into the database. This new capability is similar to the Detail Dataset
Expansion (DDX), which was made available with MPE/iX 5.0.
Details on a dataset with MDX enabled are documented in the Form Command.

Jumbo Datasets and Large Datasets

On newer versions of MPE/iX, IMAGE/SQL supports Jumbo datasets, which can
store data in one or more MPE files. By spanning files, you can have more than 4Gb
of data in a single dataset.
In versions of Image prior to version C.07.14 the maximum size of a Jumbo dataset
is 40Gb.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 61

 The maximum size of a Jumbo dataset was increased to 80Gb in IMAGE version
C.07.14 and later.
In the C.09.02 version of Image, and later, the limitation is now based on 2 billion
entries.

Limitations
Due to file system limitations, Suprtool can extract and sort more than 4Gb of data
only on MPE/iX 6.5 and higher. In prior versions of MPE/iX Suprtool is limited to
4Gb. Due to limitations in MPE/iX Suprtool cannot open a remote Jumbo dataset.

Large File DataSets

Large File DataSets or LFDS are Image datasets that are single files which can be
greater than 4Gb. Due to issues with the implementation of LFDS, Suprtool does not
support them specifically, nor does it refuse to read them. We do not recomment
using Large File DataSets nore will we support them.

Notes
If Set Stat is On and Set Prefetch is greater than zero, then each time a file in a
jumbo dataset is closed, you receive a prefetch summary for each file. This could
appear in the middle of a >List, if you are listing to $stdlist.

Suprtool and KSAM Files

Suprtool reads and writes both compatibility mode and native mode KSAM files.
One exception is variable-length records, which Suprtool cannot handle. Use the
Input command to read from a KSAM file. Use the Erase or Append option of the
Output command to write selected input records to a KSAM file. When writing to a
KSAM file, the input source can be an IMAGE dataset, a KSAM file, or an MPE
file. You must build the KSAM file first as Suprtool, unlike FCOPY, cannot create
new KSAM files.
Suprtool uses different methods for accessing compatibility-mode KSAM files
versus native mode KSAM files. In our discussion of KSAM files, we designate
compatibility-mode KSAM files by KSAM/V and native mode KSAM files by
KSAM/XL.

Locking Output KSAM Files

Access to KSAM files is controlled with :File commands. After opening an output
KSAM file, Suprtool checks to see what access was granted. If the KSAM file has
share and lock access, Suprtool must lock the output file whenever it writes an output
record. This provides the least contention with other users, but it slows down
Suprtool (one lock per write).

Locking Input KSAM Files

By default, Suprtool opens Input KSAM (/V and /XL) files with lock-access for
application reasons. We assume that application programs will likely want to write to
KSAM files, and in order to write to any KSAM file the file must be opened with
locking.

62 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 To override this default you can specify the ;nolock option on a file command:
>:file ksamin;nolock
>input ksamin
>output mycopy
>xeq

Compatibility Mode KSAM/V Files

Suprtool uses high-speed NOBUF/MR access to quickly read input KSAM/V files.
Suprtool is typically five times faster than FCOPY when reading KSAM/V files.
Suprtool writes output records to KSAM/V files one record at a time. This ensures
that the KSAM/V key information is updated correctly. Suprtool runs at the same
speed as FCOPY when writing to KSAM/V files.
Suprtool must always have Shared, Lock, and Read access to all KSAM/V files.
Suprtool briefly locks the KSAM/V file to check the physical EOF. If the EOF is
wrong, Suprtool reopens the file with Locking and Inout access, in order to update
the physical EOF. After checking and updating the physical EOF, Suprtool unlocks
the KSAM/V file and leaves it unlocked while reading the file.
You should be aware of the following:
1. A user program that opens the KSAM/V file without Locking fails if
Suprtool has the file open. You should specify Locking on all KSAM/V
opens, even if you do not plan to lock the file.
2. A user program that opens the KSAM/V file with exclusive access will
fail if Suprtool has the file open.
3. Suprtool cannot read KSAM/V files that user programs have open with
exclusive access.
Suprtool ignores the KSAM/V key file; it reads the data file only. If a data record has
a binary -1 in the first two bytes, Suprtool ignores the record. Your user programs
must guarantee that a binary -1 does not appear in the first two bytes of any record,
except those that have actually been deleted. If you wish to read the deleted records,
use Set Recover On.

Reorganizing KSAM/V Files

Suprtool can be used to reorganize an existing KSAM/V file. Assuming that you
have a KSAM/V file with a 10-byte key starting on the third byte, the following
Suprtool commands sort the file along the primary key, remove any deleted records,
and leave the KSAM/V file in an optimal state. Warning: OUTPUT =INPUT cannot
be restarted if it is aborted.
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>in ksamdata
>key 3,10,byte
>output =input
>exit

The above Suprtool run is dangerous because it cannot be restarted if it is aborted for
any reason. The following Suprtool run can be restarted, even if the run is aborted.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 63

 :purge tempfile
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>in ksamdata
>out tempfile
>xeq
>in tempfile
>key 3,10,byte
>output ksamdata,erase
>exit

KSAM/XL Files
Starting with MPE/iX 4.0, HP provided a new mechanism for tools like Suprtool to
access KSAM/XL files. This mechanism allows Suprtool to work the same for either
KSAM/V or KSAM/XL files. Some of the advantages are:
1. Suprtool is fifteen times faster than tools like FCOPY when reading a
KSAM/XL file.
2. Suprtool reads the input file in chronological order.
3. Set Recover On works for KSAM/XL. Note that if you build the
KSAM/XL file with the reuse option, the space from your deleted
records may be reused. In this case, Suprtool may not be able to recover
your records.
Suprtool will revert to slower method of reading KSAM/XL files if using selection
criteria, in other words an if command.

Loading KSAM/XL Files

If you are writing records to a KSAM/XL file, you can dramatically improve the
speed of Suprtool by writing to a temporary KSAM/XL file and saving it at the end
of the task. Temporary files are not attached to the MPE/iX transaction manager,
which results in faster writes. If the system fails while Suprtool is writing records to
the temporary KSAM/XL file, the temporary file is lost. You want to ensure that you
can safely restart the task if the system fails (e.g., you don't want to copy records to a
temporary KSAM/XL file as you delete them from a dataset).
:build myksam;temp;rec=-128,1,f,ascii;disc=40000;&
: ksamxl;key=(b,1,10,dup)
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input file.data
>output myksam,temp,erase
>xeq
>exit
:save myksam

How Do I Convert CM Ksam to NM KSAM?

Suprtool can't create a new NM KSAM file for you, but you can create the new NM
file first using the MPE BUILD command (or some other method, see below), then
use Suprtool to copy the records from the old file to the new file.
But Suprtool should definitely be able to copy the data *much* faster than MPE's
FCOPY utility could.
The trick, of course, is getting a new NM KSAM file built correctly first. You could
use a complicated BUILD command or you could do this:

64 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :file n=newfile; disc=
:fcopy from=oldfile; to=(*n); subset=0,1
That will create a new NM KSAM file called NEWFILE with the FLIMIT equal to
the FLIMIT of your current CM file, and with all the keys set up correctly, but will
copy only a single record into it. Then use Suprtool:
:suprtool
>in oldfile
>out newfile, erase
>xeq
Finally, if it's a big KSAM file you may wish to create it as temporary first, then
SAVE it after you're done, to squeeze even more speed out of the process:
:file n=newfile; disc=; temp <<-- Note the temp designation
:fcopy from=oldfile; to=(*n); subset=0,1
:suprtool
>in oldfile
>out newfile, erase
>exit
:save newfile

Reuse option and KSAM/XL Files

The Reuse option forces deleted record space to be reused in KSAM files. In order to
take advantage of the Reuse option in KSAM/XL files you must specify this option
with a file command.
>input file.data
>:file myksam;reuse
>output myksam,append
>exit

Suprtool and MPE Files

Suprtool reads MPE files as easily as IMAGE datasets, with the single exception of
variable-length records, which Suprtool cannot handle. Instead of using the Get or
Chain command to specify your input source, use the Input command to read from
an MPE file. The default output file is an MPE disc file named "OUTPUT", but you
can control the name and format of that file with the Output command and the MPE
:File command.

Buffered and NOBUF File Access

You can control the way Suprtool accesses MPE files through the use of :File
commands. Normally, Suprtool tries to read and write MPE files with NOBUF and
multirecord access. To force Suprtool to read one block at a time, you would use:
>:file file.input;nomr
>input file.input
>output file.output
>xeq

To force Suprtool to write one block at a time, you would use:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 65

 >input file.input
>:file file.output;nomr
>output file.output
>xeq

If your files have large block sizes or Suprtool seems to read the file incorrectly, you
may want to force Suprtool to read or write one record at a time (this is what FCOPY
does). To force Suprtool to read one record at a time, you would use:
>:file file.input;nomr;buf
>input file.input
>output file.output
>xeq

To force Suprtool to write one record at a time, you would use:

>input file.input
>:file file.output;nomr;buf
>output file.output
>xeq

Message Files
Message files always have variable-length records. As such, they are not accepted by
Suprtool. Nor can Suprtool write them. On some releases of MPE, even opening a
message file with APPEND access in Suprtool (e.g., Output msgfile, APPEND),
erases the message file and may make your system run strangely.

Circular Files
Due to limitations in MPE, Suprtool can read circular files only one record at a time.
Suprtool automatically detects circular input files and adjusts itself accordingly.
Suprtool cannot write out to a circular file with the append option. You will need to
copy the circular file to a flat file and then append to the flat file, then write back to a
new circular file.

RIO Files
Suprtool does copy and sort RIO files, but normally Suprtool reads deleted RIO
records. Use a :File command to force Suprtool to ignore deleted records. The Input
command prints a warning about deleted records when it opens an RIO file.
You can force Suprtool to read an RIO file as FCOPY does. If you use the following
:File command on the input RIO file, all deleted records are ignored:
>:file inrio;buf;nomr
>input inrio

Suprtool must use buffered disc I/O when writing to an RIO file. This is much
slower than the standard Suprtool NOBUF/MR disc I/O, but it is the only reliable
way to produce an RIO file. A warning is printed in this case:
Warning: Writing to RIO files is slow

When the output file is an RIO file, Suprtool must open the output file with
NOBUF/MR access. This causes duplicate file errors if either of the following :File
commands are in effect for the output file:

66 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :file outfile;save
:file outfile;temp

You do not need to specify Save, since that is Suprtool's default. To create a
temporary output RIO file, use the TEMP output option:
>:file outfile;rio
>output outfile,temp

Temporary Files
Suprtool reads and writes temporary files. No special processing must be done if the
input file is temporary; just specify the file name in the Input command. By default,
Suprtool saves the Output file. You must use the TEMP option of the Output
command to save the file as a temporary file. The following sequence of Suprtool
commands causes TEMPFILE to be left as temporary:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>in permfile
>out tempfile,temp
>exit

If TEMPFILE already existed as a temporary file, Suprtool would prompt you to

purge the old temporary file. It you do not want to purge the old temporary file,
Suprtool prompts you for a new name for the temporary file in exactly the same
manner as for permanent files.

Lockwords
If you do not specify a lockword as part of the file name, MPE prompts for the
lockword when Suprtool attempts to open the file. Because Suprtool must sometimes
open the input or output file more than once, you may be prompted multiple times
for the lockword. To avoid this prompt we recommend that you specify any
lockwords as part of the file name.
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input infile/lockword
>output outfile/lockword
>xeq

This is especially important when using the erase or append option to write to a
KSAM/V or KSAM/XL file with a lockword. In this case Suprtool must open the file
more than once (the number of fopens vary). To avoid being prompted multiple
times for the lockword, specify it as part of the output file name:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input infile
>output outfile/lockword.group,erase
>xeq

Copying User Labels

Suprtool copies all the user labels of the input file to the output file, unless you have
Set Userlabels Off. The copying of user labels is done even if the output option is
,DATA or ,ASCII. If you extract fields from a self-describing (SD) file that has user
labels and don't use Output,LINK or Output,QUERY, the output file still contains all
the user labels of the SD file. The filecode of the output file is not SD, however.
In many instances, the user labels in a file do not interfere with the processing of the
file. However, some MPE tools need specific options to work with files with user

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 67

 labels. For example, FCOPY needs the Nouserlabels option when you are copying
from a file with user labels to an existing file without them.

SDUnix Utility
SDUnix is an MPE program that takes self-describing file information and writes it
out to an MPE flat file. This flat file can then be transferred to HP-UX together with
the data file so that Suprtool/UX can reference the self-describing information about
the fields.
To copy the SD file to the HP-UX machine, it must have an .sd extension and be in
the same directory as the data file. For example, if the data filename is
/usr/local/data/datafile, the SD file must have the name /usr/local/data /datafile.sd.
The SD file is written out to the same domain (permanent or temporary) as the input
file. The SD file contains only one record with the necessary length to store all of the
label information.

SDUnix Parameters
All SDUnix parameters are specified via Info = string. There are three parameters:
input-file sd-file LF | NOLF
The first parameter is the name of an MPE self-describing file. The second parameter
is the name of the .sd file that SDUnix created.

LF vs. NOLF
Use the third parameter to specify whether the data file has LF (line feed) as the
record separator, or whether the file does not use a file separator. If you use FTP to
copy the data file to your HP-UX machine, you should specify the NOLF option and
be sure to use a binary mode transfer. If you are using DSCOPY (with its default
options) to copy the data file, you should specify the LF option.

Examples
The following section contains examples of creating an SD file on MPE, converting
the SD information, and finally copying the two files to an HP-UX machine.
First create an SD file with:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store,5
Database password [;]?

>get d-inventory
>out dinv,link
>exit

Now you can convert the label information to an .sd file using the SDUnix utility.
Note that the data file is the first file passed in the info string.
Specify LF if you are using DSCOPY.
:run sdunix.pub.robelle;info="dinv dinvsd lf"

Now you can use DSCOPY to copy the files to the HP-UX machine.

68 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :dscopy dinv to store.dinv :dopey[data:password]
:dscopy dinvsd to store.dinv.sd:dopey[data:password]

Specify NOLF if you are using FTP.

:run sdunix.pub.robelle;info="dinv dinvsd nolf"

Use FTP to copy the files to the HP-UX machine.

:ftp dopey
ftp> binary
ftp> exitonerror
ftp> put dinv /users/data/store.dinv
ftp> put dinvsd /users/data/store.dinv.sd
ftp> quit

Now you can use Suprtool/UX to read the SD file.

$ suprtool
>input store.dinv
>form
File: store.dinv (SD Version B.00.00) No line feeds
Entry: Offset
BIN-NO I1 1
LAST-SHIP-DATE I2 3
ON-HAND-QTY I2 7
PRODUCT-NO Z8 11
SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19
UNIT-COST P8 27
ITEM-DESC1 X20 31
ITEM-DESC2 X20 51
ITEM-DESC3 X20 71
ITEM-DESC4 X20 91
Entry Length: 110 Blocking: 1
>out dinvfile
>xeq

Link vs. Query

SDUnix and Suprtool/UX can recognize files created with the ,Query option and
from Query. However, they cannot recognize compound item details or any Item
attributes, such as Decimal or Date type.

Suprtool and Self-Describing Files

A problem with data files is that there is no field information. Self-describing files
solve this problem by providing field information about the file. Suprtool reads and
writes SD files; Suprlink requires SD files as input and creates an SD file as output.

Create an SD File from a Dataset

You request an SD file using the Link option of the Output command. If you extract
fields from the dataset, only the extracted fields appear in the SD file.
>get d-sales {input from a dataset}
>output salefile,link {salefile has all of the fields from d-sales}
>xeq

Create an SD File from a Data File

You must Define and Extract the fields you want to have in the SD file. Use the Link
option of the Output command to create the file as a self-describing file. Although

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 69

 Suprtool itself allows longer field names, SD files only store the first 16 characters of
a field name.
>input sales.data {input from a data file}
>define cust-no,1,6,byte
>define invoice-date,7,6,integer
>define sales-qty,13,4,packed
>extract cust-no,invoice-date,sales-qty
>output salefile,link {salefile has all of the extracted fields}
>xeq

SD Files as Input
When you specify an SD file as input to Suprtool, all the field information becomes
available. You can select, extract, and total fields without the Define command.
>input salefile {self-describing file}
>form {display the fields in the file}
>if sales-total > 10000 {select based on a field}
>extract cust-account {only extract a few fields}
>extract sales-qty
>extract sales-tax
>extract sales-total
>total sales-total {total a field from the file}
>output newfile,link {create a new SD file}
>xeq

Listing SD Files
Suprtool normally lists data files in an Octal/Char format. When listing an SD file,
Suprtool produces a formatted listing with field names and field values converted
into ASCII:
>input salefile {self-describing file}
>list {produce a formatted listing}
>xeq

Decimal Places and Date Formats

You use the Item command to identify items with an implied number of decimal
places or a date format. If you create a self-describing file, this information is
retained. When you input such a file, all Suprtool commands are automatically
informed about the decimal places and date formats. The Form command shows
these extra attributes as comments at the end of each field description. For example,
>base store.demo.robelle,5,READER
>item deliv-date ,date ,yyyymmdd
>item purch-date ,date ,yyyymmdd
>item sales-tax ,decimal,2
>item sales-total,decimal,2
>get d-sales
>output newfile,link {creates SD file with item attributes}
>xeq
>form newfile {shows decimal pts. and dates}

Restrictions of SD Files
So far in this section, we have shown how to create self-describing files using the
Link option of the Output command. The Link option produces a special form of
self-describing file. Not all software can read this form of self-describing file. You

70 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 can use the Query option to create an old-style self-describing file. The Query option
has the following restrictions.
Self-describing files were originally created by HP in MPE so that files could be fed
into HPWORD and HP graphics packages. One problem with HP's definition was
that no provision was made for compound fields (e.g., 10J2). When Suprtool creates
an SD file with compound fields via the Query option, it uses a special data-type.
When you input such a file to Suprtool, all compound fields are treated as byte
arrays. Suprtool correctly copies and extracts these fields, but you can not select with
them. The Query option is not capable of retaining information about decimal places
or date formats.

Creating KSAM SD Files

You can use Suprtool to create a self-describing KSAM file. There are three steps to
complete:
1. Compute the number of labels (used in the KSAMUTIL or MPE/iX
build command). The number is the truncated value of this calculation:
labels = ((#fields + 7) / 8) + 11
2. Build your KSAM/V file with KSAMUTIL and specify Labels=<the
number computed above>. For KSAM/XL, use the Build command
with the userlabel keyword ;ULABEL=x (where x is the number
computed above).
3. Use Output xxx,Link,Erase to have the SD-information written to the
file labels.
The most difficult part is computing the number of labels. You might want to use the
Extract command to ensure that you know exactly how many fields will be in the
output file. For example, we extract eight fields:
labels = ((8 + 7) / 8) + 11
= 12
MPE V:
:run ksamutil.pub.sys
>build file2;rec=-80,16,f,ascii;keyfile=file2k; &
key=i,6,2,,duplicate;labels=12
>exit

MPE/iX:
:build file2;rec=-80,16,f,ascii;key=(i,6,2,dup);ksamxl;ulabel=12

Fill the KSAM file:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 71

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base sales
>get d-sales {input from a dataset
>extract cust-account {but, we extract all fields explicitly so that …}
>extract deliv-date {… know exactly how many fields we have}
>extract product-no
>extract product-price
>extract purch-date
>extract sales-qty
>extract sales-tax
>extract sales-total
>output file2,erase,link {must have both Erase and Link}
>exit

Like regular SD files, when you specify a KSAM SD file as input to Suprtool, all
field information becomes available. The Form command shows the structure of a
KSAM SD file.

HowMessy Loadfile
HowMessy produces a self-describing file (called Loadfile) with all of the
information from the HowMessy report. Suprtool is an ideal tool to process the
information in this file. For example, the following Suprtool commands would select
all detail datasets with a load factor greater than 85 percent:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input loadfile
>if datasettype = "D" and loadfactor > 85.0
>sort database
>sort dataset
>dup none,keys
>list
>xeq

Notes on SD Files
There are two differences between regular Suprtool output files and SD files: the
filecode is not zero and there are user labels. For most applications this does not
make any difference, but some applications and tools may reject these files.
When creating an SD file, Suprtool maps J-type integer items into I-type.
Functionally, the two are equivalent.

Convert an SD File to a Disc File

Once Suprtool has created a file in its Output,Link format, it always treats the file as
an SD file. To convert the file back to a non-SD disc file:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>in samplesd
>:file flatfile;code=0
>set userlabels off
>out flatfile
>xeq

Suprtool and Sorting Files

When Suprtool sorts two records that have the same key value, the first record read
by Suprtool is the first record on the output file. For data files, this means that input
records with the same key values appear in the same order in the output file.

72 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Suprtool reads only the KSAM/V data file. Records in the data file are organized by
chronological order. If two input records have the same key value, the one that was
first added to the KSAM/V file is the first one in the output file. To help preserve
sorted order in a KSAM/V file, be sure to specify all of the KSAM/V sort keys as
sort keys to Suprtool.

Fast Sorting
Suprtool/iX uses a set of fast internal routines for sorting. These routines are twice as
fast as the HP sort routines supplied with MPE XL 3.0, and slightly faster than the
HP routines that come with MPE/iX 4.0 and 5.0.
By default, Suprtool/iX attempts to use the internal sort routines. If the internal sort
initialization fails for any reason, Suprtool/iX prints a warning and tries to do the sort
with HP's sort routines. If Native Language Support has been set (either
automatically via the NLDATALANG JCW or explicitly via Set NLS), HP's sort
routines are used.
The only way to tell which set of sort intrinsics are being used is to enable Set Stat
On. The statistics from Robelle's internal sort routines are more detailed than HP's
sort statistics.

Native Language Support

Suprtool determines the native language of an input source as follows:
1. The Chain and Get commands use the language of the database.
2. Using Input filename=setname uses the language of the database.
3. If the input file is a KSAM/XL file, the KSAM/XL language is used.
4. If the language from any of the previous steps is zero (Native-3000),
Suprtool uses the language from Set NLS.
The Key and Define commands support a special type: CHARACTER. The
CHARACTER type is used wherever you would use the BYTE type, but
CHARACTER fields are sorted according to the native language determined by
Suprtool.
To sort a French data file on the first five characters, you would use:
>input nlsfile {file with Roman-8 characters}
>set nls 7 {sort in French}
>key 1,5,character {new character data-type}
>output sortfile
>xeq

With Reduced Disc Space

If your system is almost out of disc space, you may find that Suprtool operations are
being stopped because the "Sort Library" cannot build its scratch file, Sortscr. A
common method of overcoming this error is to use the Numrecs command.
By default, Suprtool assumes that the OUTPUT file and the Sortscr file must be able
to contain every input record. Even though you are reading a dataset of one million
records, you may know that only 1,000 records will be selected. If you do not use the
Numrecs command, Suprtool builds an output file with one million records and the
sort builds a scratch file with one million records.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 73

 If your dataset was called ARTRANS, the following Suprtool commands would be
used to read, sort, and select a small subset of the input records, preventing the out-
of-disc space error:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base actrec.data
>get artrans
>numrecs 1000
>if trans-date>=000101 and trans-date<=000131
>sort trans-date ;sort cust-number
>output archives
>exit

Suprtool and Tape Files

You must use a :File command to specify an input or output file to tape. Suprtool
reads or writes only one file to an unlabeled tape. Suprtool writes two end-of-file
marks on an Output tape to guarantee that any other software can find the end-of-file
correctly.
If you plan to select more than 10,000 records from a tape file, be certain to specify
the maximum number of records to select in the Numrecs command. The Numrecs
command is not necessary if you are outputting to an existing file with the append
and erase options of the output command.
There is an outstanding bug in MPE that can cause Suprtool to lose records from an
Input tape file. This only happens where there are partial blocks on the tape that are
not the last block of the tape. Suprtool cannot detect this situation, but the
workaround is to specify NOMR on the input :File command for the tape. For
example:
:file intape;dev=tape;rec=-80,50,f,ascii;nomr

Another recurring problem with MPE and tape files is odd-byte length records. We
suggest that when writing to tape, even-byte length records be used. These records
take exactly the same amount of space on tape or disc, because MPE always rounds
up the record length to the nearest full word boundary. To read data from an IBM
tape where records start on odd-byte offsets, use the DEBLOCK option of FCOPY.
Suprtool can not read or write EBCDIC tapes; use FCOPY instead.

Labelled Tapes
Specifying DEV=TAPE on a :File command causes MPE and Suprtool to create a
tape that has one file. If you need to have multiple files on one tape or if your file
takes more than one reel, you must use labeled tapes.
To use a labeled tape requires a different kind of :File command. A typical :File
command might be:
:file o;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,next

The string "VOL1" is the name of this volume of tapes. This name appears on the
console. Note that it is possible to specify volume names in lowercase letters. Never
do this, as it becomes extremely confusing when working with the console.
Use the "NEXT" keyword when writing the first file to the tape. Be careful with the
"NEXT" keyword, because you can overwrite an existing labeled tape, even though
it has not expired.

74 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Use the "ADDF" keyword to add more files to the tape. This tells MPE to add each
file to the end of the tape volume. Use the file name "*O" with the Suprtool Output
command.
You do not need to specify a record size or blocking factor on the File command.
When the file is read back, most of the file attributes will be remembered. One
exception to this is file code. Files read from a labeled tape always have a file code
of 0, unless you use a :File command to specify a specific file code.

Multiple Files
Do the following to store four files to a labeled tape:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>:file o;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,next
>in a;out *o;x {first file on the volume}
>:file o;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,addf
>in b;out *o;x {subsequent files are added to the end}
>in c;out *o;x
>in d;out *o;x

If all of these files are purged and you want to restore the file "D", you would do the
following:
:file i;dev=tape;label="VOL1",,,4
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>in *i;out d;x

The "4" on the :File command instructs the file system to restore the fourth file on
the tape. If you forget the contents of a labeled tape, make FCOPY read it as if it
were unlabeled:
:file x;dev=tape;acc=update
:fcopy
from=*x;to=;char {displays the volume and the first file headers}
from=*x;to=;char;skipeof=+3 {displays the file header for the following file}

You will be asked for permission to scratch the label, but MPE does not scratch the
label unless you write to the tape.

Notes
There are two things to remember when working with multiple tapes in a single
volume set. The first tape reel in a volume has the same name as the entire volume
set. Subsequent tapes should have a different name. If you know that the file you
want to read is on the second reel, you can just mount the second reel.

File User Labels

When copying a file to a labeled tape, Suprtool attempts to copy any MPE user
labels. Because of restrictions of labeled tapes, the user labels cannot be longer than
the record length of the file. In most cases, Suprtool truncates user labels as they are
copied to or from a labeled tape. When this happens Suprtool prints a warning:
Label length truncated to 80 characters

If the files you are reading from the tape do not have any user labels, and Suprtool is
having difficulty reading the file, you can try this:
>Set Userlabels Off

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 75

Suprtool and Remote File Access
The Base command allows you to specify a system name, other than the logon
system. This permits easy access to databases on remote computers. :File commands
can be used to specify input files from remote computers and to specify output files
to remote computers.
Suprtool attempts to handle duplicate file errors on a remote computer in the same
manner as for a local computer. If you are on-line, you can rename the file as a file
on the remote computer. In batch, a duplicate file on a remote computer results in the
Outputnn file being built on the remote computer.
Due to bugs in MPE, Suprtool cannot always rename files on a remote computer. We
suggest that output files on remote computers be purged before you enter the Exit or
Xeq command.

Network Services (NS)

NS/3000 (Network Services for the HP e3000) is the replacement for DS over
LAN/3000. Suprtool reads and writes files using NS/3000. The Base, Input, and
Output commands do not allow the node specification to be entered as part of the file
name. Use File commands to specify remote databases and files. For example,
:dsline mrp.go.hp
:remote hello user.account,group
:file store=store:mrp.go.hp
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store
>get m-customer
>output mcust
>xeq

See "Base Command [BA]" on page 128 for a discussion of remote database access.

Suprtool and MPE/iX

Suprtool is available in native mode. This section provides details for calling the
Suprtool2 interface in native mode. See the next section for ideas on how to combine
MPE/iX programming features with Suprtool.

Calling Suprtool in Native Mode

The Suprtool2 interface is available in native mode. Like the compatibility mode
version of the Suprtool2 interface, you require PH capability in order to use the
Suprtool2 interface in native mode. The native-mode object code for the interface
resides in ST2XL.Pub.Robelle.
The interface is installed in XL files. The following commands demonstrate how to
compile and link your program to use the native-mode Suprtool interface.
:cob85xl example.source
:link from=$oldpass;to=example.pub;cap=ph
:run example.pub;xl='st2xl.pub.robelle'

User XL Files
You can add the native-mode Suprtool2 interface to your own XL file. For example,

76 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :linkedit
-xl xl.pub
-copyxl from=st2xl.pub.robelle;module=suprtool.asm
-exit
:run example.pub;xl='xl.pub'

When Errors Occur

On MPE V, if you have not installed the Suprtool2 interface, you see an error
message such as:
:run testprog
UNRESOLVED PROGEXTERNAL SUPRTOOL2
UNABLE TO LOAD PROGRAM TO BE RUN. (CIERR 625)

If you forget to specify the XL file on MPE/iX, you get a similar error message.

Sorting with Suprtool/iX

The native mode HP sort routines do not sort files with records greater than 4096
bytes. Suprtool/iX uses these native mode HP sort routines with NLS or with Set
Sortfast Off. In all other cases, Suprtool/iX uses its own set of sort routines that have
no limit on the record size.
If you attempt to sort records greater than 4096 bytes with Suprtool/iX calling the
HP Sort, you get the following error message:
Error: Sort record size is greater than 4096 bytes
The native mode HP Sort intrinsics are not able to sort
records greater than 4096 bytes in length. If you want
to sort records greater than 4096 bytes, use the
compatibility mode version of Suprtool. To improve speed
we recommend using the Object Code Translator on the CM
version of Suprtool:

:hello mgr.robelle,pub
:octcomp suprcm,suproct
:run suproct.pub.robelle

We consider this problem a bug in HP's native mode sort intrinsics, one unlikely to
be fixed. The solution is to use the Object Code Translated version of Suprtool to
sort files with records greater than 4096 bytes.

Suprtool and CI Variable Substitution

Suprtool is able to substitute any CI (command interpreter) variables from almost
any command line source, whether via interactive commands, a usefile, or batch
input. In order to use this feature, first enter the following Set command:
set varsub on

Variable substitution is not enabled, by default, for backward compatibility.

Example
Because Suprtool is now capable of CI variable substitution, you no longer need to
echo commands out to a file and subsequently use the newly created file.
The following example varies the sort order of an extract using a CI variable called
"order."

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 77

 !setvar order 'desc'
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
set varsub on
base test
get dline
sort ord-num,!order
output file3y
exit

Batch Requires Indent

The Streams facility (under default setup) replaces any exclamation mark (!) found
in the first column of a job stream. Anytime you want to specify an entire line
through variable substitution, you need to leave a space before the variable is
specified.
!setvar a 'base mydb;get orders;output file3x;exit'
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
set varsub on
!a {indent this line}

Avoiding Double Resolution

For MPE commands, some variables are resolved twice when passed off to MPE. A
double resolution gives different values if a variable references other variables.
The following example sets variables at the CI level:
MPEXL:setvar a 10
MPEXL:setvar b "!!a"
MPEXL:showvar [ab]
A = 10
B = !a

Setting the variables within Suprtool with variable substitution enabled, changes the
value of b.
>{different results from MPE CI}
>set varsub on
>setvar a 10
>setvar b "!!a"
>showvar [ab]
A = 10
B = 10

Suprtool does one level of variable substitution before the command is passed off to
MPE. If you are setting variables that reference other variables, we recommend you
set them before running Suprtool or temporarily disable variable substitution with the
Set Varsub Off command.

78 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 >{same results as MPE CI}
>set varsub off
>setvar a 10
>setvar b "!!a"
>showvar [ab]
A = 10
B = !a
>set varsub on

Suprlink and STExport

Suprtool, Suprlink, and STExport each have their own Set Varsub command. To do
variable substitution in any of these components, you have to use the Set Varsub On
command in the appropriate component.
Because Suprtool automatically looks in the Suprmgr.Pub.Sys file for any
configuration commands, that is a good place to put the Set Varsub On command.
Suprlink and STExport, however, do not use Suprmgr.Pub.Sys and do not have their
own configuration files in which to look. If you run Suprlink and STExport directly
from the command line, you must enable variable substitution explicitly:
!run suprlink.pub.robelle
set varsub on

One way to ensure that Suprlink and STExport automatically get variables
substituted is to invoke Suprlink and STExport from the Suprtool command line. In
this way, variable substitution is actually done by the Suprtool command parser
before it passes the commands to Suprlink and STExport.
For example, suppose the title of the HTML report is stored in a variable named
"title." Pass commands to STExport using Suprtool's Export exportcommand syntax:
!setvar title 'Delinquent Accounts'
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
set varsub on
{execute task to create self-describing file foo}
export input foo
export html table title '!title'
export output ./delinq.html
export exit
exit

Note that the following sequence of commands would not have worked, where
STExport is invoked from Suprtool using the Export command with no parameters.
Variable substitution would not take place in this case:
!setvar title 'Delinquent Accounts'
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
set varsub on
{execute task to create self-describing file foo}
export
input foo
html table title '!title'
output ./delinq.html
exit
exit

Suprtool and User Prompting

Suprtool does not contain any features for prompting of input values, but it does have
support for MPE/iX variables. Instead of input values, you can use MPE/iX to create
a file of Suprtool commands and run Suprtool with this file as input.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 79

 Example
Suppose you have a Suprtool usefile called Suprcmd.Use, which contains the
following:
set varsub on
base store,5,reader
get m-customer
:input credit,"Enter Credit Limit :"
if credit-rating >= !credit
list stan
exit

You can then invoke the command file and subsequent prompting from within
Suprtool with the following command:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="use suprcmd.use"

You can also prompt for variables using the MPE Input command in any command
file and reference them as long as variable substitution is enabled with the command:
set varsub on

Resolving Variables
Suprtool, now has a setting called Set VarsubDebug on which will print out the line
after the variable substitution has occurred. This setting only works if Set Varsub is
on and Set VarsubDebug is on.

setvar outfile &

:"/GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
45678901"
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
SUPRTOOL/iX/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2007.
(Version 5.4 Internal) TUE, OCT 30, 2007, 2:58 PM Type H for he
>set varsub on
>set varsubdebug on
>in file1sd.suprtest
vd:in file1sd.suprtest
>output !outfile,link,temp
vd:output /GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123
vd:2345678901,link,temp

The output is formatted into 74 byte chunks and printed with a preceding “vd:” so
the “substituted” line is clear.

Suprtool and Personal Computers

You can format files to be downloaded to your PC for use in spreadsheets or
databases with the PRN option of the Output command. Suprtool formats your file as
a PC structure (a comma-delimited file). Not all PC applications support the PRN
format. For more precise data conversion, create a self-describing file then use
STExport. See the STExport manual for details. You transfer the Suprtool output file
to your PC and then import it into your PC application.

80 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Downloading to the PC
After you have created a PRN file using Suprtool, you can use FTP or any of the
many terminal emulator programs available to download the file to the PC. This
includes Reflection from Walker Richer & Quinn. Robelle's text editor, Qedit, is able
to execute Reflection commands from the HP e3000, helping to automate the process
of downloading.

Decimal Places
Be sure to specify which fields have decimal places when creating the PRN file.
Suprtool reserves extra space for decimal points that appear in the PRN output.
When formatting numeric fields, Suprtool inserts the decimal point at the correct
place. When you import your file into your PC application, numeric fields are
automatically formatted correctly.

Spreadsheets
The following procedure allows you to include literal headings in your spreadsheet
using only one file, the size and shape of which is computed by STExport. We have
tested this method with MS Excel; it should work with any spreadsheet that supports
the importing of delimited files.
There are two steps. First, build a self-describing file with Suprtool, then use
STExport to convert it to PRN and add the headings.
1. In Suprtool build a self-describing file:
>input ...
>define items...
>item items...
>extract fields...
>output sdfile,link
>xeq

2. In STExport convert to PRN and add the header line:

$input sdfile
$heading fieldnames
$output pcdata
$exit

The file Pcdata is a variable-length PRN file with both headings and data.

Suprtool and PowerHouse Applications

You can use Suprtool to significantly speed serial extracts using Quiz and QTP from
Cognos. In many cases the changes to existing applications are minor.

Suprtool with Quiz/QTP

Quiz and QTP are part of PowerHouse, a popular fourth-generation language sold by
Cognos. You can improve the performance of Quiz reports by using Suprtool to
select and sort the records from a dataset, then pass the selected records to Quiz for
final reporting. To do this you need some way to tell Quiz about the record structure
of Suprtool's output file. Quiz already has the capacity to do this without making any
changes to the PowerHouse dictionary (QSCHEMA).

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 81

 In the following example, Suprtool extracts entries from the Custmast dataset, sorts
them, and writes them to the Cmasfile MPE file. These are the records we need for
the Quiz report.

Step 1: Create a Subfile with Quiz

The first step is to use Quiz to extract one entry from the Custmast dataset and write
it to a PowerHouse "subfile". Note that you could also use QTP to build the subfile.
This is described shortly.
:purge cmasfile
:quiz
>access custmast
>set report limit 1
>set subfile name cmasfile keep size numrecs
>report summary all
>go

Replace the Numrecs parameter with the number of records that will be extracted by
the Suprtool run. The default Numrecs is 1 when the report limit is set to 1.
Remove the Keep parameter to create a temporary file instead of a permanent one.
Suprtool can write to temporary files as easily as to permanent files. Temporary files
have the advantage that when multiple batch jobs are running at the same time and
trying to use the same file names, the files won't interfere with each other. Permanent
files, on the other hand, may not have to be rebuilt every time. The same permanent
subfile can be used repeatedly, as long as the record structure doesn't change. The
entire first step of running Quiz or QTP to create the subfile may be omitted.
The Set Subfile statement in Quiz creates a PowerHouse subfile. Subfiles are regular
MPE files (or KSAM/XL files, in the case of indexed subfiles) which have user
labels containing their record descriptions, in Cognos' proprietary format. The data
portion of the files is standard, however, and can be read by other (non-Cognos)
products. It is important to ensure that when you read a subfile with Suprtool, you
define the fields correctly so that Suprtool's view of the data structure exactly
matches the PowerHouse description of the records.

Step 2: Output Erase in Suprtool

Once you have created the PowerHouse subfile, use the Erase option of the Output
command in Suprtool to load the file. This overwrites any data in the subfile, but it
does not touch the PowerHouse mini-dictionary in the user labels:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base actrec
>get custmast;if cred-limit>=1000000
>output cmasfile,erase
>sort custnum
>exit

Step 3: Report with Quiz

The Cmasfile file contains the sorted records for the Quiz report. Quiz knows the
structure of this file because of the initial Quiz commands that we used to create it.
You can now use Quiz to generate the report:

82 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :quiz
>access *cmasfile
>report ...
>go

Using QTP to Create Subfiles

You can also use QTP instead of Quiz to create the PowerHouse subfile:
:purge cmasfile
:qtp
>access custmast
>set input limit 0
>subfile cmasfile size numrecs keep include custmast
>go

There are a number of reasons to use QTP instead of Quiz to create subfiles:
Quiz subfiles always reflect a record structure based on the lowest level of
redefinition in the dictionary. So if an item is redefined, it appears once for each
redefinition in the dictionary. For example:
Record CUSTOMERS
Item CUSTOMER-NUM character size 6
Item CUSTOMER-NAME character size 40
redefined by
Item COMPANY-NAME character size 40
end
redefined by
Item FIRST-NAME character size 20
Item SURNAME character size 20
end

The customer-name field is redefined twice in the dictionary. Although the record
size of the file is only 46 bytes, a Quiz subfile created with
>report summary all

would create a subfile with a record length of 86 bytes as follows:

Item CUSTOMER-NUM character size 6
Item COMPANY-NAME character size 40
Item FIRST-NAME character size 20
Item SURNAME character size 20

A subfile created with QTP, on the other hand, would exactly match the record
structure of the source file. Therefore, it is always safer to use QTP to create the
subfile, as it is more likely to match the structure of Suprtool's output record.
With QTP's Include parameter, it is easy to include either specific fields from the
record or all of the fields. You can also easily include fields from other datasets. This
is handy when creating a subfile that holds the output from a Suprlink task.

Creating Subfile with Command File

The process of creating a subfile is essentially the same regardless of the database
and dataset being used. The only things that change are the subfile and dataset
names. The task can easily be automated using the MPE/iX Makesub command file.
This command file can be executed before running Suprtool, or from within
Suprtool.
Here is the simplest form of the Makesub command file:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 83

 parm subfile, dataset
echo set report limit 1 >usefile
echo access !dataset >>usefile
echo set subfile name !subfile size 10000 >>usefile
echo report summary all >>usefile
echo go >>usefile
echo exit >>usefile
run quiz.current.cognos; &
info="auto=usefile nolist" >$null

Makesub can be invoked from within Suprtool, as shown below:

:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base actrec
>:makesub cmasfile, d-custmast
>get custmast;if cred-limit>=1000000
>output cmasfile,erase
>sort custnum
>exit

The subfile is created from the single statement :makesub from within the Suprtool
task.
The preceding form of the Makesub command file achieves the goal of simplifying
the Suprtool code, but it can still be improved. A better form would incorporate a
few more features for added flexibility. The following version of Makesub provides
these advantages:
1. The capacity of the subfile can be specified.
2. The subfile can be temporary or permanent.
3. The subfile can contain either all the elements of a file, or selected
elements.
QTP is used instead of Quiz so that there are no multiple redefinitions of any item.
This helps ensure that the layout of the subfile matches the output record that
Suprtool creates.
parm subfile, dataset, temp_or_not=" ", flimit=10000
anyparm include=!dataset

if "!temp_or_not" = "TEMP"
setvar keep " "
setvar purgetemp ",temp"
else
setvar keep "keep"
setvar purgetemp " "
endif

file s=!subfile,old!temp_or_not

if finfo("*s",0)
purge !subfile !purgetemp
echo Existing subfile has been purged
endif

echo set input limit 0 >usefile

echo access !dataset >>usefile
echo subfile !subfile size !flimit !keep &
include !include >>usefile
echo go >>usefile
echo exit >>usefile
run qtp.current.cognos;info="auto=usefile nolist">$null
purge usefile,temp
echo Subfile has been created

The new-and-improved version of Makesub can be invoked from within Suprtool, as

shown below:

84 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base actrec
>:makesub cmasfile, d-custmast, TEMP, 5000, &
customer-number, company-name, first-name
>get custmast;if cred-limit>=1000000
>extract customer-number, company-name, first-name
>output cmasfile,erase
>sort custnum
>exit

Suprtool and PowerHouse Data-Types

One of the recurring themes in the Technical Support calls that we receive involves
identifying data-types when defining fields in Suprtool. This is particularly true of
PowerHouse sites, because PowerHouse views the data through its dictionary
definitions, while Suprtool's vocabulary is based on IMAGE terminology. Because
both products read the same underlying data structures, the problem is only one of
semantics. This section aims to assist the user in correctly declaring data structures
that are passed between Suprtool and PowerHouse processes.

Translation Table of Data-Types

IMAGE Type PowerHouse Type Suprtool Type

U or X Character Byte (Character for NLS)
R Float (non-IEEE)* Real or Long
E Float (IEEE)* IEEE
K Integer Unsigned Logical
J Integer Signed Integer or Double
P Packed Packed
Z Zoned Display

(* IEEE or Non-IEEE depends on whether "float IEEE" or "float NONIEEE" was

declared under System Options in your system dictionary)

Tip 1: Use QSHOW to examine PowerHouse data

structures.
Many users are familiar with Quiz's Show Items command:
> access d-sales
> show items
INPUT OUTPUT
D-SALES TYPE SCALE SCALE DEC PICTURE
* CUST-ACCOUNT NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^
DELIV-DATE NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^
* PRODUCT-NO NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^
PRODUCT-PRICE NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^
PURCH-DATE NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^
SALES-QTY NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^
SALES-TAX NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^
SALES-TOTAL NUM 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^

This listing shows you the attributes and sequence of the fields, but doesn't give any
clues as to their storage format.
QSHOW gives a much more useful listing:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 85

 > show subfile salesub
SUBFILE DICTIONARY Page 1
SUBFILE RECORD REPORT

Subfile: SALESUB
Type: Permanent
Organization: Direct
Format: 7
Record Size: 38 Bytes

Item Type Offset Size Occurs

CUST-ACCOUNT ZONED UNSIGNED 0 8

DELIV-DATE INTEGER SIGNED 8 4
PRODUCT-NO ZONED UNSIGNED 12 8
PRODUCT-PRICE INTEGER SIGNED 20 4
PURCH-DATE INTEGER SIGNED 24 4
SALES-QTY INTEGER SIGNED 28 2
SALES-TAX INTEGER SIGNED 30 4
SALES-TOTAL INTEGER SIGNED 34 4

Notice that this listing shows the offset of the fields within the record (with the first
field starting at offset 0), the length (size) of the fields, as well as the storage data-
type. In most cases, these map directly onto the IMAGE/Suprtool data-types. (See
Translation Table above.)
For example, the above subfile can be defined in Suprtool as follows:
>define cust-account,1,8,display
>define deliv-date,9,4,integer
>define product-no,13,8,display
>define product-price,21,4,integer
>define purch-date,25,4,integer
>define sales-qty,29,2,integer
>define sales-tax,31,4,integer
>define sales-total,35,4,integer

Note that PowerHouse's Zoned Unsigned data-type is equivalent to Suprtool's

Display data-type, and that Suprtool's Define offset starts at 1, which is one higher
than the offset in the QSHOW listing.

Tip 2: Where is the Data Coming From?

When a PowerHouse subfile contains complete records from an IMAGE dataset, you
can have Suprtool read the record structure directly from the IMAGE Root file:
>base store,1,WRITER
>input salesub = d-sales
>form

Database: STORE.DEMO.ROBELLE

D-SALES Detail Set 5

Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)
DELIV-DATE J2 9
PRODUCT-NO Z8 13 (M-PRODUCT)
PRODUCT-PRICE J2 21
PURCH-DATE J2 25
SALES-QTY J1 29
SALES-TAX J2 31
SALES-TOTAL J2 35
Capacity: 602 (14) Entries: 8 Highwater: 8 Bytes: 38

Of course, if the subfile contains only some of the fields, then you'll need to define
them individually. But you can still use Suprtool's Form command to examine their
storage structure in the datasets from which they've been extracted.

86 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Tip 3: Defined Fields' Data-Types
In some cases, subfiles may contain fields that were created within a previous Quiz
task, namely:
• Defined fields
• Results of summary functions (Count, Subtotal, etc ...)
Defined fields will have whatever storage type was specified when they were
created. If storage type "numeric" was specified, PowerHouse will create a Float Size
8 field by default. It is also important to note that if the Define command is not
explicit about the field size, PowerHouse will assume a size based on the requested
number of digits. For example,
define D-PRICE integer*4 = 25

creates a field capable of storing 4 digits (i.e., a 2-byte integer), while

define D-PRICE integer size4 = 25

will guarantee a 4-byte integer field. When in doubt, use QSHOW to examine the
structure of the subfile.

Tip 4: Fields Created by Summary Operations

Here is a list of data-types for PowerHouse summary functions written to subfiles:

Data-Type Field
Count Integer size 4
Subtotal Float Size 8
Minimum Float Size 8 for numerics, Character size nn
for char fields
Maximum Float Size 8 for numerics, Character size nn
for char fields
Average Float size 8 subtotal, Integer size 4 count,
and an Integer size 4 filler of binary zeros.
Percent two Float Size 8 subtotals
Ratio two Float Size 8 subtotals
Sysname Character size 40
Sysdate Phdate integer size 2 or 4 (if century
included)
Systime Integer size 2 (HHMM format)

Suprtool Definitions - QSCHEMA

You can create Suprtool field definitions from the record layout information
provided by PowerHouse. Think of the QSHOW output as a list of records that needs
only to be translated into another form. What you do is send the QSHOW report to a
disc file, and process that file with Quiz, turning it into a list of Define commands for
Suprtool.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 87

 Notes on QSHOW Output
To capture the output of QSHOW, you can run QSHOW and redirect the $stdlist. Or,
you can set a :File command for QSHOLIST to a disc file:
:build templist;rec=-80,,f,ascii
:file qsholist=templist,old;dev=disc
:run qshow.current.cognos

Once inside QSHOW, you must Set Report Device Printer so that QSHOW uses the
QSHOLIST file. The advantage of using QSHOLIST is that only the actual file
report is put in the file, not any of the other information printed by QSHOW (such as
the program banner).
PowerHouse subfiles can be processed in the same way as files defined in the
PowerHouse dictionary (QSCHEMA). There is a QSHOW command called Show
Subfile, which works identically to Show File and produces a report with the same
information. Some of the columns are off horizontally, but our Quiz example
program fixes that.
Use the QSHOW command Set Compressed to suppress the page numbers and other
heading information in the QSHOW report.
A sample output from QSHOW would look like this:
Subfile: F184A.PC (Permanent)
Format: 3
Record Size: 138 Bytes
Item Type Offset Size Occurs
PRONUM CHARACTER 0 18
INSHP FLOAT 18 4
REFNUM CHARACTER 22 10
SONUM CHARACTER 32 10
ARFSC CHARACTER 42 4
TYPNUM INTEGER 46 2
SOES1 CHARACTER 48 30
SOES5 CHARACTER 78 30
BILNAM CHARACTER 108 30

First, we define what the QSHOW reports look like in a dictionary:

File Qshow-Subfile
Organization Direct &
Open QSHOLIST
File Qshow-File
Organization Direct &
Open QSHOLIST

Record Qshow-Subfile
Item Filler1 character size 1
Item Name character size 23
Item Type character size 18
Item Offset freeform size 10
Item ItemSize freeform size 10
Item Occurs freeform size 18

Record Qshow-File
Item Key character size 6
Item Name character size 35
Item Type character size 18
Item Offset freeform size 4
Item ItemSize freeform size 5
Item Occurs freeform size 12

Note that we have two definitions, one for the Show Subfile output and one for the
Show File output. We use the same names for the columns and adjust the Size to
accommodate the differences in horizontal positioning. Note that Freeform is a
number stored in a character field; Quiz automatically converts it to a number.

88 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 The Quiz Report
It is not essential to use Quiz to do the definition translation; a COBOL program
could be used. The object of the Quiz report is to produce a Suprtool Define
command for each field. The Define command has the following components:
1. The word "define".
2. The field name.
3. The position (starting with column 1). The QSHOW report gives an
offset starting at zero, so the position is the offset plus 1.
4. The field size in bytes.
5. The field type, using the Suprtool names.
6. The subcount (Quiz's occurs column).
We have one Suprtool Define command for each line of the QSHOW report.
Remember that we mean to define just the lines that represent field information.
Using the above example of QSHOW output, we do not want to process the first six
lines, because they are heading information. For these lines, however, the column
containing the field size does not contain a valid number. We can simply tell Quiz to
select only those records where ItemSize is greater than zero.
We get the field name from the name already provided in the data dictionary. To get
the field type, we can create a Quiz Define statement which maps the PowerHouse
types into the Suprtool types. Although the PowerHouse type sometimes has a sign
qualifier for numeric fields, in this case it doesn't matter. We need to check only the
first few characters of the type. We convert a blank in the occurs-column to a
subcount of one.
;QUIZ - SUPRTOOL Definitions
Access QSHOW-SUBFILE ;or QSHOW-FILE
Select if ItemSize > 0 ;Ignore heading lines
Define Position = Offset + 1
Define SuprType char*8 = &
"integer" if Type[1:8]="INTEGER" else &
"packed" if Type[1:7]="PACKED" else &
"real" if Type[1:6]="FLOAT" else &
"display" if Type[1:6]="ZONED" else &
"byte"
Define SuprSubcount char*8 = &
"1" if Occurs = 0 else &
ascii(Occurs)
Report &
tab 1 "DEFINE" Name pic"^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^" &
"," Position pic "^^^" &
"," ItemSize pic "^^^" &
"," SuprType pic "^^^^^^^" &
"," SuprSubcount
set nohead
set page length 1 report spacing 1
set report device disc name SUPRDEFS ;send to disk file
go

The output from the above example would look like this:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 89

 DEFINE PRONUM , 1 , 18 , byte , 1
DEFINE INSHP , 19 , 4 , real , 1
DEFINE REFNUM , 23 , 10 , byte , 1
DEFINE SONUM , 33 , 10 , byte , 1
DEFINE ARFSC , 43 , 4 , byte , 1
DEFINE TYPNUM , 47 , 2 , integer, 1
DEFINE SOES1 , 49 , 30 , byte , 1
DEFINE SOES5 , 79 , 30 , byte , 1
DEFINE BILNAM , 109 , 30 , byte , 1

This represents a simple use of definition processing from the data dictionary. There
are many other uses for this technique. These are some other examples: to create
record definitions for FORTRAN programs (define variables for each field, and
EQUIVALENCE them to the proper element of a buffer array), for tape file transfers
to other machines (create a new file with all numeric fields converted to type Zoned),
and to create PC database structure definitions for receiving downloaded data (also
see "Format Options" on page 231).

Quiz: Generating Suprtool Commands

Suprtool does not have the ability to prompt users for selection criteria. You can
easily create a short Quiz procedure to prompt for values and create a file of Suprtool
commands.
> define D-PROMPT date format YYMMDD = &
> parm prompt "Enter selection date: "
> report &
> "base BASENAME,5" &
> skip "get SETNAME" &
> skip "if DATEFIELD = " D-PROMPT pic "^^^^^^" &
> skip "output OUTFILE" &
> skip "xeq"
> set nohead
> set report device disc name STCODE
> set page length 0
> go

Quiz edits the user's input for a valid date. Note that there is no ACCESS statement,
but Quiz still writes one record to the output file. Execute the resulting commands as
a Suprtool usefile:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4;info="use stcode"

Generating Suprtool Commands from Quick

Alternatively, you could use Quick to prompt a user for input, to create a file of
suprtool commands:

90 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 screen test menu temp start-date char*8 temp end-date char*8 temp
prompt char*40 define D-CMD char*80 = "ECHO if Start-date !> " + start-
date &
+ " and end-date !< " + end-date + " >> mytemp" title "Creating Use
File Demo Screen" centered skip 2 field prompt field start-date field
end-date procedure initialize begin
let prompt = "Enter a start-date (YYYYMMDD)"
display prompt
accept start-date
let prompt = "Enter an end-date (YYYYMMDD)"
display prompt
accept end-date
run command "echo base STORE.DEMO.ROBELLE,1,WRITER > mytemp"
run command "echo get D-SALES >> mytemp"
run command D-CMD
run command "echo output OUTFILE,link >> mytemp"
run command "echo exit >> mytemp"
run command "run SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE;parm=40;info='use mytemp'" end
build

This doesn't require any special dictionary declarations, as it uses MPE "echo"
commands to create the file.

Suprtool and Application Systems

Suprtool can be used with fourth-generation languages and other tools.

Third-Party Indexing
Omnidex is a product from Dynamic Information Systems Corporation (DISC).
Superdex is a product from Bradmark Technologies, Inc. Each product provides
generic and keyword search capabilities for IMAGE data. It is necessary to keep
their index information up-to-date when any program, including Suprtool, adds or
deletes records from the indexed database.
In MPE/iX 4.0, Hewlett Packard has provided an interface that ensures that the
Omnidex and Superdex indexes remain up-to-date. You only need to enable third-
party indexing (TPI) using DBUTIL. Once this is enabled, MPE automatically calls
the TPI intrinsics to maintain the indexes as records are added, delete and modified.
:run dbutil.pub.sys
>>enable mybase for indexing
>>exit

It is important to note that Suprtool accesses third-party indexes by the Chain

command, which in turn invokes DBFIND mode-1 to establish the chain and
DBGET mode-5 to read down the chain. It is important that you follow whatever
rules are required by your indexing product to use its respective third-party index, as
opposed to any IMAGE index that may exist.
For example, with Omnidex you might need to set a JCW used by Omnidex called
IMAGETPI to determine which index or chain is used.
For more detailed information, consult the TurboIMAGE Reference Manual, and the
appropriate documentation from DISC or Bradmark.

Z-type TPI-keys
Suprtool supports stand-alone “Z” type keys. Suprtools form command will show the
keys that it can support via the chain command.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 91

 The length of a key is returned by dbinfo-833 and Suprtool will report in the form
command the length of a stand-alone key. (SI-PRODUCT-NO is the path that is now
supported) Superdex has a variable that impacts the length that is returned for a
given key, and that is SICOGNOS. Suprtool will account for the length difference on
the chain command but will show the unadjusted length. Normally Superdexs
dbinfo-833 would show a length of 12 for a Zoned-decimal tpi-key with a length of
8, if SICOGNOS is set to 1, then Superdex will return 8.

form d-inventory

Database: STORE.SUPRTPIS.GREEN TPI: SUPERDEX (010566) 4.2.11.2

D-INVENTORY Detail Set# 4

Entry: Offset
BIN-NO J1 1
LAST-SHIP-DATE J2 3
ON-HAND-QTY J2 7
PRODUCT-NO Z8 11 (M-PRODUCT)
<<TPI>>
SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19 (!M-SUPPLIER)
UNIT-COST P8 27
ITEM-DESC1 X20 31 <<TPI>>
ITEM-DESC2 X20 51
ITEM-DESC3 X20 71
ITEM-DESC4 X20 91
Capacity: 464 (8) Entries: 13 Highwater: 13 Bytes: 110

Additional Third-Party Indexes:

SI-PRODUCT-NO Z8 B
SI-ITEM-DESC1 X20 B
SI-ITEM-DESC1234 X80 B
SHAD X10 B

Omnidex without TPI

On MPE V, and on versions on MPE/iX that do not support TPI, you must access the
Omnidex intrinsics via "call conversion". To use call conversion with Omnidex
version greater than 2.05.03 and less than 3.00, Suprtool.Pub.Robelle must be copied
to the CC group of the DISC account and this copy of Suprtool must be run.
:run suprtool.cc.disc;lib=g

If you use the Suprtool2 interface to invoke Suprtool, you need the following MPE
commands to force Suprtool2 to run the call-converted copy of Suprtool:
:setjcw suprtool2filecommand = 2
:setjcw suprtool2lib = 2
:file suprtool = suprtool.cc.disc

For Omnidex versions starting with 3.00 you can use call conversion by running
Suprtool in the following manner:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;xl="xl.pub.disc"

If you encounter any difficulties running Suprtool with call conversion, please call us
for assistance.

92 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 OmniQuest
Dynamic Information Systems Corporation (DISC) also has a product called
OmniQuest, which allows you to qualify records and prompt the user for selection
criteria.
In order to allow OmniQuest to work properly, Suprtool needs to use only IMAGE
Intrinsics. To do this, you just need to put the following Set command prior to the
Base command in your Suprtool and Omniquest command script.
>set privmode off

Due to a conflict between the Robelle sort and the OmniQuest product, Suprtool's
fast sort algorithms must be turned off. This may be done with the following Set
command:
>set sortfast off

If you encounter any difficulties running Suprtool with OmniQuest, please call us for
assistance. If you do not turn off Set sortfast off, you will likely receive the error
Data Memory Protection Trap.

Suprtool with TRANSACT

TRANSACT is one of the Rapid products sold by HP. A TRANSACT program that
serially reads and selects records from a dataset can easily be modified to use
Suprtool. To convert a TRANSACT program to use Suprtool, follow these steps:
1. Add a FILE=*SUPRFILE(READ) statement to the SYSTEM
statement.
2. Remove any MATCH register statements (use the Suprtool If command
instead).
3. Change the FIND(SERIAL) dataset to FIND(SERIAL) *SUPRFILE.
4. Use the Suprtool Extract command to select the fields from the LIST=
statement.
5. Delete any SORT= statements (use the Suprtool Sort command
instead).
6. Use Suprtool to build the SUPRFILE.
The following example shows the changes to a TRANSACT program. A
TRANSACT program that serially reads a dataset might look like:
system cust, base=cust.database("READ",5);
<< set up to select only cust-out = "YES" >>

move (cust-out)="YES";
set(match) list(cust-out);

find(serial) customer-detail,
list=(cust-name,cust-addr,cust-nbr,cust-out),
sort=(cust-nbr),
perform=p100-process-customer;

end cust;

The TRANSACT program is modified to look like:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 93

 system cust,
file=*suprfile(read),
base=cust.database("READ",5);

find(serial) *suprfile,
list=(cust-name,cust-addr,cust-nbr,cust-out),
perform=p100-process-customer;

end cust;

If this program is a batch program, you would insert the following MPE and Suprtool
commands before you invoke the TRANSACT program:
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base cust.database,5,read
>get customer-detail
>if cust-out="YES"
>extract cust-name,cust-addr,cust-nbr,cust-out
>sort cust-nbr
>output suprfile
>exit
!run tranprog.pub

If this program is used on-line, you would invoke Suprtool using the Suprtool2
interface (see the Calling Suprtool user manual). To avoid file name conflicts, on-
line programs should use a job temporary Suprtool output file. For TRANSACT to
read a temporary file, the asterisk in the file name is required.
If you use the LIST= statement, you have to use the Suprtool Extract command to
specify the desired fields. The order of the fields in the Extract command must match
the order of the fields in the LIST= statement. The Extract may be omitted if the
TRANSACT program reads all of the fields in the dataset, but the program must be
recompiled if the dataset is changed.
The Suprtool If command replaces the MATCH register of the TRANSACT
program. You can still use the MATCH register to do further selection (e.g., from
other datasets).
A FIND(Chain) can be modified to use Suprtool, but you must verify that your
program actually runs faster (in many cases it will not). To change a FIND(Chain) to
use Suprtool, use the same steps as FIND(SERIAL).

XSORT and RPG

XSORT is a program which simulates the System 34 - #3 sort. XSORT jobs can be
converted to use Suprtool with few or no problems. The following steps must be
done to convert from XSORT to Suprtool:
1. Change any Omit Record statements to use the Define command and a
non-equal expression in the If command.
2. Change any Include Record statements to use the Define command and
the If command.
3. If an Address Sort is used, Set Firstrec 1 and use Output xxx,num.
The Set Firstrec 1 is required with KSAM files. This forces Suprtool to start record
numbers at 1 regardless of the setting in the KSAM Key file.

QUERY Program
QUERY can't produce a report from an MPE file. Because the output from Suprtool
is an MPE file, it is not usually feasible to use Suprtool to improve the speed of

94 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 QUERY reports. However, if a small percentage of records are selected, you can use
the following method to improve the speed of QUERY reports:
1. Create an empty copy of the database (either build the database using
DBSCHEMA or use DBUTIL to empty an existing copy).
2. Suprtool extracts the records and Puts them to the copy of the database.
3. QUERY reports on all the entries in the copy database.

SRN Chronos Dates

Software packages from Software Research Northwest use a date format known as
Chronos, which stores the date and time in a compressed 6-byte format. In Suprtool,
you can specify this format by using the Srnchronos date attribute:
>item box-timestamp,date,srnchronos
Once you have used the Item command to identify Chronos dates, you can do the
following:
1. Select on these dates using the $date and $today functions. For
example, to select records with a timestamp before today:
>if box-timestamp < $today
2. Extract these dates using $date and $today.
3. See the date attribute in the Form command.
4. Pass the date attribute to STExport by using the Link option of the
Output command.
5. Format these dates into a meaningful value by using STExport.

Year 2000 Solutions with Suprtool

For this discussion we'll Suprtool often has to process dates in both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. If
ignore the fact that the you include the century in your dates, Suprtool should behave as most users expect.
twenty-first century really If you do not include the century in your dates, how Suprtool behaves will be
only started in 2001. J dependent on your specific application and data.

What If I Have Four-Digit Years?

If your dates have four-digit years, Suprtool should work as expected. Selection
based on the $today or $date features will select dates in both the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries. Dates that do not collate correctly (e.g., mmddccyy) will not
be accepted by Suprtool's If command for relative selection (e.g., <, <=, >, or >=). If
you have these date formats you can use the $stddate function, converts any date
format to a ccyymmdd type date.
Suprtool, as it has always done, will continue to sort dates based on their numeric
value and not on any implied date order.
In Suprtool 4.0, we introduced some new command parsing features that let you
control how Suprtool parses the year of the $date function. You can either use two-
digit years by applying a cutoff rule or you can force all years to be specified as four
digits.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 95

 What does Set Date Cutoff do?
Date Cutoff tells Suprtool what century to use when Suprtool generates a constant
date value from the $date function.
Before version 4.0, Suprtool would assume 19 for the century for any user-specified
$date with a two-digit year. For example:
>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd
>if date-field <= $date(40/12/26)

Previously the $date function would convert the user specified $date to 1940/12/26
in order for it to be compared to the date-field format of CCYYMMDD. Now with
Set Date Cutoff xx, Suprtool assumes 20 for the century if the two-digit year
specified in the $date function is less than the value of Set Date Cutoff. For example:
>set date cutoff 50
>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd
>if date-field <= $date(40/12/26)

Suprtool in this case assumes the full $date to be 2040/12/26, because the 40 in $date
is less than the 50 in Set Date Cutoff.
The default value of Set Date Cutoff is 10.

Stddate and Set Date Cutoff

When $Stddate has to convert from a date with only a two-digit year, the conversion
to the four-digit year will use the value of Set Date Cutoff when converting the date.
For example,
>get sales-detail
>set date cutoff 15
>def new-ship-date,1,4,double
>item ship-date,date,mmddyy
>ext order-no / sales-amount
>ext new-ship-date = $stddate(ship-date)
>out salesinfo,link
>xeq

In this example, if any ship-date has a year of 14 or less, then the century applied to
the new-ship-date field will be 20. Ship-dates with a year of 15 or more will have a
century of 19 applied.

What does Set Date ForceCentury do?

Set Date ForceCentury On will not allow a yy date to be entered in the $date
function, it will force the user to enter a full ccyy date.
>set date forcecentury on
>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd
>if date-field >= $date(98/12/10)

Error: You must specify the century or Set Date ForceCentury off

The default value for Set Date ForceCentury is off.

What If I Have Two-Digit Years?

If you have dates with two-digit years, there are two main solutions to making your
application ready for the Year 2000:

96 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 1. Convert all of your date data to use four-digit years and modify your
programs to process four-digit years, or
2. Assume that certain dates are in the twentieth century and some in the
twenty-first (this is usually called date windowing).
The first solution requires that you change all Suprtool Item commands for two-digit
years to a four-digit year format. If you have not already done so, you may want to
isolate all of these Item commands in a single file per input source (e.g., one file for
every dataset in every database in your application or just one file for every
database). You can nest use-files, making this approach even easier (e.g., having one
database use-file that then includes each dataset use-file with a list of Item
commands). You may also want to use Suprtool to assist you in changing your actual
data from two-digit years to four. See "Can Suprtool Convert Two-Digit Years to
Four Digits?" on page 99 for more details.
If you do not include the century in your dates (the second solution above), you will
have the following problems:
1. Selecting dates in yymmdd format will not produce the expected results
in relative operations (e.g., <, <=, >, or >=). You will need to change all
of your If commands to use the $stddate function.
2. Sorting dates that include both 20th and 21st century dates, will not
collate the way most users expect, whether with Suprtool, the COBOL
sort verbs, or HPs sort tools. This is because Suprtool, and all HP-
supplied tools, sort based on the numeric value of a date. To make this
work correctly within Suprtool, you will need to use the $stddate
function in an Extract command to generate a date with a four-digit
year, then sort on this new date field with another Suprtool task.

What Is Wrong with Two-Digit Years?

Currently the date format of yymmdd collates (sorts) correctly if the date is not
beyond December 31, 1999. Given the current date of 981210, numerically this is
less than next year whose date value is 991210.
At the turn of the century dates in the yymmdd format (or yymm) will no longer sort
correctly because the value of December 10, 2000 (001210) is less than 981210.
Consequently, if we have a date beyond 1999, stored in yymmdd format, a relative
operation such as:
>if date-field >= $date(98/12/10)

will not find the date of December 10, 2000. You will need to use the $stddate
function to make this task work correctly.
>if $stddate(date-field) >= $date(98/12/10)

How Do $Today and $Date Work?

Suprtool's date functions ($date and $today) are a short-hand method of generating a
numeric constant. So a date selection like:
>item invoice-date,date,YYMMDD
>if invoice-date < $today

is exactly the same as:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 97

 >if invoice-date < 980401 {on 1st April, 1998}

Suprtool does record selection on the numeric value of the field and not on the
implied date value. If we move the calendar ahead to January 1, 2000 and do the
same commands as above, the result would the same as if you had typed:
>if invoice-date < 000101 {on 1st January, 2000}

If you have some invoice dates from the previous century (e.g., 990101 for
December 1st, 1999), they will not be selected.

Will Suprtool Generate an Error for Two-Digit Year

Dates?
Sometimes.
Because dates beyond 1999 will not collate properly for the YYMMDD and YYMM
formats, starting in version 4.0.11 the If command produces an error if the year
specified in a $date or $today function is greater than 1999 and the date format is
YYMMDD or YYMM, and you are performing a relative operation (e.g., <, <=, >,
or >=).
>item enddate, date, yymmdd
>if enddate >= $date(*+4/*/*) {21st. century date}
^
Error: Cannot use a date beyond 1999 for this format

Suprtool returns this error by default, but you can override it with the following set
command:
>set date ifyy2000error off

This tells Suprtool to allow the previously described relative operations and suppress
the error message. While you can override the error checking, the behavior of $today
and $date is not changed.

How Do I Use $Today and $Date with yymmdd

Dates?
If you need to have Suprtool select dates in YYMMDD format with $Today or
$Date, you need to use one of the following solutions:
1. Change the date storage format to include the century in all datasets
and data files, so you can use the following item command:
>item invoice-date,date,CCYYMMDD
2. Use the $stddate function that adds the century component to dates in a
ccyymmdd format in a J2 container.
Also see "Case 1: Converting a J2 Date from yymmdd to ccyymmdd" on page 99
and "Case 2: X6 yymmdd Data to X8 ccyymmdd" on page 101 for more specific
details on converting two-digit-year date formats into four-digit-year date formats.

aammdd Date Format

The aammdd date format was developed by James Overman of HP for use in the
MM3000 product. This format is only available for the X6 data-type.
The aammdd format is similar to yymmdd, but the year portion of the date use a
combination of numbers and letters of the alphabet to represent years beyond 1999.

98 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 By substituting a letter of the alphabet in the first position of the year, we can extend
a six-digit date and also ensure that the dates collate correctly. For example,

YY of AAMMDD CCYY
A0 - A9 2000 - 2009
B0 - B9 2010 - 2019
C0 - C9 2020 - 2029

Because letters are greater than numbers in the collating sequence we can ensure that
aammdd dates beyond 1999 will order correctly.
Suprtool also supports other date formats with this two-digit year representation.
These formats are aamm, mmddaa and ddmmaa.

Invalid Dates
The If command has a $invalid function to find all invalid dates for a particular field.
An invalid date is any number of a particular date format whose date equivalent
cannot be found on the calendar. For example, a date with a month of 99 will be
considered invalid.
>base store.demo
Database password [;]?
>get d-sales
>item deliv-date,date,ccyymmdd
>if $invalid(deliv-date)
>out baddates,link
>xeq

Can Suprtool Convert Two-Digit Years to Four

Digits?
Suprtool is capable of converting dates from one format to another using a variety of
Suprtool features. We will show how Suprtool can convert common dates without
the century to those that have the century included. While Suprtool can convert your
data, it is up to you to change your programs. Adager, a third-party program for
changing Image database structures, has the ability to change date fields. Suprtool
can convert data in Image databases, flat files, self-describing files and KSAM files.

Case 1: Converting a J2 Date from yymmdd to

ccyymmdd
The $stddate function can convert six-digit date formats to ccyymmdd. But what if
all the dates are not actually dates, but some dates are filled with 9s as a flag to an
application?
Consider this dataset with two date fields, J2 items and in the date format yymmdd.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 99

 Database: STORE.DB.GREEN
D-SALES Detail Set 5
Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)
DELIV-DATE J2 9
PRODUCT-NO Z8 13 (M-PRODUCT)
PRODUCT-PRICE J2 21
PURCH-DATE J2 25
SALES-QTY J1 29
SALES-TAX J2 31
SALES-TOTAL J2 35
Capacity: 602 (14) Entries: 10 Highwater: 10 Bytes: 38

First, we need to know and understand our data. Are there any invalid dates? If so,
does the value have some other logical meaning?
>get d-sales
>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd
>item purch-date,date,yymmdd
>if $invalid(deliv-date) or $invalid(purch-date)
>list
>xeq
>GET D-SALES (9) >OUT $NULL (0)
CUST-ACCOUNT = 10010 DELIV-DATE = 999999
PRODUCT-NO = 50513001 PRODUCT-PRICE = 19220
PURCH-DATE = 999999 SALES-QTY = 2
SALES-TAX = 2691 SALES-TOTAL = 21910

>GET D-SALES (10) >OUT $NULL (1)

CUST-ACCOUNT = 10010 DELIV-DATE = 125213
PRODUCT-NO = 50513001 PRODUCT-PRICE = 19220
PURCH-DATE = 1 SALES-QTY = 2691
SALES-TAX = 21910 SALES-TOTAL = 21910

IN=10, OUT=2. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

In this example, we see two records that do not contain proper dates. The first record
contains all 9s, which is probably used as some sort of flag. We may need to add 99
in front of these dates.
But the second record is obviously wrong. We can use Dbedit to correct this before
converting the other dates. We need to know our data to properly convert to a new
date format.
Once all the incorrect dates are fixed, we can start converting. We can add a prefix of
19 or 20 to all the appropriate dates by using the following Extract statement. Please
note that we are updating this directly. In case we need to redo this task, we only
convert those dates that have not yet been converted. In this example we set the
cutoff year to 30 so any dates before 30 will have 20 as the century and the others
will have 19.
>get d-sales
>set date cutoff 30
>item purch-date,date,yymmdd
>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd
>if not $invalid(purch-date) and not $invalid(deliv-date)
>update
>ext purch-date = $stddate(purch-date)
>ext deliv-date = $stddate(deliv-date)
>xeq

We have now converted all the J2 yymmdd dates to a ccyymmdd format and added
the correct century to the date.

100 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Case 2: X6 yymmdd Data to X8 ccyymmdd
The following Suprtool task shows how you can generate a new file to put into a new
database with dates in a different format.
Consider the deliv-date and purch-date fields of the D-Sales dataset:
Database: STORE.DBOLD.ACCOUNT
D-SALES Detail Set 5
Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)
DELIV-DATE X6 9
PRODUCT-NO Z8 15 (M-PRODUCT)
PRODUCT-PRICE J2 23
PURCH-DATE X6 27
SALES-QTY J1 33
SALES-TAX J2 35
SALES-TOTAL J2 39
Capacity: 611 (13) Entries: 15 Highwater: 15 Bytes: 42

You want to convert to a date format with room for a cc at the beginning of the
deliv-date and purch-date:
Database: STORE.DB.ACCOUNT
D-SALES Detail Set 5
Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)
DELIV-DATE X8 9
PRODUCT-NO Z8 17 (M-PRODUCT)
PRODUCT-PRICE J2 25
PURCH-DATE X8 29
SALES-QTY J1 37
SALES-TAX J2 39
SALES-TOTAL J2 43
Capacity: 608 (16) Entries: 0 Highwater: 0 Bytes: 46

In order to convert these dates you need to be able to put either a 19 or 20 in front of
the yymmdd date, depending on the value of the year. Before you can do either of
these you must confirm, once again, that you have no invalid dates.
>base store.dbold
>get d-sales
>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd
>item purch-date,date,yymmdd
>if $invalid(deliv-date) or $invalid(purch-date)
>list
>xeq

Once you have confirmed that there are no invalid dates you can start converting the
dates that you have. Because there are two date fields in this dataset you must be
careful to add the appropriate century for the proper field. For this example, assume
that if a year is less than 1950 then the century should be 20.
You can easily convert each date by processing each field separately by using an
intermediate self-describing file:

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 101

 >base store.dbold,1
Database password [;]?

>get d-sales
>set squeeze off
>item deliv-date,date,yymmdd
>if deliv-date >= $date(1950/01/01)
>out sales01,link
>ext cust-account
>ext "19"
>ext deliv-date / sales-total
>xeq
IN=15, OUT=14. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=5.

Now insert 20 to the century for the appropriate records:

>base store.dbold
>get d-sales
>if deliv-date < $date(1950/01/01)
>ext cust-account
>ext "20"
>ext deliv-date / sales-total
>out sales01,link,append
>xeq

Now you can convert the other field from the flat file, (sales01) and add a century to
the purch-date field:
>reset
>base {close the open database}
>in sales01
>item purch-date,date,yymmdd
>if purch-date >= $date(1950/01/01)
>set squeeze off
>out sales02,link
>ext cust-account / product-price
>ext "19"
>ext purch-date / sales-total
>xeq
IN=15, OUT=15. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

Because you extracted all 15 records you know you do not have any records with the
purch-date field that need to be updated with a "20".
Now you can insert the records into the new database:
>base store.db
>in sales02
>put d-sales
>xeq

Now you have converted two dates from an X6 format to an X8 format.

Case 3: Different Date Formats X6 MMDDYY Data

to X6 YYMMDD
The following Suprtool task shows you how to convert a date in a self-describing file
from mmddyy to yymmdd format.
Consider the following self-describing file with the deliv-date and purch-date fields:

102 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 File: SALES04.DATA.ACCOUNT (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1
DELIV-DATE X6 9 <<MMDDYY>>
PRODUCT-NO Z8 15
PRODUCT-PRICE I2 23
PURCH-DATE X6 27 <<MMDDYY>>
SALES-QTY I1 33
SALES-TAX I2 35
SALES-TOTAL I2 39
Limit: 115 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 42 Blocking: 97

You want to convert these two dates to a data format of yymmdd before adding a
century in front of the year. This can be easily accomplished by defining each sub
part of the date and extracting those parts in the new order. You can use string
addition to re-order the field in one pass.
>in sales04
>def new-deliv,1,6
>item new-deliv,date,yymmdd
>def deliv-date-mm,deliv-date[1],2
>def deliv-date-dd,deliv-date[3],2
>def deliv-date-yy,deliv-date[5],2
>def new-purch,1,6
>item new-purch,date,yymmdd
>def purch-date-mm,purch-date[1],2
>def purch-date-dd,purch-date[3],2
>def purch-date-yy,purch-date[5],2
>ext cust-account
>ext new-deliv = deliv-date-yy + deliv-date-mm + deliv-date-dd
>ext product-no / product-price
>ext new-purch = ext purch-date-yy + purch-date-mm + purch-date-dd
>ext sales-qty / sales-total
>out sales05,link
>xeq

You now end up with a file that looks like this:

File: SALES06.DATA.ACCOUNT (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1
NEW-DELIV X6 9 <<YYMMDD>>
PRODUCT-NO Z8 15
PRODUCT-PRICE I2 23
NEW-PURCH X6 27 <<YYMMDD>>
SALES-QTY I1 33
SALES-TAX I2 35
SALES-TOTAL I2 39
Limit: 115 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 42 Blocking: 97

You then add the century to these fields as described above.

Year 2000 Testing

Testing software to see if it works in the year 2000 and beyond is difficult. Currently
there are three software tools that change the software date for specific sessions or
applications, making it easier to test software for year 2000 compliance. The four
tools are:
1. Hourglass from Allegro Consultants, Inc.
2. Time Machine from SolutionSoft Systems, Inc.
3. Setdate from the HP Jazz machine on the Web
4. TimeWarp/3000 from Omnisolutions

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 103

 All versions of Suprtool work with Hourglass, but versions previous to 4.0.13 did not
work with Time Machine, Setdate, or TimeWarp. This version of Suprtool now
works with all these tools. Note that this change only applies to non-expiring
versions of Suprtool. Expiring versions of Suprtool (such as trials, pre-releases, and
products obtained through VARs) do not work with Time Machine or Setdate.

Performance Issues
HP e3000 sites use Suprtool because it provides access to their data many times
faster than they are used to, and because Suprtool enables them to perform time-
consuming DP functions easily, with a few simple commands. The typical Suprtool
task consists of extracting some data for a report, then feeding the Suprtool output
file into the final report program. For example, you might fill a Quiz subfile with the
subset of data needed, then report that subfile with Quiz.

Native Mode and Compatibility Mode

Suprtool is available in native mode for MPE/iX and compatibility mode for MPE V.
You can compare Suprtool's serial read speed for TurboIMAGE datasets and MPE
files against other programs, both NM and CM. On MPE V systems, Suprtool has
always shown a 2 to 10 times performance gain in such serial reads. On MPE/iX
systems, Suprtool can make serial reads up to 8 times faster, but the improvements
are typically higher on MPE V than on MPE/iX. That is because Suprtool can bypass
most of the MPE V operating system, but cannot bypass the MPE/iX virtual page
manager.
Here is one MPE/iX test that shows what is possible. The test scans a large detail
dataset that is absent from memory, just looking at each record, not writing an output
file. This measures raw serial read capability. Suprtool is 2.5 times faster than a
standard NM program and uses 1/7th the CPU time. When the dataset is fully in
memory, Suprtool is able to complete the task 9.3 times faster than an NM program
calling DBGET mode-2.
Comparison of elapsed time, dataset not in memory
CPU time NM program 115 seconds
Suprtool 17 seconds
Wall time NM program 120 seconds
Suprtool 47 seconds

Comparison of elapsed time, dataset in memory

CPU time NM program 109 seconds
Suprtool 12 seconds
Wall time NM program 112 seconds
Suprtool 12 seconds

CPU-Bound?
Suprtool uses the technology of multirecord access (NOBUF/MR) to achieve large
reductions in CPU overhead, 1/8th that of serial DBGET in many cases. On a CPU-

104 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 bound MPE/iX system, such significant savings mean that you can run Suprtool
when other programs would be an intolerable burden.

Sort Speed
Suprtool/V uses the HP sort intrinsics, so sort times should not show much change.
Suprtool/iX uses its own set of high-speed sort intrinsics, unless one of the following
is true:
• Set Sortfast is Off (the default is On).
• Native Language Support is enabled (either automatically via the
NLDATALANG JCW or explicitly via Set NLS).
• Any of the sort fields are defined as type CHAR.
Generally, Suprtool's internal sort algorithm is faster than HP's sort algorithm.

Analyzing Performance Data

It is better to test Suprtool with your own database and your own application needs,
rather than trust to a "generic" performance test. The ideal test is an actual
production report whose bad performance is causing you a problem. Then if you
obtain improvements by using Suprtool you know you can achieve better speed in
practice as well as in tests.
Use Suprtool as a front end to your problem report, producing a small extract file
containing just the fields and records needed for your final program. Once you get
that working, consider linking in data from other files or datasets using Suprlink. For
comparison purposes, run the Suprtool test at the same time as you would normally
run the original program. Comparing a standalone midnight run against a mid-day
run does not give valid results, nor does comparing two runs in succession (the
second run benefits on MPE/iX, since the files are already in memory at that time).
You have several choices when deciding how to extract the data for your report. One
user had a report that consumed 18 hours on his Series 955. Since the site had only a
short window for batch processing each night, the job would spill over into the prime
shift. By the time the report did complete, it was a day late and a new report was
running. His boss was considering going to a 960 to reduce the job time. The
programmer tried Suprtool as a front end, but it only reduced the time to 15 hours.
When he called Robelle in disappointment, we investigated his application. He had
used the Chain command because he had a TurboIMAGE search item for his key
values and thought following such a search path would be fastest.
We suggested a serial Get command instead of a random-access Chain command and
the job time fell to 4.5 hours--much easier to schedule. Get was faster than Chain,
even though it had to look at every entry in the dataset. Why? Get reads many
contiguous records with each access to MPE, while Chain must call TurboIMAGE to
retrieve each chain entry. Since the entries on the chain are seldom in the same disc
block, Chain generated many more disc accesses, and they were randomly
distributed over the disc space. In this case, he was selecting 11% of the dataset
(261,230 out of 2,307,685 entries). Chain had to do about 424,000 random disc
reads, while Get did only 14,471 serial reads, a reduction of 97%. However, the
Chain command would have been faster if he had selected less than 15,000 entries.
You can use the Set Statistics On command to see how many disc reads a Get
command uses; if that is less than the number of entries selected, Get will usually be
faster than Chain.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 105

 Suprtool Performance Hints
Not all portions of the Suprtool product give equal performance boosts. The primary
technology of Suprtool is large NOBUF/MR reads and writes. By asking the
operating system for many records at once, instead of invoking the system software
for each record, Suprtool reduces the CPU overhead of the task dramatically. This
technology is present when you use the Input and Get commands, but not the Chain
command (for some tasks the Get command must revert to using the slower standard
database reads, but it always prints a warning).
The If and Extract commands are powerful for reducing a large input file into a small
output file that contains just the data desired. They are reasonably efficient, but
usually consume as much processor time as the serial read itself. The If command
does partial evaluation of expressions. Therefore, you should place the tests that are
most likely to fail at the start of the expression, and place the table lookups (which
are slower) at the end. This minimizes overhead. Using Extract reduces the size of
the output record, and greatly improves sort times (if all sort keys are extracted).
The Delete, Put, and Update commands are implemented by calling the
corresponding TurboIMAGE intrinsics: DBDELETE, DBPUT, and DBUPDATE. A
simple way to improve Delete, Put, and Update performance is to use Set Lock 0
(see below), but this is rarely appropriate when on-line users need access to the
database. There is another option that improves the speed of Deletes, Puts, and
Updates, but it comes with many warnings (see "Defer" on page 250).
The Dbedit Subsystem, an interactive editor for dataset entries and chains of entries,
does not use NOBUF/MR, so is strictly a convenience, not a performance aid.
Suprlink is a tool for linking together fields from several files by a common key
value. It links sorted files that Suprtool extracts from IMAGE, KSAM and MPE
files. It uses NOBUF/MR techniques and gives you a performance improvement
over random database accesses in many cases. However, if you have to re-sort the
data many times and the records are large, Suprlink may not help you. Performance
will be optimized if you extract only the fields you need from each input source, not
the entire record.
Speed Demon is an intrinsic library for 3GL programs that provides a high-speed
replacement for TurboIMAGE serial "gets". The NM version returns records at the
same speed that Suprtool does with the same low CPU overhead. The MPE V
version has half the speed of Suprtool at retrieving records. Consider calling Speed
Demon in your programs when you need to process more than 50% of the records in
a file, since you eliminate the need to read Suprtool's output file.
Occasionally we will put performance tips on our web site that are more timely than
what can be achieved in a manual. So please also visit:
http://www.robelle.com/tips/st-performance.html
for the latest performance issue and tips.

Obtaining Accurate Measurements

The performance results obtained from Suprtool, like any program, vary depending
on the record sizes, number of records, size of sorts, and the current efficiency of
your application. Measuring performance on any computer system is a challenge, but
especially so on MPE/iX with its demand-paged virtual memory and complex
scheduler. Some tests do not show such a marked improvement as the examples
described here. That is why we recommend that you test Suprtool against your own
database.

106 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Suprtool works best when selecting a small subset of a large dataset. The larger the
dataset and the smaller the percentage extracted, the better the performance
improvement. Once you have selected a task to measure, you have the difficulty of
making a fair comparison. This can be more tricky than it seems. For example, on
MPE/iX if you run your regular task first, then the Suprtool task, you will almost
certainly find the Suprtool task faster, just because the first task has made most of the
data resident in memory.
Here are the guidelines that we follow in order to obtain performance measurements
that we can be confident of:
1. We do every test at least five times. It is rare for each test to be
identical.
2. All MPE/iX performance tests are sensitive to the amount of the file
that is in memory. We use the Klondike Nugget (now available from
Lund Performance Solutions) to measure how much of our test files are
in memory before we start each test.
3. We start each test by flushing all files out of memory. We do this with
the unsupported Fflush tool. This program is difficult to obtain (we
cannot give you a copy) and you probably need a new version for each
new release of MPE/iX. You might try getting a copy from your HP
SE.
4. Tests are run in the middle of the night and we ensure that there are no
other sessions or jobs running during each test.

Performance Summary
Suprtool is a performance tool. Not because every Suprtool command is always fast,
but because performance is one of our first concerns when adding new features to
Suprtool. We always look for the fastest way to do any task, even if that means it
can't be quite as flexible as other software tools.

Suprtool Functions
Suprtool supports environment variable substitution. To use this enhancement you
must do a:
>set varsub on

Over the years we've grown the if/extract function list, to the point where it needs it's
own documentation for both the if and extract commands. Functions can be used in
both the if and extract commands, however, some functions were sometimes written
to either be specifically used in either if or extract, but typically have an application
in both.

UC4/Scripting and Functions

UC4 is a scripting/scheduling/job system found on many platforms and is common
on HP-UX. It also resolves environment variables for you when it runs your scripts.
Suprtool has a number of functions that require a "$" sign in front of them making
them look like variables. This causes an issue with UC4 as it tries to resolve any
variables. So if a script has a $lookup in it and $lookup is not a variable then the

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 107

 $lookup is removed, for example what would happen is:

>if $lookup(mytable,key)

becomes:
>if (mytable,key)

In order to rectify this all that needs to happen is you "Escape Out" the Environment
Variable from being resolved by changing the script to be:
>if \$lookup(mytable,key)

When you do this UC4, (and HP-UX for that matter), now knows that the $lookup is
not a token that needs to be resolved as an environment variable but the $lookup is a
literal.

String/Byte Functions
Suprtool has a number of functions that work on String/Byte type fields. In all cases
the target and source of these functions are byte type fields and are treated as strings
internally to Suprtool.

$TRIM (Works on byte type fields)

Purpose is to remove spaces from the beginning and the end of a field.

If Usage:
>if $trim(last_name) = “ARMSTRONG”

This means that Suprtool will qualify "ARMSTRONG", " ARMSTRONG", "
ARMSTRONG" etc.

Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields)

EXT byte_target=$trim(byte_source)

Example:

108 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 DEF lastname,1,16,byte
EXT lastname=$trim(last_name)

Data Examples Before and After:

>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = ARMSTRONG
ext lastname=$trim(lastname)
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = ARMSTRONG

$LTRIM (Works on Byte type fields)

Purpose is to remove spaces from the left side of the field.

If Usage:
if $ltrim(first_name) = "NEIL "

Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields)

ext byte_target=$ltrim(byte_source)

Example:
DEF lastname,1,16,byte
EXT lastname=$ltrim(last_name)

Data Examples before and after:

>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = ARMSTRONG
ext lastname=$ltrim(lastname)
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = ARMSTRONG

$RTRIM (Works on Byte type fields)

Purpose is to remove spaces from the right side of the field.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 109

 If Usage:
if $rtrim(first_name) = "Neil"

Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields)

extract byte_target=$rtrim(byte_source)

Example:
def lastname,1,16,byte
ext lastname=$rtrim(last_name)

Data Examples:
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = ARMSTRONGbb
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = ARMSTRONG

It is difficult to show what $RTRIM does in a simple instance, however, it is perfect

for constructing/merging two separate fields into on as in:
ext fullname=$rtrim(first-name) + " " + $trim(last-name)

Data Result
Neil Armstrong

$UPPER (Works on Byte-type fields)

Purpose is to make all relevant bytes "Upper" case.

If Usage:
if $upper(first_name) = "NEIL"

Extract Usage (target: Byte type fields)

extract byte-target=$upper(byte-source)

Example:
def lastname,1,16,byte
ext lastname=$upper(last_name)

Data Examples:
>ext lastname=$upper(lastname)
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = ARMSTRONG

110 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

$LOWER (Works on Byte-type fields)
Purpose it to make all relevant bytes "Lower" case.

If Usage:
if $lower(first_name) = "neil"

Extract Usage:
ext byte_target=$lower(byte_source)

Example:
def newfirstname,1,16,byte
ext newfirstname=$lower(first_name)

Data Examples:
>ext lastname=$lower(lastname)
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
LASTNAME = armstrong

$PROPER (Works on Byte-type fields)

Purpose is to make the relevant bytes either Upper or Lower Case in an intelligent
manner. It will Upshift the first character in a field and anything following a space or
dash.

If Usage:
if $proper(first_name) = "Neil"

Extract Usage:
ext byte_target=$proper(byte_source)

Example:
def fullname,1,30,byte
ext fullname=$proper(first_name)

Data Examples:
>ext fullname=$proper(fullname)
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
FULLNAME = Neil Armstrong

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 111

$SPLIT (Works on Byte-type fields)
Purpose is to extract a string into a byte type field that begins at a certain character
instance and ends and a second character instance. Commonly used to reformat name
fields and read .CSV files.

If Usage:
Not that commonly used.

Extract Usage:
extract field=$split(field_from,start_pos,instance,end_pos,instance)
define acct-x,1,12,byte
define fullname,1,30
ext acct-x=$split(record,first,",")
ext fullname=$split(record,",",",")

Data Examples:
Source Data of record acct-x result
123456789,"Neil Armstrong",435 123456789

Data Examples:
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
ACCT-X = 123456789
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
FULLNAME = "Neil Armstrong"

$FINDCLEAN (Works on Byte-type fields)

Purpose is to find any specified character(s) in any byte string fields anywhere in a
given byte field.

If Usage:
clean "^10"
if $findclean(e-mail)

Records will qualify if a Line Feed is in the e-mail field.

$CLEAN (Works on Byte-type fields)

Purpose was to "clean" and remove unwanted characters from any byte-string fields
in any point in the field. Typically used to removed un-printable characters from byte
fields.

112 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 If Usage: (Not commonly used)
clean "N"
if $clean(first_name)=" eil"

Extract Usage:
extract byte_target=$target(byte_source)

Example:
clean "N"
set cleanchar " "
extract byte_target=$clean(byte_source)

Data Examples:
Source: Neil
Target: eil

Example, remove Line Feed from E-mail Address field and shift data to the left:
Clean "^10"
set cleanchar "<null>"
ext e-mail=$clean(e-mail)

$TRANSLATE (Works on Byte-type fields)

Purpose to translate any character from a byte type field to any defined byte,
primarily to obfuscate data and was primarily designed for the extract command.

If Usage:
translate "A:C"
if $translate(Full_Name)="Neil Crmstrong" { not commonly used }

Extract Usage:
translate "A:C"
translate "B:D"
translate "a:f"
extract New-byte-field=$translate(byte-field)

Data Examples: (Using above code)

Source Data: Result Data
Barry Armstrong Dfrry Crmstrong

$ETOA
Purpose is to convert Ebcidic to Ascii, for a byte type field.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 113

 Extract Usage:
Extract $etoa(char-field)

$ATOE
Purpose is to convert Ascii to Ebcidic, for a byte type field.

Extract Usage:
Extract $atoe(char-field)

$etoa and $atoe cannot be used in if command, nor do they put a result in a field,
they just extract the converted byte-type field.

String Addition
Suprtool is capable of doing string addition, again this is with byte type fields, you
can do add various byte type fields together and even the results of various functions
from above.

Extract Usage:
extract target_byte_field = byte-field1 + " " + byte-field2
extract FullName = $trim(first_name) + ' ' + $trim(last_name)

Example:
extract FullName = $trim(first_name) + ' ' + $trim(last_name)

Data Result:
>IN STRINGS.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
FULLNAME = "Neil Armstrong"

Numeric Functions
There are a number of functions that are used to assist and help perform some
arithmetic operations.

$TRUNCATE
Purpose is to not round a given result or arithmetic expression or number. Suprtools
default behaviour is to round a result, the $truncate function will change that
behaviour.

114 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 If Usage:
if $truncate((qty * price) / 100 = 100

Extract Usage:
extract new_price=$truncate((qty * price) / 100)

$ABS
Purpose is to return the absolute value of a given number.

IF Usage:
if $abs(credit-field)=5000

Extract Usage:
extract newnum=$abs(credit-amt)

$TOTAL
Purpose is to provide a running total for any numeric field and deposit the result into
a packed-decimal field.

IF Usage:
Not commonly used in if

Extract Usage:
define mytotal,1,18,packed
ext mytotal=$total(sales-amount)

$SUBTOTAL
Purpose is to provide a running total for any numeric field and deposit the result into
a packed-decimal field. The target packed-decimal field is reset to 0 on a control
break on the specified sort field.

IF Usage:
Not commonly used.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 115

 Extract Usage:
define target,1,18,packed
sort sort-field
ext target=$subtotal(fieldtototal,sort-field)

Example of $TOTAL and $SUBTOTAL

>in file1sd.suprtest
>def mytotal,1,14,packed
>def mysubtotal,1,14,packed
>sort char-field
>ext char-field
>ext int-field
>ext mytotal=$total(int-field)
>ext mysubtotal=$subtotal(int-field,char-field)
>list
>xeq
>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (0)
CHAR-FIELD = 11111 INT-FIELD = 1111
MYTOTAL = 1111
MYSUBTOTAL = 1111

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (1)

CHAR-FIELD = 22222 INT-FIELD = 2222
MYTOTAL = 3333
MYSUBTOTAL = 2222

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (2)

CHAR-FIELD = 22222 INT-FIELD = 2222
MYTOTAL = 5555
MYSUBTOTAL = 4444

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (3)

CHAR-FIELD = 33333 INT-FIELD = 3333
MYTOTAL = 8888
MYSUBTOTAL = 3333

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (4)

CHAR-FIELD = 33333 INT-FIELD = 3333
MYTOTAL = 12221
MYSUBTOTAL = 6666

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (5)

CHAR-FIELD = 33333 INT-FIELD = 3333
MYTOTAL = 15554
MYSUBTOTAL = 9999

$COUNTER
Purpose is to provide a running counter starting from 1, and the target/result field is a
double integer.

IF Usage:
Not commonly used.

116 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 Extract Usage:
define mycounter,1,4,double
ext mycounter=$counter

$SUBCOUNT
Purpose is to provide a running counter starting from 1, and the target/result field is a
double integer. The counter is reset when the control-break occurs on the specified
sort field.

IF Usage:
Not commonly used

Extract Usage:
define mysubcount,1,4,double
sort customer-no
ext mysubcount=$subcount(customer-no)

Examples for $counter and $subcount:

in file1sd.suprtest
def mycount,1,4,double
define mysubcount,1,4,double
sort char-field
ext char-field
ext mycount=$counter
ext mysubcount=$subcount(char-field)
list
xeq
>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (0)
CHAR-FIELD = 11111 MYCOUNT = 1
MYSUBCOUNT = 1

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (1)

CHAR-FIELD = 22222 MYCOUNT = 2
MYSUBCOUNT = 1

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (2)

CHAR-FIELD = 22222 MYCOUNT = 3
MYSUBCOUNT = 2

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (3)

CHAR-FIELD = 33333 MYCOUNT = 4
MYSUBCOUNT = 1

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (4)

CHAR-FIELD = 33333 MYCOUNT = 5
MYSUBCOUNT = 2

>IN FILE1SD.SUPRTEST.GREEN >OUT $NULL (5)

CHAR-FIELD = 33333 MYCOUNT = 6
MYSUBCOUNT = 3

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 117

$SIGNED
When the target of an extract conversion is a packed or display- type field, Suprtool
always converts positive values to a neutral number. To ensure that expressions with
positive values have a positive result, use the $signed function:

IF Usage:
Not commonly used:

Extract Usage:
extract packed-field=$signed(int-field)
extract display_field=$signed(dbl-field / 10)

Arithmetic Operations

+ - * / mod
Suprtool has the ability to perform any and all Arithmetic functions on numeric
fields.

If Usage:
if sales-total <> (sales_qty * unit_price) + sales_tax

Extract Usage:
ext sales-total=(sales_qty * unit_price) + sales_tax

Conversion/Formatting

$NUMBER
Purpose is to convert a freeform number, to a number that can be put into an actual
numeric field. The target must be numeric and the source field must be a display type
field, even though it can have non numeric characters in it.

118 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

 If Usage:
if $number(disp-field)=500

Extract Usage:
define disp-field,byte-field,display {define byte as display with same
length}
define newdouble,1,4,double
ext newdouble=$number(disp-field)

Data Examples:
$5.00 ---> 500
Notes: Suprtool will try and match the decimal places of the defined by the item
command of the numeric target to the decimal places in the actual data and handle
the data properly. For example if the target field has an item command definition of
two decimal places, Suprtool will handle the data Raw data accordingly:
Raw Data Result of $number
5.1 5.10
5.123 5.12
5.139 5.14

$EDIT
Purpose is to format a number or byte-string field to a particular format using an
editmask similar to the syntax found in Cobol into a target byte-type field. Primarily
designed to help format data for list and/or reports.

If Usage:
if $edit(somefield,"$$$$.99-")="$5.00" {Not commonly used}

Extract Usage:
ext byte-field=$edit(dbl-field,"$$$$.99-")
ext byte-field=$trim($edit(dbl-field,"$$$$.99-"))

Data Examples:
500 $5.00

Other Functions

$LOOKUP
Purpose is to determine if a key value has been loaded into memory with options to
reference associated data.

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 119

 If Usage:
if $lookup is capable of determining if a key value exists and also compare against a
field specified with the data field.
table tablename,key,file,filename
if $lookup(tablename,key)
table tablename,key,file,filename,data(data-field)
if $lookup(tablename,key,data-field) = inputsrcdatafield

Extract Usage:
table tablename,key,file,filename,data(data-field)
extract target-field=$lookup(tablename,key,data-field)

$READ
Purpose is to expand the command line limit for an if command beyond 256
characters.

If Usage:
if $read
-number=1 and
-number=3 and
-//

Date Functions

$TODAY
Purpose is to determine the current date.

If Usage:
If date-field=$today(-1)
if date-field=$today

Extract Usage:
ext target-date=$today

The date-field and target-date must be defined as having a particular date format
(item command) and in a proper container for that particular date type.

120 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

$DATE
Purpose is to determine a given date.

If Usage:
if date-field=$date(*/*/*)

Extract Usage:
ext date-field=$date(*/*/*)

Date-field must be defined as having a particular date format (item command) and in
a proper container

$INVALID
Purpose is to determine if a given date is valid or not.

If Usage:
item check-date,date,ccyymmdd
if $invalid(check-date)

Extract Usage:
Not typically used in extract.

$STDDATE
Purpose is to convert from any supported Suprtool date in any container to
CCYYMMDD in a double integer container. For date formats with only two digit
years Suprtool will look at the value of Set Date Cutoff in order to determine what
century to convert it to, whether it be 19 or 20.

If Usage:
item my-yymmdd-date,date,yymmdd
if $stddate(my-yymmdd-date) = 20141213

Extract Usage:
item my-yymmdd-date,date,yymmdd
define new-ccyymmdd-date,1,4,double
ext new-ccyymmdd-date=$stddate(my-yymmdd-date)

Suprtool Issues and Solutions Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 121

$DAYS
Purpose is to convert any supported Suprtool date to a number of days since 4713BC
or Julian Day format. Main purpose in if is to compare two dates and get the
diffference. Main purpose in extract is to typically transform a date to be so many
days away from the current date value.

If Usage:
if ($days(entry-date) - $days(order-fulfill-date)) >=30

Extract Usage:
extract new-date=$stddate($days(entry-date) + 10)

the footer - can be used anywhere

122 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Issues and Solutions

Suprtool Commands

General Notes
Do not enter the > sign when When you run Suprtool, it prompts for commands with a ">" character and reads
typing commands. command lines from the standard input device. Suprtool commands contain a
command name which may include one or more optional parameters that are each
separated by commas.
In this chapter, we describe the Suprtool commands in alphabetic order. Each
command name is followed by its minimal abbreviation in brackets. For example:
[D] for Define and [DU] for Duplicate.
Most Suprtool commands work within the context of the input file. In general, the
Base, Chain, Get, and Input commands must be entered before other commands.
Once the input source has been specified, commands can be entered in any order.

Abbreviating
You may shorten the command name to any substring that uniquely defines the
command. For example, Form can be abbreviated as FO or F, since there are no
other commands that start with "F". Duplicate, however, can be abbreviated only to
DU, since there is also a Define command in Suprtool.
>i sdfile {Input command}
>l {List command}
>x {Xeq command}

Uppercase or Lowercase
You can enter the letters in either uppercase or lowercase because Suprtool upshifts
everything in the command line except literal strings within quotes (e.g., "abc").
These two commands are identical:
>EXTRACT QTY
>extract qty

Multiple Commands per Line

You can enter several commands on a single line, if you separate them with
semicolons. An entire "task" can be placed on one input line.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 123

 >in old;out new;xeq
>get m-customer;if cust-status<>10,20,30;list;x

Caution: Suprtool cannot distinguish between several commands on one line and
several commands entered on several lines. This is not a problem when using
Suprtool in batch, as Suprtool stops executing when an error occurs. But when using
Suprtool interactively, specifying multiple commands separated by a semicolon,
Suprtool keeps on parsing the rest of the line after it finds an error. For example, if
you misspell the "fldname" when you type the following,
>get dsetname; if fldname="value";del;out filename;xeq

Suprtool sends you an error message with the typo, but continues with the rest of the
command line. This has the effect of deleting all the entries in the dataset. It is risky
to type Xeq on the same command line as any other command unless:
1. You are not concerned with the consequences if you make a mistake
(e.g., any "extract" task should be safe).
2. You don't make any mistakes.
The usual reason for putting all the commands on one line, including the Xeq, is to
permit repetition of the task by using the Before command. It is not necessary to type
everything on one line because with the Listredo command, Suprtool allows you to
pick and choose any of your last 1000 commands.

Continuation
The maximum command that The maximum physical command line is 256 characters. You may enter commands
may be specified in the Info= on multiple input lines by putting an "&" continuation character at the end of the
parameter of the Run line. The maximum total command length is 256 characters. The separating comma
command is 80 characters. in commands is not optional. Should your If command exceed 256 characters, use
the Table command, or $read.
>in sdfile
>if status="20" and & {continue the If command}
state="AZ","CA","OR" {select several states}
>output outfile

Comments on Command Lines

You may also use MPE's Comments may appear at the end of any command line, as long as they are
:COMMENT command to surrounded by curly braces. Many of the examples in this manual show comments at
enter comment lines. the end of command lines. You can enter a comment as the only item in a Suprtool
command line. When you enter continued command lines, the comment can appear
before or after the continuation character:
>{The following task extracts all customer records for}
>{ the different customers we are interested in.}
>in customer {input self-describing file}
>if status = "10" or & {prepaid status}
status = "20" or & {current status}
status = "30" {arrears status}
>output outfile {output to a disc file}
>exit {execute the task and exit}

STREAMX
STREAMX is a product from VESOFT that permits you to build flexible job
streams. STREAMX contains a complete programming language with loops,
prompts, and parameter substitution. A problem arises when trying to enter

124 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 comments into a Suprtool batch job that will be submitted with STREAMX. Suprtool
uses the {...} pair to delimit comments. STREAMX uses these same characters for
expressions. Similarly, Suprtool uses question marks as part of pattern-matching in
the If command, and STREAMX uses question marks for questions.
You cannot change Suprtool's comment or pattern-matching characters, but you can
change the expression and question characters in STREAMX. The following
example changes the STREAMX expression characters from {...} to ~...~, and the
question character from ? to `:
!job example,user.acct
::setquestion `
::setbraces ~~
::prompt date datevar = "Enter date to select: "
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store {input database}
>get d-sales {and dataset}
>if deliv-date=~datevar~ & {STREAMX substitutes actual date}
>and product-code == "??X?3@"
>output mpefile
>exit
!tell ~hpjobname~,~hpuser~.~hpaccount~;Example done.
!eoj

MPE Commands
If Suprtool doesn't recognize the command you have entered, it tries to interpret it as
an MPE command. Suprtool also interprets any command line beginning with a
colon (:) as an MPE command. Only the commands that MPE allows in "break" are
allowed in Suprtool/V. This feature can be used to establish :File commands for the
input or output files, to :PURGE the output file to avoid a duplicate file name error,
and to include :COMMENT lines. For example:
>:comment sort custfile by custnum
>input custfile
>key 1,10 {no colon on the next command}
>purge sortcust {make sure that no duplicate file error occurs}
>output sortcust
>exit

MPE/iX Commands
Suprtool/iX executes any MPE command (e.g., Run), UDCs, and command files.
Caution: programs that suspend, instead of terminating, are not killed by the
HPCICOMMAND intrinsic.

Calculator
Any command line beginning with an equal sign (=) is treated as a calculator
expression. This feature can be used to compute blocking factors and do other
calculations without the need of an electronic calculator. For help, type =?.

Control-Y Interrupt
You can interrupt a Suprtool task with the Control-Y key (hold down Control while
striking Y). Suprtool responds by telling you how much work it has done
(IN=,OUT=,etc.) and asks if you wish to stop. Hit the Return key to continue or type
YES to stop the task. Even though you abort the task, your output file is saved
(although it may be empty if you stop before the sort phase is over).

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 125

 If you use Control-Y during a Put, Delete, or Update operation, the database locks
are still in effect. Do not walk away from your terminal without answering YES or
NO to the "stop" question. If you are Deleting records, you should continue the task
unless you don't want the output file. With the output file, you can recover the
records back into the dataset by using the Put command.
When you hit Control-Y, MPE must fix Suprtool's stack markers so that you resume
where the interrupt occurred. With MPE V, we have received reports of invalid-
stack-marker aborts in Suprtool, when using Control-Y while reading a dataset. This
is probably because the stack-marker format changed in MPE V, and Control-Y has
trouble finding the proper one when Suprtool is in Privileged Mode. There is not
much you can do except to avoid Control-Y while reading a dataset.

Error Recovery
There are several errors that can occur during a Suprtool "task":
1. The output file fills up.
2. There are invalid packed-decimal or zoned-decimal digits in the input
record.
3. There is a duplicate key when writing to a KSAM file.
4. An attempt is made to delete a master dataset entry which still has
associated detail entries.
5. Suprtool tries to Put a record to a detail dataset that does not have an
associated master entry.
6. An attempt is made to add a master dataset entry which already exists.
7. An attempt is made to delete a dataset record that has changed.
For errors 4 through 7:
If Set Ignore is Off (default), Suprtool prints an error message and stops processing
the input file. For KSAM errors, the standard file information display is printed. For
IMAGE errors, Suprtool prints whatever information is available on the record that
caused the DBDELETE, DBPUT, or DBUPDATE error (when Set Dumponerror
On).
The information from IMAGE errors may include the input record number, the
output record number and the data values of the record. Suprtool uses the current
options of the List command to print the data values. If no List command was
specified, Suprtool uses the List defaults.
To only see a summary of IMAGE errors that occurred, turn Set Dumponerror Off.
To continue processing, even when errors occur, turn Set Ignore On.

126 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Add Command [AD]
The Add command currently is available only for Oracle access on HP-UX.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 127

Base Command [BA]
Opens a specified database. Once you have it open, you can extract data from
datasets, delete entries, load new entries into datasets, use the schema to define fields
for MPE files (Input file = set), and do on-line Editing of the database (Edit allows
add, change, delete, list, modify of individual fields and entries).
To access a remote DS database, specify the system name in the Base command. To
access a remote NS database, use a :File command.
To close the current database, use Base without parameters.
BASE [system#]basename [,mode [,password] ]
(Default: system=logon, mode=1, password=Creator)
System is the DS name of a remote HP e3000 (optional). Basename is the name of
your database. Mode is the DBOPEN mode that you want (i.e., mode-1 for shared
updates, mode-5 for shared read-only), and password is the DBOPEN database
password. When the password is included in the Base command, it is always
upshifted. Use the ? option to specify lowercase passwords.
Suprtool opens the Base, which remains open until you do another Base command, a
Reset Base, or a Reset All, even if you do several extracts from the database.

Examples
The first example shows a typical Suprtool task. A dataset in the Store database is
read and a subset of the entries are sorted into a disc file:
>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}
>get d-sales {select an input dataset}
>if sales-total>10000 {choose a subset of all entries}
>sort cust-account {sort by account number}
>output salesout {output has same structure}
>exit { as the d-sales dataset}

Our next example opens the database with the Creator password (which is the
default). No output file is produced; instead, we produce a formatted listing of the
input dataset:
>base store {use the Creator password}
>form sets {you cannot remember the names}
>get d-inventory { of the datasets in Store}
>list {print the dataset fields formatted.}
>exit { no output file is created}

In session mode, this command would prompt for the database password. If none is
entered, or Suprtool is not running interactively, the Creator password is used by
default (;). Because the open mode was not specified, the database is opened in
mode-1.

Database Passwords in Batch

In batch mode, it is necessary to specify a database password without the password
being echoed on the job stream listing. A special database password is provided to
allow for this. When a question mark "?" is used as the database password, Suprtool
prompts for the password on the next physical input line without echoing. This
occurs in batch mode or in session mode. For example:

128 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >base store,5,? {Suprtool prompts for the password.}
Password > {Password is on this line, but it won't}
>get d-inventory {show on job stream listing or terminal.}
>exit

File Commands
You can use a :File command to re-direct a database name to another group and
account in Suprtool. For example:
:run suprtool
>:file dbx=db23.data.test
>base dbx
>get cust-master

Because the remote database feature generates a :File command, you cannot combine
these two features. If you specify a remote system in the Base command, the
specified basename must be precise. Any existing :File command will have been
overruled. When Suprtool closes a remote database, any :File command for the
database is reset.

DS/3000 Database Access

Suppose that you wished to obtain the total of the ON-HAND-QTY and the UNIT-
COST of the inventory in a remote DS-database. The following Suprtool example
would obtain the totals:
>base newyork#store.data,5,READER {NEWYORK database}
>get d-inventory
>total on-hand-qty {produce a total of this field}
>total unit-cost {total this field too}
>exit {no output file is created}

You must have already done the necessary :DSLINE and :REMOTE HELLO
commands. This is the only way to read from a remote database in Suprtool. You
cannot use the "Remote Database Access" facility of IMAGE. Suprtool does a :File
command for the base name before calling DBOPEN.
:file basename=basename; dev=system#disc.

NS/3000 Database Access

There are two restrictions to accessing a database on a remote NS-system:
1. You cannot use the system name of the Base command.
2. You cannot specify the NS/3000 node specification as part of the
database name.
The only way to access a database on a remote NS-system is to use a :File command:
:dsline mrp.go.hp
:remote hello user.account,group
:file store=store:mrp.go.hp
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store
>get m-customer
>output mcust
>xeq

Jumbo Datasets
Due to limitations in MPE/iX, Suprtool cannot open remote Jumbo datasets. Suprtool
will fail with an error similar to that showed as below:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 129

 Error: Unable to open MPE file /ACCT/GROUP/DATASET.001

Privileged File Violation

When trying to access a database on a remote computer with Suprtool, the Get
command may fail with the error "Privileged File Violation (FSERR 45)". This is the
result of changes made to NS to improve security for remote file access. Apparently,
some customers complained to HP that a program on the local system should not be
permitted to FOPEN a privileged file (such as an IMAGE dataset) on a remote
system unless the user on the remote system has PM capability.
There are three workarounds to this problem:
1. Set Privmode Off in the Suprtool task, before the Base command. This
forces Suprtool to use slow DBGETs instead of fast NOBUF/MR
access.
2. Log on to the remote system as a user with PM capability and proper
read/write access to the database (such as Manager.Sys). Or run a
program on the remote system such as GOD from VESOFT, granting
the remote user the required capability and file access privileges.
3. Log on to the remote system as you have done in the past, but run
Suprtool on the remote system instead of the local system. That is, run
Suprtool on the same computer as the database resides, and direct the
output file back to the local computer. An added advantage of this
method is that only selected database records have to be passed across
the NS connection.
For many tasks this improves performance dramatically. Suppose you want to select
transactions for one month from a yearly history dataset. If Suprtool is run on the
local system and the database resides on the remote system, then all the records in
the dataset must be passed across the NS connection, just to have most of them
rejected by Suprtool's selection criteria. On the other hand, if Suprtool is run on the
same system as the database, then only the selected records have to be passed across
the NS connection.
This is the solution that we recommend. If you do not have Suprtool on all your
production systems, you can use one of the other workarounds, or call us for a right-
to-copy license.

Open Modes
Base does not allow mode-7 for exclusive read access, but it does allow mode-4 for
exclusive update while others read. Mode-4 disallows changes while you are
extracting from the database. Mode-3 for fully exclusive access is tolerated, but
causes Suprtool to use slow DBGETs to extract from datasets. Mode-3 should only
be used when you need to do a Delete or Put command with Set Defer On.
Suprtool allows you to open a second database in the Put command when you are
copying from one database to another.

130 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Before Command [B]
Repeat any combination of the previous 1000 command lines, with or without
editing.
BEFORE [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo previous line)
(BQ=redo without change)
The Before command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them.
If you don't need to change them, use BQ or Do.
The Before command uses Qedit-style Control characters for modifying the
commands. The default mode is to replace characters. To delete use Control-D, and
to insert use Control-B. If you prefer HP-style modify (D, R, I, and U), use the Redo
command instead of Before.

Examples
>listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
>Before {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {the edited command is shown}
{you press Return}
>listredo -10/
>before 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
>bef 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
>b listf {redo last Listf command}
>b listf temp {redo "listf temp" command}
>b @temp {redo last containing "temp"}
>before -2 {redo command before previous one}
>before -5/-2 {redo by relative lines}

Modify Operators
If you wish to change any characters within the line, the modify operators are the
regular Control Codes used in Qedit:

Characters Action
Any printing characters replace the ones above
Control-D plus spaces deletes columns above.
Control-B puts you into "insert before" mode.
Control-A starts appending characters at the end of line.
Control-A, Control-D, plus spaces deletes from the end.
Control-T ends Insert Mode, allowing movement to a
new column.
Control-G recovers the original line.
Control-O specifies "overwrite" mode (needed for

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 131

 spaces).

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see "Redo" on page 262 for details.

132 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Chain Command [C]
Selects an IMAGE dataset and a search path as the input source for the next extract.
Unlike the Get command, the Chain command reads records by using the standard
IMAGE intrinsics. For detail datasets, the Chain command does a DBFIND on the
specified search path and uses DBGET mode-5 to read the records. For master
datasets, the Chain command uses DBGET mode-7. You must have read access to all
fields in the dataset entry. Only one Chain, Get, or Input command is allowed per
extract task.
CHAIN setname,search-field=value [,...]
CHAIN setname,search-field=table-name
When using Chain, the size of the output file defaults to the size of the Chain dataset.
If the dataset is large and the selected subset is small, you should use the Numrecs
command to reduce the size of the output file.

Selection by Individual Values

Suppose you want to find all the sales records for customer account "1234".
Assuming that cust-account is a search field in the d-sales dataset, you would use
this:
>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}
>chain d-sales,cust-account="1234" {read the sales records for customer 1234}
>out out1
>xeq

If you want to select sales records for more than one customer, you would use:
>chain d-sales,cust-account="12345","67890","39201"
>out out2
>xeq

Values with Decimal Places

You can specify values with decimal places for search fields with implied decimal
places. For example,
>item unit-cost,decimal,2 {two implied decimal points}
>chain d-inventory,unit-cost=10,10.5,10.75
>out out3 {select records for 1000, 1050, and 1075}
>xeq

Selection with a Table

You can specify the records to read using a table. The Table command may appear
before or after the Chain command. Use this option when you have a file of key
values to search for:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 133

 >{select the sales records that match the values in custfile}
>chain d-sales,cust-account=sales-table
>table sales-table,cust-account,file,custfile
>out out4
>xeq

Combining Chain with If

The Chain command selects an input dataset and a set of key values to search for. To
specify additional selection criteria, use the Chain command to specify the key
values and the If command for the additional selection criteria:
>{select records for customer 1234 where the sales-qty is }
>{ greater than 100}
>chain d-sales,cust-account="1234"
>if sales-qty > 100
>out out5
>xeq

B-trees and Chain

The Chain command only takes advantage of B-trees if the BtreeMode1 setting is
turned on at the root level. This setting means that all DBFIND mode-1 calls will
utilize the B-tree.
You can turn BtreeMode1 on by doing the following:
:run dbutil.pub.sys
>>set BtreeMode1=on

The Chain command allows the partial key retrieval on X- and U- type items on the
master dataset, and implicitly on any associated detail dataset. For example,
>base cd.db.data,5,reader
>chain a-songs,song-title="w@"
>list
>xeq
Warning: Using DBGET for the input records
>GET A-SONGS (289) >OUT $NULL (0)
SONG-TITLE = we only come out at night

>GET A-SONGS (56) >OUT $NULL (1)

SONG-TITLE = where boys fear to tread

IN=2, OUT=2. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

As previously mentioned, we can search a detail dataset by using the implicit B-tree
or the search item that has a B-tree attached to the associated master.

134 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >chain d-songs,song-title="w@"
>list
>xeq
Warning: Using DBGET for the input records
>GET D-SONGS (37) >OUT $NULL (0)
CD-NO = 2 CD-TITLE = Mellon Collie
ARTIST = Smashing Pumpkins SONG-NO = 10
SONG-TITLE = we only come out at night
>GET D-SONGS (28) >OUT $NULL (1)
CD-NO = 2 CD-TITLE = Mellon Collie
ARTIST = Smashing Pumpkins SONG-NO = 1
SONG-TITLE = where boys fear to tread

IN=2, OUT=2. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

Third-Party Indexing
If MPE/iX third-party indexing is enabled, the Chain command takes advantage of
third-party indexes in the specified dataset. The search-field parameter can be any
IMAGE index or any third-party index. Only X- and U-type fields are supported.
Use the Form command to see which index fields Chain will accept. The value you
specify is still restricted to the maximum length of the search-field. The following
example uses a third-party index to only match customer entries where the last name
starts with the letter "A":
>chain m-customer,name-last="A@"
>list standard
>xeq

Notes
The Chain command is intended to replace a Get and If combination where the
primary selection is by key value. In many cases, it is still faster to use the Get
command to read the entire dataset than it is to use the Chain command to use
search-paths or third-party indexes. Use Set Stat On to compare the performance of
the Chain and Get commands.
The dataset search field cannot be a R-type item.
The Chain command always reads the chain values in sorted order by ascending
search-value. You do not need to specify a Sort command to have the output file
sorted by the search field.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 135

Clean Command [CL]
Specifies what characters to clean when using the $Clean function.
CLEAN [ SPECIAL | <string> <range> ]
(Default: None)
Suprtool will "clean" or replace all of the characters specified in the Clean command
from a byte type field when invoked by the $Clean function. To define what
characters that need to be replaced you use the clean command with the character
you want to clean in quotes. Since most of the characters that you will need to clean
are unprintable, you can enter the decimal equivalent of the character. This is
denoted by entering the "^" character in quotes preceding the decimal number of the
character you wish to clean.
An example of how easy it would be to clean your database of certain "bad"
characters in byte-type fields would be as follows:
>base mydb,1,;
>get customer
>clean "^9","^10","^0","^7"
>update
>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))
>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))
>xeq

The SPECIAL keyword automatically defines Clean characters of Decimal 0 thru to

Decimal 31.
>base mydb,1,;
>get customer
>clean special
>update
>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))
>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))
>xeq

You can also specify a range of characters with the following syntax:
>base mydb,1,;
>get customer
>clean special,"^128:^255"
>update
>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))
>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))
>xeq

The above task would clean all byte type fields of any characters from Decimal 0
(Null) to Decimal 31 plus Decimal 128 to Decimal 255.

Removing Bad Characters

You can have the Clean function clean the field, and instead of replacing with a
space, the $clean function will essentially shift characters to the left by Setting the
CleanChar in the following manner:
>Set Cleanchar “<null>”

Suprtool will pad the field that was cleaned with the appropriate amount of
characters with a space at the end of the field.

136 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Define Command [D]
Defines fields that can be used in the Duplicate, Extract, If, Item, Sort, Table, and
Total commands. With Define, you can do selection on ordinary data files using the
same kind of readable "expression" that you use with databases. You can also access
data fields that are not actually structured as defined in the database (e.g., implicit
subfields within an IMAGE field).
DEFINE field, definition
field is an identifier up to 32 characters long, must begin with a letter, and can
consist of letters A through Z, digits 0 through 9, or the following symbols:
+ - * / ? # % & @ _ '
In the case where the field name is written to a self-describing file, only the first 16
characters are used.
definition can be in two different forms: absolute or relative.

Absolute Definitions
DEFINE field, byteposition,sublen [,type] [,subcount]
(Default: type=BYTE, subcount=1)
The byteposition is a positive integer giving the byte index where the field starts. The
first byte is always number 1, not 0. The sublen is the number of bytes in the field.
When the subcount is 1 (default), the sublen is the total number of bytes in the field.
When you specify a subcount, the sublen is the byte-length of each subfield.
See Data-Types below for the definition of type.
>input discfile {input from a disc file}
>def qty,14,4,double {double integer (PIC S9(9) COMP)}
>def name,5,6 {character string of 6 bytes}
>sort name {sort using the field "name"}
>total qty {total all the values of the field "qty"}
>exit

Relative Definitions
DEFINE field, fieldname [ (subscript) ] [ [offset] ] [,sublen] [,type]
[,subcount]
(Default: sublen/type=same as fieldname)
The fieldname is an IMAGE field from the dataset specified in Chain, Get, or
Input=dataset, or a field from a self-describing file, or another Defined field.
Relative definitions are similar to COBOL's Redefine verb.
The sublen and type are optional. They default to the total byte length and type of the
fieldname. The (subscript) parameter is an optional sub-item index for arrays such as
IMAGE compound items like 5J2 or 4X20. The first sub-item is number 1, and if no
subscript is provided, Suprtool uses the first sub-item. The [offset] parameter is
optional and specifies a byte offset from the position that would otherwise be used.
This allows you to define fields relative to other fields. The [offset] starts at 1 and
not at 0 (i.e., FIELD[1] is the first byte of the field).
To define a field that corresponds to the second street-address of m-customer, you
would use:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 137

 >get m-customer
>define city,street-address(2)
>if city="Vancouver"
>list
>xeq

Data-Types
Here are the valid types:

Type Description
BYTE printable ASCII characters
INT/INTEGER two's complement
DOUBLE two's complement
REAL Classic floating-point
LONG Classic floating-point
IEEE IEEE floating-point
PACKED packed-decimal
PACKED* packed-decimal, last nibble unused
DISPLAY zoned-decimal numeric field
LOGICAL unsigned integer
CHARACTER for Native Language Support

For compatibility with Sort.Pub.Sys, the Define command also accepts Fpoint as the
data-type for IEEE numbers.
The following table shows the Suprtool definitions for the IMAGE data-types:

IMAGE Type Number of Bytes COBOL SUPRTOOL

Declaration Definition
I1 2 S9(4) COMP >define a,1,2,integer
I2 4 S9(9) COMP >define a,1,4,double
I4 8 S9(18) COMP >define a,1,8,integer
J1 2 S9(4) COMP >define a,1,2,integer
J2 4 S9(9) COMP >define a,1,4,double
J4 8 S9(18) COMP >define a,1,8,integer
Un n A(n) >define a,1,n,byte
Xn n X(n) >define a,1,n,byte
Zn n 9(n) >define a,1,n,display
Pn n/2 S9(n-1) COMP-3 >define
a,1,n/2,packed
K1 2 >define a,1,2,logical
K2 4 >define a,1,4,logical
R2 4 >define a,1,4,real
R4 8 >define a,1,8,long
E2 4 >define a,1,4,ieee
E4 8 >define a,1,8,ieee

138 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Data-type Display may have a trailing overpunch sign.

Packed-Decimal Fields
When defining packed-decimal fields, you must convert the number of decimal
digits into a byte count. The last digit of a decimal field is always used for the sign.
There are two data-types for decimal fields: PACKED for those that end on a byte
boundary and PACKED* for those that end in the middle of a byte. Here are some
example definitions of packed-decimal fields:

Suprtool Definition Description

>define m,1,2,packed s9(3) COMP-3, P4 in IMAGE, 2 bytes, 4
nibbles, last is sign digit
>define n,1,2,packed* s9(2) COMP-3, P4 in IMAGE, 2 bytes, 4
nibbles, last digit is unused
>define p,1,6,packed s9(11) COMP-3, P12 in IMAGE, 6 bytes, 3
words, 11 digits

Data-Type Warning
The Define command accepts field definitions of any combination of byte-length and
data-type. However, many combinations have limited usefulness in Suprtool. In
these cases, Suprtool prints a warning. For example:
>def field,1,1,integer
Warning: Length of 1 is of limited use for the data-type INTEGER

Examples
The following examples show the various data-types and combinations that are
available with the Define command:
>define a,11,4,double {J2 or I2, S9(9) COMP}
>define b,21,2,int {J1 or I1, S9(4) COMP}
>define c,3,4,real {R2, Classic floating-point}
>define d,5,8,long {R4, Classic floating-point}
>define e,21,8 {character string}
>define f,address(5) {fifth occurrence of address}
>define g,address(5)[3],4 {relative offset}
>define h,address(5)[4],2,byte {middle of the address}
>define i,x[6],4 {starts at sixth byte of X}
>define j,invoice,6,byte {redefine field as Byte}

Absolute Example
The following example shows the most basic use of the Define command to create a
new field definition at an absolute location in the input record.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 139

 {"amt" is an integer that starts at the 11th byte of file}
>def amt,11,2,int
>if amt > 1000 {"amt" is now a field we can select on}
>output outfile

Absolute Example with Subcount

IMAGE and Suprtool allow fields to be repeated. In the next example, we define an
amount field that repeats twelve times (e.g., once for each month of the year). We
use a subscript when we want to refer to a specific month.
>def amt,11,2,int,12 {"amt" is an integer that repeats 12 times}
>if amt(5) > 1000 {we select on the 5th subfield}
>output outfile

Relative Examples
Use the simplest form of relative definitions to rename existing fields.
>def quantity,qty {"quantity" is a more readable name}
>if quantity = "100 " {selection on the new field}

The Define command copies the byteposition, sublength, and type to the new field,
but it does not copy the subcount. Define assumes that you want the first subfield:
>def amount,amt {amt is 12J2}
>if amount > 1000 {amount is 1J2 and is the same as amt(1)}

Relative Example with Subcount

Because Suprtool defaults the subcount to one, you might want to specify an explicit
subcount when giving a new name to an existing field.
>def amount,amt,,,12 {amt is 12J2; same length and type}
>if amount(5) > 1000 {amount is 12J2; we are selecting for May}

Relative Example with Subscript

Use subscripts to define a new field that corresponds to a specific subfield.
>def may,amt(5) {amt is 12J2}
>if may > 1000 {may is the fifth subfield}

Relative Example with Offset

Many applications define subfields within a larger character field. A common
example is a part-number where the first four digits are the warehouse location, the
second four digits are the bin number, and the last four digits are a serially assigned
number. Use the offset parameter to define new fields that are relative to the start of
the part number. The file INVOICES is a self-describing file.
>in invoices {part is 12 bytes}
>def warehouse,part,4 {warehouse starts at part}
>def bin,part[5],4 {bin is second four bytes}
>def release,part[9],4 {release is the last four bytes}
>if bin = "100" {use any field for selection}

Note that redefining the digits of a larger numeric field only works when the field is
a character field (type X, U, or A).

140 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Relative Example Combining Subscripts and Offsets
If we have ten part numbers combined into one field (e.g., 10X12) we can still define
a single field that corresponds to the bin number of one of the parts.
>in invoices {allparts is 10X12}
>def bin3,allparts(3)[5],4 {we are checking starting at the fifth byte …}
>if bin3 = "100" {… of the third part}

Notes
The purpose of the Define command is to tell Suprtool to look at a portion of the
input record in a certain way. For example, if the record contains ASCII digits in the
first ten bytes, Define could be used to assign a field definition to the first six bytes.
In this case, the field must be defined as data-type Byte, Char or Display.
The Extract command may be The Define command cannot be used to convert data from one format to another.
used for data conversion. See Using the same example, the Define command could not be used to treat the first six
the Data Conversion section digits of the ten digit ASCII field as Integer, Packed, Real, or any other numeric data
of the Extract command for format. If the input record contains ASCII digits, Define cannot change them to
details. another data-type.
It may be helpful to think of the Suprtool Define command as similar to a COBOL
REDEFINES clause, or a FORTRAN EQUIVALENCE statement.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 141

Delete Command [DEL]
Deletes all entries selected from the input dataset.
DELETE
Delete has no parameters, and can be entered only after the source of input records
has been specified using Get or Chain. Delete causes Suprtool to "delete" the input
records after they have been read, either all of the input records, or a subset defined
by the If command. Delete is not supported for KSAM and MPE files, only for
IMAGE datasets.

Examples
>:comment Delete and sort old transactions, write to file.
>base store,1,writer {open for write access}
>get d-sales {dataset to delete from}
>if purch-date<980101 {select which records to delete}
>delete {ask for deletion}
>sort cust-account {sort by account and sort}
>sort purch-date { by date}
>output oldsales {output file with deleted and sorted records}
>exit

Losing Records
Delete can be combined with other operations, such as select, sort, write to output
file, and even a Put to another dataset. Care must be used when combining
operations, because such combinations cannot be restarted if the Suprtool "run" is
aborted for any reason (including hitting Control-Y and answering "yes"). See
"Suprtool and IMAGE" on page 57 for more details on using the Delete and Put
commands in combination.
Suprtool deletes records during the input phase. This means that records are deleted
before they are sorted. All of the selected input records are deleted before the first
output record is written when sorting the input. If you press Control-Y and answer
"yes" before a delete task has completed, there may be no way to recover your
deleted records.

Improving Performance of Delete with Deferred Output

Suprtool uses the standard Image intrinsic DBDelete to remove entries from a
dataset. This makes tasks with a Delete operation slower than the standard
MR/NOBUF extracts, but insures structural integrity of the database and that any
Third-Party Indexes are kept in sync.
You can reduce the time needed to Delete dataset entries by enabling deferred output
for the database. If you open the database in mode-3 (exclusive) and Set Defer On,
Suprtool calls DBCONTROL to defer posting of IMAGE writes to disc. The
database creator can enable deferred output processing for all users of a database
with DBUTIL (enable base for autodefer).
Deferred output can make deletes (and puts) faster, but if the system crashes (i.e.,
you have a system failure or a nonrecoverable power failure) while you are using
deferred output, you must RESTORE your database from tape. You do not have to
restore the database if Suprtool stops because of an error or if you abort Suprtool
(i.e., break/abort or :abortjob) while deferred output mode is being used.

142 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Omnidex
If you are deleting from a dataset with Omnidex keys, you must have MPE/iX third-
party indexing (TPI) enabled in your database, or you must run Suprtool with
Omnidex's call conversion facility. To run with call conversion you must run
Suprtool with special parameters.
For Omnidex version 3.0.00 and greater:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;xl="xl.pub.disc"

For Omnidex version 2.05.03 to 2.09:

:run suprtool.cc.disc;lib=g

Warning Message
When deleting records from the input dataset, Suprtool asks for permission to delete
all records if there is no If command to select the records to be deleted:
Delete all records from the D-SALES dataset [no]:

Respond Yes for the task to continue.

In batch mode, Suprtool assumes Yes and keep processing.
Note that if there is no If command, but there is some other command to limit the
number of records deleted (e.g., the Numrecs command or a record-range on the Get
command), Suprtool still asks the question, implying that all records in the dataset
will be deleted. In these cases, only the records that are read, based on the limiting
factor, will be deleted.
For interactive approval of each deletion, see the #Delete command of Dbedit.

Notes
For IMAGE manual master datasets, a DBDELETE call fails if the entry to be
deleted is a "chain-head" with related detail entries still linked to it. When this
happens, Suprtool, by default, prints an error and stops processing the input data. If
Set Dumponerror On, the record is printed on $stdlist. If Set Ignore On has been
entered, Suprtool continues processing and prints a count of "chain-heads" at the end.
Records that cannot be deleted are not included in the output file.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 143

Do Command [DO]
The Do command repeats (without changes) any of the previous 1000 commands.
DO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: repeat the previous command)
Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 of them
are retained. Use the Listredo command to display the previous commands. You can
repeat a single command (do 5), a range of commands (do 5/10) or the most
recent command whose name matches a string (do list). If you want to modify
the commands before executing them, use Redo or Before.

Examples
>listredo {see the previous 20 commands}
>do {do previous command again}
>do 39 {do command line 39 again}
>do 5/8 {do command lines 5 to 8 again}
>do list {do most recent List command}
>do show {do last starting with "show"}
>do showjob job {do last "showjob job" command}
>do @job {do last containing "job"}
>do -2 {do command before previous one}
>do -7/-5 {do by relative line number}
>do 5/ {do command lines 5 to "last"}

Notes
The Do command can be abbreviated to ,., as in MPEX . You cannot use ";" to
combine commands on the same line.

144 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Duplicate Command [DU]
By default, Suprtool copies all selected input records to the output file. The
Duplicate command determines what to do with duplicate output records. Duplicate
records can be discarded, producing an output file without duplicates. Alternatively,
you may be interested in seeing the duplicate records, so you can create an output
file consisting solely of the duplicate records. When deciding whether an output
record is a duplicate, Suprtool either compares the keys only or the entire output
record.
DUPLICATE NONE | ONLY
RECORD | KEYS [num]
[ COUNT ] [ TOTAL ... ]

None
The None option removes duplicate records from the output file. Suprtool compares
each output record with the previous output record. If they are not the same, the
record is added to the output file. This option corresponds to the former Nodup and
Nodupkey options of the Output command.
>key 1,4
>duplicate none keys

Input Output

1111 10 1111 10
2222 25 2222 25
2222 35 3333 48
3333 48

Only
The Only option is the exact opposite of None. Only selects all output records that
would not be written by the None option. When the Only option finds a record that
duplicates a record already in the set, it writes that duplicate to the output file. Note
that the first record is not written to the output file. Here are two examples:
>key 1,4
>duplicate only keys

Input Output Input Output

1111 10 2222 35 1111 10 2222 35

2222 25 2222 25 2222 42
2222 35 2222 35
3333 48 2222 42

Record
Suprtool has two methods for comparing output records: Record and Keys. The
Record option compares the entire output record. This option can be specified
without a sort, but in that case the input file must already be sorted. Note that there
are two data fields in the records in the following example, so that a comparison of
the entire record yields no duplicates.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 145

 >duplicate none record
Input Output

1111 10 1111 10
2222 25 2222 25
2222 35 2222 35
3333 48 3333 48

Keys
The Keys option compares only the sort keys to determine whether an output record
is a duplicate. This option requires that at least one sort key be specified.
>sort agent {sort by agent}
>duplicate none keys
>output agents {create roster of agents}

The Keys Num option determines the level at which Suprtool compares sort keys.
This option controls which duplicate records get included in (or excluded from) the
output file.
In the following example we sort by agent and by bill-date (in descending order), but
only check for duplicates at the agent level.
>sort agent {sort by agent}
>sort bill-date,desc {sort by date}
>duplicate none keys 1 {only check for duplicate agents}
>output agents {create roster of agents}

Count
The Count option causes Suprtool to produce a new field in the output record with
the number of occurrences of each key value. The count field is called st-count, and
is an I2-type field. The Count option can only be used with Duplicate None Keys.
>key 1,4
>duplicate none keys count

Input Output

1111 10 1111 10 1
2222 25 2222 25 2 {two records for key value 2222}
2222 35 3333 48 1
3333 48

Total
The Total option allows up to 15 fields to be subtotaled for each duplicate key.
Separate the fields with spaces, not commas. The Total option can only be used with
Duplicate None Keys. A new field is created at the end of the output record for each
total. Each field is called st-total-n:
>sort customer-no
>extract customer-no
>duplicate none keys total sales-qty sales-amt

The above commands will create a self-describing file with the field customer-no
and the total by each customer of the sales-qty in the field st-total-1. Similarly the
field st-total-2 will contain the total sales-amt by customer number.
The following data-types are chosen for each total based on the data-type of the
field:

146 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Data-Type Total Data-Type
Real R4
IEEE E4
all others P28

Please see the P28 Fields section on how to define these fields in Cobol and
PowerHouse programs.
Note that for byte fields, there can be only digits in the field. If there are other
characters such as "+", "-", or ".", then Suprtool reports an error.
You can use the Link output option to easily see the fields that Suprtool creates. For
repeated fields (e.g., 6I2), the first subfield is subtotaled if you don't provide a
subscript. You can combine the Count and Total options, but the Count option must
appear before the Total option. You cannot combine the Total command with the
Total option of the Duplicate command.
>key 1,4
>def field,5,2,integer
>duplicate none keys total field

Input Output

1111 10 1111 1 10
2222 25 2222 2 60 {25 + 35 = 60}
2222 35 3333 4 48
3333 48

Deleting Duplicate Records

There is no direct way to delete duplicate records. Specifying both the Delete and
Duplicate commands does not delete all duplicate output records. This is because the
Delete command occurs in the input phase, as records are read and selected, but the
Duplicate command occurs in the output phase after the sort has taken place. The
Duplicate command is not part of the selection process; it is the If command that
determines what records are deleted. A common mistake is to specify the Duplicate
and Delete commands without an If command. In this case, Suprtool asks your
permission to delete all input records. Answer "No" to this question to abort the task.
It may be possible to remove duplicates from an input dataset using Suprtool, but
only through roundabout methods. These are too case-specific to document here. If
you need to do this, call Robelle technical support for assistance.

Self-Describing Files
When you are using the Count or Total options, the sort information is not retained
in the output file. This means that if your output file is in LINK format, there are no
sort keys. If you are going to use this file from Suprlink, use the BY-clause of the
LINK command to manually specify the sort keys.

Non-Self-Describing Files
If the input file is not a self-describing file and you are using Count or Total, you
also need to extract all the fields from the file. You can quickly extract the fields by
defining a new field that contains the entire record. For example, if your records are
56 bytes long, then you do the following to extract all the fields:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 147

 >define entire,1,56,byte
>extract entire

Output Restrictions
When you are using the Count and Total options, the only Output formats that you
can use are Data, Data-Num, Query, and Link. If you want to quickly see the Count
or Total results without using a second pass, use the List Standard command.
>get dataset
>sort key-field
>duplicate none keys count total data-field
>output result,link
>list standard
>xeq

P28 fields in COBOL and PowerHouse

Some versions of COBOL do not allow a field greater than 18 digits. To use the P28
field, you must define the first five bytes of the field as filler. For example,
05 ST-TOTAL01.
10 FILLER PIC X(05).
10 TOTAL-1 PIC S9(17) COMP-3.

PowerHouse users should define this field as follows:

Define Total packed size 14

Notes
The option of Only or None must be specified before the option of Record or Keys.
Reversing the order causes a syntax error in the Duplicate command.
You cannot combine the Total command with the Total option of the Duplicate
command.
It is important to note that if the field being sorted is the result of a $function, then
you may not be sorting on the value of the field after the function has transformed
the field. For example the following task may not give you the result you expect:
>base store,5
>get d-sales
>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte
>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"
>sort cust-accountx {sorting on transformed field before it has value from function}
>dup none keys
>output dsales
>exit

In this instance you will not be sorting on cust-accountx as transformed by the $edit
function, but rather the first six bytes of d-sales. Therefore it is important to note
when you are using extract to transform a field, you will not be sorting on that
transformed value.
Therefore the way to do the transformation would be to either divide into two tasks
or if you can logically sort on the field before the transformation in order to achieve
the result, so the task could be:

148 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >base store,5
>get d-sales
>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte
>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"
>sort cust-account {Note sorting on source field}
>dup none keys
>output dsales
>exit

or if two tasks are necessary:

>base store,5
>get d-sales
>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte
>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"
>output tempsales
>xeq
>in tempsales
>sort cust-acctx
>dup none keys
>output dsales
>exit

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 149

Edit Command [ED]
Edits an IMAGE/3000 database.
EDIT
The Edit command of Suprtool invokes an independent module of Suprtool called
Dbedit. This module permits the user to add, change, list, or delete individual records
or "chains" of records from an IMAGE database. This module should be useful for
debugging systems, doing data entry on simple systems, and quickly prototyping
systems. The Edit command uses the database opened previously by the Base
command. Where Suprtool is primarily a serial tool, the Edit module is primarily a
tool for chained or keyed access.

Examples
>:comment Edit the STORE database.
>base store,1,writer {open for write access}
>edit {switch to Dbedit}
#list d-inventory {Dbedit prompts with "#"}
#exit {returns control to Suprtool}
> {Suprtool prompts again}

Notes
An entire user manual has been provided to describe how to use the Edit feature of
Suprtool. See the Dbedit section in the manual for all the details.

150 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Exit Command [E]
Exit Suprtool in one of three ways: quit immediately, suspend entry of commands, or
execute the current task then quit.
EXIT [ ABORT | SUSPEND | XEQ ]
(Default: XEQ)
Users are often frustrated when they exit Suprtool after specifying only part of a task
because Suprtool starts processing the task. To exit Suprtool without executing the
current task, use the Abort or Suspend options.
Typing Exit with no parameters means Exit Xeq. Suprtool recognizes special
command names which specify both the Exit command and an exit option (e.g., ES
means Exit SUSPEND).

Exit Abort [EA]

Cancels the current operation and terminates Suprtool. The Exit command without
parameters always attempts to perform the task currently specified, while Exit Abort
cancels the task and terminates immediately. Thus, Exit Abort is similar to Reset
All;Exit with these differences: should Suprtool be executed as a son process, Exit
only suspends Suprtool, while Exit Abort actually terminates Suprtool. If you use
Exit Abort to terminate Suprtool in a batch job, the MPE Job Control Word is set to a
fatal value which normally flushes the remainder of the batch job. In batch, use Exit
Suspend instead to quit immediately without setting the JCW to fatal.

Examples
You began to specify a sort, stopped for coffee, and decided to cancel the task on
your return:
>base store
>get m-customer
>sort name-last; sort name-first
... coffee break ...
>exit abort {cancel the sort and terminate}
End Of Program

Exit Suspend [ES]

When running Suprtool as a son process (e.g., from Qedit), it would be nice to
suspend Suprtool without executing the current task. Exit SUSPEND does this. After
returning to Suprtool, all specifications for the current task are still in effect.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 151

 Examples
:run qedit.pub.robelle
/:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store.data
>get d-sales {select input}
>sort purch-date {start specifying options}
>exit suspend {return to Qedit without doing Xeq}
SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y
/...
/:activate suprtool
SUPRTOOL.PUB.ROBELLE
>if sales-total>100000 {continue specifications}
>output bigtrans
>xeq {execute the current task}

Exit Xeq [EX]

Signal the end of command input and the start of an extract operation. After the
Suprtool task completes, Suprtool either terminates, or suspends and awakens a
father process (i.e., :RUN from within Qedit). Exit Xeq is the default option (i.e.,
specifying Exit starts execution of the current task).

Examples
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>exit {no input was specified}
No action taken.
End Of Program
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input rep23.newprog
>out rep23.program
>xeq {copy one file}
>input rep24.newprog
>out rep24.program
>exit {copy and stop}

Notes on Exit Xeq

If you have entered neither sort keys nor an input source, Exit terminates Suprtool
without performing any task. If you have defined an input source but without any
sort keys, Suprtool does a copy operation prior to stopping. If you have entered only
sort keys and have not defined an input source, Suprtool does a sort from a file
named Input to a file named Output; Suprtool assumes you have defined Input and
Output using :File commands.

152 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Export Command [EXP]
Send commands to STExport.
EXPORT [ STExport-command ]

Switching into STExport

If you enter Export without parameters, Suprtool executes Stexport.Pub.Robelle.
STExport then prompts you for commands, just as it does when you run STExport
from MPE. When you exit STExport, you are returned to Suprtool.
>export {invoke STExport}
STExport/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1995-2001
$input sdfile
$columns fixed {STExport prompts for commands}
$output pcfile
$exit {do task and return to Suprtool}

Passing Commands to STExport

You can send commands directly to STExport by specifying the STExport command
as part of the Suprtool Export command. STExport executes the command and
returns to Suprtool.
>export input sdfile
>export columns fixed {send "columns fixed" to STExport}
>export output pcfile
>export exit {exit from STExport, not Suprtool}

Notes
You can use the Suprtool2 interface and the Export command to "call" STExport.
See the Suprcall User Manual for a complete example of how to use the interface to
pass commands to STExport.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 153

Extract Command [EXT]
Assembles output records by stringing together fields extracted from input records.
There can be up to 255 extracted fields, and the same field may be extracted more
than once. Constant values may be used instead of the value of the field from the
Input record.
EXTRACT field [(subscript)] [=value |=field2 ] [,...]
EXTRACT field1 [(subscript1)] \ field2 [(subscript2)]
EXTRACT target-field [=expression]
(Default: subscript=entire field)

Field Parameter
Each extracted field must be an IMAGE field name, an Allbase column, a field in an
SD file, or a Defined field. If the field requires an Item definition, then the Item
command must precede the Extract command. Extract specifies a rearrangement of
the Input data fields to produce the Output data record; there is no data conversion,
unless "output xxx, ascii" is specified.
The subscript parameter is valid only for compound items. The total item is extracted
if it is compound and no subscript is specified.
>extract account {extract the key value and}
>extract rating { one other field}
>output out1 {output file has two fields}

Cumulative Extracts
The Extract command is cumulative. If two Extracts are specified in one run, all
fields of the two Extract commands are used.
>extract status,balance,account,purchased

is equivalent to
>extract status,balance
>extract account,purchased

Constants
Extracting Constants
The value part of the Extract command is used to place a constant in each record of
the output file. In this case, the field defines the type and length that the value
occupies. The value portion must match the type of the field. String values will be
extended with blanks to fill the entire field. If the input data does not have a field of
the correct size and type, you can create one using the Define command.
>ext account {key value}
>ext rating=0 {place the value "0" in the "rating" field}
>output out2

The total number of bytes that you can extract for all constants is 5,100 bytes for
MPE/iX and HP-UX, and 1,275 bytes for MPE/V.

154 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Packed and Display Constants
When extracting non-negative packed and display constants, Suprtool extracts them
as unsigned unless you use a leading plus sign. For the value zero, you can use a
leading plus or minus sign to get a positive or negative 0.
>def field,1,6,packed
>ext field = 1 {unsigned 1}
>ext field = +1 {signed 1}
>ext field = +0 {positive 0}
>ext field = 0 {unsigned 0}
>ext field = -0 {negative 0}

Decimal Places
If a field has implied decimal places, Suprtool scales the input values according to
the number of decimal places. For example,
>item tax ,decimal,2 {two implied decimal pts.}
>item total,decimal,2 {same}
>extract tax = 1.02 {specified decimal pts.}
>extract total = 100 {value stored as 10000}
>output out3

Blank Fill
If you want to create an output record that consists of fifty blanks followed by the
customer name, use:
>define filler,1,50
>ext filler=" "
>ext name

String Constants
You can specify a string constant without referring to a field. For example, to leave a
space between fields, you must do the following:
>extract account," ",rating
>output *,ascii

Suprtool uses the length of the string to determine the size of the field. The following
example extracts the same fields as the previous example, but each output record
identifies the field:
>extract "Customer Account=",account," "
>extract "Credit Rating=",rating
>output *,ascii

The output would look like:

Customer Account=04598921 Credit Rating= 5000
Customer Account=44657844 Credit Rating= 20000
Customer Account=98753198 Credit Rating= 3000

The spaces after "Credit Rating=", before the rating value, is due to the numeric field
Rating being extracted with blanks for its leading zeros. This is the result of the Ascii
option of the Output command.

Repeated Fields
If the field is an IMAGE repeated field (e.g., 10J1), the Extract command places the
value in each of the repeated fields when you do not specify the subscript. If you
specify a subscript, only that one repeated field will have the new constant value.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 155

 In this example, Address is a repeated field (2X20). We wish to extract the data as it
exists in the input record rather than forcing it to a constant value.
>ext account {extract key value}
>ext address {take both of the repeated fields}

In the next example, we assume that the Balance field is a repeated field (12J2). We
wish to make each of the 12 repeated fields in the output record equal to 100:
>extract name
>extract balance=100

If we only wanted to extract the sixth field of BALANCE and set it to 100 we would
do the following:
>extract name
>extract balance(6)=100

Character Constants
Use the ^-character to specify any ASCII character. The number (the actual ASCII
value), or letter (^A means control A), must follow immediately after the ^-character.
Suprtool treats character constants as strings. When you extract the constant to a
field longer than one byte, Suprtool pads it with spaces.
>define field,1,1 {byte field}
>ext field = ^0 {binary zero}
>ext field = ^G {Control-G (bell)}
>ext field = ^27 {escape}
>ext field = ^252 {Roman-8 box}
>ext field = ^186 {Euro currency symbol €}

You can also extract the constant directly without referring to a defined field. This
always produces a one-byte constant with no blank padding.
>ext ^0 {binary zero}
>ext ^13,^10 {Carriage Return, Line Feed}
>ext ^M,^J {CR, LF again}
>ext ^27,"&dB" {escape sequence}

Dates
Extracting Today's Date
To extract today's date, use the following:
>item field,date,ccyymmdd {identify date format of field}
>extract field=$today {today's date}
>extract field=$today(-1) {yesterday's date}
>extract field=$today(+1) {tomorrow's date}

Use the Item command to qualify the field as a date. Suprtool uses the date format to
determine the output format of the date. The $today function accepts one optional
argument which is the number of days before or after today. The maximum number
of days in either direction is 9999.
Oracle dates include both the date and the time. If you extract an Oracle date using
$today, the time is always 00:00 (i.e., midnight).

Extracting Relative Dates

The Extract command provides the same relative date features as the If command
(see "Date Selection" on page 198 for a complete description of the options of

156 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 $date). You must first use the Item command to identify the field name as a date.
Suprtool uses the field type and length along with the date format to determine the
output format of the date. Note that the three parts of $DATE are always specified in
(year/month/day) order, regardless of the date format of the field.
>item field,date,mmddyy
>extract field=$date(*/*/*) {today's date}
>extract field=$date(*/*-1/01) {start of last month}
>extract field=$date(*/*-1/last) {end of last month}

Oracle dates include both the date and the time. If you extract an Oracle date using
$date, the time is always 00:00 (i.e., midnight).

$Stddate
Similar to the If command, the Extract command is also capable of utilizing the
$stddate function. This will allow for conversion of any of the supported Suprtool
date formats to be converted to a date in the ccyymmdd date format in a double
integer container.
For example,
>get sales-detail
>def new-ship-date,1,4,double
>item ship-date,date,mmddyyyy
>ext order-no / sales-amount
>ext new-ship-date = $stddate(ship-date)
>out salesinfo,link
>xeq

Invalid Dates
Because the $stddate must have a valid date in order to properly convert the date to
the ccyymmdd format, a value of 0 will be returned for any invalid dates. An invalid
date is any number of a particular date format whose date equivalent cannot be found
on the calendar.
This means that if you attempt to extract use the $stddate function against a value
that is not a valid date then the extracted value will be 0.

$Days
As with the $stddate function, the $days function is also available to the Extract
command. You can convert any supported date to a Julian Day number in the
following manner:
>in ordfile
>def ship-days,1,4,double
>def order-days,1,4,double
>def delay,1,4,double
>ext order-no
>ext ship-days=$days(ship-date)
>ext order-days=$days(order-date)
>ext delay=$days(ship-date)-$days(order-date)
>out neword,link
>xeq
IN=15, OUT=15. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

Invalid Dates
If an invalid date is encountered, the extracted value will be zero. Therefore in the
example above, if the order has not yet been shipped (ship-date does not contain a
valid date) the resulting delay value will be negative.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 157

 Add and Subtract Dates
With the $days function, you can generate a date that is n days before or after any
date. In the following example, we show you how to get the previous day's date.
>input YOURFILE
>def origdate,1,8
>def yesterday,1,8
>item origdate,date,yyyymmdd
>item newdate,date,yyyymmdd
>ext origdate
>ext yesterday = $stddate($days(origdate) – 1) {or +7 for next week}
>out tmpfile,link
>xeq

Sample output:
ORIGDATE YESTERDAY

19990101 19981231
19991231 19991230
19990301 19990228

Date Limits
The $date function in Suprtool can generate dates between the years 1583 and 2583.
Some date formats have limits based on their particular format, such as 2027 for a
Calendar date and 2259 for the aammdd aamm, mmddaa, ddmmaa dates.

Range of Fields
Extracting a Range of Fields
You can specify a range of fields to extract using the following:
Extract Field1 \ Field4
Extract $first \ $last
Extract $All {means $first \ $last}
This feature only works with IMAGE fields, input files "equated" to an IMAGE
dataset and for self-describing files. If you specify a range, Suprtool extracts all 4 of
the field names between field1 and field4 inclusive. When specifying a range of a
self-describing file that has been equated to an IMAGE dataset, the IMAGE dataset
definition takes precedence.
>get d-sales {input is from a dataset}
>ext product-no\sales-qty
>out dsales
>xeq

is exactly the same as:

158 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >get d-sales {input is from a dataset}
>ext product-no {first field in the range}
>ext product-price
>ext purch-date
>ext sales-qty {last field in the range}
>out dsales
>xeq

Extracting a Range of Subscripted Fields

Suprtool accepts a subscript on either field in a range. You can even use this feature
to extract a range from a single field. For example, if sales-amt is a 12J2 field:
>get d-sales {input is from a dataset}
>ext sales-amt(4)\sales-amt(6)
>out dsales
>xeq

is equivalent to:
>get d-sales {input is from a dataset}
>ext sales-amt(4) {first subscripted field}
>ext sales-amt(5) {intermediate subfield}
>ext sales-amt(6) {last subscripted field}
>out dsales
>xeq

Alternate Syntax for Extracting a Range

Suprtool accepts a slash "/" in place of the backslash "\" to specify a range. Use the
slash with care, because it is a valid character in field names. For example,
>extract a/b

would produce the error message:

Error: Item "A/B" not in the database...

To use a slash in an extract range, surround it with spaces:

>extract a / b

You can also use $first, $last or all in Extracting a range. The intention is to make
your scripts more easily maintained. If you had a script that you wanted to put a
sequence number at the beginning and then extract the rest of the dataset you could
specify the starting field and the ending field. For example:

base orddb
get customers
def seq-no,1,4,double
ext seq-no=$counter
ext order-no / pst-code
out newfile,link
xeq

If you added any fields to the beginning or end of the dataset and you used the
specific fieldnames you would have to re-write the script. However, you can use the
$all feature in extract range:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 159

 base orddb
get customers
def seq-no,1,4,double
ext seq-no=$counter
ext $all
out newfile,link
xeq

You can also write the script using $first / $last as your preference, but $first and
$last are also useful if you need to add data into the middle of the fields you extract:
base orddb
get customers
def seq-no,1,4,double
ext $first / zip
ext seq-no=$counter
ext tax-code / $last
out newfile,link
xeq

Numeric Expressions
You can specify arithmetic expressions for any numeric data-type in the Extract
command. Arithmetic expressions involve the operators +, -, *, / and mod. Extract
arithmetic expressions work exactly as If command arithmetic expressions. To
extract an expression, use this syntax,
EXTRACT target-field = expression

Target-Field
The target-field determines the byte-length, data-type, and repeat-count for the
expression. The expression is extracted during the output phase and cannot be used
by other Suprtool commands that accept fields (e.g., sort). To avoid confusion, it is
best to define a new field name for the target-field instead of using an existing field
name.

Examples
>extract budget99 = actual98 + 1000
>extract total = cost * qty
>extract day = ccyymmdd-date mod 100

In the following example, the field total is used twice. In the first case, it is used
to tell Suprtool how to format the arithmetic expression. In the second case, it is used
in the sort command. Warning: In this example, the output file is sorted by the value
of total as it appears in the input record. It is not be sorted by cost * qty.
>extract total = cost * qty
>sort total {sort by input total}

Restrictions
You can only use one expression in each Extract command, and the expression must
be the last item. If you want to extract several expressions or more fields after an
expression, you need to use several Extract commands.
Incorrect

160 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >extract name, i=sales + tips, c=cost + expense, dept

Correct
>extract name, i=sales + commission
>extract c=cost + expense
>extract dept

Constants vs. Expressions

If you have an arithmetic expression that starts with a constant, Suprtool assumes
that you are attempting to extract a single constant value and not an arithmetic
expression. To specify an arithmetic expression that starts with a constant, surround
the expression with parentheses. For example,
Incorrect
>extract c = 6000 - cost
Error: Missing comma or invalid arithmetic expression

Correct
>extract c = (6000 - cost)

Numeric Truncation
The accuracy of arithmetic computations is limited to approximately sixteen digits.
Suprtool may truncate four-word integers (quad), or large packed-decimal numbers,
or display numbers when they are converted to floating-point. Suprtool does not
produce any error or warning in this case.

Division by Zero
Suprtool reports an error in the input record number if an arithmetic computation
results in division by zero. Use Set Ignore On to force Suprtool to ignore division by
zero errors. With Set Ignore On, the result of division by zero is zero.
The speed of a task decreases when you ask Suprtool to ignore many division by
zero errors. It is better to check for zero in the If expression before using it in
division.
>if qty <> 0 {to avoid division by zero}
>extract average = total / qty

$Abs function
Suprtool supports an $abs function, which returns the absolute value of a number.
For example, if a field called Credit contains the value -547.83, the $abs function
returns 547.83.
This function will work on a field or even on an expression such as:
>def newcredit,1,4,double
>ext newcredit = $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07)

This function will also work in the If command:

>if $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07) > 500.00

$Truncate function
Suprtool supports a $truncate function which returns the number to the left of a
decimal place. For example if the field stddev contains the value 547.83, the
$truncate function will return 547. Note that there is no rounding.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 161

 This function will work on fields and expressions. For example,
>def newdev,1,4,double
>ext newdev = $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07)

This function will also work in the If command:

>if $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07) > 200

$SubTotal Function
Suprtool has the ability to keep a running subtotal for any numeric field based on a
given sort key. The target data must be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to
avoid overflow issues.
A sample use of the $subtotal function could be:
>def mytotal,1,14,packed
>get orders
>sort order-number
>ext order-number
>ext part-number
>ext description
>ext sales-amount
>ext mytotal = $subtotal(sales-amount,order-number)
>out sales,link
>xeq

This would result in a file containing a running subtotal in the field mytotal for a
given order-number. You could then generate a simple report with the simple
Suprtool commands:
>in sales
>list standard
>xeq

The basic syntax for the $subtotal function in the extract command is:
extract targetfield = $subtotal(field,sort-field)

You must specify the sort command before referencing the sort-field in the $subtotal
function. You can subtotal up to ten fields per pass and the $subtotal function is also
available in the if command, however, by nature it is of limited use.

$Total Function
Suprtool has the ability to keep a running total for any numeric field. The target data
must be a packed field with 28 digits, in order to help avoid overflow issues. A
sample use of the total function could be:
>def mytotal,1,14,packed
>get orders
>ext mytotal = $total(sales-amount)
>xeq

You can total up to ten fields per pass and the $total function is also available in the
if command, however, is of limited use.

$Counter Function
For years Suprtool has had the ability to output a record number to an output file
with the num option of the output command:

162 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >in mysdfile
>out myfile,num,data

The above could would generate an output file called myfile, however, you would
lose the SD information and you can only put the number at the beginning or the end
of the data. Suprtool now has a counter function that allows you to place a $counter
at any spot as well as preserve the SD information.
>in mysdfile
>def mycount,1,4,double
>ext field1
>ext field2
>ext mycount=$counter
>out myfile,link
>xeq

The file myfile will be self-describing and contain the fields field1, field2 and
mycount. The field mycount is defined as a double integer, since this is the only field
type that the $counter function can use. Each record will have a unique ascending
number starting with one.

String Expressions
You can combine byte-type fields together and use the built-in string functions to
create new fields out of existing ones. This can reduce the number of tasks required
to provide a solution. String expressions may involve the + operator and $upper,
$lower, $trim, $ltrim or $rtrim. To extract a string expression, use this syntax:
EXTRACT target-field = expression

Target-Field
The target-field determines the byte-length for the expression. The data-type must be
Byte or Char. The expression is extracted during the output phase and cannot be used
by other Suprtool commands that accept fields (e.g., Sort).

Examples
>extract id-no = warehouse-no + bin-no
>extract full-name = first-name + last-name

Constants vs. Expressions

If you have an string expression that starts with a string, Suprtool assumes that you
are attempting to extract a single string value and not an string expression. To
specify a string expression that starts with a constant, surround the expression with
parentheses. For example,
Incorrect
>extract name = " " + product-desc
Error: Missing comma or invalid arithmetic expression

Correct
>extract name = (" " + product-desc)

Variable Length Strings

String expressions use variable-length strings. Suprtool keeps track of the length of
every string, and all operations are done using the actual string length. For fields, the

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 163

 length of the string is the length of the field. If you do not want to retain all the
spaces in a field, use one of the built-in trimming functions.
String constants are created with the exact length of the constant. For example, the
string "abc" is three characters long and the string "a" is one.
When assigning the string expression to the target field, Suprtool pads the final string
value with spaces to fill out the target field. String expressions longer than the target
field generate an error.
>in testfile
>def a,1,10,byte
>ext a="I'm too long for this container"

Error: String is too long for the specified item

String Truncation
Suprtool produces an error if the string expression is longer than the target field. You
cannot override this error with Set Ignore On. To help avoid the error, you may want
to trim the expression of trailing spaces before assigning it to the target field. For
example,
>extract new-field = $trim(a + b + c)

Upshifting Strings ($Upper)

Use the built-in function $upper to upshift all the characters of a string expression
into uppercase characters. This function can be used to upshift a single field, a
complicated string expression, or any subpart of an expression. Both ASCII and
Roman-8 characters are upshifted by $upper. For example,
>extract city-up = $upper(city)
>extract full-name = $upper(first + last)

Downshifting Strings ($Lower)

If you want to downshift all characters of a string expression to lowercase, use the
built-in function $lower. This function can be used to downshift a single field, a
complicated string expression, or any subpart of an expression. Both ASCII and
Roman-8 characters are downshifted by $lower. For example,
>extract city-lower-case = $lower(city)
>extract city-state = $lower(city + state)

Trimming Spaces Using $Trim, $LTrim, $RTrim

Use one of three built-in string functions to remove leading or trailing spaces from a
string expression. The three functions are:
$Trim: Remove leading and trailing spaces from the string expression.
$LTrim: Remove leading spaces.
$RTrim: Remove trailing spaces.

Splitting Variable Length Strings

Suprtool can extract portions of a byte field based on the occurrence of certain
characters.
Consider the following Data:

164 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Armstrong/ Neil/ Patrick
Green/ Bob/ Miller
Edwards/ Janine/
Armstrong/Arthur/Derek

The $split function can extract each token into separate fields. The syntax for the
$split function is:
$split(Field,Start Character,Occurrence,End Character,Occurrence)

The following task will $split the data in the wholename into three separate fields.
The below task assumes that the file namefile is self-describing and has the field
wholename in it:
>in namefile
>define lastname,1,30
>define firstname,1,20
>define middlename,1,20
>extract lastname = $split(wholename,first,"/")
>extract firstname=$trim($split(wholename,"/","/"))
>extract middlename=$trim($split(wholename,"/",2," ",2))
>out names,link
>xeq

The first extract statement tells Suprtool extract the bytes from the field wholename,
starting at the beginning (first keyword), and stopping at the "/" character. The
second extract statement, tells Suprtool to extract the bytes between the first
occurrence of the "/" character to the next occurrence of the "/" character, and then
that string is trimmed of spaces as it is nested within the $trim function.
The third and final extract statement tells Suprtool to extract the bytes beginning
with the second occurrence of the "/" character to the second occurrence of the space
character.
If the target field is not long enough to hold the data Suprtool will abort with an
error. You can easily prevent this from happening on blank fields by nesting the
$split statement within a $trim or $rtrim function.

First/Last
The $split function also has a Last keyword, whereby you can split the field from a
given occurrence of a character to the end of the field. So in the given example from
above the extracting out of the middlename could be coded as such:
>extract middlename=$trim($split(wholename,"/",2,last))

The above means to extract out all the data from the second occurrence of the "/", to
the end of the field and trim all spaces. Naturally as noted above we also have the
First keyword, which indicates the start of the field.

Unprintables
You can specify an unprintable character for Suprtool to use as the character to $split
on, using the following syntax:
>extract middlename=$split(wholename,^9,2,last)

which means that the split would start at the second occurrence of Decimal Nine, or
the Tab character. Please note that for specifying unprintable characters you do not
put in quotes.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 165

 Cleaning your Data
In this day and age of migrations we were looking at issues that customers have run
into when importing data into new databases. What came from this investigation
where ways to Clean up your data in any given byte type field.
We have added two methods to clean your data, you can use Suprtool to clean an
individual byte type field, or STExport to clean all of the byte-type fields for a given
file that you are exporting.
Sometimes un-printable or extraneous characters get stored in files or databases that
have no business being there. This may be some tab characters in an address field or
perhaps and embedded carriage return or line-feed. Suprtool now supports the clean
function which will replace individual characters for a given byte field.
There are three things that Suprtool needs to know in order to "clean" a field.
Suprtool needs to know which characters it needs to clean, what character it needs to
change the "bad" characters to, and also what field does it need to clean.

Clean Command Syntax

You can specify special characters Decimal 0 thru Decimal 31 via the command:
Clean special

You can also specify a range or characters by using the following syntax:
Clean "^0:^31","^240:^255"

The Clean command is used to tell Suprtool what characters it needs to look for in a
given byte type field. For example:
clean "^9","^10","."

will tell Suprtool to replace the tab character (Decimal 9), Line Feed (Decimal 10),
and a period to whatever the Clean character is set to. The CLean command takes
both, decimal notation and the character itself, however, it is probably most
convenient to use the Decimal notation for the characters that you wish to clean. The
Decimal notation is indicated by the "^" character.

Setting the Clean Character

By default, Suprtool will replace any of the characters specified in the clean
command with a space. You can specify what character to use to replace any of the
characters that qualify with the following set command:
>set CleanChar "."

This will set the character to replace any of the qualifying "to be cleaned" characters
to be a period.

Cleaning a Field
You call the clean function, the same way you normally use other functions available
to if and extract. For example:
ext address1=$clean(address1)

shows how to clean the field address1. You do not necessarily need to have the target
field be the same as the source field.

166 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 def new-address,1,30
ext new-address=$clean(address1)

Cleaning your data

An example of how easy it would be to clean your database of certain "bad"
characters in byte-type fields would be as follows:
>base mydb,1,;
>get customer
>clean "^9","^10","^0","^7"
>set cleanchar " "
>update
>ext address(1) = $clean(address(1))
>ext address(2) = $clean(address(2))
>ext address(3) = $clean(address(3))
>xeq

The above task will look at the three instances of address and replace the tab,
linefeed, null and bell characters with a space.
If you want to just remove the characters all you need to do is set the CleanChar in
the following manner:
>Set CleanChar “<null>”

This means that the $clean function will remove the characters specified in the clean
command, but not replace with any character, which effectively shifts the text to the
left and pad the equivalent amount of spaces at the end.

Extract from a Table

Suprtool has the ability to load data into a table via the Table command, and extract
that data out of the table using the Extract command. The Extract command can
utilize the $lookup function to return data. The syntax for the $lookup function
would look as follows:
>extract target = $lookup(table-name,key-field,data-field)

The Table name, key-field and data-field are all defined by the Table command,
which must be input before the Extract command. A classic example: your boss
comes to you with a list of new prices for certain parts and asks you to update the
Part-Master dataset.
Just load the new prices into a Table, index by the product number (prodno), then
Extract the price field from each record and replace it with a $lookup on the table.
Here is the code:
>table newprices,prodno,file,bosslist,data(price)
>get part-master
>if $lookup(newprices,prodno)
>update
>extract price = $lookup(newprices,prodno,price)
>xeq

We do the If $lookup to select only the parts which have new prices, then do Extract
with $lookup to replace the existing price with a new one. The Update command
forces a database update on each selected record and must come before the Extract
command.
Now let's see how a Table can be used to add additional useful information to a
record. Let's say we build this table of Canadian provinces (The file prov-file is

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 167

 assumed to be a Link, or self-describing, file, created by a previous pass of
Suprtool.)
>table provtab,prov-code,file,provfile,data(prov-name)

At this point the key into the Table is the prov-code item and for each entry in the
Table there is one associated prov-name. To append prov-name to each output
record, we read the customer dataset, extracting the customer name. We also Define
prov-name as a new field and extract it for the output record, but we fill it with a
value that is based on the prov-code for each customer entry:

>get customers
>ext cust-name
>def full-prov-name,1,30
>ext full-prov-name=$lookup(provtab,cust-prov-code,prov-name)
>out somefile
>xeq

To update a dataset, you do the same commands, but you insert an Update command
prior to the Extract from a Table. Below is an example that shows how to update an
IMAGE record using data values from a Table.
Let's assume that we have new unit cost information for each product:
>form newcosts
File: NEWCOSTS.NEIL.GREEN (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
PRODNO Z8 1
UNIT-COST P8 9
Limit: 13 EOF: 13 Entry Length: 12 Blocking: 64

We load a table with the product number key value (prod-no)and the new unit cost
data value (unit-cost):
>table prodcost-table,prodno,file,newcosts,data(unit-cost)

We can then select that unit-cost field from the prodcost-table using the Extract
command:
>extract unit-cost = $lookup(prodcost-table,prodno,unit-cost)

Here is the entire task, keeping in mind that Update must be specified before the
Extract command.
>base store.suprtpis
Database password [;]?
>get d-inventory
>table prodtable,prodno,file,newcosts,data(unit-cost)
>update
>if $lookup(prodtable,prodno)
>extract unit-cost = $lookup(prodtable,prodno,unit-cost)
>xeq

If you did not specify the If $lookup, then records that did not qualify under the
$lookup function in the extract field, will result in zeroes for any numeric field and
spaces for any byte type fields.

Data Conversion
You can convert numeric fields from one data-type to another. Any nonbyte field
type is considered to be numeric. You can also lengthen or truncate character fields.
The general syntax for doing conversions is:
EXTRACT target-field = source-field

168 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Target-Field
The target-field determines the byte-length, data-type, and repeat-count for the
expression. The expression is extracted during the output phase and cannot be used
by other Suprtool commands that accept fields (e.g., Sort). To avoid confusion, it is
best to define a new field name for the target-field instead of using an existing field
name.
The following example shows defining a new target-field as a double integer. The
Extract command target-field then takes the definition from the Define command
and extracts data from the source-field (display-field).
>in oldfile
>def salesqty,1,4,double
>ext order-no / order-date
>ext salesqty = display-field

Packed and Display Fields

When the target of an extract conversion is a packed- or display-type field, Suprtool
always converts positive values to a neutral packed- or display-value. To ensure that
expressions with positive values have a positive result, use the $signed function:
>extract packed-field = $signed(int-field)
>extract display-field = $signed(dbl-field / 10)

Truncation errors can occur when Suprtool converts from nonfloating-point to

floating-point. See the discussion under Numeric Truncation above.

Byte Fields
Use the Extract command to shorten or lengthen byte-type fields. This feature is
most useful when updating one field in an IMAGE/SQL dataset with another field.
>get d-sales
>define part-warehouse-no,part-no[5],4
>extract warehouse-no = part-warehouse-no
>update
>xeq

If the target-field is longer than the source-field, Suprtool fills the trailing space in
the target-field with spaces.

Byte to Numeric Conversion

Suprtool cannot explicitly convert from a byte field to a numeric field such as a
double integer. The Extract command, however, does allow conversion from a
display field to a double integer (or any other numeric field).
You can define a byte field to be a display field if all of the characters in the field
contain a number. For example if you have a six-character byte field that looks like
this:
012345

you can define it in the following manner:

>def display-field,1,6,display

This field can then be converted to any of the other numeric types that Suprtool
supports.
If the field is six characters and contains blanks, decimal, currency or a sign symbol
in the data then you can utilize the $number function.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 169

 $Number Function
Suprtool now has the ability to accept free-form "numbers" as display data types.
This means numbers in the form:
1234.45-
-12345
-123.2134
12343
$123.45

can now be accepted and converted to any other numeric data type. Consider the
following data:
Item-number New-Price
12345 +123.45
34563 + 27.5
21312 + 1.545

Suprtool can now read and convert the data in New-Price using the number function.
Let's say we want New-Price to be a double integer and currently occupies eight
bytes starting in position six. Here is the task you would use to convert the New-
Price free-format number into a double integer.
>in mynums
>def item-number,1,5,byte
>def new-price-ascii,6,8,display
>def new-price,1,4,double
>item new-price-ascii,dec,2
>item new-price,dec,2
>ext item-number
>ext new-price=$number(new-price-ascii)
>out somefile,link
>xeq

The $number function take the free-format number and make it a valid display
number. It will determine the decimal, sign and add leading zeroes. It will round the
number to the defined number of decimal places.
In the case of 1.545 number, Suprtool will round the value to be 1.55, since the given
number of decimal places is two and the following value is five or greater. If you
have a whole number such as 54, with no decimal point the value becomes 54.00.
Suprtool will not accept data that has:
More than one sign.
More than one decimal place.
Spaces in between numbers.
Signs that are in between numbers.
Characters that are not over punch characters.
Fields that when edited do not fit in the defined space for the
display field.

You can control the character that defines the currency, thousand and decimal
symbol for other currencies and formats using the following commands:
>set decimalsymbol "."
>set thousandsymbol ","
>set currencysymbol "$"

Suprtool in the above case will strip the currency and thousand symbols and use the
decimal symbol to determine the number of decimal places. You can set these
characters to any values you want but the defaults for each are used in the above set
commands. The decimal and thousand symbols are only single characters. The
currency symbol allows for four characters.

170 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Numeric to Byte Conversion
Suprtool has several ways to convert binary numbers (e.g., J4, I2, P8) into human-
readable ASCII form. You can use STExport or Suprtool's Output,Ascii or
Output,Display commands.
If you want to convert only some of your numeric fields, you can use Suprtool's
numeric conversion to convert binary fields to display fields. For example, here is a
conversion of a J4 field to an Z18 field:
define mynumber 1,18,display
get dataset
extract some-fields...
extract mynumber = binary-number
output filename
xeq

You can also use the $Edit function to format and directly convert to byte format.

$Edit Function
Suprtool can format fields using edit-mask features similar to edit-mask features of
Cobol. Suprtool employs two distinct types of edit-masks: one for byte type fields
and the other for numeric fields.
The type of mask utilized depends on the source type of the field. If the source field
is numeric, then the numeric edit-mask logic is applied, if the source field is byte
type, then the byte edit-mask logic and characters apply.

The target field must always be a byte type field.

Placeholders and Format Characters

An edit-mask consists of "placeholder" characters, such as "9" for a numeric column,
and "format" characters, such as "." for the decimal place. Sometimes an edit-mask
character acts as both a placeholder and a format character, such as the "$" in
floating dollar signs.

Byte-Type Formatting
For Byte type fields there are two placeholder characters. These are:
X ~ place the data in the matching column for the X in the edit-mask
Z ~ place the data in the matching column unless the data is a zero; if the data is a
zero, then replace with a space
The format characters are as follows:
B (space) / (slash) , (comma) . (period) + (plus) - (minus) * (asterisk)
and a space. Please note that you can denote a space using two methods, either by
putting a "B" in the mask or a space itself. For example, suppose you have data that
is in ccyymmdd format in an X8 field. Here is how you would use a "xxxx/xx/xx"
mask to format the data:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 171

 >in mydate
>form
File: MYDATE.TEST.NEIL (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
A X8 1 <CCYYMMDD>
Limit: 10000 EOF: 2 Entry Length: 8
>def formatdate,1,10
>ext formatdate=$edit(a,"xxxx/xx/xx")
>list
>xeq
>IN MYDATE.NEIL.GREEN (0) >;OUT $NULL (0)
FORMATDATE = 2003/09/24

>IN MYDATE.NEIL.GREEN (1) >;OUT $NULL (1)

FORMATDATE = 2003/09/24

As you see in the example above, the placeholder character is the "x" and the "/" is
the format character. You insert a space either by specifying a "B" or by putting an
actual space character in the edit-mask. An example of inserting a space might be the
formatting of Canadian postal codes (e.g., V3R 7K1):

>in postal
>form
File: POSTAL.NEIL.GREEN
Entry: Offset
POSTAL-CODE X6 1
Limit: 10000 EOF: 2 Entry Length: 6
>def post1,1,7,byte
>def post2,1,7,byte
>ext post1=$edit(postal-code,"xxx xxx")
>ext post2=$edit(postal-code,"xxxbxxx")
>list
>xeq

>IN POSTAL.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)

POST1 = L2H 1L2 POST2 = L2H 1L2

>IN POSTAL.NEIL.GREEN (1) >OUT $NULL (1)

POST1 = L2H 1L2 POST2 = L2H 1L2

Z-placeholder for byte-fields

The Z-placeholder character works differently for byte-fields than for numeric fields.
For byte type fields, if the Z placeholder and the corresponding data is "0", then the
zero is suppressed, regardless of the position. This is primarily for suppression of
zeroes in byte type date fields:
ext a=$edit(date-field,"xxxx/zx/zx")

The above edit mask would then edit a byte type date of 20031005, to be:
2003/10/ 5

Overflow and limits

An edit mask is limited to 32 characters in total for both numeric and byte type
fields. If data overflows the edit-mask, by default Suprtool will fill that field with
asterisks. There is an option to have Suprtool stop when it encounters a formatting
overflow:

172 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >set editstoperror on

will force Suprtool to stop if there is data left over after applying the edit-mask. With
byte-type fields, leading spaces do not cause overflow. Therefore if your data
consists of:
" L2H1L2"

and your edit mask is:

"xxxBxxx"

It is not an overflow since there are only spaces to the left of the "L". If the data was:
" JL2H1L2"

an overflow exception would occur.

Numeric field edit-masks

Our edit-masks for numeric fields are patterned after those in COBOL. We provide
four placeholder characters, each with a slightly different effect:
"9" - insert a digit from 0 to 9 in this position
"$" - if you specify more than one dollar sign, you get a floating dollar sign. This
means that there can be as many numeric positions as there are dollar signs, but if
some positions are not needed because the value is small, the $ floats to the right
next to the first digit and the preceding positions are blank.
"*" - if there are enough digits in the value, the * position is replaced by a numeric
digit; if not, an asterisk is printed. Leading asterisks are often used for check writing,
so that no one can insert a different value.
"z" - insert a numeric digit at this position; if the rest of the data to the left is a zero
then a space will be placed at this position. For example:
>ext a=$edit(int-field,"$$,$$$.99-")
>ext b=$edit(int-field,"99,999.99-")
>ext c=$edit(int-field,"cr99999.99")
>ext d=$edit(int-field,"-$9999.99")
>ext e=$edit(int-field,"**,***.99+")
>ext f=$edit(int-field,"zz,zzz.99+")
>list
>xeq
>IN FILE1SD.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
A = $11.11- B = 00,011.11-
C = CR00011.11 D = -$0011.11
E = ****11.11- F = 11.11-

>IN FILE1SD.NEIL.GREEN (1) >OUT $NULL (1)

A = $22.22- B = 00,022.22-
C = CR00022.22 D = -$0022.22
E = ****22.22- F = 22.22-

Signs
As shown in the example above, there are also numerous format characters for
numeric edits, including four ways to specify the sign. You can specify a sign, with
+, -, or the typical accounting specification of "CR" and "DB". You will note in the
example above that the "cr" in the mask was up-shifted to be "CR". This is because
the entire mask is up-shifted as the mask is being parsed.
You can specify more than one sign in a numeric field edit, although Suprtool will
give you a warning that having two sign edit-mask characters does not really make
sense. Cobol gives a Questionable warning when compiling an edit-mask with two
sign characters. Suprtool, will apply the sign in both places.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 173

 Keep in mind that most data has three states:
1) Postive
2) Negative
3) Neutral
Any neutral data will not display the sign. If you specify a "+" sign in the edit-mask
and the data is negative, it will of course display a "-" sign.

Decimal Places
For numeric-type edits, Suprtool attempts to adjust the data according to the number
of decimal places in the edit-mask, when compared to the number of decimal places
defined in the field.
For example if the data field has one decimal place, and the edit mask has two
decimal places, then the data is adjusted:

Data and Edit mask:

102.3 ZZZZ.99

will result in the final data being:

102.30

Similarly, if the data has three decimal places and the edit-mask only has two, then
the data will be rounded appropriately with the same rules as outlined in the $number
function.
You can specify more than one decimal place in an edit-mask. However, Suprtool
will print a warning and it will utilize the right-most decimal place for data
alignment. The decimal place character is defined by a set command:
>set decimalsymbol "."

If you define another character as the decimal symbol, Suprtool will use that
character as the point to align the decimals. If you define a decimal symbol that is
not an allowed edit-mask character with Set Decimalsymbol, Suprtool will assume
that the field has zero decimal places and adjust the data accordingly.

Currency and Dollar signs

Suprtool edit-masks support both fixed and floating dollar signs. Logic for floating
dollar-signs will be invoked if more than two dollar signs are defined in the edit-
mask.
A floating-dollar edit mask attempts to put the dollar sign at the left most position of
the significant data. For example if you have the following data and edit mask:
0001234.54 $$$$$$.$$

the data would end up as:

$1234.54

Suprtool will not however, put the dollar sign to the right of the decimal place. If you
had the same edit mask and the data was, .09, the data would end up being formatted
as:
$.09

Similarily, the $edit function will attempt to place the dollar sign correctly in most
cases. For example Suprtool will not format data in the form of:

174 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 $,123.50

Suprtool, does attempt to fixup these cases and would format the data in the
following manner:
$123.50

Overflow and floating dollar

If the number of digits in the data is equal to the number of placeholder dollar signs,
then the dollar sign is dropped and not added to the edited field.
12345.50 $$$$$.99

would result in:

12345.50

Set CurrencySymbol
If Set CurrencySymbol is not equal to "$", then after the formatting has been applied,
whatever symbol(s) are defined within the set command, are used to replace the "$"
symbol in the data. For example, if you have the Currency symbol set as "CDN".
>set currencysymbol "CDN"

Suprtool will replace the "$" after the edit-mask has been applied with CDN,
provided there is room to the left of the dollar-sign.It is recommended that if you are
using multiple characters for the dollar symbol that you leave enough characters to
the left of the symbol.
For example if the CurrencySymbol is defined as CDN, then you should leave two
spaces to the left of a fixed dollar sign definition. If there is not enough room, to put
in the currency symbol, then the dollar symbol is blank.

Overflow and limits

An edit mask is limited to 32 characters in total for both numeric and byte type
fields. If data overflows the edit-mask, by default Suprtool will fill that field with
asterisks. There is an option to have Suprtool stop when it encounters a formatting
overflow:
>set editstoperror on

will force Suprtool to stop if there is data left over to place when applying the edit-
mask. With numeric-type fields, leading zeroes do not cause overflow.

Restrictions
You can only use one expression in each Extract command, and the expression must
be the last item. If you want to extract several expressions or more fields after an
expression, you need to use several Extract commands.
Incorrect
>extract name, i=sales + tips, c=cost, dept

Correct

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 175

 >extract name, i=sales + commission
>extract c=cost
>extract dept

Extracting Bits
The Extract command can be used to define individual bits from one data item as
separate fields.
>def order-shipped,1,2,int
>def order-paid ,1,2,int
>ext order-shipped=status-field.(0:1)
>ext order-paid=status-field.(1:1)

This makes it easier to check the status of certain bits within a given field.

EBCDIC Conversions
Use the $etoa or $atoe functions to convert specific fields from EBCDIC to ASCII or
vice versa. Each of these functions accepts a single parameter that is a byte-type
field:
Extract $ETOA(char-field)
Extract $ATOE(char-field)
There are several restrictions on the $etoa and $atoe functions:
• They do not work with either the ASCII or PRN output options.
• You cannot extract an EBCDIC constant. The following example
would produce an error message:
>extract $etoa(char-field) = 'abcdef'
• You cannot extract a range of fields using $etoa or $atoe.

Notes
The Extract command is valid only with
• Output xxx,data
• Output xxx,data,num
• Output xxx,query
• Output xxx,link
• Output xxx,ascii
• Output xxx,prn
The Extract occurs logically after the sort phase, if any, but prior to the final Output,
Put, or List. An If command can refer to fields of the input record that are not
included in the extracted output record. The sort keys can be fields that are not
among those extracted.
If the extracted record length is shorter than the input record length, Suprtool
attempts to speed up sorts by doing the extract before sorting. Suprtool can only do
the extract before sorting if the output option is DATA (the default), QUERY, or
LINK, and all of the sort keys are included in the Extracted fields.
One advantage of not using the Extract command is that the output file from
Suprtool has exactly the same format as the input dataset which created the file. You
can then use the =setname option of the Input command to define all of the fields in

176 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 the output file. Even if you change your database structure, many of your job streams
that use Suprtool and the =setname option will not have to be changed.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 177

Form Command [F]
The Form command displays information about the items and datasets in a database
or the fields in a self-describing file. The Form command is similar to the Form
command of QUERY.
FORM [ SETS | ITEMS | PATHS | dataset | data-item | filename ]
(Default: depends)
The Form command displays the structure of a database, dataset, table or self-
describing file. The Form command is also available in Dbedit. The Query All option
is not supported.
When showing the form of an IMAGE dataset or a self-describing file, Suprtool
shows the byte offset of each field after the subcount, type, and sublength. The first
field always appears at offset one. If you have specified a date format or the number
of implied decimal places with the Item command, these attributes appear as part of
the form listing.

Example
>base store,5
>item last-ship-date, date , yymmdd
>item unit-cost , decimal, 2
>form d-inventory

D-INVENTORY Detail Set# 4

Entry: Offset
BIN-NO J1 1
LAST-SHIP-DATE J2 3 <<YYMMDD>>
ON-HAND-QTY J2 7
PRODUCT-NO Z8 11 (M-PRODUCT)
SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19 (!M-SUPPLIER)
UNIT-COST P8 27 << .2 >>
Capacity: 330 (22), 330, 66, 550 Entries: 13 Highwater: 13 Bytes: 30

Database Name
For IMAGE databases, Suprtool attempts to show the fully qualified database name.
It cannot do this with a remote database, or if the database was opened in mode-3, or
if Set Privmode was Off when the Base command was specified. If the database has
MPE/iX third-party indexing, the third-party product name and version number are
also shown.
>ba store
>fo

Database: STORE.DEMO.APPDEV TPI: SUPERDEX (15015d) 4.0.39

Set Item Capa- Entry Load Entry

Sets: Num Type Count city Count Factor Length B/F
M-CUSTOMER 1 M 9 211 20 9 % 55 7
M-PRODUCT 2 M 3 307 13 4 % 24 12
M-SUPPLIER 3 M 6 211 3 1 % 49 8
D-INVENTORY 4 DDX 6 550 13 2 % 15 22
D-SALES 5 D 8 602 0 0 % 19 14

Suprtool shows the type of each dataset (e.g., "M" for Manual master, "A" for
Automatic master, "D" for Detail). If you have enabled dynamic dataset expansion,
Suprtool adds "DX" to the type of the dataset (e.g., "MDX", "DDX").

178 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Detail Datasets
If you request information about a specific detail dataset, Suprtool prints the path
information in DBSCHEMA format. The path shows the related master dataset and
the sort item-name. When displying the form of an IMAGE/SQL dataset, Suprtool
shows the capacity in a format similar to the one in DBSCHEMA.
>form d-inventory

D-INVENTORY Detail Set# 4

Entry: Offset
BIN-NO J1 1
LAST-SHIP-DATE J2 3 <<YYMMDD>>
ON-HAND-QTY J2 7
PRODUCT-NO Z8 11 (M-PRODUCT)
SUPPLIER-NO Z8 19 (!M-SUPPLIER)
UNIT-COST P8 27 << .2 >>
Capacity: 330 (22), 330, 66, 550 Entries: 13 Highwater: 13 Bytes: 30

The current capacity (e.g., 330) is shown first followed by the blocking factor in
parentheses (e.g., 22). If dynamic dataset expansion (a feature of MPE/iX 5.0) has
been enabled, the initial capacity (e.g., 330), the increment (e.g., 66), and the
maximum capacity (e.g., 550) are shown next. On MPE/iX 5.0 or later, the highwater
mark is shown. The record length in bytes appears last.

Master Datasets
The Form Sets command indicates which datasets have MDX enabled. A Form
command on these datasets shows details of their expansion setting.
>form sets
Database: STORE.MDX.DATA

Set Item Entry Load Entry

Sets: Num Type Count Capacity Count Factor Length B/F
M-CUSTOMER 1 MDX 9 2009 401 20 % 55 7
M-PRODUCT 2 MDX 3 3012 0 0 % 24 12
M-SUPPLIER 3 MDX 6 2008 0 0 % 49 8
D-INVENTORY 4 D 6 462 0 0 % 15 22
D-SALES 5 D 8 6006 0 0 % 19 14

>form m-customer

Database: STORE.MDX.DATA

M-CUSTOMER Master Set 1

Entry: Offset
CITY X12 1
CREDIT-RATING J2 13
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 17 <<Search Field>>
CUST-STATUS X2 25
NAME-FIRST X10 27
NAME-LAST X16 37
STATE-CODE X2 53
STREET-ADDRESS 2X25 55
POSTAL-CODE X6 105
Capacity: 469 (7), 217, 252, 2009 Entries: 401 Bytes: 110

As you can see, the master dataset summary information for the Capacity shows the
Current Capacity (469), the Blocking Factor (7), the Initial Capacity (217), the
Increment (252) and finally the Maximum Capacity (2009). The Increment is the
number of entries by which the master dataset increases from the current capacity.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 179

 SQL Database
If an Allbase database is open and no input file has been specified, the default Form
command shows all of the tables in the database. If a Select command has been
specified, the default Form command shows the columns in the Select command.
The exact format of the Form command is different for each SQL database.

Self-Describing Files
The Link output option produces an SD file with information about how the file was
sorted, what fields are compound, and the date format or the number of implied
decimal places for any fields. The Form command shows all of this information:
>form custfile
File: custfile (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CHAR-FIELD X5 1 <<Sort #1 >>
REPEATED-I1 3I1 6 {compound field}
DATE-FIELD J2 12 <<YYYYMMDD>>
COST-FIELD J2 16 << .2 >>
Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 20 Blocking: 64

Third-Party Indexing
If the database is enabled for MPE/iX third-party indexing, the Form command
shows any third-party index that corresponds to an IMAGE field. When doing a
Form dataset, each field is checked to see if it is a byte-type or Z-type third-party
index. If it is, the comment "<<TPI>>" is shown. Indexes that have a name other
than an Image-item name are shown at the end of the form listing. The Form
command only shows those indexes that can be referenced by the Chain command.
For example,
>form m-customer
M-CUSTOMER Master Set# 1
Entry: Offset
CITY X12 1 <<TPI>>
CREDIT-RATING J2 13
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 17 <<Search Field>>
<<TPI>>
CUST-STATUS X2 25
NAME-FIRST X10 27 <<TPI>>
NAME-LAST X16 37 <<TPI>>
STATE-CODE X2 53 <<TPI>>
STREET-ADDRESS 2X25 55 <<TPI>>
POSTAL-CODE X6 105
Capacity: 211 (7) Entries: 20 Bytes: 110

Additional Third-Party Indexes:

SI-LAST-NAME X16 B

The length shown for keys in the Additional Third-Party Indexes may vary between
versions of Superdex. This is a known situation and does not affect the operation of
Suprtool on these paths.
The length of a key is returned by dbinfo-833 and Suprtool will report in the form
command the length of a stand-alone key. (SI-PRODUCT-NO is the path that is now
supported) Superdex has a variable that impacts the length that is returned for a
given key, and that is SICOGNOS. Suprtool will account for the length difference on
the chain command but will show the unadjusted length. Normally Superdexs
dbinfo-833 would show a length of 12 for a Zoned-decimal tpi-key with a length of
8, if SICOGNOS is set to 1, then Superdex will return 8.

180 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 B-tree Support
The Form command has been enhanced to show whether there are B-trees that the
Suprtool Chain command can utilize. Form Sets shows a type of "i" for datasets that
have B-tree indexes. Currently the Chain command utilizes only those B-trees that
are type X or U. The Form command does not show B-trees that it cannot utilize,
even if the B-tree does exist.
The Form command also reports a damaged B-tree.
>form sets
Database: CD.DB.DATA
BtreeMode1 = ON Wildcard character : @

Set Item Entry Load Entry

Sets: Num Type Count Capacity Count Factor Length B/F
M-ARTIST 1 M i 2 211 3 1 % 75 4
A-SONGS 2 A i 1 307 41 13 % 20 16
A-CD-TITLE 3 A i 1 211 3 1 % 20 16
D-SONGS 4 D 6 1004 41 4 % 78 4

>form m-artist
Database: CD.DB.DATA
BtreeMode1 = ON Wildcard character : @

M-ARTIST Master Indexed Set 1

Entry: Offset
ARTIST X30 1 <<Search Field>>
NOTES 2X60 31
Capacity: 211 (4) Entries: 3 Bytes: 150

>form d-songs
Database: CD.DB.DATA
BtreeMode1 = ON Wildcard character : @

D-SONGS Detail Set 4

Entry: Offset
CD-NO J2 1
CD-TITLE X40 5 (!A-CD-TITLE) <<Indexed>>
SUB-TITLE X40 45
ARTIST X30 85 (M-ARTIST) <<Indexed>>
SONG-NO J1 115
SONG-TITLE X40 117 (A-SONGS) <<Indexed>>
Capacity: 1004 (4) Entries: 41 Highwater: 41 Bytes: 156

Formout File
The Form command writes all output to the file Formout. This file defaults to
$stdlist. You can redirect this file to a line printer or a disc drive. If you redirect the
Formout file to a disc file, Suprtool assumes a temporary file by default.
>:file formout;dev=lp
>form sets {writes to line printer}
>:file formout;dev=disc
>form d-inventory {writes to temporary disc file}

Default Form
If a Chain, Get, or Input command of a self-describing file has been entered, a Form
command without parameters shows the fields in the current input source. If a Base
command has been specified, but no input source, a Form command without
parameters does a Form Sets.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 181

 Form Keywords
The Form command shows items, paths, and sets before it searches for a dataset or
file with these names. Use a string (e.g., "sets") to display the form of a dataset or
file that matches one of the Form keywords.
>form "paths" {paths is the name of a dataset}

182 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Get Command [G]
Selects an IMAGE dataset from a previously opened Base as the input source for the
next extract. You must have read access to all fields in the dataset entry. Only one
Chain, Get, or Input command is allowed per extract task. Get always reads the
dataset serially.
GET setname [(startrecord/[endrecord]) | (#count)]
(Default: all records)

Dataset Input
The first example shows the most common use of the Get command. An input
dataset is specified as input to Suprtool. We select a subset of the entire input dataset
using the If command:
>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}
>get d-inventory {serially read dataset}
>if unit-cost<10000 {the UNIT-COST field is}
>output out1 { automatically defined by Get}
>xeq

Selection by Record Number

The (startrecord/endrecord) parameter permits selection of input records on the
basis of the IMAGE record numbers. These numbers always start with 1, and the
endrecord parameter is assumed to be the last record in the dataset if it isn't
specified.
Note that you should use extreme care when you are using the record number
selection option on master datasets. This is because the record numbers of master
dataset entries can be changed as entries are added or deleted from the dataset. For
example, if there are deleted entries in the master dataset, then you could get fewer
records than expected.
Numrecs is another way to When debugging software, it is convenient to scan the first few records of a dataset.
select only a few records. Specifying a startrecord/endrecord parameter makes this easy:
>get m-product(1/20) {first twenty records}
>list {produce a formatted list of each …}
>xeq {… record with no output file}

This example gets any records that are in the first twenty IMAGE locations. This
may be fewer than twenty records, if there were deleted or unused entries in the first
twenty record numbers.

Random Selection
The #count parameter selects every "nth" record from the dataset, where "n" is equal
to count. This option is designed to allow "random" selection from the dataset. It
cannot be combined with the (startrecord/endrecord) option.
Test databases can be constructed from random samplings of production databases.
Using the #count parameter and the Put command we build a test dataset:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 183

 >base store,5,READER {open for read access only}
>get d-inventory(#15) {every 15th record is read}
>put d-inventory,test {put to the d-inventory dataset in …}
>exit {… Test database}

Using DBGET
By default, Suprtool always attempts to read the dataset using its own high-speed
routines. These are the cases where DBGET is used instead:
1. When the database is open with mode-3.
2. When you specify the Delete or Update command and the input source
is a master dataset.
3. When you specify the Delete or Update command and the input source
is a detail dataset, but no If command is specified.
4. When Set Privmode Off.
In these cases, Suprtool prints the warning:
Using DBGET for the input records

How Many Records Does Suprtool Read?

When you Get from a master dataset, Suprtool reads the capacity of the dataset.
When you specify a detail dataset, Suprtool reads records until the highwater mark.
If Set Eofread is on then, Suprtool will read to the capacity of the dataset for both
master and detail datasets.
To insure that Suprtool reads to the capacity for both Master and Detail datasets, then
you should put Set Eofread On in your Suprmgr.Pub.Sys file.
If there is a big difference between the number of entries in the dataset and the
highwater mark, Suprtool could take much longer to read the dataset (this is true for
all programs, not just Suprtool).
You can use the Form and Verify commands to determine how many records
Suprtool will read. The Form command shows the number of entries in the dataset.
After specifying a Get command for a detail dataset, use Verify Numrecs to see how
many records Suprtool will read:
>get d-sales {detail dataset}
>form {shows #entries}
>verify numrecs {#records Suprtool will read}

If there is a large difference between the number of entries and the highwater mark,
you may wish to repack the detail dataset. If the dataset is dynamic with many
entries being added and deleted, it is better to let Suprtool take longer (otherwise you
would be continuously repacking the dataset).
For regular monitoring of all your datasets, use HowMessy which shows both the
number of entries and the highwater mark for detail datasets.

FLIMIT Different
The Get command may print an error "FLIMIT different than calculated" or a
warning "FLIMIT greater than calculated". Suprtool verifies that the physical MPE
file that corresponds to the dataset matches the information returned by DBINFO.
Suprtool computes the number of records in the MPE file as follows:
#records = (capacity - 1) / blockfactor + 1

184 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 where capacity and blockfactor are reported by the Form command. When this error
occurs, Suprtool prints the MPE file name, MPE FLIMIT, dataset name, dataset
number, and the computed FLIMIT:
>get m-test
Error: Dataset with FLIMIT different than calculated!
MPE Filename: TEST01.STORESC.DB Actual MPE Flimit: 1
IMAGE Dataset: M-TEST (#1) Calculated Flimit: 2

This error is usually caused by restoring a earlier version of the dataset from a
backup tape.

Remote Databases
When trying to access a database on a remote computer, the Get command may fail
with the error "Privileged File Violation (FSERR 45)". See the discussion under the
Base command for workarounds to this problem.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 185

Help Command [H]
Show what commands and options are available in Suprtool.
HELP [ command | keyword [ ,option ] ]
(Default: browse through the entire help file)

Command Help
If you specify any parameters, Help first assumes that you want help on a Suprtool
command. If you know the structure of the help file, you can additionally specify one
of the keywords under the command name.
>help ext {help on the Extract command}
>help ext,notes {Notes section of the Extract command}

Keyword Help
If Suprtool cannot find any help in the "Commands" section of the help file, it
assumes that you specified one of the outer-level keywords in the help file. To see
this list of keywords, type help with no parameters. You see a short introduction to
Suprtool and then a list of keywords. You can specify any of these keywords on the
Help command. You can also specify a subkeyword.
>help start {Quick Start section}
>help start,task {Task section of Quick Start}

Quick Help - HQ
HQ asks Suprtool to look under the keyword Quick in the help file. Quick contains
the text from the Suprtool Quick Reference Guide, offering the experienced user a
quick review of the syntax of any command.
>hq input {quick description of Input}
>hq commands {quick list of command names}

Notes
If no parameters are specified, Help allows you to browse through the "help" file.
The Help Command uses the QHELP subsystem to allow you to look at the material
in the file Suprtool.Help.Robelle (which contains most of the user manual). For "help
in help", type "?" when you see the QHELP prompt character ("?"). The help file is
organized into levels. To go back to the previous level, press Return instead of a key
name. If you press F8, you will exit the QHELP subsystem and return to Suprtool.

186 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

If Command [IF]
Specifies a subset of records to select from the input source during the next extract
task. The If command supports full logical expressions, with comparisons between
all data-types, between data fields and constant values, or between one data field and
another. The If command also provides partial string compares, bit field extracts,
subscripted IMAGE fields, AND-OR-NOT operators, and parentheses to override
precedence. You can use arithmetic expressions involving any numeric data-types.
IF expression
Note: The examples below show multiple If commands. These are for
illustrative purposes only. Suprtool does not permit multiple If commands in a
single task. Instead you can combine multiple conditions using AND and OR.

Alternatives to the If command

There are a few selection criteria that the If command cannot perform. In these cases,
you need to use other Suprtool commands. If you wish to select by record numbers,
use the record number options in the Get or Input commands. If you wish to limit the
number of records selected, use the Numrecs command. See also "Chain Command
[C]" on page 133 for an alternative to the Get/If combination of commands.

There Is No Else Clause

The If command in Suprtool does not have an Else clause but the output command
does. To select the records that do not match the If criteria, you can use output,else to
get both the selected data and the data that was not selected by an if criteria. See the
output command for details.
>get dataset {this task is the "If … then"}
>if expression
>output file1,else,link {file1 and temp file else created}
>xeq

You can also use a second task with the same criteria negated by a NOT.
>get dataset {this task is the "If … then"}
>if expression
>output file1,link
>xeq

>get dataset {this task is the "else"}

>if not (expression)
>output file2,link
>xeq

Expressions
An expression specifies the logical criteria that Suprtool uses to select records from
the input source.

Simple Expressions
The simplest expression is a single comparison between two fields (e.g., A=B) or a
field and a constant (e.g., A="XX"):
field relation field
field relation constant

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 187

 Fields
A field can be a temporary, Defined field, or a field from a self-describing file, or an
IMAGE field (with possible subscripts; see below). Each field has a type (see "Key
Command [K]" on page 216 for further details). The constant must match the type
of the field. If the field has a byte-type, you must surround the constant with quotes.
>if name="TAMMY ROSCOE" {name is byte}
>if rating>10000 {rating is integer}
>if balance=arrears {compare two fields}

Constants
A constant is a value that matches the data-type of field. Constants are either a string
constant in quotes, a numeric constant, or a date constant specified with $date or
$today. See the next section about Constants for more details.

Constant Type
"NATHAN ARMSTRONG" string constant
12345 numeric constant
$date(00/07/09) date constant July 9, 2000

Relations
A relation is one of the size comparison symbols (Suprtool does not use words like
"EQUALS" as in QUERY):

Relational operator Means

= equal to
> greater than
< less than
>= greater than or equal to
<= less than or equal to
<> not equal to

Complex Expressions
Complex expressions can be made by combining the AND, OR, and NOT operators,
arithmetic operators (+, -, *, / and mod), and parentheses. The order of precedence of
operators, from highest to lowest, is

Operator Precedence
( ... ) Highest.
NOT Take the opposite.
AND Both must be true.
OR One or the other must be true.
- Unary minus.
*/ Higher than addition and subtraction.

188 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 +- Lowest.

Use parentheses where necessary to change the order of evaluation.

>if status="1" and amount>100 or purchased="000115"
>if (status="1" or status="2") and amount>100

Multiple Values
You can check a data field for several test values without using the AND and OR
operators. After the equals or not-equals sign, list the alternate values separated by
commas.
The OR operator is = (equal sign). Instead of "IF A=5 OR A=6 OR A=7", use "IF
A=5,6,7". This selects a record if A is equal to 5, 6, or 7.
The AND operator is <>. Instead of "IF A<>5 AND A<>6 AND A<>7", use "IF
A<>5,6,7". This selects a record if A is anything but 5, 6, or 7.
>if field = 5,6,7
>if part = "12345","67890","39201","92308","14892"
>if delivered <> 981231,990101

This method works well if you are searching for a small number of values. Use the
$lookup function to check a data field for many test values.
IF $LOOKUP(tablename, fieldname)
The $lookup function returns TRUE, if the specified field name contains a value
from the specified table. You can also look for values that are not in a table.
IF NOT $LOOKUP(tablename,fieldname)
See the Table command for a complete description of how to combine tables and the
$lookup function.
$lookup parameter function
tablename The name of a table specified in the Table command.
fieldname A field from the input record. This field cannot be real-
type. It must be exactly the same length as the item used
in the Table command.

Multiple Values and Table Data

Suprtools can use the “data” loaded into a Table in a comparison operation. The
$lookup function will return the data value from the table to compare against another
field or literal.
In file1sd
Table mytable,char-field,data,tabfile,data(id-field)
If $lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field) = int-field

So what Suprtool will do in this case is read a record, lookup the record in the table
and retrieve the data item in the table. If Suprtool does NOT find an entry in the
table, a zero will be returned if the data type is numeric and spaces will be returned if
it is a byte type.
So using the case above, if no entry is found in the table, zero is returned, and if int-
field is equal to zero, then the record will qualify.
If you don’t want to have any values returned from the table lookup, you just preface
the if with a standard lookup.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 189

 >get ord-details
>table cust-table, cust-no, file, custlist,data(state-code)
>if $lookup(cust-table,cust-no) and &
$lookup(cust-table, cust-no, state-code) = state-code
>output orders
>xeq

When using $lookup to return data, the $lookup must always be on then left side of
the expression. If not Suprtool will stop with an error:
>if id-field=$lookup(mytable,char-field,id-field)
Error: $lookup in this context (data comparison) must be on left side

Performance of $Lookup
Short-circuit evaluation Due to the nature of the $lookup function, it can be, at times CPU intensive,
means that the If command however, since the If command uses short-circuit evaluation, $lookup should be
does not always need to specified as the last part of the If command. For example,
evaluate all the parts of the
command.
>if status = "10" and $lookup(cust-table,account)

is faster than
>if $lookup(cust-table,account) and status = "10"

because Suprtool can evaluate status = "10" faster than $lookup. When the
status is not "10" Suprtool knows the record will not be selected, therefore there is no
need to do the $lookup.

$Null(fieldname)
The If $null(fieldname) command selects any rows that have null values in them.
This feature is available only for SQL databases and only on columns that allow null
values:
>if $null(SALESTOTAL)

If you want to find only those values that are not null, you can add the NOT keyword
in front of $null:
>if not $null(SALESTOTAL)

Constants
This section describes numeric and string constants. See also Date Selection.

Numeric Constants
Numeric constants are not enclosed in quotes. Numeric constants may be just simple
whole numbers (e.g., 5, 0, -56, 10004) or they may have a decimal point (e.g., 5., 0.0,
-.56, 99.9, 1.4). Real and IEEE numbers may also have a scale factor (e.g., 5E-5,
0.01E+4). "Over-punches" for the sign are not required, or recognized, in Suprtool.
Always enter -11 as -11, not 1J for a DISPLAY field.

String Constants
String constants are delimited with double- or single-quote marks. That is, either
"VANC" or 'VANC'. Any characters within quotes are not upshifted. If the constant
is shorter than the field to which it is being compared, the constant is padded with

190 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 blanks. String constants are expected for fields of type BYTE, U, or X, but numeric
constants are expected for fields of type Z (zoned decimal).
>if field = " " {check for all blanks}
>if field = "XX" {double-quotes are okay}
>if field = 'XX' {so are single-quotes}

If you want to compare for a quote itself, you include two quotes in the string for
each quote you want.
>if field = "AB""CD" {look for AB"CD}

Character Constants
Use the ^-character to specify any ASCII character. The number (the actual ASCII
value), or letter (^A means control A), must follow immediately after the ^-character.
Suprtool treats character constants as strings. When you compare the constant to a
field longer than one byte, Suprtool pads the constant with spaces.
>define field,1,1 {byte field}
>if field = ^0 {binary zero}
>if field = ^G {Control-G (bell)}
>if field = ^27 {escape}
>if field = ^252 {Roman-8 box}

To look for "null values" or "low values" in byte-fields, it is usually sufficient to

check the first byte for a binary zero:
>define first-byte,bigfield,1,byte
>if first-byte = ^0

Subscripts
Use subscripts to access individual items in repeated fields, or to access substrings.

Numeric Subscripts
For repeated numeric fields only one index is allowed.
If Table has the form 10J2, it holds ten double integers.
• Table(1) is the first sub-item.
• Table is the same as Table(1).
• Table(5) is the fifth sub-item.
>if table(5) = 23
>if table(2) = 20 or table(4) = 30
>if table(8) = 31 and table(9) = 28

Character Subscripts
Character string fields may have 1, 2, or 3 subscripts after them. Character string
fields are allowed more than one subscript value.
If ADDR has the form 5X30, it consists of 5 substrings of 30 characters each.
• ADDR(1) is the first 30-character sub-item of ADDR.
• ADDR without subscript is the same as ADDR(1).
• ADDR(2) is the second 30-character sub-item of ADDR.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 191

 • ADDR(2,4) is the second sub-item, starting with the 4th byte and
extending for the remainder of the sub-item, 27 bytes.
• ADDR(2,4,6) starts at the same location, but extends for only 6 bytes.
If NAME has the form X50, it is not a repeated field.
• NAME is the same as NAME(1).
• NAME(1,4,6) is the first (and only) sub-item, starting at the 4th byte
and extending for 6 bytes.
• NAME(1,10) is a field that starts at the 10th byte and implicitly extends
to the end of the field (for the remaining 41 bytes).
>if name(1,4,6) = "HAWAII"
>if addr(3) = "VANCOUVER, B.C."
>if addr(3,11,20) == "@B.C.@" {pattern matching}

Numeric Expressions
Bit Selections
The If command can extract and test any series of one or more contiguous bits in a
field. Suprtool allows bit extracts only on Integer or Logical fields of two bytes in
length (one 16-bit word). To do a bit extract from another type of field, first use
Define to redefine the data as a two-byte Logical field.
Once Suprtool extracts a bit string, it always treats it as an Unsigned Integer, a
Logical, and never interprets it as negative. The format for bit extracts calls for a
starting bit number and a bit count. The 16 bits in a computer word are numbered
from the left, 0 to 15. The two bytes to extract from need not be on a "word
boundary" (i.e., they can start in any byte position). See "Define Command [D]" on
page 137 for how to define a two-byte logical field.
field . (startbit : bitcount)
>define bitfield,name,2,logical
>if bitfield.(4:2)=3

How to Check a Byte for a Numeric Value

Because Suprtool does not have one-byte integers, it can be difficult to check a
single byte for a specific numeric value. Use a two-byte integer Define field and the
bit-extract operator to solve this problem:
>define word,transcode,2,integer
>if word.(0:8)=13

See "Character Constants" on page 191 for an alternate method.

Decimal Places
Use the Item command to specify the number of implied decimal places in an item.
If you do not do this, you must scale all numbers in the If command. For example,
let's assume that you want to find all inventory records with a cost equal to $80.59. If
you do not use the Item command, your If command would look like this:
>if cost = 8059 {no decimal places}

By telling Suprtool about the number of decimal places in the cost item, your If
command looks more natural (which usually means you will make fewer mistakes):

192 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >item cost,decimal,2
>if cost = 80.59 {decimal places included}

Numeric Conversion
The If command can compare two numeric fields to each other (not just one field to
a constant). All relation operators are supported: <, <=, =, <>, >, and >=. However,
you cannot compare a byte-field to a numeric-type field.
Suprtool usually converts the field on the left side of a relational operator to floating-
point. Then the floating-point number is converted into the type of the field on the
right side of a relational operator and the comparison is done. The exceptions to this
rule are integer-to-double, packed-to-packed, and display-to-display comparisons,
which use a direct comparison algorithm.
Truncation errors can occur when Suprtool converts from one field type to floating-
point. See also Accuracy and Numeric Truncation.

Arithmetic Expressions
You can specify arithmetic expressions for any numeric data-type in the If command.
Arithmetic expressions involve the operators +, -, *, / and mod. The Mod operator
returns the remainder between a dividend and a divisor. Arithmetic expressions
cannot start with a numeric constant (e.g., if 2 + a = 10 is invalid). Arithmetic is not
allowed on byte-type fields. If you have a byte-type field that consists entirely of
numeric digits, redefine the field as display type and use the redefined field name in
the If command.

Examples
>if field + 10 = 1115 {numeric field}
>if cost * qty > 10000
>if total < qty * price + tax
>if yymmdd-date / 100 mod 100 <= 03 {first quarter}

Division by Zero
Suprtool reports an error and the input record number if an arithmetic computation
results in division by zero. Use Set Ignore On to force Suprtool to ignore division by
zero errors. With Set Ignore On, the result of division by zero is zero.
Your task executes more slowly if you have a lot of division by zero errors and you
have asked Suprtool to ignore them. A better approach is to check for zero in the If
expression before using it in division:
>if $read
- qty <> 0 and {avoid division by zero!}
- total / qty > 100
- //

Missing Features
Arithmetic overflow in computations will cause Suprtool to abort.

Accuracy
By default, Suprtool uses floating-point arithmetic to compute. In some cases, there
can be slight inaccuracies due to rounding errors. Rounding errors are more likely
with Classic floating-point arithmetic (Set Arith Classic). For example, the following
expression fails if you have a single integer field with the value 7 or -7:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 193

 >set arith classic
>if integer-field / 10 * 10 = 7

This expression does not fail when using IEEE floating-point (Set Arith IEEE). If
you are developing Suprtool applications for both Classic MPE and MPE/iX, we
suggest that you enable Set Arith Classic in Suprtool/iX to ensure exactly the same
results in both applications.

Numeric Truncation
The accuracy of arithmetic computations is limited to approximately sixteen digits.
Suprtool may truncate four-word integers (quad) or large packed-decimal or display
numbers when they are converted to floating-point. Suprtool does not produce any
error or warning in this case.

$Abs function
Suprtool supports an $abs function, which returns the absolute value of a number.
For example, if a field called Credit contains the value -547.83, the $abs function
returns 547.83.
This function will work on a field or even on an expression such as:
>if $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07) > 500.00

This function will also work in the Extract command:

>def newcredit,1,4,double
>ext newcredit = $abs(credit / 100 * 1.07)

$Truncate function
Suprtool supports a $truncate function which returns the number to the left of a
decimal place. For example if the field stddev contains the value 547.83, the
$truncate function will return 547. Note that there is no rounding.
This function will work fields and expressions:
>if $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07) > 200

This function will also work in the Extract command:

>def newdev,1,4,double
>ext newdev = $truncate(stddev / 100 * 1.07)

String Expressions
You can do comparisons with byte-type fields in numerous ways using Suprtool.
These powerful features minimize the number of tasks you must execute in order to
select the data you need. The fewer the number of tasks, the faster your data is
delivered to the users and applications that need it.
You can combine byte-type fields together and use the built-in string functions to
create string expressions. String expressions involve the + operator and the other
string functions such as $lower, $upper, $trim, $ltrim and $rtrim.

Fixed vs. Variable Length Strings

String comparisons are done using fixed- and variable-length strings. For most users,
there should be no difference between the two types of strings. When doing string
comparisons, Suprtool always pads shorter strings with spaces, with the one
exception of comparing two fixed-length fields (see "Byte Fields" below).

194 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 String expressions involving the + operator or the $upper, $lower, $trim, $ltrim and
$rtrim built-in functions are done using variable-length strings. Suprtool keeps track
of the length of every string, and all operations are done using the actual string
length. For fields, the length of the string is the length of the field. If you do not want
to retain all of the spaces in a field, use one of the built-in trimming functions.
When creating string expressions, string constants are created with the exact length
of the constant. For example, the string constant "abc" is three characters long and
the string "a" is one.

Byte Fields
For historical reasons, comparing two byte-type fields to each other is a special case.
If the two fields are exactly the same length, Suprtool compares them completely. If
one field is shorter, the comparison is done for the length of the shortest field.
Suprtool does not check for spaces in the trailing characters of the longer field. For
example,
>define short, 1,10 {ten character field}
>define long ,11,15 {fifteen character field}
>if short = long

In this example, Suprtool compares the ten bytes in the short field with the first ten
bytes of the long field, but ignores the last five bytes of the long field. If the
expression on either side of the equal sign consisted of more than one field (using the
+ operator) or involved any of the string functions, ($upper, $lower, $trim, $ltrim or
$rtrim), Suprtool would have compared both sides of the equal sign by padding the
shorter field with spaces. It is only the case where you are directly comparing one
byte-type field to another that Suprtool uses the length of the shortest field for the
comparison.
You cannot compare a byte-field to a numeric-type field. If you have a byte-field that
consists entirely of numeric digits, redefine the field as a display-type and use the
redefined field name in the If command.

Character Type
Byte-type fields can also be checked to see whether they contain only Alpha,
Numeric, Alphanumeric, or Special characters. The complete field is compared
against the specified character types.

Type Characters
Alpha A-Z, a-z (52 characters)
Numeric 0-9 (10 characters)
Special anything else (194 characters, including
spaces, punctuation, Roman-8 letters, binary
junk)
Alphanumeric A-Z, a-z, 0-9 (62 characters)

For the test result to be true, all the characters in the field must be of the specified
character type. To test a substring, use the Define command to define a subfield.
>if field = alpha
>if field <> numeric

Examples:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 195

 String Class
"1234" numeric
"12.3" no class, contains both numeric and special
"ABCD" alpha
"B JONES" no class, contains both alpha and special
" " special
"A1B2" alphanumeric

Pattern Matching
Suprtool can also select records based on a pattern of characters, rather than an exact
string of characters. For example, use the following to select all records with
"CONNOR" anywhere in the Name field,
>if name == "@CONNOR@"

The double equals (==) is the operator for pattern matching. The at signs (@) means
anything before or after "CONNOR" is acceptable, including nothing.
For character fields, there are two comparison operators for patterns: "==" (matches),
and "><" (does not match). The pattern is specified as a quoted string, using the same
special characters as in the MPE :Listf command. Embedded spaces are allowed in
the pattern and must be matched in the target field.
These are the special characters:

Character Meaning
@ Zero, or more, characters of any type.
# A single numeric character.
? A single alphabetic or numeric character.
~ Zero, or more, blank characters.
& Escape character to match the next character
explicitly (&@ looks for the @ character).
^ Reserved for future use.
! Reserved for future use.

Any other character must be matched, one for one.

>if name=="@ZANDER@" {does name contain ZANDER anywhere?}
>if name=='@ZANDER@ARMSTRONG@’ {does name contain ZANDER, perhaps …}
{… other characters, then ARMSTRONG?}
>if name><"@#@" {does name not contain numerics?}
>if name=='@qedit@','@suprtool@' {qedit or suprtool?}

For more information, see Special Characters in the Glossary.

Finding Special Characters

With the $Clean function you can clean "bad" characters inside of text fields,
however the $Clean function does not report back what records were "cleaned". For
this reason we have the $FindClean function. $FindClean will return true if it finds a

196 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 character defined using the Clean command. This makes it extremely easy to find a
set of Special characters that you can define.

>in cleansd
>clean "^9","^10"
>if $findclean(nonprint)
>list

The above task will list the record if the field nonprint has a Tab (Decimal 9) or a
Line Feed (Decimal 10) anywhere in the field. You can Find and clean the "bad"
characters from a field at the same time:
>in cleansd
>clean "^9:^10"
>if $findclean(nonprint)
>extract nonprint=$clean(nonprint)
>list

Trimming Spaces ($Trim, $Ltrim, $Rtrim)

Use one of three built-in string functions to remove leading or trailing spaces from a
string expression. The three functions are:
$Trim: Remove leading and trailing spaces from the string expression.
$LTrim: Remove leading spaces.
$RTrim: Remove trailing spaces.

Because Suprtool pads shorter strings with spaces when doing comparisons,
trimming spaces is most useful when creating a combined string with several fields.
For example, you might want to combine a person's first and last name (including a
space between the two):
>if $trim(first) + " " + $trim(last) = "Joe Smith"

Mixed Case ($Upper and $Lower)

By default, Suprtool does an exact match when comparing two string expressions. If
the expressions vary in the capitalization of characters, Suprtool finds them to be
different. To do caseless string comparisons or pattern matches, use the $upper or
$lower functions. Both ASCII and Roman-8 characters are shifted by $upper and
$lower. For example,
>if $upper(city) = "VANCOUVER"
>if $lower(city) = "edmonton"

Note that if you use the $upper or $lower functions, Suprtool does not upshift or
downshift any constants used in the comparison. You must explicitly specify the
constants in the correct case or you can use $upper or $lower with the constant:
>if $upper(city) = $upper("vancouver")

Use the $upper or $lower functions for caseless pattern matching. As with other
comparison operators, you must specify constants in the correct case when doing
pattern matching:
>if $upper(city) == "VAN@"
>if $lower(city) == "ed@"

You can use $upper and $lower with string expressions that combine many fields
and string functions as shown in the following example:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 197

 >if $read
- $upper($trim(first) +
- " " +
- $trim(last))
- = "JOE SMITH"
- //

Date Selection
The If command has four functions to help select records based on dates: $date,
$today, $days and $stddate. The $date function works for any date. The $today
function works for the current date and dates relative to today. The $stddate and
$days functions work for almost any date. To use these date functions, you must first
identify the date format of an item by using the Item command.
The $date function makes it easier to specify a target date for certain date formats
(e.g., PHdate or ASK). To select records based on a specific date, use this feature:
>if field=$date(year/month/day)

Suprtool checks the date's validity. To select the transactions for January 1999, you
would do the following:
>item trans-date,date,phdate
>if trans-date >= $date(1999/01/01) and &
trans-date <= $date(1999/01/31)

Relative Dates
You can specify a relative date using the $date function. Then you can create job
streams that don't rely on hard-coded dates. The general syntax of the $date function
is:
$date(year/month/day)
The year can be a specific number (e.g., 2000) or an asterisk "*" for the current year.
To specify a relative year, you add or subtract years from the one you specified:
>if field=$date(2000/01/01) {January 1, 2000}
>if field=$date(2000-1/01/01) {January 1, 1999}
>if field=$date(*-1/01/01) {January 1, last year}

The month can be a specific number (e.g., 6 for June) or an asterisk "*" for the
current month. To specify a relative month, you add or subtract months from the one
you specified:
>if field=$date(2000/06-1/01) {May 1, 2000}
>if field=$date(*/*/01) {start of current year and month}
>if field=$date(*/*-1/01) {start of last month}
>if field=$date(*/*-18/*) {exactly eighteen months ago}

The day can be a specific number (e.g., 15), an asterisk "*" for the current day, the
word "first" for the first day of the month, or the word "last" for the last day of the
month. You cannot add or subtract relative days; use $today instead.
>if field=$date(2001/01/first) {January 1, 2001}
>if field=$date(*/*/*) {today's date}
>if field=$date(*/*-1/last) {last day of previous month}

Combining these features makes it possible to generate batch jobs that require no
operator input. For example, to select all of the transactions for last month you would
use:

198 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >item trans-date,date,phdate
>if trans-date >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &
trans-date <= $date(*/*-1/last)

Month End
Suprtool is always expecting a valid date. Suppose that you have a month-end job
that contains the following If command:
>if field = $date(*/*-1/*)

When you run the job on May 31, 2000, if Suprtool were to use the literal
interpretation of $date(*/*-1/*), it would use the date April 31, 2000. In fact, there is
no such date; April has only 30 days. Whenever you specify * for the day, and the
day is greater than the last day of the month you specified, Suprtool uses the actual
last day of the month instead of the current day of the month. In our example,
Suprtool would use April 30, 2000. Suprtool will take leap years into account when
calculating the last day of February.

Today's Date
To select records based on today's date, use the following:
>if field=$today {today's date}
>if field=$today(-1) {yesterday's date}
>if field=$today(+1) {tomorrow's date}

Use the Item command to qualify the field as a date. The $today function accepts one
optional argument which is the number of days before or after today. The maximum
number of days in either direction is 9999.

yymmdd and Beyond 1999

Because dates spanning the turn of the century will not collate properly for the
yymmdd form, you need to use $stddate to compare these dates.
>item ship-date,date,yymmdd
>if ship-date < $date(2000/12/31) {will not work}
>if $stddate(ship-date) < $date(2000/12/31) {will work}

Finding Invalid Dates

Use the $invalid function to find invalid dates. An invalid date is a number in a date
format whose date equivalent cannot be found on a calendar. For example, a month
value of 99 would be considered invalid.
>base store.demo
Database password [;]?
>get d-sales
>item deliv-date,date,ccyymmdd
>if $invalid(deliv-date)
>out baddates,link
>xeq

$Stddate Function
The $stddate function converts any date format in nearly any data-type container and
internally converts it to the ccyymmdd format in a double integer container.
This allows you to compare dates with dissimilar formats and data-types. For
example,

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 199

 >in orddets
>item order-date,date,ccyymmdd
>item bill-date,date,mmddyyyy
>if $stddate(bill-date) <= order-date
>output badords,link
>xeq

This feature is also available for dates that have two-digit years. The century portion
of the date will be generated by $stddate, which uses the normal cutoff rules
specified by Set Date Cutoff.
>in invdets
>set date cutoff 20
>item invoice-date,date,yymmdd
>item close-date,date,mmddyyyy
>if $stddate(close-date) <= $stddate(invoice-date)
>out badinvs,link
>xeq

In this case all invoice-date values with a yy portion between 20 and 99 will have a
19 for the century. All invoice date values with a yy portion of less than 20 will have
20 for the date generated by the $stddate function.

Invalid Dates
A date must be valid before $stddate can convert it to the ccyymmdd format.
Otherwise, a value of 0 will be returned for any invalid dates. An invalid date is a
number in a date format whose date equivalent cannot be found on a calendar. This
includes dates selected by the $invalid function. We can eliminate the invalid dates
from the above task by changinn Jue If command slightly.
>get invoice-detail
>set date cutoff 20
>item invoice-date,date,yymmdd
>item close-date,date,mmddyyyy
>if (not $invalid(close-date) &
or not $invalid(invoice-date)) &
and $stddate(close-date) <= $stddate(invoice-date)
>out badinvs,link
>xeq

In this example, if either the close-date or the invoice-date are invalid, then they will
not be evaluated by the $stddate function and will not be selected. Although your
requirements may be different, you need to remember that invalid dates evaluated by
the $stddate function will return a 0 value.

$Days Function
Suprtool supports a $days function, which converts any supported date to a Julian
Day number (the number of days since 4713 BC). This allows for Date arithmetic, in
which you can calculate the difference between two dates, even if they have
dissimilar formats.
For example you could find all orders that were not shipped within 30 days of being
ordered.

200 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >form ordfile
File: ORDFILE.SALES.MFG (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
ORDER-DATE X8 1 <<CCYYMMDD>>
SHIP-DATE X8 9 <<MMDDYYYY>>
ORDER-NUMBER X6 17
Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 22 Blocking: 16

>in ordfile
>if $days(SHIP-DATE) - $days(ORDER-DATE) >=30
>list
>xeq

Invalid Dates
As with the $stddate function, if a date is not a valid date, then the result of the $days
function will be zero. In the example above, if the order has not yet been shipped,
then the SHIP-DATE will likely be blank, or zero, or some other special value.
$Days(SHIP-DATE) will be zero, and the resulting calculation will be a negative
number.

Notes on Relative Dates

The $date and $today functions always generate a constant from the date, just as if
you had typed it. For example, when run on February 13, 2001, the follwing task:
>item field,date,yymmdd
>if field > $today

is the same as:

>if field > 010213

Suprtool normally does no date conversion of the actual dates. Dates that do not start
with the year do not collate correctly, so Suprtool does not allow relative
comparisons with them (<, <=, >, and >=), although you may still compare for strict
equality or inequality. The following examples will be rejected by Suprtool:
>item trans-date,date,ddmmyy
>if trans-date >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &
trans-date <= $date(*/*-1/last)
Error: Invalid date format for the comparison
>input myfile
>define mydate,1,6
>item mydate,date,ddmmyy {e.g., 301100}
>define ....
>if mydate > $date(00/11/01)
Error: Invalid date format for the comparison
>if mydate > $date(01/11/00)
Error: Invalid date: Year = 1 Month = 11 Day = 00

Although you cannot do relative date comparisons against non-collating dates in

their normal format, you can convert the date into ccyymmdd format using the
$stddate function. This date format will collate and, therefore, you can do relative
date comparisons using the $stddate function.
>item trans-date,date,ddmmyyyy
>if $stddate(trans-date) >= $date(*/*-1/first) and &
$stddate(trans-date) <= $date(*/*-1/last)

If the date format does not allow the specification of a certain day, such as yymm,
ccyymm, yyyymm, aamm, ccyy and mmyyyy, then you do not need to specify the
entire date format, although Suprtool will allow either format for $date.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 201

 >item trans-month,date,yymm
>item purch-date,date,yymm
>if trans-month <= $date(*/*/*) and &
purch-date >= $date(00/01)

Because dates beyond 1999 in the yymmdd and yymm date types do not collate
correctly, relative comparisons are no longer valid. Suprtool produces an error in the
following case:
>item trans-date,date,yymmdd
>if trans-date >= $date(2001/01/01)
Error: Cannot use a date beyond 1999 for this date format.

You can override this setting by entering the Set Date Ifyy2000error command:
>set date ifyy2000error Off
>item trans-date,date,yymmdd
>if trans-date >= $date(2001/01/01)

Century and $Date

Suprtool needs to generate a $date or $today date in the ccyymmdd format. If you
specify a two-digit year in the $date function, Suprtool needs to assume a century for
the given date:
>item trans-date,date,ccyymmdd
>if trans-date >= $date(01/01/01)

Suprtool assumes 20 for the century if the specified year is less than the Set Date
Cutoff value, and 19 if the specified two-digit year is greater than or equal to this
value.

Oracle Dates
Oracle dates contain both the date and the time. The $date and $today functions
check the date, but ignore the time.

Date Limits
The $date function in Suprtool can generate dates between the years 1583 and 2583.
Some date formats have limits based on their particular format, such as 2027 for a
Calendar date and 2259 for the aammdd aamm, mmddaa, ddmmaa dates.

Non-Collating Date Types

You can use the $stddate function to convert the non-collating date format to a J2
data item with a date format of ccyymmdd.
For example, to select the purchases by the field purch-date for November 2000 in a
ddmmyy X6 field, you would use the $stddate function as follows:
>item purch-date,date,ddmmyy
>if $stddate(purch-date) >= $date(2000/11/first) and &
$stddate(purch-date) <= $date(2000/11/last)

Dynamic Date Selection

Using a first pass to generate You can use the If command for dynamic date selection. Suppose you have a control
a Suprtool command file that maintains the start and end of a range of dates in which you are interested.
dynamically, then using that You can use the control file to select records from another file or dataset, based on
command in a second pass, is this date range. This is a two-step process, in which the first Suprtool pass creates the
a powerful technique. If command with your dates, and the second pass does the actual selection from the
dataset.

202 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >input datecntl {read the one-line control file}
>define start-date,1,6,byte {start date is the first six bytes}
>define end-date,7,6,byte {end date is the next six bytes}
>extract "if sales-date >= '" {assemble the If command}
>extract start-date
>extract "' and sales-date <= '"
>extract end-date
>extract "'"
>output seldate,temp {write the If command to a file}
>xeq

This task produces a usefile that looks like this:

if sales-date >= '001101' and sales-date <= '001231'

Now you can use this file to do the actual selection:

>base salesdb,5,password
>get sales-detail
>use seldate {use the file that has the If command}
>output sdetail
>exit

Adjust Batch Jobs for Holidays

In automating production batch jobs, it would be very nice to know, at the MPE
command level, whether today is a holiday (or yesterday or tomorrow). You can use
if hpday = 1 then

to check for Sunday, but you can't use

if hpday = holiday then

Everyone has their own schedule of holidays. Here is how we cope with this problem
in our backup job, using Suprtool to compare yesterday's date to a list of holidays for
the year:
!
!comment Occasionally the backup is not run. This is
!comment usually because of holidays, when nobody is in the
!comment office. The file SKIPDAYS.STREAMS.PROD contains a
!comment list of holidays in YYMMDD ASCII format. Because
!comment the backup job runs after midnight, it checks if
!comment YESTERDAY's date is in the SKIPDAYS file. If it
!comment is, the SKIPTODAY JCW is set to 1.
!
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
input skipdays.streams.prod
define skipdate,1,6
item skipdate,date,yymmdd
if skipdate = $today(-1)
output $null
exit
!setjcw skiptoday = suprtooloutcount
!
!if skiptoday > 0 then
! tellop --- Yesterday was a holiday. No Backup today.
!else
! comment Insert the BACKUP commands here:
! comment STORE, etc.
!endif

The skipdays file is a regular text file with records in the following format:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 203

 ----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4
000101 New Years Day
000414 Good Friday
000524 Victoria Day
001009 Thanksgiving (Canada)
001111 Remembrance Day
001225 Christmas
001226 Boxing Day
010101 New Years Day
010405 Good Friday
010520 Victoria Day
011014 Thanksgiving (Canada)
011111 Remembrance Day
011225 Christmas
011226 Boxing Day

Long Expressions
Long If commands can use an ampersand to continue the command over several
lines:
>if status = "20" and &
>> state = "AZ", &
>> "CA", &
>> "OR" {no ampersand on the last line}

This is awkward to use and, for internal reasons, the maximum length is restricted to
256 characters. The $read function makes it easier to enter long If commands. Its
maximum length is based on the complexity of the expression, not on the number of
characters.

$Read Function
The $read function reads the If expression from $stdinx, or from the usefile if the If
command is in a usefile. $Read continues to prompt for input lines until you press
Return or enter "//." You must remember to enter all the necessary parts of the If
expression, including connectors like AND and OR and commas. You do not use an
ampersand (&) to continue from one line to the next when using $read.
>if $read {prompt for the expression}
-status = "20" and {$read prompts with "-"}
-state = "AZ", {the comma is still needed}
- "CA",
- "OR" {no comma on the last line}
- {blank line to terminate $read}

Redoing $Read
When prompting for an expression, $read saves each line in the redo stack and
accepts the Before, Do, Listredo, and Redo commands. This provides an easy way to
specify all or part of a previous $read expression.

Error: Data Overflow

While the $read function permits long expressions, there are other internal limits
within the If command. The first is a limit on the amount of space for constants.
Suprtool must blank-fill all string constants to their full length. The following
example overflows the data space:

204 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >define char-256,1,256
>if char-256 = "a","b","c"
Error: Data Overflow

In this example, Suprtool attempted to create three 256-byte constants. There wasn't
enough room for the last constant. Solutions to this problem include:
1. If possible, define short fields. If you have long field names, you may
want to use the Define command to define shorter subfields.
2. Use tables and $lookup for many values.
3. Split the extract task into multiple passes. On the first pass, use an If
expression that results in the fewest possible number of output records.
Use the output file from the first pass as input to the second. Apply the
remainder of your If expression during the second pass.

Error: Code Overflow

Suprtool translates If commands to an internal machine representation. There is a
limit on the size of this code. When an error occurs, there is little you can do except
use tables and $lookup wherever possible, and when this fails use multiple passes.

$Read in Usefiles
When you specify $read in a usefile, Suprtool expects the If expression to appear in
the usefile. This provides a method for storing and executing complicated If
commands.
You can also manipulate Suprtool into prompting for portions of an If command.
When the If command with $read is the last command in a usefile, Suprtool satisfies
the $read from $stdinx. The $read function can appear anywhere in which a space
can appear, so you can use this to prompt the user for values.
>use prompt.use
>in sdfile {first line of usefile}
>if status=$read and & {continue the If command}
state = $read {last line of the usefile}
-"10" {prompt for status}
-// {end of prompt for status}
-"AZ", {prompt for state}
-"CA", {user must remember comma}
-"OR" {user also enters quotes}
-// {end of the second read}

Notes
Suprtool is not designed to be used by end users. We prefer that you write intelligent
front-ends that understand user applications and hide the details of Suprtool from end
users. We recommend that you use $read from usefiles only for one-time tasks, or
for tasks used by experienced Suprtool users who do not require a friendly user
interface.

$-functions
Some $-functions were originally designed for if command and some are more suited
for the extract command. Because of this some $-functions don’t work in the if
command, such as $edit, and others such as $number have interesting side effects.
Specifically with $number, when you work on byte type fields, they will be updated
internally to be treated as display:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 205

 Get dataset
Def display-field,byte-field,display
If $number(display-field) > 10000
Out somefile,link
xeq

The field byte-field will have leading zeroes and treated as a display.

206 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Input Command [I]
Opens the file that will be the input source for the next extract task. This file can be
an MPE disc file, an MPE tape file, a KSAM file, * for $stdinx, a card file, or some
other MPE file with fixed-length records. Suprtool executes the Input command
immediately -- it does not wait for an Xeq command before opening the Input file.
INPUT file [=setname] [(startrecord/[endrecord])]
[(#count)]
(Default: all input records)

Input File
The first example shows the most common use of the Input command. An input file
is specified as the input source to Suprtool. We select a subset of the input data with
the If command. Before using the If command, we must define a field within the
input record:
>input dinvent {input is from a disc file}
>define a,11,2,int {"A" is an integer that starts}
>output outfile { at the 11th byte of Dinvent}
>if a<10000 {records with field "A" less than}
>xeq { 10000 are written to Outfile}

Dataset Files
The =setname parameter notifies Suprtool that the records have the same internal
data structure as the entries in this IMAGE dataset. You can then specify sort/select
fields by field name instead of by the physical offset within the record. You must
have done a previous Base command, and setname must exist in the database. You
must have read access to all fields in the dataset entry, and the record length of the
file must match that of the dataset entry.
Using the Define command is error-prone, because it forces you to calculate offsets
and lengths of each field in your input record. If you used Suprtool to create a disc
file from an IMAGE dataset, you do not need to use the Define command:
>base store,5,READER {open for read access only}
>get d-inventory {input from a dataset}
>output dinvent {automatically defined by Get}
>xeq {process this task and continue}
>input dinvent=d-inventory {same format as d-inventory}
>if unit-cost<10000 {use the actual IMAGE field name}
>sort cust-account {again, the IMAGE field name is used}
>list {list the selected records with}
>xeq { their field names and values}

Input from $Stdinx

If file is "*", $stdinx is opened as the source of input records. To terminate Input
from $stdinx, hit Control-Y on your terminal after the last input record or make
":eod" the last input record in your batch job. Do not use ":eof:" to end the input data
as this causes the batch job to abort.
The record size of the output file is determined by the record size of $stdinx.
Because this record size varies in terminals and batch jobs, we recommend that you
build the output file first and use the Output xxx,Erase option.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 207

 !job mgr.robelle
!purge outfile {create the output file}
!build outfile;rec=-80,16,f,ascii
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input * {input from $stdinx}
>output outfile,erase {output to an existing file}
>exit {end of Suprtool commands}
Line 1 of 2. {input data}
Line 2 of 2.
:eod {end of input data}
!listf outfile,2
!eoj {end of the job}

Permanent and Temporary Files

If you have both a temporary and a permanent file with the same name, Suprtool
tries to open the temporary file.

Selection by Record Number

The (startrecord/endrecord) parameter specifies a range of input records by record
number. The default value for endrecord is the highest record in the file. The first
record number is 0 for MPE files and some KSAM files, or 1 for other KSAM files.
The (startrecord/endrecord) parameter must come after the =setname parameter, if it
is present. You can check your record selections with the Verify command.
When debugging software, it is convenient to scan the first few records of a file. The
startrecord/endrecord parameter makes it easy to scan these records:
>input dinvent(0/19) {first twenty records}
>list {produce a list of each record}
>xeq { in "OCTAL,CHAR" format}

Random Selection
The (#count) parameter specifies that every "nth" record in the input file should be
selected. This option is designed for random sampling of the input file. The
(startrecord/endrecord) parameter cannot be used with this parameter. Like
(startrecord/endrecord), (#count) must come after the =setname, if present.
Test files can be constructed from random samplings of production files. We can
build a test file with the #count parameter:
>input dinvent(#15) {every 15th record is read}
>output dtest {create an output file with every}
>xeq { 15th record from Dinvent}

Magnetic Tape Input

For Suprtool to read a file on magnetic tape, you must do two things:
1. Issue a :File command for the tape.
2. If more than 10,000 records will be read from the tape, you must
specify the Numrecs command.
This example creates a disc file from the records on magnetic tape:

208 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >:file tin;dev=tape {:File command for the tape drive}
>input *tin {you must specify "*" on the Input}
>numrecs 30000 {specify 30000 input tape records}
>output tout {we build the output file with}
>xeq { room for 30000 records}

The Input command is processed immediately. Suprtool does not wait for an Xeq or
Exit command before opening the Input file. If the session seems to hang after the
Input command, check the console to see whether it is waiting for the =reply.

Notes
Only one Input, Chain, or Get command is allowed per extract task. The Input
command opens the specified file immediately. The file is held open until the input is
reset or the current task completes.
If at least one sort key has been specified, the Input command is optional, but you
can specify the input file by means of a :File command (:File Input=xxx).
Suprtool first attempts to open the input file as READ, SHARED, NO LOCKING. If
it cannot open the file because someone else has it open with LOCKING, Suprtool
tries again with LOCKING specified. If the input file is a KSAM/V file, Suprtool
eventually closes the KSAM/V file and reopens it with LOCKING and INOUT
access.
If you specify a self-describing input file with Oracle dates, Suprtool will
automatically recognize the Oracle date attribute.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 209

Item Command [IT]
Use the Item command to specify the number of implied decimal points or the date
format for an item. The $date and $today functions of the If command work only
with dates. The Item command must precede any If or Extract commands.
ITEM itemname,DATE | DECIMAL,attribute

Itemname
The itemname must be an IMAGE itemname, an SD field, or a Defined field. If the
itemname exists both as an IMAGE itemname and as a Defined field, the attribute is
associated with the IMAGE itemname and the Defined field is deleted. If the
itemname exists both as an IMAGE itemname and as an SD field, the attribute is
only associated with the IMAGE itemname and a warning is produced. The
itemname cannot be qualified with a subscript.

Date Formats
For dates, the attribute must be one of the following:

Attribute Attribute
ASK ccyymm
Calendar ccyy
ddmmyy aammdd
ddmmyyyy aamm
mmddyy mmddaa
mmddyyyy ddmmaa
Oracle SRNChronos
PHdate mmyyyy
yymm yyddd
yymmdd ccyyddd
yyyymm HPCalendar
yyymmdd JulianDay
yyyymmdd EDSDate
ccyymmdd PHDate8

Abbreviations
When specifying the Date keyword, you can use a leading subset for the date
attribute. For example, if you want to specify the Calendar date type, you can specify
only CA.
>item cal-date,date,ca

If you do not like this feature, you can turn it off by specifying the following
command in your Suprmgr file:

210 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >set itemabbreviatedate off

Data-Types for Dates

Each date attribute is compatible with certain data-types. For more information, see
the table on data-types in the Define command. The following table shows the
compatibilities:

Date-Attribute Data-Type Compatibility

ASK J1 and K1
Calendar J1 and K1
ddmmyy X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
ddmmyyyy X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
mmddyy X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
mmddyyyy X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
Oracle X7
PHdate J1, K1, J2, and K2
yymm X4, Z4, J1, and K1
yymmdd X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
yyymmdd J2, P8
yyyymmdd X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
ccyymmdd X8, Z8, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
ccyymm X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
yyyymm X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
aammdd X6
aamm X4
mmddaa X6
ddmmaa X6
ccyy X4, Z4, J1, and K1
SRNChronos X6
mmyyyy X6, Z6, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
yyddd X5, Z5, J2, K2, and P8 or greater
ccyyddd X7, Z7, J2, K2, and P10 or greater
HPCalendar J2, K2
EDSDate J2, P8
JulianDay J2
PHdate8 J1, K1, J2, and K2

Date Limits
The $date function in Suprtool can generate dates between the years 1583 and 2583.
Some date formats have limits based on their particular format, such as 2027 for a
Calendar date and 2259 for the aammdd aamm, mmddaa, ddmmaa dates.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 211

 Calendar
The Calendar attribute is provided for users who have fields containing the 16-bit
MPE Calendar date format as an unsigned, logical value with seven bits for the year
of the century (bits 0-6), followed by nine bits for the day of the year (bits 7-15). The
Calendar date format only supports dates up to the end of the year 2027.

PHdate and PHdate8

The PHdate and PHdate8 attributes are compatible with the COGNOS PowerHouse
date format. If the data-type is J1 or K1, the date is stored as a LOGICAL value with
seven bits for the year of the century (bits 0-6), four bits for the month (bits 7-10),
and five bits for the day (bits 11-15). If the data-type is J2 or K2, the date is stored as
yyyymmdd.
PHDate and PHDate8 date formats are similar, however PHDate values for the year
range from 0 - 99, whereas PHDate8 year values are from 0 - 127. A year of 0 in
PHDate could mean either 1900 or 2000 depending on user applications. A year of 0
in PHDate8 means 1900, and 100 means 2000. The PHDate8 date format is found in
PowerHouse version 8.19 and higher.

ASK
The ASK attribute is compatible with the ASK manufacturing software. ASK uses a
special date format stored as a single integer or a single logical (i.e., J1 or K1 in
IMAGE). This date is relative to January 1, 1973.

yyymmdd
The yyymmdd attribute is similar to yymmdd, except that the first digit denotes the
century. If the first digit is a 1 (one) then the century is 19, and if the first digit is a 2
(two) then the century is 20. Only data-types of P8 and J2 are supported for this date
attribute.
This date format is used by some third-party software packages such as MACS and
APS.

EDSDATE
The EDSDATE date format is similar to the yyymmdd format, in which the first
digit represents the century. The first digit in the EDSDATE is either 0 or 1: a 0
represents a century of 19 and a 1 represents a century of 20.

JulianDay
The JulianDay number is the absolute count of the days that have elapsed since
January 1, 4713 BC on the Julian calendar.
Typically "Julian Day numbers" refer to an integer number corresponding to whole
days, while the "Julian Date" may mean an integer plus a decimal value that resolves
the Julian count to precise parts of a day. Suprtool supports the "JulianDay" number
and does not attempt to support an hour or point in the day.

aammdd and Related Date Formats

The aammdd attribute is similar to yymmdd, except the aa portion of the date uses a
combination of letters and numbers in order to represent dates beyond 1999.
The aammdd date format was developed by James Overman of HP for use in their
MM3000 product. This format is available only for X6 data-type.

212 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 By substituting a letter of the alphabet in the first position of the year, we can extend
a six-digit date and also ensure that the dates collate correctly. For example:

YY of AAMMDD CCYY
00 - 09 1900 - 1909
90 - 99 1990 - 1999
A0 - A9 2000 - 2009
B0 - B9 2010 - 2019
C0 - C9 2020 - 2029

Because letters are greater than numbers in the collating sequence you can ensure
that aammdd dates beyond 1999 will order correctly.
Suprtool also supports other date formats with this two-character year representation.
These formats are aamm, mmddaa and ddmmaa.

Oracle
Oracle dates include both the date and the time. The $date and $today functions only
apply to the date part of Oracle dates.

SRN Chronos
The Srnchronos date format is used in applications from Software Research
Northwest. Like Oracle dates, this format includes the date and time, but the time
portion is ignored by the $date and $today functions.

DDD Dates
Dates consisting of ddd in the format name use the ddd to represent the nth day in the
current year. This means that January 1 will be day 001, and Dec 31 will be day 365
on non-leap years. Some people refer to these type of dates as Julian dates.

HPCalendar
The HPCalendar date format is supported by HP's new HPCalendar intrinsic and
consists of a 32-bit integer number, whereby the first 23 bits represent the year and
the last nine bits represent the day of the year.

Decimal Places
The decimal attribute is the number of implied decimal places in an item. The
minimum number of implied decimal places is 0. The maximum is based on the data-
type of the item:

Data-Type Maximum Implied Decimal Places

I1 5
I2 10
I3 15
I4 19
K1 5

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 213

 K2 10
Pn n-1
Zn n

You cannot specify implied decimal places for byte-, char-, real-, long-, or IEEE-
type items.
Once you define a decimal place, almost every command in Suprtool is affected.
Suprtool accepts numeric values with decimal points or scales integers according to
the number of implied decimal places (e.g., specify two implied decimal places, then
enter 1,000 to represent 1,000.00). All formatting commands format fields with a
decimal point when appropriate.

Constant Values
When specifying numeric constants for a field with implied decimal places, there are
different formats that you can use. For example, assume that we use the Item
command to specify two implied decimal places for an amount field. The following
are examples of constant values for this item:

Constant Interpretation
0 zero value padded as necessary
1 $1.00
0.01 $0.01
.01 also acceptable for $0.01

Notes
Compound Items
When you specify a compound item, the attribute applies to all elements of the
compound item.
>item monthly-totals,decimal,2 {12 occurrences}
>if monthly-totals(5) > 1000.00

You cannot apply an attribute to only one sub-item of a compound item:

>item monthly-totals(5),decimal,2
Error: Missing attribute for the Item Command

When to Specify the Item Command

The Item command affects almost all other Suprtool commands. It should be used as
follows:
• For databases, specify it immediately after the Base command, but
before any Extract or If commands.
• For MPE and KSAM files, it is best to specify the Define and Item
commands immediately after the Input command.

214 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Usefiles
You can use a usefile as a mini data dictionary for Suprtool. For databases, it is a
good idea to put all the Item commands associated with a database into a usefile.
After the Base command has been specified, the usefile can describe the items in the
database to Suprtool. For MPE files, you can put both the Define and Item
commands in a usefile and execute them right after the Input command for the file. If
you use the Link output option, both date formats and implied decimal places are
saved in the self-describing file so they never need to be specified again.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 215

Key Command [K]
Specifies the next sort field for an extract task, using an explicit byte position in the
record, not a field name. See "Sort Command [SO]" on page 268 for specifying sort
fields by IMAGE field name or Defined field, or by field name in an SD file. Up to
20 Sort and Key commands may be specified per extract task; the first is the major
sort field.
[KEY] byteposition,bytelen [,type] [,DESC]
(Default: type=BYTE, ASCENDING order).

Parameters
Desc specifies that the field is to be sorted in Descending order.
The byteposition is a number between 1 and the length of the input records,
specifying where the sort field begins. The bytelen parameter is a number from 1 to
the length of the record, specifying how long the sort field is.
The type is a word that gives the desired data-type of the field for sorting purposes:

Type Description
BYTE (unsigned, straight compare)
INT/INTEGER (two's complement)
DOUBLE (two's complement)
REAL (Classic floating-point)
LONG (Classic floating-point)
IEEE (IEEE floating-point)
PACKED (packed-decimal)
PACKED* (packed-decimal, last nibble unused)
DISPLAY (zoned-decimal numeric field)
LOGICAL (unsigned, like BYTE, 2 characters)
CHARACTER (for Native Language Support)

For compatibility with Sort.Pub.Sys, the Key command also accepts FPOINT as the
data-type for IEEE numbers.

Examples
The first example sorts an integer (PIC S9(4) COMP) field which starts on the 11th
byte of the input record. We sort the entire input file based on one key:

216 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >input bigfile {input from a disc file}
>key 11,2,int {key is an integer that starts}
>output outfile { at the 11th byte of Bigfile}
>xeq {create Outfile and prompt for}
{ more Suprtool commands}

>input discfile {another input file}

>key 14,4,double,desc {double integer (PIC S9(9) COMP)}
>output ofile2 {sort input in descending order}
>exit

The following examples show the various data-types and combinations that are
available with the Key command:
>key 1,10 {byte data-type}
>key 1,10,desc {descending sort sequence}
>key 11,4,double {I2 or J2, S9(9) COMP}
>key 1,6;11,4,ieee {X6 string and an E2 field at byte 11}
>key 21,6,packed {P12, S9(11) COMP-3}
>key 21,6,packed* {P12, S9(10) COMP-3, wasted byte}

Notes
The command name, Key, is optional. Any command that starts with a numeric
character is assumed to be a Key command. The Verify command shows all of the
current key fields, and the Reset command cancels them. If no sort fields are defined
prior to the Xeq or Exit command, Suprtool performs a copy, not a sort.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 217

Link Command [LIN]
Send commands to Suprlink.
LINK [ suprlink-command ]

Switching into Suprlink

If you enter Link with no parameters, Suprtool executes Suprlink.Pub.Robelle.
Suprlink then prompts you for commands, just as it does when you run Suprlink
from MPE. When you exit Suprlink, you are returned to Suprtool.
>link {invoke Suprlink}
SUPRLINK/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1988-2001
+input invoices by cust-no {Suprlink prompts for commands}
+link customer
+output invcust
+exit {do Suprlink task and return to Suprtool}
>

Passing Commands to Suprlink

You can send commands directly to Suprlink by specifying the Suprlink command as
part of the Suprtool Link command. Suprlink executes the command and returns to
Suprtool. Suprlink does not execute its task until it receives an Xeq or Exit
command.
>link input invoices by cust-no
>link link customer {send "link customer" to Suprlink}
>link output invcust
>link exit {exit from Suprlink (not Suprtool)}

Notes
You can use the Suprtool2 interface and the Link command to "call" Suprlink. See
the Suprcall User Manual for a complete example of how to use the interface to pass
commands to Suprlink.

218 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

List Command [L]
The List command is used to produce formatted listings of the selected records. You
may specify the List command, or the Output command, or both, or neither. If List is
used instead of Output, Suprtool sets the Output to $null, so that only a listing is
produced.
LIST [ OCTAL|HEX|DECIMAL ] [ CHAR ] [ NOREC ] [ LABELS ]
[ RECORD ] [ DUPLEX ] [ ONEPERLINE ] [ LP ]
[ NONAME ] [ NOSKIP ] [ STANDARD ] [ DEVICE name ]
[ DATE format ] [ TIME format ] [ PCL format ]
[ LEFTJUSTNUM ] [ RIGHTJUSTNUM ]
[ TITLE "string" ] [ HEADING "string" ["string" ...]]
(Default: Octal/Char or "Formatted")
If Suprtool knows about the fields in the input source (e.g., because you have used
the Extract command), the list records are formatted with field names, and internal
binary data-types (e.g., integer) are converted to ASCII. You cannot combine the
Ask or Query,Num output-options with the List command.
Here is a typical use of List: to find any entries in the m-customer dataset that do not
have a valid value for cust-status.
>base store,5,READER {input from a database}
>get m-customer {read this dataset}
>if cust-status<>10,20,30,40 {the only valid values}
>list {print bad entries}
>xeq

Format
You can override the defaults with a specification in the List command (e.g., List
Hex,Char). If the input source is not self-describing and no Extract command is
specified, the default output format is Octal,Char, which also shows both input and
output record numbers.

Decimal Places
The List command formats numbers using the implied number of decimal places. For
example, the following Suprtool commands format the unit cost with two decimal
points. We specify the Rightjustnum keyword, because numbers with decimal
points are hard to read if they are left justified:
>item cost,decimal,2 {two implied decimal points}
>list rightjustnum {numbers right justified}
>xeq { with decimal points}

Listing Record Numbers

The Norec keyword prevents the printing of the input and output record numbers.
The input record numbers are not printed if Output xxx,Data is used and the file is
sorted.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 219

 Listing User Labels
The Labels keyword causes user labels to be dumped in the format specified. The
default format is Octal,Char. If Set Userlabels is Off, the user labels are not printed.

Listing One Field per Line

Suprtool normally attempts to list more than one field on every line of list output.
The Oneperline keyword causes every field to be shown on a different line.

Listing without Field Names (Noname)

When Suprtool knows the record structure of the output file, it shows the name of
each output field. The Noname keyword causes the field names to be suppressed.
By only extracting a few fields, it is possible to fit the listed output for each record
on one line.

Suppressing Blank Lines Between Records

By default, Suprtool prints a blank line between each record. The Noskip keyword
removes this blank line. If you combine the Noskip, Norec, Noname, and Title
options when extracting a few fields, Suprtool can produce a simple report.

Numeric Justification (Leftjustnum and Rightjustnum)

The List command normally left justifies all numeric fields. Specifying List Standard
causes all numeric fields to be right-justified, unless you override the default with the
Leftjustnum keyword.
Use the Leftjustnum or Rightjustnum keyword to specify the alignment of the
numbers. The two keywords are mutually exclusive. The last one that appears on the
command line is the one that is applied.

LaserJet Listings
There are two methods to select different printing options for a LaserJet and other
PCL-compatible printers. You can permanently set the PCL option for all listings by
using Set List PCL, or you can use the List command to select the PCL option for
just one task. PCL stands for Printer Command Language, which is an HP standard
for printers. The following is a summary of the PCL values:
PCL Font Orientation Dimensions
1 Lineprinter landscape 175 cols/60 lines
2 Courier landscape 100 cols/45 lines
3 Courier "standard" portrait 80 cols/60 lines
4 Lineprinter portrait 132 cols/80 lines
5 Courier A4 "tight" portrait 80 cols/60 lines
6 Lineprinter legal landscape 223 cols/60 lines

See the Set command for a complete description of the PCL options. By default,
Suprtool assumes that the List output device is not PCL-compatible (List PCL 0).
If you use the List command to your terminal with a global Set List PCL value other
than zero, your terminal screen may be cleared. To avoid this situation, you can
explicitly specify the PCL setting along with the device:

220 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >get d-sales
>list serialp,pcl 2
>xeq

A4-Size Paper
Most of the PCL options, with the exception of PCL 5, were designed and tested
with North American letter-size paper. This is especially true with PCL 5 for A4
paper: it reduces the horizontal spacing between characters so that 80 columns of
Courier output fits on a single line. In addition, if you add 2000 to a PCL code,
Suprtool adjusts the number of rows and columns for that option to match A4 paper.
For example, to print Landscape on A4 paper, use PCL 2001 instead of PCL 1.
In general, selecting A4 paper gives you more space along the long side of the paper
and less space along the short side. If you are happy with the way letter-size rows
and columns work on A4 paper, simply do not add 2000 to the PCL code. If for some
reason you want more columns than provided by Suprtool (e.g., you are using a
PCL-compatible system printer with wider paper), you can override the size by using
a :File command with the Rec= parameter, as in:
:file suprlist;dev=syslp;rec=-220

Roman-8 vs. ASCII

The PCL option requests a Roman-8 character set, but some combination font
cartridges only supply the ASCII character set (half as many characters means twice
as many fonts in a single cartridge). If you ask for Landscape Lineprinter and get
Landscape Courier instead, your Lineprinter font probably has the ASCII character
set instead of the Roman-8 character set. To request an ASCII font, add 1000 to the
PCL code. For example, if you have a Super Cartridge (55 fonts in one!), use PCL
1001, 1004, and 1006. To select both ASCII and A4 paper, add 3000.

Double-Sided Printing on LaserJets

The LaserJet IID and IIID can print on both sides of the paper. The Duplex keyword
enables double-sided printing on these printers.
>list duplex

Headings in Listings
Specifying a Title in the List command forces Suprtool to produce a formatted
listing with page-headings, page-numbers, today's date and the current time. If you
want just the date and page numbers, use an empty string. For example,
>list title " "

The following example prints a report on a LaserJet in Landscape (sideways) mode,

using the tiny Lineprinter font, including a page heading with the title. The physical
command line limit is 256 characters. As a result, the maximum size of the heading
is less than 256 characters because the List command and heading options need to be
included in the command line.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 221

 >in custs {self-describing file}
>if status<>10,20,30,40 {the only valid values}
>set list pcl 1 {select LaserJet option}
>list title "Invalid CUSTOMER Records"
>xeq {include title on listing}

Changing the Date Format

When you select page headings by specifying a title, each page includes today's date.
By default, this date is formatted as mmm dd, ccyy (e.g., Mar 20, 2000). You can
override this format with the Date keyword. Use the Set command to specify a
different default date format for future List commands (e.g., Set List Date 2). The
valid date formats are as follows:

Value Format Example

0 (default) mmm dd, ccyy Mar 20, 2000
1 yy/mm/dd 00/03/20
2 mm/dd/yy 03/20/00
3 dd/mm/yy 20/03/00
4 dd mmmyy 20 Mar00

>list title "Example Report" date 3

>xeq {heading date is in dd/mm/yy format}

Changing the Time Format

When you select page headings by specifying a title, each page includes the current
time. By default, the time is in 24-hour format (e.g., 23:02). You can override this
format with the Time keyword. Use the Set command to specify a different default
time format for future List commands (e.g., Set List Time 2). The valid time formats
are as follows:

Value Format Example

0 none
1 (default) 24-hour 23:02
2 AM/PM 11:02PM

>list title "Example Report" time 2

>xeq {time will be in AM/PM format}

Simple Reports
A Fast Method for Producing Simple Reports
For self-describing files and datasets, the Standard keyword is equivalent to List
Noname,Noskip,Norec,Rightjustnum with default column headings. For data files,
the Standard keyword is equivalent to List Octal,Char. In either case, the Standard
keyword provides a default title that describes the input source. You can override the
title, date format, time format, or any other option selected by the Standard keyword,
by specifying them in addition to the Standard keyword. For example,

222 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >get m-customer
>list standard {use all Suprtool defaults}
>xeq

>get m-customer
>list standard,date 3 {override the date format}
>xeq

>input mpefile
>list standard,char {override the format options}
>xeq

>input mpefile
>list standard,leftjustnum {left justify numbers}
>xeq

>get m-customer
>list standard,title "Customer List" {override title}
>xeq

>get m-customer
>list standard,heading " " {no column headings}
>xeq

Listings with Subheadings

When using the Title or Standard keywords, you can also include subheadings with
the Heading keyword. You can specify multiple columns by repeating the string
after the Heading option (e.g., List Heading "First " "Second") or specify the
Heading option multiple times (e.g., List Heading "First ", Heading "Second"). Being
able to specify multiple columns makes it easier to align column headings when
using the Standard keyword. If you specify the Heading keyword without the Title
keyword, a default title is produced.
>get m-customer {read this dataset}
>extract cust-account {Z8}
>extract name-first {X10}
>extract name-last {X16}
>extract credit-rating {J2}
>extract cust-status {X2}
>sort name-last
>sort name-first
>list standard,title "Customer List", &
heading "Account " " First and Last Names" &
" " "Credit " "Status"
>xeq

List Device
By default, the List command lists lines to $stdlist. There are several methods that
you can use to redirect the output to a specific logical device or to a disc file. You
can also redirect output to an attached printer.

File Suprlist
Suprtool lists lines to the file Suprlist. You can use a :File command for the Suprlist
file to direct the list output to any line printer (or even to a disc file). The Suprlist file
can have widths of 56 to 256 characters. If PCL is zero, Suprlist defaults to 78
columns wide. If your line printer paper is wider, specify the width using Rec= on
the :File command.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 223

 >get m-customer
>:file suprlist;dev=lp;rec=-132 {list output to LP}
>list
>xeq

If PCL is non-zero, there is no need for Rec= on the :File command. Suprtool
supplies the correct value.

Device LP
Use the LP option to send listings to the device "LP". If you have specified a :File
command for Suprlist, it overrides the LP option. The LP option assumes that the list
device is 132 columns wide.
>list lp

User Specified Device

Use the Device option to specify a specific logical device for the listing. The device
name must appear after the Device option and may be a name or number. You may
specify a remote device by preceding the remote device name with the system name
and a pound sign (#). The Device option assumes that the list device is 132 columns
wide.
>list device LP {same as List LP}
>list device serialp {send to device serialp}
>list device Goofy#LP {remote device LP on Goofy}
>list device Disc {create disc file "Suprlist"}

When redirecting the Suprlist file to disc, you must remember to add a disc value to
the file equation because the default disc file size for the Suprlist file is 1,023
records.
>input sales
>:file suprlist=salefile;disc=20000
>list dev disc
>xeq

Listing to Attached Printer

If you wish to list to a printer that is attached to your terminal, use List Record.
Suprtool uses Record mode on your terminal or PC to print on the attached printer.
To use this option, you must be using an HP terminal or HP terminal emulator and
your data communication settings must be setup correctly. This option opens a file
named Suprcrt instead of Suprlist.
You can combine this option with other listing options. You cannot interrupt Record
mode with Control-Y, but you can do a Soft Reset. This unlocks the keyboard and
causes the rest of the output to appear on the screen. You can then stop it with
Control-Y.

Notes
The List operation occurs logically after the sort phase, if any, and after any Extract,
but before the final Output or Put operation. A Reset turns off the current List
options.
For more examples of the List command, see Suprtool Issues and Solutions.

224 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Listredo Command [LISTREDO]
The Listredo command displays any of the previous 1000 commands.
LISTREDO [ start [ / stop ] ] [;ABS] [;OUT=file]
[ string ] [;REL]
[ ALL | @ ] [;UNN]
(Default: display previous 20 commands)
(BJ and ,, are short for LISTREDO)
Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are
retained. You can display a single command, a range of commands, all 1000, or all
the commands whose name matches the string. You can print the commands with
ABSolute line numbers (the default), RELative line numbers (-5/-4), or
UNNumbered. You can write the commands to your terminal or Out to a temporary
file. If you want to redo any of these commands, see Do, Redo, and Before.

Examples
>listredo 5
>listredo 5/10
>listredo help {print all Help commands}
>listredo -10 {print last ten commands}
>listredo ALL {print entire redo stack}
>listredo purge {print all Purge commands}
>listredo purge xx {print all "purge xx" commands}
>listredo @purge {print all with "purge" anywhere}
>listredo @;rel {print ALL, relative numbers}
>listredo 1/10;out=*lp {dump commands to printer}
>listredo @;unn;out=save {write commands to a file}

Notes
The :Listredo command can be abbreviated to BJ as in Qedit, or to ,, (comma
comma) as in MPEX. You cannot use a semi-colon (;) to combine commands on the
same line.

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command ("Redo" on page 262) for
details.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 225

Numrecs Command [N]
Specify the size of the input file (for tape files), output file (for datasets), and the sort
scratch file.
NUMRECS size | percentage%
(default: size=10,000 or EOF of input source)

Parameters
When you know that you are selecting a small subset of the entire input source, use
the Numrecs command to reduce the size of the sort scratch file and, if required, the
size of the output file. If you select more than size entries, Suprtool prints a warning
message, and ignores the rest of the input records. However, the output file will have
the records that were selected. Use a percent sign (%) to specify the Numrecs as a
percentage of the input file size. The percentage can range from 1 to 500.

Using Numrecs for Tape Files

The Numrecs command is required to read more than 10,000 records from a tape
file. Suppose you want to read a tape file with 30,000 records. You would use the
Numrecs command to increase the size of the output file:
>:file t;dev=tape {define tape file}
>input *t {specify Suprtool input}
>numrecs 30000 {make room for 30000 records}
>output out2 {output file will have room for}
>xeq { 30000 records}

Reducing File Sizes

Suppose that the d-sales dataset contains 100,000 entries, but you use the If
command to select 15% of the entries. We would specify 15 as the percentage on the
Numrecs command to reduce the size of the sort scratch file and the output file:
>get d-sales {specify input}
>numrecs 15% {specify 15000 as file size}
>if sales-qty<100 {select a subset of d-sales}
>sort cust-account {sort using the dataset path}
>output out2 {output file will have room for}
>xeq { 15000 records}

MPE Files vs. Datasets

When you specify a source of records using the Input command (as opposed to
reading a dataset using the Get or Chain command), Suprtool attempts to duplicate
all of the input file's attributes in the output file. This includes the file limit. For this
reason, the Numrecs value is ignored if the output file limit is smaller than the input
file limit. Numrecs is still useful when reading MPE files to reduce the size of the
sort scratch file.

Appending to Files
When you want to create a file that you can append to later, you need to use both the
Numrecs command and the Set Squeeze Off command.

226 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >get d-sales
>numrecs 200% {output file will have extra room}
>set squeeze off {reserve room between EOF and LIMIT}
>output dsale
>xeq
...
>get d-history
>output dsale,append {dsale has room for appending}
>xeq

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 227

Open Command [OP]
Specify an SQL database to open. Only one database can be open at a time.
OPEN ALLBASE dbename owner

Allbase Database
Use the Open command to connect to an Allbase database. You must specify your
Allbase dbename and owner. To read data from an Allbase table or view, use the
Select command. Use Set Allbase Rows to specify how many rows for Suprtool to
fetch when it is reading Allbase data.
>open allbase inventory anne

228 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Output Command [O]
Define the name of the output file as one of these: a new disc file (default), an
existing MPE or KSAM file (Append or Erase option), * for $stdlist, a back
reference to a :File command (*name), or =Input to sort a file into itself. If you use
List, Put, Update or Total, Output defaults to $null. Output produces the same record
format as the input source (adjusted by Extract commands), unless you override it
with format keywords.
OUTPUT filename format [TEMP] [ERASE | APPEND]
(Default: DATA only, "new" file)

New Files
The filename is the name of a new MPE disc file to be built by Suprtool (Output
xxx). Unless you use a :File command to specify explicitly the record length and
blocking factor of the new file, Suprtool calculates the record length itself and
chooses a blocking factor to optimize batch access to the new file.
If Suprtool cannot Save the new file because of a duplicate file name, you may purge
the old file or give the new file a different name. If Suprtool is running in batch
mode, it renames the new file as Outputnn, where nn is the lowest number between
00 and 20 that makes a valid new file name. The Outputnn file is built in the same
group and account as the duplicate output file and not in your logon group and
account. This prevents problems on private volumes.
In many cases, Suprtool creates the end-of-file and the file-limit the same. If you
intend to append records to the output file, use Set Squeeze Off to force Suprtool not
to reduce the file-limit when closing the output file.
Suprtool does not create new KSAM files. Use KSAMUTIL or the MPE/iX :Build
command to create the KSAM file, then use Suprtool to load it as an existing file.

Temporary Files
By default, Suprtool saves the output file as a permanent file. Use the Temp option
to force Suprtool to save the output file as a temporary file. If the output file already
exists as a temporary file, Suprtool prompts you to purge the existing temporary file.
If you do not want to purge the old temporary file, Suprtool prompts for a new
temporary file name. In batch, Suprtool renames the output file as the temporary file
Outputnn.

Permanent and Temporary Files

If you have a temporary file and a permanent file of the same name, Suprtool will
attempt to create a new permanent file.
If your Output command specifies the append or erase options Suprtool will attempt
to output to the temporary file.

Existing Files
The filename is the name of an old disc or KSAM file to erase (Output xxx,erase) or
to append to (Output xxx,append). Output xxx,erase does not purge the existing file;
it simply overwrites the contents of the file. The original attributes of the file such as
record size, blocking factor, and file limit are not changed.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 229

 If the old file is a KSAM file, Suprtool attempts to add the output records to the
KSAM tree structure. If duplicate keys are not allowed in the KSAM file, there may
be FWRITE errors due to duplicates. The treatment of these is controlled by the Set
Ignore command. By default, a duplicate error causes the extract task to terminate.

Tape or Line Printer Files

The filename is a back reference to a magnetic tape or line printer file via a :File
command (Output *XX). When sending output to magnetic tape, you should specify
the record size and blocking factor on the :File command. Use the same :File
command (with the same record size and blocking factor) when reading the tape file.

$Stdlist
Specify output to $stdlist by a single asterisk (Output *). Use this filename with the
ASCII option for a quick listing of a file or dataset.

Overwriting the Original File

Use the special filename=Input to specify erasing the unsorted records by writing the
sorted records back into the original input file. Disc space is saved because a new
output file is not required, but this option cannot be restarted! The =Input option can
only be used for sorts to disc files and KSAM files, not to IMAGE datasets. You can
use this feature to reorganize existing KSAM files by extracting the records you wish
to retain, sorting them into your optimal key sequence, and writing them back into
the same KSAM file.
>in workfeb
>key 1,10
>output=input

Note that typing "input" after the equal sign is optional. Any name typed after the
equal sign is ignored; it is the equal sign itself that directs Suprtool to overwrite the
input file.

Size of the Output File

Suprtool builds new output files with a capacity large enough to hold all the input
records. You can determine the capacity (limit) in two ways:
1. You can make the capacity larger by specifying a Numrecs command
with either a specific value or a percentage greater than 100.

>numrecs 150%

For IMAGE datasets, you can also reduce the size of the output file
using Numrecs. When the input is not an IMAGE dataset and you
select a Numrecs smaller than the number of records in the input file,
Suprtool builds the output file the same size as the input file. However,
it limits the number of records written to Numrecs.
2. You can use a :File command to override Suprtool's choice.

>:file sales; disc=100000

>output sales
The file is built by Suprtool as it begins the execution phase (when you type Xeq or
Exit). If there is not enough disc space you get a file system error 46. Use a :File
command to choose a smaller file size.

230 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 At the end of execution, Suprtool usually reduces the capacity (limit) to the actual
number of records in the output file (EOF) which in turn reduces the disc space. If
you do not want this to happen, use the Set Squeeze Off command.

Format Options
The format and length of the output records is determined by which of the following
format keywords is selected:

Keyword(s) Format
DATA Default
ELSE Records not qualified by if condition
KEY Sort keys only
NUM J2 record numbers only
NUM,KEY J2 record numbers plus sort keys
NUM,DATA J2 record numbers plus data record
QUERY Self-describing file
LINK New format self-describing file
NUM,QUERY Query "numbers" format
ASK COGELOG ASK select file
ASCII Convert numeric to ASCII
DISPLAY Convert numeric to display (zoned-decimal)
PRN Personal computer format

DATA

DATA is the default; output records are the same length and format as the input
records.

ELSE

ELSE tells the output command to output any records to the temporary ELSE file
that do not qualify under a certain if command. If you have a task that looks for all
records with an amount >= 0, then the records <0 will be written to a temporary file
called ELSE. This file can be renamed with a file equation. The ELSE option cannot
be used with num or key or any duplicate option or command or the Sort command.
The ELSE file that gets created will look like the output file in terms of attributes.

KEY

KEY creates output records containing only the sort keys, concatenated from left to
right (major key to minor key).

NUM

NUM creates output records of four bytes in length, containing the double-integer
record number of each input record. The record number of the first record is 1 for
IMAGE datasets, 0 for MPE files, and either 0 or 1 for KSAM files, depending on
whether the FIRST=0 option was selected when the KSAM file was built. The NUM

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 231

 option is not recommended for IMAGE master datasets because entries in master
datasets can migrate. Detail datasets and MPE and KSAM files are okay.

NUM,KEY

NUM,KEY creates output records containing the four-byte record number, followed
by the sort key values, concatenated from left to right (major key to minor key).

NUM,DATA

NUM,DATA creates output records containing the four-byte record number,

followed by the full data record. This can be useful to create "transaction" files from
detail datasets that will later be updated back to the database after a processing stage.

QUERY

QUERY creates an MPE self-describing output file. A self-describing file has a file
code of "SD" in the :Listf command and an actual file code of 1084. Self-describing
files contain information about the structure of each record in the file. The file label
contains the name, type, length, and offset of each field in the file.
Self-describing files have no provision for repeated fields. These fields appear with
an "unknown" type in the file label. The QUERY option produces a file that is
similar to the file produced by the SAVE command of QUERY.

LINK

The QUERY output option has some major drawbacks. Compound fields are not
handled, date and decimal point information is not saved, and sort information is not
part of the file description. The LINK option produces a self-describing file that
solves all these problems. This option is the recommended way to generate files for
Suprlink. We are also encouraging third-party software vendors to accept this format.
To convert a self-describing file back into a non-SD file, see "Suprtool and Self-
Describing Files" on page 69.

NUM,QUERY

NUM,QUERY creates output records in QUERY "numbers" format. This is an

undocumented feature of QUERY that is used by some application packages.
Records in a "numbers" file contain the dataset number and the record number in
ASCII format. A QUERY "numbers" file is usually used as input to a report
program. Substituting Suprtool for QUERY in these batch jobs should improve the
speed.

ASK

ASK is a QUERY-replacement tool from COGELOG. ASK creates output records in

ASK select-file format. Suprtool can be used to scan and select records quickly from
a dataset. ASK Version C can produce reports from the resulting select-file. This
option cannot be used with any other Output option.
Recent versions of ASK read self-describing files. For these versions use the Link
option instead of the Ask option.

232 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 ASCII

ASCII converts all binary input fields into their equivalent ASCII values. All binary
fields are right-justified in their fields with a trailing sign. The sign can be a blank,
"+", or "-". Byte fields are not affected by this option. The size of the ASCII field
depends on the format of the binary field:
Field Format Output Size
I1, J1 6 bytes
I2, J2 11 bytes
I3, J3 16 bytes
I4, J4 20 bytes
K1 5 bytes
K2 10 bytes
E2 12 bytes
E4 23 bytes
R2 12 bytes
R4 23 bytes
Zn n+1 bytes
Pn n bytes

Any fields with implied decimal places (see the Item command) are formatted with a
decimal point in the correct position. Suprtool reserves two additional positions for
each output field that has an implied decimal point.

DISPLAY

DISPLAY converts all binary input fields into their equivalent display values (also
known as zoned-decimal). The size of the display field depends on the format of the
binary field:
Field Format Output Size
I1, J1 5 bytes
I2, J2 10 bytes
I3, J3 15 bytes
I4, J4 19 bytes
K1 5 bytes
K2 10 bytes
Pn n-1 bytes
P*n n-2 bytes

The last digit of the number is replaced with a letter corresponding to positive or
negative values. See the following table.
Units Digit Positive Negative No Sign
0 { } 0
1 A J 1
2 B K 2

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 233

 3 C L 3
4 D M 4
5 E N 5
6 F O 6
7 G P 7
8 H Q 8
9 I R 9

Positive values for I- and J-type fields are converted into neutral (i.e., no sign)
display values. The sign is preserved when converting packed fields to display.
DISPLAY is not supported for Real or IEEE fields. Byte fields are not affected by
this option. Display fields in the input record are not converted into display.

PRN

Many PC software packages import PRN files (these files are also called delimited in
some PC documentation). A PRN file has quotes around character-fields and a
comma between each field. Binary values are output in ASCII with an optional
leading sign. Not all applications accept PRN files; for more precise conversion of
data, use STExport.
PRN converts each input-field to a fixed-width output-field, filling with trailing
spaces where necessary. All binary values are converted into their equivalent ASCII
value, left-justified in their fields. The sign precedes the ASCII value for the number
and can be missing, "+", or "-". See the ASCII output-option for the field width of
each data-type.
Output fields with implied decimal places (see "Decimal Places" on page 213) are
formatted with a decimal point in the correct position. Like the ASCII option,
Suprtool reserves two extra columns for each output field with implied decimal
places.
Lotus 1-2-3 accepts records only up to 240 bytes long. Because the PRN option
leaves room for the maximum value of any field, you may need to restrict the
number of output fields using the Extract command.
While some PC software allows alternate characters to be used to delimit character
fields, Lotus 1-2-3 accepts double quotes only. Since Lotus 1-2-3 rejects character
fields that contains a double quote, Suprtool removes all double quotes from
character fields when generating the PRN format. Suprtool removes quotes by
replacing them with a space.
See STExport for a method of including header lines in the file to be down-loaded.

Examples
One reason to use $stdlist as the output file (indicated by * as the filename) is to
obtain a quick listing of the ASCII fields in the input source. The following example
lists the cust-account, name-last, and name-first fields of the m-customer dataset and
separates them by two spaces:

234 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >base store,5,READER {input from a database}
>get m-customer {use the m-customer dataset}
>extract cust-account {account number will be first}
>extract " " {two spaces}
>extract name-last {the customer's last name}
>extract " " {two more spaces}
>extract name-first {the customer's first name}
>output * {output the records to $stdlist}
>sort cust-account {sorted by the dataset's key field}
>exit

The following examples demonstrate other combinations of options on the Output

command. The entire Issues chapter of the manual should be reviewed for extended
examples using the Output command. Many Output options were intended for
specific application areas.
>output newfile
>:file dtape;dev=tape;rec=40,20
>output *dtape
>output ksamfile,key,erase
>output accum,append
>output keyfile,key
>output transf,num,data
>output querynum,num,query
>output $null

If you want to find out how many records are qualified by some selection criteria,
without producing an output file, send the output to $null. The Out= count on
$stdlist, and the JCW SuprtoolOutCount are both set to the number of qualifying
records.

ELSE
While Suprtool does not have traditional else logic in it's if command you can output
all of the records "discarded" for a given task out to a temporary filed named ELSE.
This way you can output multiple files for a given task as in:

Notes
The output file must be an "old", existing file if the Append or Erase option has been
specified. If you use a :File command to force Output to an old file without
specifying one of these options, Suprtool rejects the file.
If the record length of the output file is not the same as expected by Suprtool, the
records are automatically truncated or expanded with either binary zeros or blanks. If
the blocking factor is not as expected, Suprtool automatically "reblocks" the records.
Thus, Suprtool can be used to reblock disc or tape files economically into better
block sizes in order to save disc space, or to improve on-line access, or to speed
batch access.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 235

Put Command [P]
Directs output records to be DBPUT into an IMAGE dataset. Put can be combined
with Output to a file, but if no Output command is entered, Suprtool defaults the
output file to $null. It is your responsibility to ensure that the output records match
the format of the target dataset. The DATA option of the Output command is the
only valid output option when Put is specified.
PUT setname [,database [,mode [,password]]]
(Default: base=Base, mode=1, pass=Creator)

Parameters
If database is not specified, setname must be a valid dataset of the Base previously
opened. You must have write access to the dataset selected.
If database is included, the specified database is opened. The specified database can
be redefined to reside on another system or in a different account/group via a :File
command. The default open mode is 1 and the default password is Creator. This Put
database is closed after the task is completed, unlike the database opened with Base.
It is possible to copy records from one database to another with Suprtool.
In session mode, Suprtool prompts for the password if it is not included in the
command. In batch mode, it is necessary to specify a database password without the
password being echoed on the job stream listing. A special database password is
provided to allow for this. When a question mark "?" is used as the database
password, Suprtool prompts for the password on the next physical input line without
echoing. This occurs in batch mode or in session mode.

Examples
For the first example, we assume that the D-SALES dataset is designed to contain a
week's worth of transactions. Each night, the transactions from a week ago are
moved to the monthly dataset: D-SALES-MON. The D-SALES and D-SALES-
MON datasets have exactly the same field declarations. The following Suprtool task
would move one day's transactions from D-SALES to D-SALES-MON.
>base store,1,write {requires write access to database}
>get d-sales {read the weekly dataset}
>if purge-date=000401 {select one day's transactions}
>put d-sales-mon {adding them to the monthly dataset}
>exit

For the next example, we assume that the D-SALES-MON dataset is in a different
database. We prompt for the password for both databases:
>base store,1,? {Suprtool must prompt for password}
Password > {password not echoed}
>get d-sales
>if purch-date=000401 {select one day's transactions}
>put d-sales-mon,ostore,1,? {add to OSTORE database}
Password > {password not echoed}
>exit {the output file defaults to $null}

This example shows how Suprtool can read an MPE disc file and Put each record in
a database:

236 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >input dsales {"dsales" has exactly the same format}
>put d-sales,store { as the d-sales dataset}
>exit

Improving Put Performance with Deferred Output

Suprtool uses the standard Image intrinsic DBPut to add entries from a dataset. This
makes tasks with a Put operation slower than the standard MR/NOBUF reads, but
insures structural integrity of the database and that any Third-Party Indexes are kept
in sync.
You can reduce the time needed to Put dataset entries by enabling deferred output for
the Put database. When Set Defer is On and the Put database is opened in mode-3
(exclusive), Suprtool calls DBCONTROL to notify IMAGE that disc writes are to be
deferred whenever possible. The database creator can enable deferred output
processing for all users of a database with DBUTIL (enable base for autodefer).
Deferred output can improve the speed of DBPUT significantly, but it has a major
drawback: if the system crashes (i.e., you have a system failure or a nonrecoverable
power failure) while you are in deferred output mode, you must RESTORE your
database from tape. If Suprtool stops due to an error, or if you abort Suprtool (i.e.,
break/abort or :abortjob) while the database is opened in deferred output mode, your
database does not have to be restored.

Omnidex
If you are adding records to a dataset with Omnidex keys, you must have MPE/iX
third-party indexing enabled in your database, or you must run Suprtool with
Omnidex's call conversion facility.
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;xl="xl.pub.disc"
>base store
>input mpefile
>put d-sales {d-sales has Omnidex keys}
>exit

Notes
If the dataset selected for output is a master dataset, it is possible that some of the
output records may be duplicate key values. If this happens, Suprtool prints an error
message and terminates the task, unless you have enabled Set Ignore, in which case
the duplicates are counted and reported at the end of the task. Duplicate records are
not written to the output file.
To add individual entries into a dataset, specifying each field value in ASCII, use the
#Add command of Dbedit.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 237

Q Command [Q]
Prints a message on $stdlist.
Q [ "string" ]
(Default: print a blank line)
The string of up to 253 characters is printed on $stdlist. The string is truncated to the
record width of $stdlist. In many cases, job streams are limited to 80 or 132
characters.
The string must be embedded in quotes. Either single-quotes (') or double-quotes (")
are permitted. The quotes are not printed on $stdlist.
Use the Q command in usefiles for printing explanations. Put :COMMENT in
usefiles for a nonprinting comment line, then invoke the file with the USEQ
command.

Examples
The Q command is often combined with the Userpause command. The example is a
usefile that provides an explanation of how long a task takes:
>q
>q "We will select all transactions over $10,000. Since"
>q "there are many transactions, this task will take"
>q "some time (usually more than fifteen minutes)."
>q
>userpause "Press any key when you are ready to start."

238 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Redo Command [REDO]
Enables you to modify and repeat any of the previous 1000 command lines.
REDO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo the previous command)
(Comma "," is short for REDO)
The Redo command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them. If
you don't need to change them, use the Do command. Commands are numbered
sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are retained. Use the :Listredo
command to display the previous commands. You can redo a single command, a
range of commands, or the most recent command whose name matches a string.
The Redo command uses MPE-style editing logic (D, I, R, U and >). The default
mode is to replace characters. To delete, type DDDD under the characters to be
removed. To insert, type I under the insertion spot, then the new characters. To undo
your changes, type U. To append to the end of the line, use >xxx. To delete from the
end of the line, use >DD. To replace at the end of the line, use >Rxxx. And to erase
the rest of the line, use D>. If you prefer Qedit-style editing (Control-D, etc.), use the
Before command instead of the Redo command.

Examples
>listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
>redo {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {edited command is shown}
{you press Return}

>listredo all
>redo 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
>redo {redo previous command}
>redo -2 {redo command before previous}
>redo 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
>redo -10/ {redo -10 through last}
>redo purge {redo last Purge command}
>redo purge temp {redo last "purge temp"}
>redo @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

Notes
The Redo command can be abbreviated to a comma, as in MPEX. You cannot use
";" to combine commands on the same line. The Suprredo file is always a temporary
file. To save more commands, use a :File command on the Suprredo file before you
run Suprtool:
:file suprredo;disc=5000
:run suprtool.pub.robelle

Hpmodify Keys – Reference

Here are the MPE-style REDO sub-commands:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 239

 Directive Effect
i INSERT. If text follows the i, this text is inserted in the current line
starting at the i position.
r REPLACE. If text follows the r, this text replaces the same number of
characters in the current line beginning at the r position.
d DELETE. Deletes a character from the current line for each d specified
in the edit line. Note that "d d" does not specify a range as it does in
MPE V but simply deletes one character above each d. Multiple d's may
be followed by an INSERT or REPLACE operation.
d> DELETE. Deletes to the end of the current line from the position
specified by d>. May be followed by an INSERT or REPLACE
operation.
> APPEND. If text follows the >, this text is appended to the end of the
current line. If a > without text is positioned beyond the end of the
current line, then a simple replacement is performed instead.
>d DELETE. Deletes from the end of the current line, right-to-left.
Multiple d's and INSERT and REPLACE strings may be specified after
>.
>r REPLACE. Replaces characters at the end of the command line. The
last (rightmost) character of the replacement string is at the end of the
line.
c CHANGE. Changes all occurrences of one string to another in the
current line starting at the c. The search string and replace string must
be properly delimited. A proper delimiter is a non-alphabetic character
(such as ' " or /). The substitution is specified as cdelim search-string
delim [replace-string [delim]]. Omitting the replace-string causes
occurrences of search-string to be deleted, with no substitution.
u UNDO. A single u in column one cancels the most recent edit of the
current line. Using the Undo command twice in a row cancels all edits
for the current line and re-establishes the original, unedited line. If u is
placed anywhere other than column one of the current line, then a
simple replacement is performed. Undo makes sense only if you have a
line on which you have performed some editing that can be "undone."
other Simple replacement. Any other character (not i, r, d, d>, >, >d, >r, c, or
u) will be put into the current line at the position above where it is
placed, replacing any existing character. Simple replacement also
occurs for the editing characters i, r, c, or > if they are not followed by
text; or if > appears at or beyond the current end of line.

Hpmodify Examples
Here are examples of the MPE-style REDO sub-commands in action:

Edit Action
u First occurrence undoes the previous edits. The u must be in column
one.
u Second occurrence undoes all edits on the current line. The u must be in
column one.
rxyz Replaces the current text with xyz starting at the position of r.
xyz Replaces the current text with xyz starting at the position of x.

240 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 ixyz Inserts xyz into the current line, starting at the position of the i.
ddd Deletes three characters, one above each d.
d xyz Deletes a single character above the d, skips one space, then replaces
the current text with xyz starting at the position of x.
ddixyz Deletes two characters, then inserts xyz in the current line starting at the
position of the i.
d d Deletes one character above the first d, skips two spaces and deletes a
second character above the second d. It does not delete a range of
characters, making it unlike the MPE V version of Redo.
d d>xyz Deletes a single character above the first d, skips two spaces and deletes
to the end of the line beginning at the second d, and then places xyz at
the end of the line.
>xyz Appends xyz to the end of the current line.
>ddxyz Deletes the last two characters from the end of the current line and then
places xyz at the end of the line.
>rxyz Replaces the last three characters in the current line with xyz.
>ixyz Appends xyz to the end of the line. In this case, the i command is
superfluous, because > accomplishes the same result. Using >xyz would
be sufficient.
c/ab/def Changes all occurrences of ab to def.
c"ab" Deletes all occurrences of "ab".
cxyz Replaces the current text with cxyz, starting at c. Because delimiters
have not been specified (as they were in the previous two examples),
this is a simple replacement with the four characters.

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. See "Redo" on page 262 for details.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 241

Reset Command [R]
Resets aspects of the current task.
RESET [ ALL | @ | command [...] ]
(Default: Delete/Sort/Key/If/List)

Parameters
More than one command can be Reset at once by entering several commands
separated by a space or a comma. If no parameters are specified, Suprtool cancels the
previous Sort, Key, If, Delete, and List commands. The other commands remain
unchanged.
If ALL is specified, all of the Input and Output commands are canceled and
database/files are closed. In fact, the only options that are not reset to the initial
condition are Define, Item, and Set options.

Examples
You began to specify a sort, but then you discovered that you specified the wrong
database so you decided to start all over:
>base ostore,5,READER {open for read access only}
>get d-sales
>sort cust-account
>reset all {oops, wrong database}
>base store,5,READER {now we have correct one}

In the next example, you entered an incorrect If command:

>if delivered>000401 {wrong field used}
>reset if {only reset the If command}
>if purchased>000401 { and specify it again}

This time both the If command and the Extract commands are incorrect:
>if delivered>000401 {wrong field used}
>extract delivered { in both commands}
>reset if,extract {only reset the If and Extract}
>if purchased>000401 { commands and start again}
>extract purchased,account

Notes
By resetting certain commands, other commands are also reset. For example,
resetting the Base command resets almost all other commands, except the Define and
Output commands. Resetting the Put command closes the output database when the
database for the Put command is different from the input database. Resetting the
Chain, Get, or Input command resets everything except the Base, Define and Table
commands. Resetting the Table command resets everything except the Base and
Define commands. Resetting either the Define or Item command resets both Define
and Item settings.

242 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Select Command [SEL]
Specify a select statement for the currently open SQL database. The select command
supports all of the features of the select command of the open SQL database. Only
one select command can be specified at a time.
SELECT select-command
Allbase sorts data:
>select * from user.account@emp order by ename

Suprtool sorts data:

>select * from user.account@emp
>sort ename

The select-command can contain any expression or clause that is supported by the
SQL database. Some features (e.g., ORDER BY) may be done faster by Suprtool
(e.g., the Sort command).
Some Select commands can exceed the 256-character command line limitation. The
Select command, however, can be considerably larger if you use the $read feature of
the Select command. This feature is similar to the If command $read feature and is
invoked by entering the Select command on a line by itself (unlike If, you do not
specify $read explicitly).
>select
-ename,salary,tax_paid
-from scott.employee
-order by ename
-//
>

The Suprtool prompt changes from ">" to "-" after entering the Select command by
itself on a line. The entire command gets sent to the Select command parser after
terminating with two slash marks (//) or a blank line.
You might realize greater performance gains with the Select command if you specify
only the columns that you need in your output file for either tables with many items
or when you need only a couple of items from a given table.
The following Select command
>select col1,col2,col3 from user.account@emp

may be faster than

>select * from user.account@emp

Your mileage may vary.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 243

Set Command [S]
Enables or disables certain operating options within Suprtool. These options are not
reset by Xeq or Reset commands.
SET ALLBASE ROWS number
SET ARITHMETIC CLASSIC|IEEE
SET BASECLOSE ON|OFF
SET BLOCKSIZE [size]
SET BUFFER [size]
SET CLEANCHAR <string>
SET CURRENCYSYMBOL <string>
SET DATE CUTOFF [number]
SET DATE FORCECENTURY ON|OFF
SET DATE IFYY2000ERROR ON|OFF
SET DATE MAPTOPHDATE8 ON|OFF
SET DECIMALSYMBOL <string>
SET DEFER ON|OFF
SET DUMPONERROR ON|OFF
SET EOFREAD ON|OFF
SET FILECODE number
SET FILENAME Help|Link|Edit|Hint|Export|Outcount filename
SET FIRSTREC [0|1]
SET HINTS ON|OFF
SET IFCHECK ON|OFF
SET IGNORE ON|OFF
SET ITEMABBREVIATEDATE ON|OFF
SET INTERACTIVE ON|OFF
SET ITEMLOCK <fieldname>
SET LABELLEDTAPEREWIND ON|OFF
SET LIMITS [Mpe ON|OFF] [ReadOnly ON|OFF] [Tablesize size]
SET LIST DATE number
SET LIST PCL [0|1|2|3|4|5|6]
SET LIST TIME number
SET LOCK [number]
SET NLS [number]
SET NUMBUG ON | OFF
SET OPENMODE [number]

244 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 SET ORACLE ROWS number (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)
SET ORACLE INTEGER ON | OFF (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)
SET ORACLE OPENFIX ON|OFF (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)
SET ORACE ZERONULL ON | OFF (not supported in Suprtool/MPE)
SET PATTERN NEW|OLD
SET PREFETCH [number]
SET PRIVMODE ON|OFF
SET PROGRESS Percent [number] Minimum [number]
SET PROMPT character
SET REALMAP ON|OFF (has no effect in Suprtool/MPE)
SET RECOVER ON|OFF
SET REDO filename
SET SORTFAST ON|OFF
SET SQUEEZE [ON|OFF]
SET STATISTICS ON|OFF
SET SUBSYSTEM ON|OFF
SET SUSPEND ON|OFF
SET THOUSANDSYMBOL <string>
SET USERLABELS ON|OFF
SET VARSUB ON|OFF
SET VARSUBCOMPAT ON|OFF
SET VARSUBDEBUG ON|OFF
SET WARNINGS ON|OFF
SET XLTRIM ON|OFF
Each option is its own Set command. That is, you cannot specify multiple options in
the same command. Instead, use multiple Set commands. For example, to Set
Squeeze Off and to define a PCL device for the List command, you would specify
two Set commands:
>set squeeze off
>set list pcl 1

or
>set squeeze off;set list pcl 1

Add system-wide Set When Suprtool starts running, all the options are set to initial "factory settings". The
commands to the Suprmgr file may contain Set commands to override the initial values. Set commands
Suprmgr.Pub.Sys remain set until the end of the Suprtool run, or until changed by another Set
configuration file. command.
Some commands have optional parameters (e.g., the numeric value of Set Lock). If
the command is specified without a value, the default that Suprtool uses may be
different from the program's initial value. When that is the case, the command
description will show the initial value and the default-when-omitted value.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 245

 Allbase
SET ALLBASE ROWS number
(Initially: 100)
If you open an Allbase database, Suprtool reads more than one row at a time when
processing the input source. By default, Suprtool fetches 100 rows at a time. You can
vary the number of rows that Suprtool fetches with Set Allbase Rows. The minimum
number of rows is 1 and the maximum number is 990. You must specify Set Allbase
Rows before entering the Select command.

Arithmetic
SET ARITHMETIC Classic | IEEE
(Initially: depends)
Specify which data-type Suprtool should use for arithmetic expressions by using Set
Arithmetic. The default is Classic for Suprtool/V, and IEEE for Suprtool/iX and
Suprtool/UX. This option is only supported in Suprtool/iX.

Baseclose
SET BASECLOSE ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Use Set Baseclose On to ensure that Suprtool closes your database whenever it exits.
The default is for Suprtool to hold the database open when it suspends (e.g., when
returning to Qedit).

Blocksize
SET BLOCKSIZE [size]
(Initially & Default: <none>)
When Suprtool is copying an MPE or KSAM file, it always attempts to duplicate the
record size and blocking factor of the original file. In all other cases, Suprtool
chooses an optimal blocking factor, but restricts the total block size to 2048 words.
When Suprtool is computing the block size, it always chooses the smallest block size
divisible by 128. Specifying an explicit block size forces Suprtool to pick the largest
block size that can fit in the specified block size and still be divisible by 128.
Users may wish to add the Set Blocksize command to the Suprmgr file. Increasing
the block size has two potential problems: small files may consume more disc space,
and reading the file buffered requires more memory for the MPE file buffers. The
maximum block size allowed is 8,192 words.

Buffer
SET BUFFER [ size ]
(Initially: depends; Default: no change)
Set Buffer varies the maximum number of words that Suprtool allocates for input
and output buffers. This buffer size limits the number of data blocks that Suprtool
reads at a time.

246 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Suprtool overrides the maximum buffer size specified, if that is necessary to get the
task done. For example, when the blocks size of the file is greater than buffer
maximum specified.
The maximum value is 14,336 words in Suprtool/V and 24,576 words in
Suprtool/iX. The default value used by Suprtool is the largest size that fits in the
available data structures and still allows Suprtool to get the job done. Using Set
Buffer to reduce the size of the buffer reduces the size of the stack that Suprtool uses
for copy operations. Suprtool/V always uses a buffer size of 4096 words when
sorting. This leaves the maximum amount of room in the stack for the sorting
operation.
Some utilities that intercept all file system calls can have problems with the large
read/write requests that Suprtool makes (e.g., some versions of Omnidex and
Netbase versions less than 0.9.4). You can avoid this problem by adding a Set Buffer
command to Suprmgr.Pub.Sys to reduce the default buffer size. Suprtool
automatically detects when a file is considered Netbase remote and adjusts the buffer
size for you. This requires Netbase 0.9.4 version or higher.

CleanChar
SET CleanChar " "
(Default: space)
By default, Suprtool will replace any of the characters specified in the clean
command with a space. You can specify what character to use to replace any of the
characters that qualify with the following set command:
>set CleanChar "."

This will set the character to replace any of the qualifying "to be cleaned" characters
to be a period.
If you want to Clean a field and not replace with any character you just need to set
the clean character in the following manner:
>set CleanChar “<null>”

CurrencySymbol
SET CurrencySymbol "$"
(Default: Dollar Sign)
This setting is used to change the Currency character which is used to edit the data in
a field used by the $Number function. The defined currency symbol(s) is stripped
from the field prior to converting to number, in the $number function. The
CurrencySymbol can be up to four characters.
>set CurrencySymbol "$"

The default character for the Currency Symbol is the Dollar sign.

Date Cutoff
SET DATE CUTOFF [ number ]
(Initially: 10; Default: 00)

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 247

 Date Cutoff tells Suprtool what century to use when Suprtool generates the date
value from the $date and $stddate functions. This setting only affects the date values
generated by the $date and $stddate function in the If and Extract commands. This
does not affect user data.
Versions of Suprtool without Set Date Cutoff would assume 19 for the century for
any user-specified $date with a two-digit year.
Now with Set Date Cutoff xx, Suprtool assumes the following: a value of 20 for the
century if the two-digit year specified in the $date or $stddate functions is less than
the value of Set Date Cutoff; a value of 19 for the century if the two-digit year is
greater than or equal to Set Date Cutoff.
The initial value of Set Date Cutoff is 10. Therefore the default behavior in $date and
$stddate is to treat the two-digit years with values of 00..09 as 2000..2009, and the
two-digit years with values of 10..99 as 1910..1999.

yy Value in $date With Cutoff 10 With Cutoff 25

00 2000 2000
… … …
09 2009 2009
10 1910 2010
11 1911 2011
… … …
24 1924 2024
25 1925 1925
26 1926 1926
… … …
99 1999 1999

We recommend that you always provide a four-digit year when using $date.
However, for reasons of backward compatibility, we introduced Set Date Cutoff. See
"Date ForceCentury" on page 249 for more information.

$Stddate and Set Date Cutoff

When $stddate has to convert from a date in only a two-digit format, the conversion
to the four-digit date will use the value in Set Date Cutoff.
For example,
>get sales-detail
>set date cutoff 15
>def new-ship-date,1,4,double
>item ship-date,date,mmddyy
>ext order-no / sales-amount
>ext new-ship-date = $stddate(ship-date)
>out salesinfo,link
>xeq

In this example, if any ship-date has a year of 14 or less, then the century applied to
the new-ship-date field will be 20. Ship-dates with a year of 15 or more will have a
century of 19 applied.

248 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Date ForceCentury
SET DATE FORCECENTURY ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Set Date ForceCentury On will not allow a yy date to be entered in the $date
function, it will force the user to enter a full ccyy date.
>set date forcecentury on
>item date-field,date,ccyymmdd
>if date-field >= $date(00/12/10)

Error:You must specify the century or Set Date ForceCentury off

The default value for Set Date ForceCentury is off.

Date IfYY2000Error
SET DATE IFYY2000ERROR ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
By default Suprtool considers dates with a two-digit century component from the
$date and $today functions to be invalid when the dates resolve to be greater than
1999 and the If operation is a relative operation (e.g., greater than or equal to). You
can control whether Suprtool considers this condition an error by using the following
Set command:
>set Date Ifyy2000Error Off

The following example shows what is considered to be an error by the If command

and how the Set command can turn off the error check:
>def a,1,6
>item a,date,yymmdd
>if a >= $today
^
Error: Cannot use a date beyond 1999 for this format
>set date ifyy2000error off

We have chosen this condition to be an error by default because when the $today or
$date function in the If command resolves a date in a yymmdd format to a value
beyond 1999, the result is not always a useful value. For example, a December 10,
2000 date in a yymmdd format would have a value of 001210 and comparisons to
this value could be logically incorrect.
If you would have included a Delete command in a dataset selection task, you could
have removed all of your records.

Date MapToPHDate8
SET DATE MAPTOPHDATE8 ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
This set command will change any item command reference to phdate to mean
phdate8, for assistance in converting to the newer phdate format found in
PowerHouse version 8.19 and higher.
The set command:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 249

 >set date MapToPhdate8 on

only changes the reference to phdate8 in the item command, it does not change
references that already exist in self-describing files nor does it change the data.
With this setting turned on any Item command reference, such as:
>item mydate,date,phdate

will actually mean phdate8.

DecimalSymbol
SET DecimalSymbol " "
(Default: period)
This setting is used to change the Decimal character which is used to edit the data in
a field used by the $Number function.
>set DecimalSymbol "."

The default character for the Decimal Symbol is a period.

Defer
SET DEFER ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
DEFER requests Suprtool to use DBCONTROL for faster "deferred-output" when
doing Puts in the output phase or Deletes in the input phase. In deferred output mode,
IMAGE writes are not posted immediately to disc. If the system crashes while you
are in deferred output mode (i.e., you have a system failure or a nonrecoverable
power failure), you must RESTORE your database from tape. If Suprtool stops due
to an error, or if you abort Suprtool (i.e., break/abort or :abortjob) while the database
is opened with deferred output, you do not have to restore the database.
Set Defer On requires that the database be opened in mode-3 (exclusive). If you do
not open the database in mode-3, Suprtool prints a warning and does the Put or
Delete task anyway (without calling DBCONTROL). The database creator can also
enable deferred output for all users of a database with DBUTIL (enable base for
autodefer).

DumpOnError
SET DUMPONERROR ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
With DUMPONERROR, Suprtool attempts to produce a formatted listing of records
that cause an IMAGE error. The information printed may include the input record
number, the output record number and the data values of the record. Suprtool uses
current options of the List command to print the data values. If no List command is
specified, Suprtool uses the List defaults.

EditStopError
SET EDITSTOPERROR ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)

250 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 An edit mask is limited to 32 characters in total for both numeric and byte type
fields. If data overflows the edit-mask, by default Suprtool will fill that field with
asterisks. To have Suprtool stop when it encounters an overflow when applying the
edit-mask, just turn on editstoperror:
>set editstoperror on

This will force Suprtool to stop if there is data left over to place when applying the
edit-mask. With numeric-type fields, leading zeroes do not cause overflow. With
byte-type fields, spaces do not cause overflow.

Eofread
SET EOFREAD ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Suprtool's Get command reads to the highwater mark for detail datasets, and to the
capacity of the dataset for master datasets.
Set Eofread On forces Suprtool to read to the capacity for both master and detail
datasets.
If Set Eofread is used, it must be specified before the Get command. Hint: Use
HowMessy to see the highwater mark of your detail datasets.

FastRead
SET FASTREAD [ ON | OFF ]
This command has no effect on Suprtool for MPE.

Filecode
SET FILECODE [ number ]
(Initially: 0; Default: no change)
When Suprtool writes to an old file (Output,Append and Output,Erase are the only
cases), it leaves the filecode of the output file unchanged. When Suprtool creates a
new file with the Output,Ask or Output,Query option, it gives the file a special
filecode (1071 and 1084 respectively). When the input file has a nonzero filecode,
Suprtool carries that filecode over to the new output file. See "Output Command
[O]" on page 229 for details on Output options such as Ask, Erase, and Query. To
convert a self-describing file into a non-SD file, see "Suprtool and Self-Describing
Files" on page 69.
In all other cases, new files created by Suprtool have a default filecode of zero. You
can specify an alternate default filecode using Set Filecode.
Specifying Set Filecode forces Suprtool to create the output file with a specific
filecode whenever it was going to use zero. To be effective, this Set command
should be added to the Suprmgr file. To configure Suprtool to use the filecode 222
on output files, you would add this line to your Suprmgr file:
set filecode 222

This feature is useful for MPEX users who wish to manage Suprtool output files. For
example, to find all of the Suprtool output files you would do the following:

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 251

 :run mpex.pub.vesoft
%!listf @.@.@(code='222')
%exit

Of course, you can still use a :File command explicitly to override the filecode of the
output file.

Filename
SET FILENAME Help | Link | Edit | Hint | Export | Outcount filename
You can change six of the seven built-in file names. The only filename you cannot
change is Suprmgr.Pub.Sys. We recommend that you add these Set commands to
Suprmgr.Pub.Sys. There are six options to Set Filename, one per built-in file name.
SET FILENAME Help | Link | Edit | Hint | Export | Outcount

Examples
In these examples we assume that you want to move Suprtool and all its files to the
Robelle group of the Dist account. We also assume that you wanted to rename the
suprlink program from Suprlink to Linkprog.
>Set Filename Help suprhelp.robelle.dist
>Set Filename Link linkprog.robelle.dist
>Set Filename Edit dbedhelp.robelle.dist
>Set Filename Hint suprhint.robelle.dist
>Set Filename Export stexport.robelle.dist  

Firstrec
SET FIRSTREC [ 0 | 1 ]
(Initial & Default: depends on file type)
FIRSTREC forces Suprtool to choose the first record number of the input file to be
zero or one. If the input file is a KSAM file, this option overrides the setting in the
KSAM key file.
This Set option is included primarily for RPG users. Any RPG program that takes
advantage of KSAM record numbers assumes that the record numbers start at one
and not zero, even though the KSAM file itself must be built with the first record
defined as zero (RPG subtracts one before reading from the KSAM file).

Hints
SET HINTS ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
By default, Suprtool provides all users with a "hint of the day" each time they enter
Suprtool. These hints introduce people to Suprtool features that they may be missing.
You must have the file Suprhint.Help.Robelle on your system. To disable hints, put
Set Hints Off in Suprmgr.Pub.Sys.

Ifcheck
SET IFCHECK ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)

252 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 With Set Ifcheck On, the If command produces an error if any field used in the If
command is not contained entirely within the input file record. For compatibility
reasons, users may wish to disable this error checking by turning Set Ifcheck Off.

Ignore
SET IGNORE ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
IGNORE tells Suprtool to continue processing if there are errors in these situations:
"duplicate-key" errors in writing to a KSAM file or IMAGE master dataset, "chain-
head" errors in deleting entries from an input dataset or putting records to a detail
dataset, a record changed before Suprtool could delete it, division by zero when
doing an If, or invalid numeric data in an input file when doing an If.

InitExtents
SET INITEXTENTS ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Set InitExtents setting is an experimental setting designed to reduce the length of the
extent B-tree for the creation of output files. Turning Set InitExtents on will make
the Initial Extents equal to the maximum number of extents on the creation of an
output file. Keep in mind that that this will increase the size of the chunks that it may
need for large files. Consequently you may experience Out of Disc Space errors in
some cases if large chunks of disc are not available.

ItemAbbreviateDate
SET ITEMABBREVIATEDATE ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
The specification of the Date format within the Item command by default expects the
entire keyword. For example for the date format of Calendar, you would have to
specify the entire token of Calendar. If you Set ItemAbbreviateDate On, you would
only have to specify CAL for the Calendar date format.

ItemLock
SET ITEMLOCK <fieldname>
(Initially: Spaces)
Suprtool supports Item Level locking thru the Set ItemLock <fieldname> command.
The set command must be specified after the Base and Get/Chain command has been
specified and is only invoked for Delete and Update operations. For example:
!run suprtool.pub.robelle
base order,1,;
get dline
set itemlock item-num
del
out save,link
exit

This field/setting is reset after each task. Item-Level locking is not invoked for PUT
operations.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 253

 There are some cases where Suprtool needs to use the "@" lock descriptor, when
doing a dblock-mode 5 which is an unconditional Item Level lock but Dbutil show
dbname locks will show it as a Dataset Level lock.

Interactive
SET INTERACTIVE ON | OFF
(Initially: depends)
If you run Suprtool from a session, Set Interactive is On. If you run Suprtool from a
batch job or with Stdin or Stdlist re-directed, Set Interactive is Off. When it is On,
Suprtool waits for answers to questions and continues processing even if there are
errors. When it is Off, Suprtool aborts on any error, assumes the "correct" answer to
any question, and generally acts as if there is not an intelligent being typing in the
command. Suprtool chooses the "correct" answer, which allows the task to continue.
In most cases, this is the default answer. However, there are cases where Suprtool
picks a different answer from the default. For example, an "output filename,erase"
command has a default answer of "no," but with Interactive Off, Suprtool uses the
answer "yes."
However, if you run Suprtool on a Remote Session that was created from a batch job,
Set Interactive is On even though you are NOT interactive. If you wish to have
proper batch error processing, your first command after :Run Suprtool should be Set
Interactive Off. Set Interactive Off is also useful when automating on-line tasks with
usefiles:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4; &
info="set interactive off;use usefile"

LabelledTapeRewind
SET LABELLEDTAPEREWIND ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
With certain versions of MPE/iX, the rewind operation (fcontrol 5) failed on SCSI
DAT drives. Before Suprtool can read the data on a tape, it must read the labels first.
That means the tape must be returned to the BOT. If the tape does not rewind
properly, you can turn this off with Set Labelledtaperewind Off.

Limits
SET LIMITS [MPE ON|OFF] [READONLY ON|OFF] [Tablesize size]
(Initially CM: MPE ON, ReadOnly OFF, Tablesize 1 megabyte)
(Initially NM: MPE ON, ReadOnly OFF, Tablesize 2,047 megabytes)
When Set Limits MPE is Off, you cannot execute any MPE command (e.g., :Purge).
This is an irreversible option -- once disabled, it cannot be enabled again by the user.
This option also applies to MPE commands executed inside Dbedit and Suprlink.
Table Size
The Table command allows you to load large tables. Once these tables reach the size
of real memory on your machine, performance starts to degrade. Setting Tablesize
restricts the total amount of table space to the specified number of megabytes. We
suggest leaving at least one megabyte of real memory for MPE.
It is not necessary to enter both parameters in order to change one.

254 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >set limits tablesize 2 {MPE ability unchanged}

Due to internal restrictions in the CM version of Suprtool, the maximum Tablesize is

fifteen megabytes. The NM version of Suprtool is restricted to 2,047 megabytes per
table. We recommend that you set the Tablesize to be around 50% of your total
memory.
Read Only
Suprtool normally allows any user with the proper access capabilities to add, update
and delete records to a database. To prevent users from accidentally updating their
database, we provide the following setting within Suprtool:
>set limits ReadOnly On

The ReadOnly setting, once turned on, cannot be turned off for the current run of
Suprtool. This disables all commands that potentially change data for the specified
database.
If Set Limits ReadOnly is enabled, the following commands from within Suprtool
and Dbedit will not be processed and will return an error:
Suprtool
• Delete
• Put
• Update
Dbedit
• Add
• Change
• Delete
• Modify
You can Set Limits Readonly on the command line using the Info String and Parm
option. For example the following command file can be used to restrict who has
write access to a given database. In this example only the Mgr user is allowed write
access:
IF HPUSER = "MGR" THEN
run Suprtool.pub.robelle
else
run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=8;info='set limits readonly on'
endif

List
SET LIST option value
Use Set List to configure default values for the List command. You can configure the
default date, time, and format for LaserJet listings.

List Date
SET LIST Date number
(Initially: 0)

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 255

 When you select page headings with the List command by specifying a title, each
page includes today's date. By default, this date is formatted as mmm dd, ccyy (e.g.,
Mar 20, 2000). Use Set List Date to specify a different default date format for future
List commands (e.g., Set List Date 2). The valid date formats are as follows:

Value Format Example

0 (default) mmm dd, ccyy Mar 20, 2000
1 yy/mm/dd 00/03/20
2 mm/dd/yy 03/20/00
3 dd/mm/yy 20/03/00
4 dd mmmyy 20 Mar00

List PCL
SET LIST PCL [ 0|1|2|3|4|5|6 ]
(Initial & Default: 0)
Use Set List PCL to configure the default format for LaserJet listings. This option
defines the List device as a PCL device and indicates the orientation and font for the
report. Set List PCL affects only the List command; it is ignored by the Output
command. PCL stands for Printer Command Language, which is an HP standard for
printers. The LaserJet is one of the first PCL devices to be released by HP.
By default, Suprtool assumes that your List output device is not PCL-compatible
(List PCL 0).
PCL 1. To print the Suprtool List output in Landscape mode (across the wide part of
the paper) with the tiny Lineprinter font (16.66 pitch or 8 lines per inch), you should
do the following (this setting prints 175 columns per line):
>:comment Maximum of 175 columns with this font
>set list pcl 1
>:comment You will need LaserJet with proper font cartridge
>list device laser123

PCL 2. To print the listing in Courier font, Landscape mode, 6 lines per inch, and
100 columns wide, use:
>set list pcl 2
>list device laserjet

PCL 3. This option selects the "standard" Portrait orientation with the Courier font
of the LaserJet (80 columns across by 60 lines). You would use Set List PCL 3 when
you insert a Font cartridge that overrides the default font (e.g., 92286F cartridge).
PCL 4. Selects Portrait orientation and Lineprinter font of the L cartridge (and
others). This option prints 132 columns across the page by 80 lines.
PCL 5. Prints 80 columns on A4 paper by slightly narrowing the space between
columns.
PCL 6. Prints tiny letters in Landscape mode on legal-size paper. This gives you 223
columns per line.
The PCL options, with the exception of PCL 5, were designed and tested with North
American letter-size paper. Suprtool can adjust the number of rows and columns for
each option to match A4 if you add 2000 to the PCL code. You can also select the

256 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 ASCII character set (instead of the default Roman-8 character set) by adding 1000 to
the PCL code. See "List Command [L]" on page 219 for more details.
Here is a complete table of the PCL codes:

PCL L/P Font A4 paper Letter-size Notes

Rows x Rows x
Columns Columns
1 L lp 58 x 188 60 x 175
2 L courier 43 x 110 45 x 100
3 P courier 64 x 77 60 x 80 "standard"
4 P lp 85 x 128 80 x 132
5 P courier 64 x 80 60 x 80 A4-squeeze
6 L lp 60 x 223 60 x 223 legal-size

L and P mean Landscape or Portrait orientation.

List Time
SET LIST Time number
(Initially: 1)
When you select page headings with the List command by specifying a title, each
page includes the current time. By default, the time is in 24-hour format (e.g., 23:02).
Use Set List Time to specify a different default time format for future List
commands (e.g., Set List Time 2). The valid time formats are as follows:

Value Format Example

0 none
1 (default) 24-hour 23:02
2 AM/PM 11:02PM

Lock
SET LOCK [ number ]
(Initially: 1; Default: 1000)
There are three different locking strategies that Suprtool uses for the Delete, Put, and
Update commands. A complete discussion of locking is found in the IMAGE section
of "Suprtool Issues and Solutions".
Set Lock 0. Locks the dataset(s) at the beginning of the task and unlocks it at the
end. This option is good for middle-of-the-night tasks that are doing lots of Puts,
Deletes, or Updates.
Set Lock 1 (initial value). Lock the dataset and unlock it around every Delete, Put
and Update. This takes longer, but provides less database contention.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 257

 Set Lock n. Lock the dataset every n database transactions (Puts, Deletes, or
Updates). This option is maintained as a compromise between Set Lock 0 and Set
Lock 1.

MakeAbsent
SET MakeAbsent [ On|Off ]

Set MakeAbsent On, tells the prefetch module to make pages that are in memory to
be released sooner.
>set makeabsent on

This feature is only relevant if prefetch is turned on with a setting of 1-5, which
controls the size of a prefetch. Set MakeAbsent On has no impact if prefetch is
turned off. For more information on this setting and its impact please read the
following article from our web site at:
http://www.robelle.com/tips/st-performance.html

NLS
SET NLS [number]
(Initially: 0 or NLDATALANG JCW)
Use Set NLS with MPE files to specify the language to be used for sorting
Character-type fields (see "Native Language Support" on page 73). The number
corresponds to an NLS language; you cannot use the NLS language name. Suprtool
uses the value of the NLDATALANG JCW to set the default NLS language. The
common language numbers are:
Number Language
00 Native-3000
01 American
02 Canadian-French
03 Danish
04 Dutch
05 English
06 Finnish
07 French
08 German
09 Italian
10 Norwegian
11 Portuguese
12 Spanish
13 Swedish

258 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 NumBug
SET Numbug [ On|Off ]
The $number function had a bug whereby it would add on two zeroes and or bad
data if the input number did not have a decimal point. We have fixed the bug so that
the number function no longer adds the two digits on the end in error.
However, some users worked around this issue by doing the following:
>extract target = $truncate($number(conv-field) / 100)

Since some users, used this work around, the fix to the $number function will then
return incorrect results. Therefore, we added the set numbug command to have
Suprtool revert from the correct behaviour to continue to have the bug.
By default, Suprtool will just convert the number and not add on the data at the end,
however, if you have used the work around then you can add the command:
>set numbug on

to the script directly or globally in your suprmgr file.

Openmode
SET OPENMODE [ number ]
(Initial & Default: 1)
By default, Suprtool opens databases in mode-1 when the mode is omitted from the
Base command. Using Set Openmode, you can specify an alternate mode for the
Base command. A common choice would be Set Openmode 5, so that Suprtool
would allow only read-access to the database (disabling the Delete command, for
example).

Oracle Rows
SET ORACLE ROWS number
(Not supported in MPE)
This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle OpenFix
SET ORACLE OPENFIX ON|OFF
(Initially: OFF)
This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle Integer
SET ORACLE INTEGER ON|OFF
(Initially: OFF)
This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle PassShift
SET ORACLE PassShift ON|OFF

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 259

 (Initially: OFF)
This option is not available in the MPE version.

Oracle ZeroNull
SET ORACLE ZERONULL ON|OFF
(Initially: OFF)
This option is not available in the MPE version.

Pattern
SET PATTERN NEW | OLD
(Initially: NEW)
Prior to Suprtool version 3.1, there was no method of checking for the "@", "#", "?",
or "~" characters in a pattern. Version 3.1 introduced a new pattern-matching
routine, adding an escape character "&", and two new reserved characters "^" and
"!". Old Suprtool tasks that look for the specific characters &, ^, or ! will not work
with the new pattern-matching routine. Users who are concerned about this can add
the following command to their Suprmgr.Pub.Sys file:
set pattern old

Prefetch
SET PREFETCH [ number ]
(Initially: 0; Default: no change)
Suprtool can read data directly from disc into memory with multirecord NOBUF
reads. However, Suprtool is often slowed down on MPE/iX while waiting for the file
system to satisfy its read requests. Suprtool can increase its throughput by using
prefetch on MPE/iX and instructing MPE/iX's memory manager to read the data
from disc to memory ahead of time. This way, Suprtool doesn't have to wait when it
needs the data because the data it is already in memory.
The Set Prefetch command tells the memory manager how far ahead of Suprtool it
should fetch data. Setting this number too low won't give the memory manager
sufficient time to get the data into memory before Suprtool needs it. Setting the
number too high may mean that on a busy system the data will be overwritten before
Suprtool gets a chance to use it.
Due to changes in MPE memory management in more recent versions of MPE,
performance improvements from prefetching data has decreased and in some cases,
such as systems with a large amount of memory, prefetching shows little or no
performance gain and may impact other users. It is for this reason that we have
changed the default value to zero, or off.
In short our advice at this stage is for you to try different values of prefetch and see if
you see performance improvements with some key tasks, however since we are not
seeing the performance gains we did 15 years ago, when prefetch was implemented
we are turning it off.
Suprtool/iX ignores the Set Prefetch value when reading from a remote file or
database, or from a KSAM/V, KSAM/XL, circular, or RIO file. Set Prefetch is
ignored by Suprtool/V.

260 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Privmode
SET PRIVMODE ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
Suprtool requires privileged mode to quickly scan IMAGE datasets. You can force
Suprtool to read a dataset using DBGET by turning Set Privmode Off, but Suprtool
runs about five times slower. You must specify Set Privmode Off before using the
Base command. To enable fast serial reading, turn Set Privmode On and reopen the
database with the Base command. This feature is intended for cases where bugs in
MPE are causing Suprtool to fail.

Progress
SET PROGRESS Percent [ number ] Minimum [ number ]
(Initial & Defaults: Percent 5, Minimum 10000 (MPE/V) 50000 (MPE/iX))
The Set Progress command is used to turn the Suprtool progress report feature on or
off. The PERCENT value specified tells Suprtool by which percentage increment to
report the progress messages of any given input or output phase. The allowed range
for set progress is from 0 to 25, the default is every 5 percent. If the PERCENT
parameter is not specified, then the next parameter is considered to be the PERCENT
value. This is to remain compatible with some earlier pre-release versions of
Suprtool.
The MINIMUM value is the minimum number of records that an input file must
have in order for the progress reports to be printed out. If the MINIMUM value is set
to 15000, then the input file must have at least 15000 records or else progress
messages are not printed out for the entire task. This value allows the user to turn off
progress messages when reading smaller files. The default value for the Suprtool/V
version of Suprtool is 10000 records, and the default value for the Suprtool/iX
version of Suprtool is 50000 records. To always print progress messages, just set the
minimum value to 0.
Suprtool does not produce any progress messages under the following conditions:
1. Set Progress is zero.
2. Output is to $stdlist via the Output * or List commands.
3. Chain command has been specified.
4. The number of records from the input source is less than the minimum
value.
Suprtool checks whether or not to print a progress message at the end of each buffer
(for NOBUF/MR reads). Consequently, not all progress increments are reported for
small files or datasets.
Suprtool reports the phase that it is in: whether input phase, sort phase, output phase
or combined input/output phase (not sort).
The content of the progress messages is as follows:
• Percentage complete
• Phase and the total number of records processed
• Delta-Sec(Min) - the time elapsed from the previous message
• Wall-Sec(Min) - the total elapsed time

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 261

 • CPU-Sec - the total CPU-Seconds at this point
When using the record selection feature of the Get and Input commands, Suprtool
cannot be absolutely certain of the total number of records. Therefore, the percentage
calculation is estimated.

Prompt
SET PROMPT character
(Initially: > )
PROMPT tells Suprtool which character to use for prompting. Any special character
can be used as the prompt character. For example:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>set prompt %
%base store,5

RealMap
SETREALMAP ON|OFF
(Initially: ON)
This option has no effect in Suprtool for MPE.

Recover
SET RECOVER ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
This option can be used with an If command, which selects only records with a -1 in
the first word, to extract deleted records from a KSAM file. This is not supported for
KSAM/XL files prior to MPE/iX 4.0. On MPE/iX 4.0 and later, Suprtool can recover
deleted records if you do not build your KSAM/XL files with the reuse option. If you
use the reuse option, Suprtool can only recover deleted records where the space has
not yet been reused.

Redo
SET REDO filename
(Initially: none)
Commands that you enter at the Suprtool prompt are saved in something called the
redo stack. You can recall commands from the redo stack using other commands
such as Before, Do and Redo. By default, the redo stack is stored in a temporary file
but is discarded as soon as you exit. This means that your redo stack is not preserved
accross invocations of Suprtool.
Set Redo allows you to assign a permanent file as the redo stack. The redo stack is
then available for future Suprtool invocations. To assign MYREDO as a persistent
redo stack, enter:
>set redo myredo
If the file does not exist, Suprtool creates it. If it already exists, Suprtool uses it. All
the commands you enter from this point are written to the persistent redo stack. The
setting is valid for the duration of the Suprtool session. As soon as you exit Suprtool,

262 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 the setting is discarded. Next time you run Suprtool, you will get the temporary
stack.
If the filename is not qualified, the redo stack is created in the logon group and
account. This may be desirable if you wish to have separate stacks. If you wish to
always use the same persistent stacks, you should qualify the name.
The Verify command shows which stack is currently in use. If it shows
<temporary>, it means Suprtool is using the default stack. Anything else is the
name of the file used on the Set Redo command.

Concurrency
When Suprtool uses the default temporary stack, it is only accessible to that
particular instance of Suprtool. You can run as many Suprtool instances as you need
and each one gets its own redo stack. With temporary stacks, you will never get into
concurrency problems.
If you start using a persistent redo stack, you might start running into these type of
problems. A persistent redo stack can only be used by one Qedit instance at any one
point in time. If you try to use a persistent redo stack that is already in use, you will
get:
>set redo myredo
EXCLUSIVE VIOLATION: FILE BEING ACCESSED (FSERR 90)
Unable to open file for REDO stack

In this situation, Suprtool continues to use the redo stack active at the time so you
can continue to work as normal.
Qedit also has the ability to have permanent redo stacks. It is advisable to have
separate redo stacks for each product, as they will write commands to each others
redo stack if you supply the same filename.
For example if you use the command:
>set redo myredo

you will have a redo stack called myredo for your Suprtool commands. If you exit
Suprtool and run Qedit and supply the same command set redo command your Qedit
commands will be written to the same file that was used for your Suprtool
commands.
By default your permanent Redo stack will be built to 1000 commands. If you
require a larger redo stack you can specify the size of the redo stack using a file
equation prior to the set redo command.
>:file myredo;disc=10000
>set redo myredo

This will only be in effect the first time that the redo stack is built, subsequent file
commands will not affect the size of the redo file. You can make the file bigger using
tools such as MPEX's %altfile command, or by building a larger file and copying
your current redo stack to the file.

Sortfast
SET SORTFAST ON | OFF
(Initially: depends)
Suprtool/iX has its own internal sort routines. These routines are as fast or faster than
HP's sort routines, and do not require as much sort scratch space as HP's routines. Set

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 263

 Sortfast controls whether Suprtool's internal sort routines are called or whether HP's
sort routines are used. In Suprtool/V, this option has no effect and defaults to Off. In
Suprtool/iX, the Set Sortfast is On by default. In the unlikely event that problems are
experienced with Suprtool's internal sort routines, HP's sort routines can be enabled
with:
>set sortfast off

Squeeze
SET SQUEEZE [ ON | OFF ]
(Initial & Default: <neither>)
Turning Set Squeeze On forces Suprtool to always truncate the output file limit to
the end-of-file when the output file is closed. Turning Set Squeeze Off forces
Suprtool not to change the limit when closing the output file. By default or by
specifying Set Squeeze (i.e., with no option) forces Suprtool to decide when to
truncate the output limit to the end-of-file.
Suprtool will not squeeze a file limit if the input source is a file, the output file is not
a new file, the output file is KSAM (CM, NM or KSAM64), or if the Ask or Num
query output options were specified. In all other cases, Suprtool squeezes the file
limit down to the EOF.
Set Squeeze Off can be combined with the Numrecs command to automate job
streams in which data is appended to the output file. For example,
>get d-sales
>numrecs 200% {output file will have extra room}
>output dsale
>set squeeze off {reserve room between EOF and LIMIT}
>xeq
>get d-history
>output dsale,append {Dsale has room for appending}
>xeq

Statistics
SET STATISTICS ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
STATISTICS causes Suprtool to print statistics at the end of each task. This can be
useful for determining the effectiveness of Suprtool's Get versus Chain commands.

Subsystem
SET SUBSYSTEM ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Normally, Suprtool ignores database subsystem access. Use Set Subsystem On to
instruct Suprtool to examine the subsystem option of the database in the Base and
Put commands. Subsystem access can be restricted to READ or NONE by using
DBUTIL. If subsystem access is NONE, Suprtool does not open the database. If
subsystem access is READ, the Suprtool Put and Delete commands are disallowed
and the Dbedit Add, Delete, Modify, and Change commands are also disallowed.
Once you enable Set Subsystem On, you cannot disable it. This Set option applies to
all databases; you cannot enable it for a specific database. Using the creator

264 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 password overrides the subsystem flag and allows full access to the database. If you
wish to take advantage of subsystem access, we recommend that Set Subsystem On
be added to your Suprmgr file.
The following example restricts the STORE database to read access:
:run dbutil.pub.sys {must be DB creator}
>set store subsystems=read {read access only}
>exit
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>set subsystem on {check subsystem access}
>base store
Password [;]? {don't use creator}
>input infile {standard file input}
>put m-customer {Put will fail because we}
{do not have write access}
Error: You are not allowed access to this database

Suspend
SET SUSPEND ON | OFF
(Initially: varies)
SUSPEND instructs Suprtool to suspend after an Exit command.
The default is OFF when Suprtool is :RUN from MPE, when :RUN with Parm=32,
or when invoked from the POSIX shell. Suspend is ON when Suprtool is :RUN from
within another program (e.g., Qedit). In some cases it is desirable to turn this option
OFF to prevent several invocations of Suprtool from being present at the same time.
Users who run Suprtool from within MENU systems or QUICK may want to turn
Suspend Off, or :Run Suprtool with Parm=32.

ThousandSymbol
SET ThousandSymbol " "
(Default: comma)

This setting is used to change the Thousand character which is used to edit the data
in a field used by the $Number function.
>set ThousandSymbol ","

The default character for the Thousand Symbol is a comma.

Userlabels
SET USERLABELS ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
By default, Suprtool always copies user labels from the input file to the output file.
User Labels are ignored when no Extract command has been issued and Set
Userlabels is Off. However, if an Extract command is issued and Set Userlabels is
Off, Suprtool still writes the Userlabels. If List Labels is requested, Suprtool prints
the contents of the user labels before listing the data. If Userlabels is Off, Suprtool
does no processing of user labels. To convert a self-describing file into a non-SD
file, see "Suprtool and Self-Describing Files" on page 69.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 265

 Varsub
SET VARSUB ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
This option tells Suprtool to resolve any CI variables in any command. The default
value for VarSub is Off for backward compatibility.

VarsubCompat
SET VarsubCompat [ ON | OFF ]
(Initially:OFF)
This command has no effect on Suprtool for MPE.

VarsubDebug
SET VARSUBDEBUG ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)

Set VarsubDebug on will print out the line after the variable substitution has
occurred. This setting only works if Set Varsub is on and Set varsubdebug is on.

setvar outfile &

:"/GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
45678901"
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
SUPRTOOL/iX/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2007.
(Version 5.4 Internal) TUE, OCT 30, 2007, 2:58 PM Type H for he
>set varsub on
>set varsubdebug on
>in file1sd.suprtest
vd:in file1sd.suprtest
>output !outfile,link,temp
vd:output /GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123
vd:2345678901,link,temp

The output is formatted into 74 byte chunks and printed with a preceding “vd:” so
the “substituted” line is clear.

Warnings
SET WARNINGS ON | OFF
(Initially: ON)
Suprtool normally prints warning messages out to $stdlist. You can turn off these
messages when you are running from batch by issuing a Set Warnings off command.
If you are simulating batch mode with the Set Interactive Off command, you must do
the Set Warnings off after the Set Interactive Off.
The default for this setting is On.

266 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Xltrim
SET Xltrim ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Suprtool will now release the disc space between EOF and the FLIMIT if Set Xltrim
is on and Set Squeeze is either not set or Off. This releases the disc space after the
EOF but leaves the Flimit alone. Set Squeeze on will still close the file such that the
Flimit will be the same as the EOF.
The default for this setting is Off.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 267

Sort Command [SO]
Specifies the next sort key via an IMAGE field name, or a field in a self-describing
file, or a Defined field. See "Key Command [K]" on page 216 for sort keys specified
by explicit byte position. Up to 20 Sort and Key commands can be specified per
extract task. The first key entered is the major sort key.
SORT field [(subscript)] [DESCENDING]
(Default: Ascending order)

Field
The field specified must be an IMAGE data item that is a field of the input source, or
a defined field, or a field from a self-describing file.

Subscript
If the field is a compound item (e.g., 2X25), the first sub-item is the default if no
subscript is specified. You can sort on any sub-item by specifying the subscript. For
example,
>sort address(2) {sorts on 2nd sub-item}

Descending vs. Ascending Order

By default, sorts are done in ascending order. Descending specifies that the field is to
be sorted in descending order.

Examples
The most common use of the Sort command is to specify a sort field of a database
field. You may use the Key command to specify all sorts. We recommend that the
Sort command be used wherever possible. If the structure of your database changes,
your Suprtool tasks still work if sort fields are specified with the Sort command:
>base store,5
>get d-sales {input from an IMAGE dataset}
>sort cust-account {primary sort field}
>sort purch-date,desc {newest transactions first}
>output dsales {write the sorted records to an MPE disc file}
>exit

In the next example we sort an MPE file. We create a field using the Define
command. Rather than using the Key command, we use the Sort command to specify
the sort field. If the MPE file changes, only the Define command must be changed:
>input dinvent {input is from an MPE file}
>define a,11,2,int {"A" is an integer that starts}
>output outfile { at the 11th byte of Dinvent}
>sort a {sort the input records by the "A" field}
>exit

With the =dataset form of the Input command, we can have even greater flexibility
to use the Sort command. We assume that the MPE file Mcust has the same structure
as the m-customer dataset. We sort the file using the first of the two street addresses
in m-customer:

268 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >base store,5,READER {open for read access only}
>input mcust=m-customer {same format as m-customer}
>sort street-address {a repeated field, but only}
>exit { the first address is used}

Notes
The Verify command shows all of the current Sort command values and the Reset
command cancels them. If you have not defined any sort fields before the Xeq or
Exit command, Suprtool performs a copy only, no sort.
It is important to note that if the field being sorted is the result of a $function, then
you may not be sorting on the value of the field after the function has transformed
the field. For example the following task may not give you the result you expect:
>base store,5
>get d-sales
>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte
>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"
>sort cust-accountx {sorting on transformed field before it has value from function}
>dup none keys
>output dsales
>exit

In this instance you will not be sorting on cust-accountx as transformed by the $edit
function, but rather the first six bytes of d-sales. Therefore it is important to note
when you are using extract to transform a field, you will not be sorting on that
transformed value.
Therefore the way to do the transformation would be to either divide into two tasks
or if you can logically sort on the field before the transformation in order to achieve
the result, so the task could be:
>base store,5
>get d-sales
>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte
>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"
>sort cust-account {Note sorting on source field}
>dup none keys
>output dsales
>exit

or if two tasks are necessary:

>base store,5
>get d-sales
>def cust-accountx,1,6,byte
>ext cust-accountx = $edit(cust-accout,"zzzz99"
>output tempsales
>xeq
>in tempsales
>sort cust-acctx
>dup none keys
>output dsales
>exit

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 269

Table Command [TA]
Builds a table of values for testing in the If or Chain commands. There can be up to
ten different tables. The Table command does not work with real-type keys.
TABLE tablename, itemname, table-keyword, table-values
Tables are used by the $lookup function of the If command and as input to the Chain
command. The table keywords are Item, File, and Sorted. The total amount of table
space is restricted by Set Limits Tablesize. Use the following scheme to select input
records based on many data values:
1. Load a table with the values you are interested in.
2. Use the $lookup function of the If command to search the table.
3. Or, use the table with the Chain command to read a selected set of key
values.

Adding Individual Values to a Table

To add a value for an item to a table, use:
TABLE tablename, itemname, ITEM, value [,value]
When you start entering the values for a table, you must enter all the values for that
table before starting another table. Once you switch to another table, the previous
table is "closed" and you cannot enter anymore values into it.

Parameters
tablename
Any identifier name up to sixteen characters long. This name can be the same as the
name of a Define field or database itemname, but we recommend that you choose a
unique name.
itemname
An item from the database specified in the Base command or a Define field. This
cannot be a real-type item.
value
A specific value that must match the type of the item. String values are extended
with blanks to the length of the item.

Examples
Suppose that you wanted to look for several part numbers. You could use the
following If command:
>if part = "12345","67890","39201","92308","14892"

You could also load a table with the part numbers:

>table part-table,part,item,"12345"
>table part-table,part,item,"67890"
>table part-table,part,item,"39201"
>table part-table,part,item,"92308"
>table part-table,part,item,"14892"

and use a different If command:

270 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >if $lookup(part-table,part)

Sometimes you need to look for all records that do not have any of a set of values,
>if part <> "12345","67890","39201","92308","14892"

You would use the same Table commands, but a slightly different If command,
>if not $lookup(part-table,part)

Values with Decimal Places

If the itemname for the table has implied decimal places, the Table command accepts
decimal points and scales input values. For example,
>item cost,decimal,2 {two implied decimal points}
>table cost-table,cost,item,10,10.5,10.75
>if $lookup(cost-table,cost)
>out out3 {select records for 1000, 1050, and 1075}
>xeq

Adding Values from a File

You may need to look for hundreds of part numbers. The Table command accepts
the table values from a file. The file must contain lookup values in exactly the same
format as the itemname which describes the data. Duplicates are eliminated as they
are loaded into the table. For a table consisting of values from a file use:
TABLE tablename, itemname, FILE | SORTED, filename
[,HOLD][,DATA(field1,field2,field3…)]

Parameters
itemname
The item determines the data-type and length of the key values in the table. By
default, you can only load a table from a file when the item is the first field in the
file. If you load a Table from a self-describing file, Suprtool first checks for the field
in the self-describing file.
FILE vs. SORTED
The File option assumes that the file of table values is not sorted. Sorting a large file
of values is slow. If the file is already sorted, use the Sorted option: Suprtool checks
the records to make sure they are in ascending order.
filename
A valid MPE file name.
Hold
By default, the Xeq command resets all tables. Use the Hold option when using the
same table in more than one extract task. When Hold is specified, the Xeq command
does not reset the table. Hold applies to individual tables, not all tables.
>table part-table,part,file,partin,hold

Data
The Table command allows for data to be loaded along with matching key values.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 271

 >table partab,part,file,partin,data(cost,desc)

You can specify up to 20 data fields as long as the total size of the key fields and
data does not exceed 256 bytes. The Table file must be Self-Describing to use the
data option.
When loading data into a table, Suprtool will eliminate the duplicate entries based on
the key value, so some data values may not be loaded into the table.
For information on how to retrieve data from the table, please see the Extract
command, or the Examples section of the Table command.

Examples
If all of your part numbers are in the file Partin, you use:
>table part-table,part,file,partin
>if $lookup(part-table,part)

The following example uses Suprtool to create a file of customer numbers that are in
arrears. This file is then used to select the orders for these customers from the d-sales
dataset. Instead of serially reading the file, we use the Chain command to take
advantage of existing IMAGE search fields. The cust-account item occurs in
both datasets. When the table is loaded, Suprtool obtains the cust-account field
information from the self-describing custacct file.
>base store,5
>get m-customer
>if cust-status="30" {customers in arrears}
>out custacct,link {self-describing output for the Table command}
>xeq
>table cust-table,cust-account,file,custacct
>chain d-sales,cust-account=cust-table
>output dsales
>xeq

The next example sorts selected records from the d-inventory dataset. Because the
output file is not a self-describing file, we must use the Extract command to make
the key-field the first field in the file. We use this file to load a table and select the
records from the m-product dataset.
>get d-inventory
>if on-hand-qty<10 {select records}
>ext product-no {product-no must be first}
>ext on-hand-qty {other fields follow}
>ext last-ship-date
>sort product-no {sort by key value}
>out invent {later, use this file in the Table command}
>xeq
>get m-product {contains product description}
>table product-table,product-no,sorted,invent
>if $lookup(product-table,product-no)
>sort product-no
>output mproduct
>xeq

The next example shows how to select part numbers from flat file parts, using the
file Partin. We use the Define command to define where the part-no field is in the
record. This example assumes that the Part numbers are in the first six bytes of each
file.

272 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 >input parts
>def part-no,1,6 {define part-no}
>table part-table,part,file,partin {product-no must be first}
>if $lookup(part-table,part-no) {other fields follow}
>out somepart {output to a file}
>xeq

Suprtool can load up to ten tables, either from separate files or the same file. The
following example assumes that the files are self-describing.
>input customer
>table cust-table,custno,file,custfile
>table zip-table,zipcode,file,custfile
>if $lookup(cust-table,custno) and $lookup(zip-table,zipcode)
>output newcust,link
>xeq

Keep in mind that using multiple tables may be more memory intensive and require
more resources.

Data Example
Your boss comes to you with a list of new prices for certain parts and asks you to
update the Part-Master dataset.
Just load the new prices into a Table, index by the product number (prodno),then
Extract the price field from each record and replace it with a $lookup on the table.
Here is the code:
>table newprices,prodno,file,bosslist,data(price)
>get part-master
>if $lookup(newprices,prodno)
>update
>extract price = $lookup(newprices,prodno,price)
>xeq

We do the If $lookup to select only the parts which have new prices, then do Extract
with $lookup to replace the existing price with a new one. The Update command
forces a database update on each selected record and must come before the Extract
command.
If you did not do the If $lookup then the price field would contain zeroes for those
fields that did not have a matching record.

Notes on CM / MPE/V
The Xeq command clears any tables that are not held. Suprtool uses extra data
segments to store the table values. You may not be able to load huge tables because
of a lack of system resources (e.g., DST entries). To reduce the number of extra data
segments Suprtool needs, you should configure the maximum extra data segment
size to 32,764 words, using SYSDUMP on MPE V or SYSGEN on MPE/iX.
Searching huge tables is CPU-intensive. If you do this on-line, it seriously affects
other users. While it is possible to load tables as large as 15 megabytes, we suggest
that you make sure that there is enough real memory to hold the table. Remember
that MPE takes at least one megabyte of real memory on Classic HP e3000s. Set
Limits Tablesize restricts the maximum size of tables, so you can limit the total
amount of table space to a specified number of megabytes.
In order to accomodate some large tables you may need to increase the value of
Maximum number of XDS per process. The maximum value of this setting is 255
and can be changed using SYSDUMP on MPE V or SYSGEN on MPE/iX.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 273

 Notes on NM / MPE/iX
The Xeq command clears any tables that are not held. Searching huge tables is CPU-
intensive. If you do this on-line, it seriously affects other users. While it is possible
to load a table as large as 2047 megabytes, we suggest that you make sure that there
is enough real memory to hold the table.
The Table command rejects RIO, KSAM, and CIR files when using the Sorted
option.We do this because we cannot guareentee that we will get the records back in
the correct order for anything other than standard files.The error returned when
trying to use the Sorted option with one ofthese files is shown below:
Error: Unable to open the table file
SUPRFILEINIT Error 7
File is KSAM, variable-length, or undefined-length

274 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

TRanslate Command [TR]
Translate command allows you to specify a From and To-character in decimal
notation, which then can be subsequently used in the $translate function.

Translate “^from:^to” TOUNREAD TOREAD

The Translate command also has two special keywords to fill the translation
table to help scramble data in byte-fields from readable to unreadable and
back again to readable.

>in nametest;list;xeq
>IN NAMETEST.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)
NAME = Neil Patrick Armstrong
IN=1, OUT=1. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

>in nametest
>translate tounread
>ext name=$translate(name)
>list;xeq

>IN NAMETEST.NEIL.GREEN (0) >OUT $NULL (0)

NAME = Mtxo Kpecxrz Ocndeclmv
IN=1, OUT=1. CPU-Sec=1. Wall-Sec=1.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 275

276 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands
Total Command [T]
Totals specified fields in the selected input records. Totals can be written to $stdlist
(default), a file, or to the List device.
TOTAL field [(subscript)] [decimal-places]
$file filename [ APPEND | ERASE | TEMP ]
$file $list
(Default: subscript=first sub-item, decimal-places=0)

Parameters
Each totaled field must be an IMAGE field name, or a field from a self-describing
file, or a Defined field. Total specifies that a total value for the field be printed after
processing the records. There does not have to be any output file (i.e., it can be $null)
for a total to be printed. There can be up to 15 totaled fields.
The subscript is valid only for compound items. If no subscript is specified, the first
field of a compound item is totaled. The decimal-places provides a decimal point
when the final total is printed. If the Item command specifies the number of implied
decimal places, the decimal-places parameter is not needed. The values within each
field are assumed to be aligned.

$File Options
By default, totals are written to $stdlist. Use the $file option to have the totals written
to a file or to the List device. When writing to a file, the default is to create a new
file. If Suprtool cannot save the file, it produces an error. The Append, Erase, and
Temp options are the same as in the Output command.
The file specified in $file must have a minimum record size of 48 bytes.
If you want the totals written to the end of the List device (the output of the List
command), specify $list as the $file file name. All other options are ignored when
$list is specified.
To write totals to the output file, use Total $file xxx,Append, where xxx is the name
of your output file. You also need to turn Set Squeeze Off (otherwise, there will not
be room for the totals). Appending totals to the output file only works if the output
file is a disc file.

Examples
The first example prints the totals for a single field.
>in file1
>def total-field,1,5
>total total-field
>xeq
Totals (TUE, OCT 10, 2000, 4:30 PM):
TOTAL-FIELD 611105+

The next example is identical to the previous one, except that we qualify the total
with the number of decimal places.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 277

 >in file1
>total total-field,2
>xeq
Totals (TUE, OCT 10, 2000, 4:31 PM):
TOTAL-FIELD 6111.05

The previous example specified the number of decimal places by using the Total
command. The next example is the preferred way to specify decimal places because
it qualifies the cust-bal field with two decimal places for all Suprtool
commands. This example also totals two fields (note that you need two Total
commands) and shows how to total individual fields using subscripts.
>base test
>get dorder
>item cust-bal,decimal,2
>total cust-bal(1)
>total cust-bal(2)
>xeq
Totals (TUE, OCT 10, 2000, 4:32 PM):
CUST-BAL(1) 143598.16
CUST-BAL(2) 155399.73

All the examples so far have shown the totals being written to $stdlist. The next
example writes the totals to the file totfile.
>base store
>get d-sales
>total sales-tax
>total sales-total
>total $file totfile
>xeq

To write the totals to the end of a Suprtool listing, use the $file option with $list as
the file name. This example writes the totals to the end of the simple Suprtool report:
>base store
>get d-inventory
>list standard
>total unit-cost
>total $file $list
>xeq

Sort Break Totals

Please refer to the Duplicate command on how to generate sort break totals.

Notes
Totals are formatted and displayed in a form that is understood by people. If you
want to return total values to a program, see the Calling Suprtool user manual.
You cannot combine the Total command with the Total option of the Duplicate
command.
The Total command prints out a date and time stamp on the title line. This is for
audit purposes.

278 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Update Command [UP]
Update one or more noncritical fields in an IMAGE dataset.
UPDATE [ CIUPDATE ]
Specify the fields to be updated and their new values with the Extract command. The
Update command must be specified after the Chain or Get command, but before the
Extract command(s). You can update part of an IMAGE field by defining the part
you are interested in updating and then using the defined field name in the Extract
command. The Update command can change values in critical fields (IMAGE search
or sort fields). To update critical fields, you must specify the Ciupdate option, and
CIUPDATE must be On or Allowed in the database.

Example
This example selects all inventory items with a unit-cost less than $10.00 and
increases the unit-cost by five percent.
>get d-inventory {input dataset}
>item unit-cost,decimal,2 {implied decimal places}
>if unit-cost < 10.00 {selection criteria}
>update {Update must come before Extract}
>extract unit-cost = & {calculate the new …}
unit-cost * 1.05 {… unit-cost value}
>xeq

This next example selects all inventory items with a part number of 12345677 and
changes it to 12345678.
>get d-inventory {input dataset}
>if product-no = 12345677 {selection criteria}
>update ciupdate
>extract product-no = 12345678 {new unit-cost value}
>xeq

You can set CIUPDATE by using the DBUTIL Utility. To set CIUPDATE on just
run Dbutil and use the Set command:
:run dbutil.pub.sys
>>set dbname ciupdate=on
>>exit

Notes
The only commands that can be combined with Update are selection commands
(e.g., the If command). The following commands are not allowed: Delete, Duplicate,
Key, List, Output, Put, Sort, or Total. You cannot update critical fields in master
datasets. Update does not work with MPE or KSAM files.
If you are updating a packed or display field, remember that Suprtool uses unsigned
values for non-negative numbers unless you add a leading plus sign to the number.
See "Packed and Display Constants" on page 155 for more details.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 279

Use Command [U]
Specifies a file of commands to be executed as a group.
USE[Q] filename

Database Date Items

A usefile makes your task easier by allowing common commands to be specified
once in an external file. A common reason for usefiles is to isolate Define and Item
commands for a database in one place. This makes future changes easier and
prevents mistakes. In this example, we isolate all Item commands for dates from our
database in a Suprtool usefile.
>use store.suprtool
define delivered,deliv_date
define purchased,purch_date
item delivered ,date ,yymmdd
item purchased ,date ,yymmdd

Dataset Field Definitions

In the store database, the street-address is a 2X25 item. Suppose that you always
wanted to refer to the first and second part of the address with different names. The
following usefile would access the m-customer dataset and define the two necessary
fields:
>use mcust.suprtool
get m-customer
define street-address-1,street-address(1)
define street-address-2,street-address(2)

Info= and the Base Command

Our final example shows how to embed a database password in a usefile using the
"?" password in the Base command.
>use store5.suprtool {hint: "5" is the open-mode}
base store,5,? {"?" means read password from usefile}
Password? {reads password from usefile, but no echo}

Quiet Execution
By default, Suprtool displays the commands in a usefile as they are executed. The
quiet option is not used in the examples above so that you could see the actual
commands inside each usefile. Suprtool can execute commands quietly using the
Useq command:
>useq store.use {no commands are listed}

You can also combine the Use command with Info=. In the following example, we
specify the store database and execute the usefile with our Item commands:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle;parm=4; &
info="base store.db.mis,1,?;useq store.suprtool.mis"

In this example we open the database in mode-1, but the user is prompted for the
database password. In a job stream, the database password would be the first line
after ":run suprtool". We then quietly execute all the Item commands for the store
database (from the file Store.Suprtool.Mis).

280 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 Nested Usefiles
Usefiles may be nested. In other words, a usefile may use another usefile to a depth
of ten files. For example if the contents of the Usedef usefile has a references to
Useext, both usefiles would be executed:
>in dsales
>use usedef
define delivered,deliv_date
define purchased,purch_date
item delivered ,date ,yymmdd
item purchased ,date ,yymmdd
use useext
ext cust-account
ext deliv-date
ext product-no
ext product-price
ext purch-date
ext sales-qty
ext sales-tax
ext sales-total
>xeq

Care must be taken when entering Use commands with a stacked command after a
usefile reference. For example, if you enter
use usedef;def j,1,6,byte

the Define command will not be executed until after the Usedef and any other nested
Use commands are finished.

Notes
The usefile may be an Editor /KEEP file,UNN or a Qedit workfile, but no more than
256 characters per record will be processed. For compatibility with Qedit, Useq can
be abbreviated to UQ.
If a Use file ends with an ampersand, Suprtool will assume that you are continuing
the current command on the next line, outside of the use file.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 281

Userpause Command [USER]
The Userpause command prints a prompt message on the screen and waits for the
user to press a key.
USERPAUSE [ "string" ]
(Default: read without a prompt)
Prints the string and waits for any key. Leading spaces in the string are printed.

Examples
In this example, we have a usefile that displays a message and then waits for the user
before starting the task.
>q
>q "We will select all transactions over $10,000. Since"
>q "there are many transactions, this task will take"
>q "some time (usually more than fifteen minutes)."
>q
>userpause "Press any key when you are ready to start."

282 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Verify Command [V]
Displays the specifications that you have entered so far.
VERIFY [ ALL | @ | VERSION | command [...] ]
(Default: Input, Output, Sort, Numrecs, changed Set values)

Parameters
More than one command can be verified at once by entering several command names
separated by a comma or a space. The format of the Verify output is organized into
columns wherever possible.
For Verify All, Suprtool prints all of the information concerning the current
invocation of Suprtool, including the value of the Set options and the Suprtool
version number.
For Verify Version, Suprtool prints out the version information.
Verify with no parameters prints the current values for Chain, Get, Input, Output,
and Key or Sort commands. It also prints those Set options which are not currently at
their default setting.

Examples
>v
>verify
>verify input {current input file}
>verify if {selection criteria}
>verify all {all current options}
>verify version {version number of Suprtool}

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 283

Xeq Command [X]
Suspends entry of commands and begins the extract from the input source.
XEQ

Notes
After the Xeq, Suprtool processes the task and accepts commands to specify another
task. Compare this with the Exit command, which stops Suprtool after processing the
input. After an Xeq command, all parameters of Suprtool are reset to their initial
values, except any database that is left open, the Set options, and the Defined fields
even though their calculated offsets are not guaranteed to be correct for the next file
processed.

Examples
>base cust
>get m-customer
>output mcstfile
>xeq {copies m-customer to Mcstfile}
>get d-customer
>output dcstfile
>xeq {copies d-customer to Dcstfile}
>exit {terminate, no task to do}
{last Xeq could have been Exit}

284 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

Calculator Command [=]
Evaluates an expression and prints the result in one of several formats.
=expression [,O | D | B | H | A | # | % | $]
Any command that begins with an equal sign (=) is treated as an expression to be
evaluated. An expression consists of numbers and operators, followed by an optional
display format.
The operators can be addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), or
exponentiation (**). The value of the expression is printed immediately on $stdlist.
=20+15 {add two numbers together}
Result=35.0
=20*15 {multiply the same numbers}
Result=300.0
=20-15 {subtraction}
Result=5.0
=20/15 {divide, print precise result}
Result=1.33333333333
=20**15 {20 raised to the 15th power}
Result=.327680000000E+20

Order of Evaluation
Unlike most programming languages, the calculator always evaluates the calculation
from left to right. This is similar to an electronic calculator, where each keystroke is
operated on immediately. You can use parentheses to force the calculator to evaluate
the expression in a different order.
=14+16+15/3 {compute an average}
Result=15.0
=14+16+(15/3) {add 14, 16, and the result of 15/3}
Result=35.0
=14+((16+15)/3) {add 16 + 15, divide by 3, then add to 14}
Result=24.3333333333

Percentages
A number in the calculator expression may be followed by a percent sign (%). The
calculator assumes that you want to qualify the number as a percentage.
=125*5% {what is 5% of 125}
Result=6.25
=125+125*5% {add 5% of 125 to 125}
Result=12.5
=125+(125*5%) {oops, we needed to change the order}
Result=131.25 {this looks like the answer we wanted}

The last two examples show the importance of the order in which calculator
evaluates the expression. We needed to use parentheses to force calculator to
evaluate our expression in the correct order.

Display Formats
A calculator expression may be followed by a comma and a display letter. The
default is decimal (#) and the options are hex ($ or H), octal (% or O), double (D),
ASCII (A) and binary (B). With these options, the result is treated as a 32-bit integer.

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 285

 =10,o {standard octal format}
Result=%000012
=-10,o {negative number in octal}
Result=%37777777766
=100,h {hexadecimal}
Result=$0064

In Double format, calculator prints the double result as two octal numbers (the way
they appear in DEBUG). The first number represents the high-order 16-bits and the
second number represents the low-order 16-bits.
=10,d {treat result as two 16-bit octal words}
Result=%000000 %000012
=1000000000,d {high-order 16-bits are no-zero}
Result=%035632 %145000
=-10,d {note negative value, 2's complement}
Result= %177777 %177766

In ASCII format, up to four characters are printed in Hex, Decimal, and ASCII
display format.
=$2020,a
Result=$2020: 32,32 :" "
=%20161 %72145,a
Result=$2071: 32,113:" q" $7465:116,101:"te"

In binary format, the high-order 16-bits are examined. If these bits are not zero, they
are printed as two groups of eight bits. A one (1) means that the bit is on and a zero
(0) means that the bit is off. The low-order 16-bits are always printed as two groups
of eight bits.
=10,b {high-order 16-bits suppressed}
Result=%(2)00000000 00001010
=-10,b {note negative value, 2's complement}
Result=%(2)11111111 11111111 %(2)11111111 11110110
=1000000000,b {high-order 16-bits are non-zero}
Result=%(2)00111011 10011010 %(2)11001010 00000000

Input Format
The calculator supports different input formats for numbers. Octal values are
prefixed with a percent sign (%) and hex values with a dollar sign ($). An ASCII
string of up to 4 characters is entered in quotes. The result of the last calculation is
referred to using #.
=%12 {octal 12 or decimal 10}
Result=10.0
=%12,o {octal input and octal display format}
Result=%000012
=$10
Result=16.0
=%177766 {octal number that is really negative}
Result=-10.0
="abcd",h
Result=$61626364
=#,a {use result of last calculation}
Result=$6162: 97,98 :"ab" $6364: 99,100:"cd"

Programmers who make use of the MPE DEBUG software are often frustrated with
the format that Double Integer numbers are printed. DEBUG prints them as two octal
numbers. Calculator accepts two octal numbers as input and prints the result in
standard decimal format.

286 • Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Commands

 =%35632 %145000 {treat as one double integer value}
Result=1000000000.0
=%177777 %177766 {negative double integer value}
Result=-10.0

Calculator Help
It may be difficult to remember all of the various options that the calculator offers.
For this reason, you can obtain a short description of the calculator by entering the
following:
=? {? gives help}
{prints a summary of = functions}

Suprtool Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE• 287

Suprtool Errors and Warnings

Two Types Of Messages

Suprtool prints two types of messages: errors and warnings. In both cases Suprtool is
letting you know that it has encountered a condition of which you may want to be
aware.
This appendix describes both kinds of messages and gives a partial list of warning
messages.

Errors
Errors are defined as conditions which immediately prevent Suprtool from
continuing, or which allow it to complete a task and then stop, because continuing
would likely cause undesirable or erroneous results.
When Suprtool detects a serious error condition such as a syntax error in a command,
a file system error, or a sort error, it prints an error message. For example,
Error: Unknown command name, try HELP
Error: Unable to open >OUTPUT file

Finding Errors Automatically

If you have software that scans spool files for error conditions, have it look for
"Error: ".

Batch vs. Interactive Mode

In batch mode, Suprtool aborts when an error message is printed, setting the JCW
(job control word) to FATAL. This causes the rest of the job to flush (unless a
!CONTINUE was in effect) and prevents subsequent job steps from using the results
of the failed Suprtool run. In interactive mode, Suprtool prints the error message and
prompts for the next command.
File System Errors
When a file system error occurs, Suprtool prints the MPE error message and asks if
you want to see a full File Information Display. When Suprtool asks a question that
requires a yes or no answer, "Y", "OUI", "JA", and "SI" are accepted as "YES", and
any other answer is considered "NO".

288 • Suprtool Errors and Warnings Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 If the output file is too small to hold all the selected input records, an error occurs
and Suprtool terminates the extract task. In fact, any error during processing
terminates the current task (exceptions: a "chain-head" delete error, a duplicate key
value error, or bad data with an If command when Set Ignore is On). If Suprtool
cannot Save the output file, it goes through a recovery procedure (see Output
command).
Arithmetic Trap Abort
If Suprtool should Abort with Parm=99x, an error has been detected in the
Arithmetic Trap Routine. This should never happen, so please report it to Robelle
Solutions Technology Inc.
NUMRECS exceeded; some records not processed.
You specified a Numrecs and have reached it. This condition is considered an error if
the input is from a source other than disc.
Command entered is not a valid Suprtool command.
and
MPE access has been disabled. See Set Limits command.
Normally, commands that are not valid Suprtool commands are passed off to the
operating system. If access to the O/S has been disabled via the Set Limits command,
these commands are no longer passed off. If the user does not precede the command
with a colon, we assume that the invalid command was meant for Suprtool. If a colon
precedes the command, we assume that the command was meant for the operating
system. On HP-UX systems an exclamation mark can be used in place of a colon.
Output-ASCII not allowed with Duplicate None Keys
Not all processing options are allowed in all combinations. The ASCII option of the
Output command, which reformats the output record, does not work with Duplicate
None Keys. Dup None Keys assumes that the output record has the same data
definitions as the input record.
Xxxx is not the search field of Yyyy
This message is issued by the Chain command when the search field specified
(Xxxx) is not an index into the dataset (Yyyy). The field specified must be a
TurboIMAGE search field or an MPE/iX third-party index.

Warnings
When Suprtool detects an unusual situation that it should bring to your attention, it
prints a nonfatal warning message. For example,
Warning: No input data specified
Warning: DATABASE must be RESTORED if System Crashes

The following list explains the most common warnings.

New entries were added to the dataset.
Suprtool may have ignored some dataset entries.
or
The number of dataset entries was reduced.
Suprtool may have included some deleted dataset entries.
These two warnings let you know that while Suprtool was processing your task,
other users added or deleted entries to the dataset.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool Errors and Warnings • 289

 Suprtool checks the dataset entry count before and after, and warns you if it has
changed. Suprtool allows concurrent changes, but warns you when it happens. If you
cannot accept multiple access, you must open the database exclusively (mode-4). If
you consistently receive the warning about new dataset entries for a particular
dataset, you should consider using Set Eofread (see the discussion under the Set
command).
In many cases you can ignore these messages, but sometimes it indicates a serious
problem with the current task. You may use Control-Y to stop the task from
processing.
>OUTPUT has different record size.
The record size of the output file being written to has a different record size from the
data being written by Suprtool. The size may be bigger or smaller.
This usually occurs when the file being written to is an existing file, or when a :File
command is used to specify the record size explicitly. When Suprtool builds the
output file for itself, it always uses exactly the record size needed to hold the output
record.
If the output file size is smaller, your records are truncated. If the output file size is
larger, your record is padded with blanks or binary zeros, depending one whether the
file is ASCII or binary.
Output=Input task is not recoverable from this point.
This message is printed at the point that the input file has been re-initialized to accept
output from the sort scratch file. If this task is aborted after this message prints, the
data from the input file will be lost.
>OUTPUT file may be too small.
This message is printed whenever the number of input records (NUMRECS) exceeds
the available number of output records. This often occurs when appending records to
an existing file. If you have an If command, Suprtool does not know how many
records will be selected. It assumes the worst case, that possibly ALL records will be
selected.
Not all sort fields were extracted.
The sort information will not be written to the output Link file.
This warning occurs when you >output filename,link and are sorting by a
field, but the field is not included in the list of extracted fields. Suprlink cannot use
the file, but it may be a perfectly valid file for other applications.
NUMRECS exceeded; some records not processed.
You specified a Numrecs and have reached it.
Record selection in effect, percentage calculation is estimated.
You specified a Get or Input with record number selection and the percentage
complete is estimated.

290 • Suprtool Errors and Warnings Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Welcome to STExport

Welcome to STExport
Welcome to STExport for MPE Version 5.4. STExport converts fields in a self-
describing input file into an output file that can be imported into different
applications.
Summary of the STExport commands:
Before FLoating Quote Verif
CLean Form REDO Xeq
Columns HEAding Reset XML
DAte HElp Set Zero
DElimiter HTML Sign =expression
DO Input Spaces :OS command
Escape LISTREDO SPaces
Exit Output Use

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

Installing STExport
STExport is installed as part of the Suprtool installation process. See the "Installing
Suprtool" chapter of the Suprtool User Manual for more details on how to install
both Suprtool and STExport.

Built-In File Names

STExport requires an external file for the Help command. STExport dynamically
changes this file name, but you can use a :File command to override STExport's
choice.

Default File Names

If you are running STExport on MPE V/E or MPE/iX, STExport finds the name of
the STExport program file name (e.g., stexport.Pub.Robelle). STExport uses this
name to determine the name of the other built-in file names. If STExport cannot call

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to STExport • 291

 the procinfo intrinsic (e.g., this intrinsic doesn't exist on MPE V/R), it assumes you
are running stexport.Pub.Robelle.

Account Name
The account name for all built-in files is the same as the one where STExport is
running (e.g., if you :run stexport.Pub.Dev, the help file for STExport is
stexport.Help.Dev).

Group Name
STExport examines the group name where STExport is running to determine the
group name for the built-in file names. If the group name is Pub, STExport assumes
help files are in the Help group. The same assumption is made for any group name
where the first three letters are not Pub. When STExport is run from a group that
starts with Pub (e.g., Pub), STExport assumes the help files have the same suffix
(e.g., help).

Examples
Here are a few examples of the names that STExport would use for the STExport
help file:
STExport Program File Name STExport Help File Name
stexport.Pub.Robelle stexport.Help.Robelle
stexport.Pub.Robelle stexport.Help.Robelle
stexport.Pub.Account stexport.Help.Account
stexport.PubRob.Account stexport.HelpRob.Account
stexport.Robelle.Dist stexport.Help.Dist

Changing Built-In File Names

You can use a :File command to tell STExport where the help file is located. Your
:File command must use the file name that STExport dynamically assigned to the
help file. For example, if STExport is called STExport.Robelle.Dist, you would use
this :File command:
:file stexport.help.dist=stephelp.robelle.dist

292 • Welcome to STExport Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Accessing STExport

How To Run STExport

To access STExport, type the following command:
:run stexport.pub.robelle
STExport/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1996-2001
(Version 5.4)
$

After a short pause, STExport takes over your terminal and prints out some
identifying information. You will notice that your command prompt has changed to
"$", telling you that you have made it into STExport. STExport expects you to type
command lines, ending each one with Return.

How to Xeq an STExport Task

Normally, you enter a series of commands. These commands specify the Input file,
the Output file, and the formatting options. Finally, you enter an Xeq or an Exit
command. This begins the actual STExport task.
If you entered the Exit command, STExport finishes the current task, then returns
you to the operating system or the program that ran STExport.
$EXIT
End of program
:BYE

If you entered the Xeq command, STExport finishes the current task, then prompts
you for another task. This continues until you enter the Exit command. If you wish to
terminate STExport immediately (perhaps you are confused), enter Exit Abort. This
terminates the STExport program immediately, without attempting any task.

Son Process
If you run STExport within Qedit or Select, you can retain the STExport process and
quickly re-activate it later.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Accessing STExport • 293

 :run qedit.pub.robelle
/:r stexport.pub.robelle
$...
$exit
STEXPORT.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y
/...
/:activate
STEXPORT.PUB.ROBELLE
$...
$exit
Program Held. Use :ACTIVATE/:RUN;HOLD to re-run.
/...

Suprtool Export Command

You can access STExport from within the Suprtool program using Suprtool's Export
command. Suprtool then runs STExport for you. All of STExport's commands are
available to you in Suprtool. When passing STExport commands through Suprtool,
you must preface each STExport command with Export. For example,
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base customer
>get m-customer
>sort cust-no
>output invoices,link
>xeq
>export input invoices
>export sign none {send "sign none" to STExport}
>export output invfile
>export exit {exit from STExport (not Suprtool)}

Refer to the Export command in the Suprtool Commands chapter of the Suprtool user
manual for more information.

Preventing MPE Commands

If you want to prevent STExport from executing any MPE commands (e.g., :Purge),
you Run STExport with Parm=8192. This feature is automatically invoked by
Suprtool's Export command, when Set Limit MPE Off has been specified inside
Suprtool.
:run stexport.pub.robelle;parm=8192

Exit with Verify

Some users find that they Exit from STExport inadvertently. For STExport to get
user approval on Exit, Run STExport with Parm=64.
:run stexport.pub.robelle;parm=64
$e
Okay to exit [no]:
$

Preventing STExport from Suspending

If you run STExport from within HPDesk (and some other programs), STExport
suspends on Exit but HPDesk does not notice. The next time you run STExport you

294 • Accessing STExport Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 will get a new copy of STExport. Eventually you will have many suspended copies
of STExport hanging from HPDesk, consuming system resources. Running
STExport with Parm=32 forces STExport to terminate on Exit rather than suspend.
:run stexport.pub.robelle;parm=32

Job Control Word

STExport sets the system job control word (JCW) to a fatal state when STExport
fails in a batch job. STExport sets only the high-order bit of the JCW. That is, it adds
32,768 to the existing JCW value. HP subsystems use the other bits of the JCW, so
STExport does nothing to them.

Using STExport in Batch

STExport operates in session mode or batch mode. In batch usage, any "error"
message causes STExport to quit, setting the Job Control Word to flush the
remainder of the JOB. Warning messages do not cause an abort.
In batch mode, STExport does not prompt for missing information as it does in
session mode. Instead, it attempts to choose the alternative that has the least chance
of destroying valid data. For example, if the Output file is a duplicate file name in
batch mode, STExport saves the new Output file with a "made up" name
(OUTPUTnn, where nn is from 00 to 20), prints a warning message, and aborts.

Summary of Parm= Values

Value Function
32 don't suspend, terminate completely
64 check with user before Exiting
8192 don't allow MPE commands

Values may be combined by adding them together. For example, Parm = 96 means
"check with me before exiting, then when I do actually exit, terminate STExport
completely instead of suspending".

STExportOutCount JCW
When STExport closes the output file, it sets a JCW named STExportOutCount with
the number of output records. This is the same number reported in the total line (i.e.,
OUT=). You can use this JCW to control job stream execution by checking if the
SprlinkOutCount JCW is non-zero. I there are more than 65,535 output records,
STExport sets STExportOutCount to 65,535.
You can use the :Showjcw command to see the value of a JCW. For values greater
than 16K, Showjcw displays either the word WARN, FATAL or SYSTEM followed
by some digits. These words correspond to the following values:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Accessing STExport • 295

 WARN 16384
FATAL 32768
SYSTEM 49152

Add the value of the word to the number that appears with it for the true value of
STExportOutCount. For example,
:showjcw STExportoutcount
STEXPORTOUTCOUNT = WARN8616
16384 + 8616 = 25000

The MPE/iX :Showvar command can also be used to see the value of a JCW.
Showvar displays the full, correct number (e.g., 25,000) up to the maximum of
65,535.
STExport also sets two other JCWs: STExportOutCount1 and STExportOutCount2.
These communicate the full OUT= value to the STExport2 interface.

STExportFullCount Variable
On MPE/iX, when STExport closes the output file, it also sets a variable
namedSTExportFullCount with the number of output records. This is the same
number reported in the total line (i.e., OUT=). The advantage of the variable is that
if more than 65,535 records are written to the output file, the value of the
STExportFullCount variable is not truncated.

296 • Accessing STExport Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Introduction to STExport

Importing Data
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.

Input File
STExport reads one input file and formats each input record into one record in the
output file. The Input file must be a self-describing file (use the Output-Link option
in Suprtool).

Dates and Decimal Places

Use Suprtool's Item command to specify date formats and the number of implied
decimal places when you create the self-describing file. STExport uses this
information to correctly format the information in the output file. See Appendix A
for a complete example of how to use Suprtool's Item command and Output-Link
option to create an input file for STExport.

Data-Types
Each STExport formatting command applies to all fields of a specific data-type (i.e.,
you cannot specify formatting field by field, only by type). For example, all numeric-
type fields can be formatted the same.
The main data-types that STExport identifies are
Byte-Type: STExport assumes that character information is stored in byte-type
fields. By default, all byte-type fields are surrounded by quotes and
trailing spaces are removed.
Numeric-Type: The numeric data-types are integer, logical, floating-point, packed,
and display. STExport converts the internal representation of each
data-type into a string of ASCII digits. By default, all numeric-type
fields have a leading sign and are variable length. Where appropriate,
numeric-type fields are converted with a decimal point.
Floating-Type: All commands that affect numeric-type fields also affect floating-type

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to STExport • 297

 fields. In addition, you can use the Floating command to specify the
format and decimal places for floating-type fields (i.e., Classic or
IEEE floating-point numbers).
Date-Type: If a field has a date format, STExport does extra formatting. By
default, dates are formatted into yyyymmdd (e.g., 20001125).

Formatting Commands
Use the following table to determine which command applies to which data-type:
Command Data-Type
Date date-type
Floating floating-type
Quote byte-type
Sign numeric-type
Spaces byte-type
Zero numeric-type

Commands
Many of STExport's commands, such as the formatting commands above, once set
will retain their settings between tasks. Several other non-formatting commands will
also retain their settings:
Command
Columns
DElimiter
HEAding
HTML

Each command and its options will remain in effect between any STExport task,
unless specifically turned off.
For example, if a previous task has had custom Headings set with the Heading and
Heading Add options, the Headings will remain in effect for each subsequent task
until a new Heading option is entered.

Performance Considerations
On average, STExport is three-to-five times slower than Suprtool. This is the price
we pay for having all of STExport's formatting features.
You can make STExport faster by doing the following:
1. Pre-select only the records you need with Suprtool. The fewer records
STExport has to process, the faster it runs.

298 • Introduction to STExport Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 2. Use Suprtool's Extract command to select only the fields that you need
to import in your final application. The fewer the number of fields in
the input file, the faster STExport can format each record.

CI Variable Substitution
STExport is able to substitute any CI variables from any command line source,
whether through interactive, use file or batch input.
In order to use this feature, issue the following Set command:
set varsub on

Variable Substitution is not on by default for backward compatibility.

Batch
Since the Streams facility (under default setups) will replace any "!" found in the first
column of a job stream. Anytime you want to specify an entire line thru Variable
Substitution you will need to leave a space before the variable is specified.
!setvar input "i dfile by message-no"
!run stexport.pub.robelle
$set varsub on
$ !input

Notes
For MPE commands some variables will be resolved twice when passed off to MPE,
which will give different values for a variable.
Setting variables at the CI level:
MPEXL:setvar x 10
MPEXL:setvar y "!!x"
MPEXL:showvar [xy]
X = 10
Y = !x

Setting variables within STExport

$set varsub on
$setvar a 10
$setvar b "!!a"
$showvar [ab]
A = 10
B = 10

Because Stexport does one level of variable substitution prior to the command being
passed off to MPE, setting variables in Stexport that involves other variables will
give different results from MPE. We recommend that you set the variables prior to
running Stexport, or that you temporarily turn off variable substitution with the Set
Varsub Off command.
$set varsub off
$setvar a 10
$setvar b "!!a"
$showvar [ab]
A = 10
B = !a
$set varsub on

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to STExport • 299

STExport Commands

General Notes
When you run STExport, it prompts for commands on $stdlist with a "$" character
and reads command lines from $stdinx. STExport commands contain a command
name followed by one or more parameters, and are patterned after the same
commands in Suprtool.
In this chapter, we describe the STExport commands in alphabetical order.
Following each command name in brackets is the minimal abbreviation for the
command. For example: [I] for Input and [O] for Output.

Abbreviating
You may shorten the command to the first letter of the command name.
$v {verify}
$x {xeq}

Uppercase or Lowercase
You may enter the letters in either uppercase or lowercase, because STExport
upshifts everything in the command line except literal strings within quotes ("abc")
and file names. These two commands are identical:
$EXIT
$exit

Comments on Command Lines

Comments may appear at the end of any command line, when they are surrounded by
braces. Many of the examples in this manual show comments at the end of each
command line. You can enter a comment as the only item in a STExport command
line. When continuing command lines, the comment can appear before or after the
continuation character.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 301

 ${ format reals with two decimal places. }
$input invoices
$floating fixed 2 {Floating option}
$output invfile {produces the file we want}
$exit

STREAMX
STREAMX is a product from VESOFT that permits you to build flexible job
streams. STREAMX contains a complete programming language with loops,
prompts, and parameter substitution. A problem arises when trying to enter
comments into a Suprtool batch job that will be submitted with STREAMX. Suprtool
uses the {...} pair to delimit comments. STREAMX uses these same characters for
expressions.
You cannot change Suprtool's comment character, but you can change the {...}
characters in STREAMX. The following example shows how to change the
STREAMX expression characters from {...} to ~...~:
!job example,user.acct
::setbraces ~~
!run stexport.pub.robelle
$input invoices {Input file to format}
$floating fixed 2 {Option for floating-point numbers}
$output invdata {Produces the file we want}
$exit
!tell ~hpjobname~,~hpuser~.~hpaccount~;Example done.
!eoj

MPE Commands
STExport also accepts MPE commands, with or without a colon.
$:comment
$comment

For commands that are the same in both STExport and MPE, STExport executes the
MPE command only if you type the colon. For example:
$help {you get STExport help}
$:help {you get MPE help}

MPE/iX Commands
STExport/iX executes any MPE command (e.g., Run), UDCs, and command files.
Caution: programs that suspend, instead of terminating, are not killed by the
HPCICOMMAND intrinsic.

File Names
STExport's Input and Output commands accept a file name in either MPE or POSIX
format. File names starting with "/", "./", or "../" are treated as POSIX file names. All
other file names are assumed to be MPE file names. MPE file names are upshifted
and POSIX file names are not. POSIX file names are limited to a maximum of 240
characters. Here are some examples of POSIX file names:

302 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 :hello david,mgr.dev,david
:CHDIR SUBDIR
:run stexport.pub.robelle
$input ./file
$verify input
/DEV/DAVID/SUBDIR/file

Calculator
Any command line beginning with an equal sign (=) is treated as a calculator
expression. This feature can be used to do other calculations without the need of an
electronic calculator.
You can obtain a short description of the calculator by entering the following:
=? {? gives a summary of = functions}

For a detailed description of the calculator and its options, see the Suprtool manual.

Control-Y
You can interrupt a STExport task with the Control-Y key (hold down Control while
striking Y). STExport responds by telling you how far it has gotten (IN=, OUT=,
etc.), and asking if you wish to stop. Hit the Return key to continue or type YES to
stop the task.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 303

Before Command [B]
Repeat any combination of the previous 1000 command lines, with or without
editing.
BEFORE [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo previous line)
(BQ=redo without change)
The Before command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them.
If you don't need to change them, use BQ or Do.
The Before command uses Qedit-style control characters for modifying the
commands. The default mode is to replace characters. To delete, use Control-D; to
insert, use Control-B. If you prefer HP-style modify (D, R, I, and U), use the Redo
command instead of Before.

Examples
$listf @.soruce {'source' is not spelled correctly}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
$Before {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {the edited command is shown}
{you press Return}

$listredo -10/
$before 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
$bef 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
$b listf {redo last Listf command}
$b listf temp {redo "listf temp" command}
$b @temp {redo last containing "temp"}
$before -2 {redo command before previous}
$before -5/-2 {redo by relative lines}

Modify Operators
If you wish to change any characters within the line, the modify operators are the
regular Control Codes used in Qedit:
• Any printing characters replace the ones above.
• Control-D plus spaces deletes columns above.
• Control-B puts you into "insert before" mode.
• Control-A starts appending characters at the end of line.
• Control-A, Control-D, plus spaces, deletes from the end.
• Control-T ends Insert Mode, allowing movement to a new column.
• Control-G recovers the original line.
• Control-O specifies "overwrite" mode (needed for spaces).

304 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command for details.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 305

Clean Command [CL]
Specifies what characters to clean from a byte type field.
CLEAN [ SPECIAL | <string> <range> ]
(Default: None)
STExport will automatically clean all the byte type fields for a given SD file. To
define what characters that need to be replaced you use the clean command with the
character you want to clean in quotes. Since most of the characters that you will need
to clean are unprintable, you can enter the decimal equivalent of the character. This
is denoted by entering the "^" character in quotes preceding the decimal number of
the character you wish to clean.
You can set the character with the command set cleanchar as shown below.
$ in mysdfile
$clean "^9","^10","^0","^7"
$set cleanchar " "
$out myexport
$xeq

Since the Cleanchar is by default set to space, the above task could simply be:
$in mysdfile
$clean "^9","^10","^0","^7"
$out myexport
$xeq

The SPECIAL keyword automatically defines Clean characters of Decimal 0 thru to

Decimal 31.
$in mysdfile
$clean special
$out myexport
$exit

You can also specify a range of characters with the following syntax:
$in mysdfile
$clean "^0:^10"
$out myexport
$exit

The above task would clean all byte type fields of any characters from Decimal 0
(Null) to Decimal 10. (Line Feed)

Removing Bad Characters

You can have the Clean function clean the field, and instead of replacing with a
space, STExport will essentially shift characters to the left by Setting the CleanChar
in the following manner:
>Set Cleanchar “<null>”

STExport will pad the field that was cleaned with the appropriate amount of
characters with a space at the end of the field.

306 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Columns Command [C]
Specify whether fields are formatted into variable- or fixed-length columns.
COLUMNS FIXED | NONE
(Default: None)
Most PC software expects imported data to be in variable-length columns. Other
database systems prefer data to be aligned in fixed columns. Use the Columns
command to specify whether the output file has variable- or fixed-length columns.

Output File
The Columns command also affects the format of the Output file. If you specify
Columns None, the output file will have variable-length records. If you specify
Columns Fixed, the output file will have fixed-length records.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 307

Date Command [DA]
Specify a specific date-format for all dates.
DATE NONE | date-format [ "separator" ]
INVALID ASTERISKS | NULL | "string"
(Default: yyyymmdd Invalid Asterisks)
Use the Date command to specify an output format for dates. Use the Invalid option
to specify how invalid dates should be formatted in the output file. The advantage of
the None option is that it formats all dates, whether they are valid or not. If you
select a date-format, the default Invalid option replaces invalid dates with asterisks
"*".
STExport must know which fields are dates and the format of each date. Use
Suprtool's Item command and Output,Link option to specify the date information.

Date Format
The date-format can be one of:
• ccyymmdd
• yyyymmdd
• ddmmyyyy
• mmddyyyy
• yymmdd
• ddmmyy
• mmddyy
• aammdd
STExport converts each date field from its internal date format into the format that
you specify.

Separator Character
By default, STExport formats all dates without a separator between the day, month,
and year. Specify your own separator by enclosing it inside quotes after you specify
the date format. The separator must be one character long. For example, to specify
dates in ddmmyyyy format with a slash separator, use
$date ddmmyyyy "/"

To specify dates in yymmdd format with a dash separator, use

$date yymmdd "-"

Oracle Dates
Oracle dates contain both the date and the time. STExport formats the date, but not
the time. If you specify Date None, Oracle dates will be treated as byte-type fields.
Since Oracle dates actually contain binary data, the output is often unusable by other
applications, unless you specify a specific date-format.

308 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Invalid Dates
By default, all invalid dates are formatted as asterisks. STExport treats any date that
does not have a valid century, year, month, or combination (e.g., February 29, 2000)
as invalid. You can specify how you want STExport to format invalid dates by using
the Invalid option of the Date command.
If you specify,
$date invalid null

STExport will produce a zero-length field if you specify Column Variable and
spaces if you specify Column Fixed. If you want to specify an explicit string for all
invalid dates, do so after the Invalid option. For example,
$date invalid "%%%%%"

will cause STExport to produce a string of five percent signs for any invalid date.

Example
First, use Suprtool to create the input file with the appropriate date attributes:
>get d-sales
>item deliv-date,date,mmddyyyy
>item purch-date,date,mmddyyyy
>output dsales,link
>xeq

Then use STExport to read the dsales file. Specify Date ddmmyyyy "-" which causes
all valid dates to be formatted in day-month-year format with a dash as the separator:
$input dsales
$date ddmmyyyy "-"
$output dexport
$xeq

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 309

Decimal Command [DEC]
Specify the format for the decimal place in numeric fields.
DECIMAL PERIOD | COMMA
(Default: Period)
The fields in the input file The Decimal command specifies what separator will be used to indicate the decimal
must have been created with place in numeric fields. In North America, the custom is to indicate the decimal
decimal places, using place in numbers with a period (.). Outside North America, the custom is to indicate
Suprtool's Item command. the decimal place with a comma (,). If the decimal place indicator is incorrect, it is
harder to import files into other applications.
The Decimal command does not apply to floating-point fields.

310 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Delimiter Command [DE]
Specify a delimiter, if any, that appears between each field in the output record.
DELIMITER NONE | COMMA | TAB | SPACE | "string"
(Default: Comma)
Use Delimiter Comma to create an output file in "comma-delimited" format (this is
common for PC database applications). Use Delimiter Tab to tell STExport to insert
the tab character between fields, instead of a comma.
If you have selected Columns Fixed, you will likely want to remove the delimiter by
specifying Delimiter None. If you want some white space between fixed-length
columns, specify Delimiter Space instead.

String Parameter
You can put anything inside quote characters to specify your own Delimiter. For
example, Delimiter " , " would insert a space, a comma, and another space between
each field in the output record. You can use either single- or double-quote characters
to specify the delimiter (e.g., Delimiter " " and Delimiter ' ' are the same). The
maximum length of the delimiter string is three characters.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 311

Do Command [DO]
The Do command repeats (without changes) any of the previous 1000 commands.
DO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: repeat the previous command)
Commands are numbered sequentially from one as entered; the last 1000 of them are
retained. Use the :Listredo command to display the previous commands. You can
repeat a single command (do 5), a range of commands (do 5/10) or the most
recent command whose name matches a string (do list). If you want to modify
the commands before executing them, use Redo or Before.

Examples
$listredo
$do {do previous command again}
$do 39 {do command line 39 again}
$do 5/8 {do command lines 5 to 8 again}
$do input {do most recent Input command}
$do -2 {do command before previous}
$do -7/-5 {do by relative line number}
$do 5/ {do command lines 5 to "last"}

Notes
The Do command cannot be abbreviated.

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command for details.

312 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Escape Command [ES]
Specifies what character to escape the defined Delimiter, Quote or End of Line
character.
ESCAPE DELIM | QUOTE | EOL |"string"|

(Default: None)
Many SQL importers allow you to add an escape character in front of characters that
may mean something else to the import program. For example if the import program
thinks that the delimiter character is a comma, the importer may treat a comma in an
address field as an indication to move to the next field, which will throw of the
import.
Some import programs, will treat the next character as data as opposed to a delimeter
if the character is preceded by an escape character, such as a slash. Thus when the
field is analyzed by STExport the data that originally started as:
"Niagara Falls,Ontario, Canada"

would be transformed to be:

"Niagara Falls/,Ontario/, Canada"

This function will not work on fixed columns and can be invoked with the escape
command:
escape delimeter quote eol "/"

The above command will take the defined delimeter, quote and Eol and escape with
a "/", if found in any byte type field.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 313

Exit Command [E]
Exit STExport in one of three ways. By default, perform the current task, if any, then
leave STExport. Users are often frustrated when they exit STExport after specifying
part of a task and STExport starts processing the task. To avoid this situation, use the
Abort or Suspend options to exit STExport conveniently without executing the
current task.
EXIT [ ABORT | SUSPEND | XEQ ]
(Default: Xeq)
Typing Exit with no parameters means Exit Xeq. STExport recognizes special
command names which specify both the Exit command and an exit option (e.g., ES
means Exit Suspend).

Exit Abort [EA]

Cancels the current operation and terminates STExport. The Exit command without
parameters always attempts to perform the task currently specified, while Exit Abort
cancels the task and terminates immediately. Should STExport be executed as a son
process, Exit only suspends STExport, while Exit Abort actually terminates the
process.

Examples
$:comment. You began to specify an input file, stopped for
$:comment. coffee, and decided to cancel the task
$:comment. upon your return.
$input invoices
... coffee break ...
$exit abort {cancel the task and terminate}
End Of Program

Exit Suspend [ES]

When running STExport as a son process (e.g., from Qedit), it would be nice to
suspend STExport without executing the current task. Exit Suspend does this. After
returning to STExport, all specifications for the current task are still in effect.

314 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Examples
:run qedit.pub.robelle
/:run stexport.pub.robelle
$input invoices
$floating fixed 2 {start specifying options}
$exit suspend {return to Qedit without an Xeq}
STEXPORT.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y
/...
/:activate STExport
STEXPORT.PUB.ROBELLE
$output invdata {continue specifications}
$xeq {execute the current task}

Exit Xeq [EX]

To perform the current task, you can either use Xeq (which leaves you inside
STExport, ready to define another task) or Exit Xeq (which leaves STExport when
done with the task).
After the STExport task completes, STExport either terminates, or suspends and
awakens a father process (i.e., :Run from within Qedit). Exit Xeq is the default
option (i.e., specifying exit starts execution of the current task).

Examples
:run stexport.pub.robelle
$exit {no input was specified}

:run stexport.pub.robelle
$input invoices
$floating fixed 2
$output invdata
$exit {format and stop}

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 315

Floating Command [FL]
Specify the format and the number of decimal-places for floating-point fields.
FLOATING DEFAULT |
FIXED decimal-places |
SCIENTIFIC decimal-places
(Default: Default)
By default, STExport formats floating-point fields (classic floating-point or IEEE
floating-point) into either a fixed number or into scientific notation. Which notation
STExport chooses, depends on the value of each field in each input record. You can
force STExport to choose either scientific or fixed notation and the number of
decimal places for all floating-point numbers. You cannot specify these options for a
specific field or make them different for 32-bit versus 64-bit floating-point numbers.

Fixed Format
Use Floating Fixed to force all floating-point numbers to appear in a fixed format.
You specify the maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal point. If you
specify Floating Fixed, STExport does not remove trailing zeros from the formatted
numbers. If you specify Columns Fixed, all floating-point values will be aligned
along the decimal point.

Scientific Format
Use Floating Scientific to force all floating-point numbers to appear in scientific
notation. You must specify the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. The
Scientific option formats the number with all significant digits to the right of the
decimal-point followed by the exponent (e.g., "0.47832E-10").

Notes
Both the Fixed and Scientific options attempt to round the number to the specified
number of decimal-places within the maximum width for each floating-point data-
type. If STExport cannot format a floating-point field in the specified number of
decimal-places, the number appears as asterisks "****".

316 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Form Command [F]
Display the fields in a self-describing file.
FORM [filename]
If no file name is specified, the fields in the input file are displayed. The display
shows the field type and field length in IMAGE notation. An I1-field is a single
integer. Packed-fields show the number of nibbles (subtract one to obtain the number
of digits). Byte and zoned-decimal fields show the byte length.
When showing the form of a self-describing file, STExport shows the byte offset of
each field after the subcount, type, and sublength. The first field always appears at
offset one.
There are two types of self-describing files. One type is produced with Suprtool's
Query output option. You produce the other type with the Link output option. The
Form command shows the internal self-describing version number, enabling you to
tell the difference.

A.00.00 - Query Output Option

Compound fields have a question mark for the type, and the length is the number of
bytes in the field. Sort information about the file is missing. Here is an example form
listing:
$form custfile
File: CUSTFILE.EXAMPLE.ROBELLE (SD Version A.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CHARACTER X5 1 {length is five bytes}
ZONED Z5 6 {room for five digits}
INTEGER I1 11 {single integer}
DOUBLE I2 13 {double integer}
PACKED P6 17 {room for five digits}
QUAD I4 20 {eight-byte integer}
REPEATINT ?6 28 {compound field}
LOGICAL K1 34 {single logical}
DBLLOG K2 36 {double logical}
Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 44 Blocking: 64

B.00.00 - Link Output Option

These self-describing files contain information about how the file was sorted.
Compound fields are handled correctly, so the Form command shows compound
fields just as you would see them in IMAGE. The Item command in Suprtool
identifies the date format or the number of decimal places of an item. The Link
output option saves the date and decimal attributes as part of the field description:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 317

 $form custfile
File: DATAFILE.EXAMPLE.ROBELLE (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CHARACTER X5 1 <<Sort #1 >>
REPEATINT 3I1 6 {compound field}
DATE J2 12 <<YYYYMMDD>>
DOLLAR P6 16 << .2 >>
Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 16 Blocking: 64

Formout File
The Form command writes all output to the file Formout. This file defaults to
$stdlist. You can redirect this file to a line printer or a disc drive. If you redirect the
Formout file to a disc file, Suprtool assumes a temporary file by default.
>:file formout;dev=lp
>form custfile {writes to line printer}
>:file formout;dev=disc
>form invfile {writes to temporary file}

318 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Heading Command [HEA]
Specify a heading, if any, that appears as the first record of the output file.
HEADING NONE | FIELDNAMES |
string | ADD string | COLUMN string
(Default: None)
When importing data into other applications the first line of the import file is often
treated as field names or headings. Use the Heading command to specify what
STExport should write as the first line of the output file.

Field Names
If you specify Heading Fieldnames, STExport creates a default heading. This
heading is constructed by using the field name of each field in the input file. The
Fieldname option uses the formatting options that apply to byte-type fields to
determine the final format (e.g., the Quote command).
STExport produces multiple field names for compound fields. For compound fields,
the repeat count is used to determine the number of field names. The repeat count is
appended to the field name, starting with one, until all the field names have been
generated.

User Specified Heading

You can specify your own heading line by doing:
>heading "your heading"

Because the maximum length of an STExport input line is 256 characters, you may
not be able to specify a long heading with a single Heading command. Use Heading
Add to add additional strings to your heading:
Heading "Account" {Note no Add in first string}
Heading Add "First Name "
Heading Add "Last Name "
Heading Add "City "
Heading Add "State "

If you specify your own heading, STExport does not attempt to apply any formatting
options. If you need each field in the heading line to be surrounded by quotes and
separated by commas, you have to supply these yourself. For example,
Heading '"Account"' {Note no Add in first string}
Heading Add ','
Heading Add '"First Name"'
Heading Add ','
Heading Add '"Last Name"'
Heading Add ','
Heading Add '"City"'
Heading Add ','
Heading Add '"State"'

Column Headings
It is difficult to get headings right when you have to specify all the quotes and
delimiters with the Heading Add option. Instead, use Heading Column to specify
individual column headings without having to type formatting information.
STExport then uses the current quote and delimiter settings in the heading.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 319

 For example, if you specify:
Heading Column 'Account'
Heading Column 'First Name'
Heading Column 'Last Name'
Heading Column 'City'
Heading Column 'State'

and Quote Double and Delimiter Comma are in effect, then the heading STExport
produces will be:
"Account","First Name","Last Name","City","State"

Notes
You cannot combine the Add and Column options. You must specify one or the
other. If you start with Heading Add and then later specify Heading Column,
STExport erases the heading you created with Heading Add and starts over with the
first column that you specify with Heading Column. Similarly, if you start with
Heading Column, a Heading string or Heading Add will start over with a new
heading.

320 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Help Command [H]
Show what commands and options are available in STExport.
HELP [ command | keyword [ ,section ] ]
(Default: browse through the entire help file)

Command Help
If you specify any parameters, Help first assumes that you want help on a specific
STExport command. If you know the structure of the help file, you can specify one
of the keywords under the command name.
$help sign {help on the Sign command}
$help sign,trailing {trailing section of the Sign command}

Keyword Help
If we cannot find any help in the "Commands" section of the help file, we assume
that you specified one of the outer-level keywords in the help file. To see this list of
keywords, type help with no parameters. You see a short introduction to STExport
and then a list of keywords. You can specify any of these keywords on the Help
command. You can also specify a subkeyword.
$help intro,input {input section of Introduction}

Quick Help - HQ
HQ asks STExport to look under the keyword Quick in the help file. Quick contains
the text from the STExport Quick Reference Guide, offering the experienced user a
quick review of the syntax of any command.
$hq input {quick description of Input}

Notes
If no parameters are specified, Help allows you to browse through the help file,
stexport.Help.Robelle. The Help command uses the Qhelp subsystem from the
QLIB. For "help in help", type "?" when you see the Qhelp prompt character ("?").
The help file is organized into levels. To go back to the previous level, press Return.
Press F8 to exit the Qhelp subsystem and return to STExport.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 321

HTML Command [HT]
Use HTML to produce Web pages for either Internet or Intranet applications.
HTML NONE | PREFORMATTED | TABLE |
TITLE "string" |
HEADING "string"
(Default: None)
Web applications expect data in a special format called the Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML). Use the HTML option to request that STExport format the input
file into HTML format.

Example
$html table title "Product Listing"

Maximum Size of HTML Files

Web browsers often cannot process large documents. The maximum size depends on
the browser, the version of that browser, the operating system it is working on, and
how much physical memory is present on the client machine. We suggest that you
limit your Web pages to less than 1,000 lines and restrict the number of columns,
unless you are certain that your users can handle larger files. This advice reflects not
so much a limitation of STExport, but a limitation of how Web browsers work.

Preformatted Format
To preserve the columns and spacing of each output line, use the HTML
Preformatted option. This option puts an HTML <pre> tag around all the data in the
input file. Most Web browsers will display preformatted text in a fixed-width font
such as Courier. Therefore, if you specify HTML Preformatted, you should also
select Columns Fixed.

Table Format
Use HTML Table to create output in HTML table format. STExport creates tables
with a border between each column and row. Tables make it easier to read tabular
information, but some older browsers do not support tables.
If you specify HTML Table, all byte-type fields are left-justified and all other fields
are right-justified. If you use Heading Column or Fieldnames, the column headings
are specified with HTML table heading tags. Most browsers highlight the column
headings in some way, such as bold text centered over the column.

Title
All HTML documents must have a title. By default, STExport uses the title "This is
the Title". You should specify your own title using the Title option.

Heading
The heading appears before the column headings and data from your input file. By
default, there is no heading. Use the Heading option to specify your own heading.

322 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Column Headings
If you specify HTML Table, use the Heading command to specify column headings
for HTML output. The Heading Fieldnames option will produce acceptable column
headings, but it is better to use Heading Column to specify a string for each of the
fields in your input file.

Roman-8 Characters
HP e3000 and HP 9000 computers use the Roman-8 character set. Web pages must
use the ISO-8859-1 character set. The characters in the Roman-8 set are similar to,
but not identical with, the ISO-8859-1 character set.
When formatting byte-type fields, STExport attempts to convert any Roman-8 input
character into the corresponding ISO-8859-1 character. STExport also tries to make
reasonable conversions such as:
Symbol Converted To
> &gt
< &lt
& &amp
Those characters that cannot be converted are dropped from the output. The
following characters cannot be converted:
Symbol Roman-8 value name
` 169 grave mark
^ 170 circumflex
~ 172 tilde
ƒ 190 function symbol
ß 222 beta symbol
Š 235 capital-S, Icelandic
š 236 small-S, Icelandic
Ÿ 238 capital-Y, umlaut

Notes
If you specify HTML Table, STExport sets:
• Quotes None
• Delimiters None
If you specify HTML Preformatted, STExport sets:
• Quotes None
• Delimiters Space
• Columns None
In either case, any changes cause STExport to print a warning to let you know that
these options have changed. If you do want quotes around byte-type fields or
delimiters between fields, specify those options after selecting the HTML option.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 323

Input Command [I]
Specifies the primary input file.
INPUT filename
There can be only one Input file per task. The Input file must be a self-describing
file, which should be created by Suprtool using the Output-Query or Output-Link
option. If you want STExport to format date-fields and implied decimal places, you
must use the Output-Link option of Suprtool when you create the file for input to
STExport.
Every record in the input file is formatted into a corresponding record in the output
file. It is best to have Suprtool Extract only the fields you actually need. Only those
fields needed for import into the final application should be present in the Input file.

324 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Listredo Command [LISTREDO]
The Listredo command displays any of the previous 1000 commands.
LISTREDO [ start [ / stop ] ] [;ABS] [;OUT=file]
[ string ] [;REL]
[ ALL | @ ] [;UNN]
(Default: display previous 20 commands)
(BJ and ,, are short for LISTREDO)
Commands are numbered sequentially from one as entered; the last 1000 are
retained. You can display a single command, a range of commands, all 1000, or all
the commands whose name matches the string. You can print the commands with
ABSolute line numbers (the default), RELative line numbers (-5/-4), or
UNNumbered. You can write the commands to your terminal or OUT to a temporary
file. If you want to redo any of these commands, see Do, Redo, and Before.

Examples
$listredo 5
$listredo 5/10
$listredo help {print all Help commands}
$listredo -10 {print last ten commands}
$listredo ALL {print entire redo stack}
$listredo @;rel {print ALL, relative numbers}
$listredo purge {print all Purge commands}
$listredo purge xx {print all "purge xx" commands}
$listredo @purge {print all with "purge" anywhere}
$listredo 1/10;out=*lp {dump commands to printer}
$listredo @;unn;out=save {write commands to a file}

Notes
The Listredo command cannot be abbreviated, but BJ and ,, (comma comma) are
accepted as a short forms.

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command for details.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 325

Output Command [O]
Specifies the Output file.
OUTPUT * | filename [TEMP] [ERASE]
By default, the Output file is permanent and named "Output". If you specify
Columns None, the output file will have variable-length records. When Columns
Fixed is specified, STExport creates the output file with fixed-length records.
STExport computes the maximum record size by computing the maximum length of
each formatted field and adding them together. If the heading line is longer than this,
the length of the heading line is used as the record length. You can use a :file
equation to reduce the record size, but it is not recommended since too short a record
size can cause STExport to fail in the middle of a task.

File Equations
STExport allows the use of file equations to help ensure a file is built with the
attributes that you require in the output file.
One example of this is when you are generating HTML output and want to use it
with the Apache Web server on MPE. The Web server needs the files to be
bytestream files.
One caveat for this technique with bytestream files is that you have to specify a disc
value greater than or equal to the total number of bytes that will be written to the file,
because by definition a bytestream file has a record size of only one byte. An
example of this technique is as follows:
:file x=myhtml;rec=,,b;disc=100000
$in mysdfile
$html table title "My Web Page"
$out *x
$exit

Stdlist
If the output file name is *, each output record is written to stdlist. This is useful for
trying out different formatting combinations until you find the one that best fits the
application that you want to import data into. For example,
$input sdfile
$output *
$xeq
$floating fixed 2 {change one option}
$input sdfile
$output *
$xeq {view the result}
$sign none {change a different option}
$input sdfile
$output *
$xeq {and so on}

326 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Quote Command [Q]
Specify which quote character, if any, is to be used around byte-type fields.
QUOTE NONE | DOUBLE | SINGLE
(Default: Double)
Most software packages expect byte-type fields to be in one of two formats:
1. Fixed-column (see the Column command).
2. Surrounded by single- or double-quotes. In this case, you may also
need to remove trailing spaces (see the Spaces command).

No Quotes for Fixed Columns

Use Quote None to cause byte-type fields to be output as a group of characters. In
many cases, you would combine this option with Columns Fixed.

Single or Double Quotes

By default, all byte type fields are surrounded by double quotes. Specify single
quotes using the Single option. If a byte type field contains the quote character
specified in the quote command, it is replaced with a space. For example, if the input
was:
customer's

and Quote Single had been specified, then the output would be:
'customer s'

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 327

Redo Command [REDO]
Enables you to modify and repeat any of the previous 1000 command lines.
REDO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo the previous command)
The Redo command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them. If
you do not need to change them, use the Do command. Commands are numbered
sequentially from one as entered; the last 1000 are retained. Use the :Listredo
command to display the previous commands. You can Redo a single command, a
range of commands, or the most recent command whose name matches a string.
The Redo command uses MPE-style editing logic (D, I, R, U and >). The default
mode is to replace characters. To delete, type DDDD under the characters to be
removed. To insert, type I under the insertion spot, then the new characters. To undo
your changes, type U. To append to the end of the line, use >xxx. To delete from the
end of the line, use >DD. To replace at the end of the line, use >Rxxx. And to erase
the rest of the line, use D>. If you prefer Qedit-style editing (Control-D, etc.), use the
Before command instead of the Redo command.

Examples
$listf @.soruce {'source' is not spelled right}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
$redo {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {edited command is shown}
{you press <return> }

$listredo all
$redo 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
$redo {redo previous command}
$redo -2 {redo command before previous}
$redo 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
$redo -10/ {redo -10 through last}
$redo purge {redo last Purge command}
$redo purge temp {redo last "purge temp"}
$redo @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

Notes
The Redo command cannot be abbreviated.
To save more commands, use a :File command on the file Stexredo before you run
STExport:
file stexredo;disc=5000
run stexport.pub.robelle

328 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Reset Command [R]
Cancel the current task.
RESET
Reset closes the current Input file, then resets the Output file name to "Output".
Formatting options are not reset, only the task-related commands are reset. If you try
to reset an individual command, STExport prints a warning.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 329

Set Command [S]
Enables or disables certain operating options within STExport. These options are not
reset by Xeq or Reset commands.
SET [CLEANCHAR <string> ]
[MAPPED ON|OFF]
[REDO filename]
[STATISTICS ON|OFF]
[VARSUB ON|OFF]
[VARSUBDEBUG ON|OFF]
[WARNINGS ] ON|OFF
[XMLTAGCHAR ] "." | "_" | "-"
[ZONEDFIX] ON|OFF

CleanChar
SET CleanChar <string>
(Initially: set to space)
Sets what character is used to replace a Clean character. If you just want to clean the
fields and replace the “bad” character with no character then you need to set the
CleanChar in the following manner:
>Set CleanChar “<null>”

See the Clean command for more details.

Mapped
SET MAPPED ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Mapped forces STExport/iX to read the input file using mapped file access.
Specifying this option is an error in STExport/V. If the input is not in memory, the
wall time performance is worse with Set Mapped On, but CPU time performance is
better. You must Set Mapped On before specifying the input file.

Redo
SET REDO filename
(Initially: unnamed temporary file)
Commands entered at the STExport prompt are saved in something called the redo
stack. You can recall commands from the redo stack by using other commands such
as Before, Do and Redo. By default, the redo stack is stored in a temporary file and

330 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 discarded as soon as you exit. This temporary stack is not preserved across STExport
invocations.
The new Set Redo command assigns a permanent file as the redo stack, allowing the
stack to become available for future STExport invocations. For example, to assign
the Myredo file as a persistent redo stack, enter
$Set Redo Myredo

If the file does not exist, STExport creates it. Otherwise, STExport uses the existing
file. All subsequent commands are written to the persistent redo stack. The setting is
valid for the duration of the STExport session. As soon as you exit STExport, the
setting is discarded. Next time you run STExport, you will get the temporary stack.
If the file name is not qualified, the redo stack is created in the logon group and
account. This may be desirable if you want to have separate stacks. If you want to
always use the same persistent stacks, you should qualify the name.
The Verify command shows which stack is currently in use. If it shows
<temporary>, then STExport is using the default stack. Anything else is the name of
the file used on the Set Redo command.

Concurrency
When STExport uses the default temporary stack, it is only accessible to that
particular instance of STExport. You can run as many STExport instances as you
need and each one gets its own redo stack. With temporary stacks you will never get
into concurrency problems.
If you start using a persistent redo stack, however, you might start running into
concurrency problems. A persistent redo stack can only be used by one STExport
instance at a time. If you try to use a persistent redo stack that is already in use, you
will get the following message:
$Set Redo Myredo
EXCLUSIVE VIOLATION: FILE BEING ACCESSED (FSERR 90)
Unable to open file for REDO stack

In this situation, STExport continues to use the redo stack active at the time and lets
you continue working as normal.
Qedit can also have permanent redo stacks. To prevent products from writing to each
other's redo stack, it is advisable to have separate stacks for each product by giving
them different file names. For example, if you use the command
set redo myredo

you will have a redo stack called Myredo for your STExport commands. If you exit
STExport, then run Qedit and supply the same command Set Redo command, your
Qedit commands will be written to the same file that was used for your STExport
commands.

Statistics
SET STATISTICS ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Statistics causes STExport to print statistics at the end of each task.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 331

 Varsub
SET VARSUB ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Setting Variable Substitution causes STExport to resolve any CI variables in a
command before processing.

VarsubDebug
SET VARSUBDEBUG ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Suprtool, now has a setting called Set VarsubDebug on which will print out the line
after the variable substitution has occurred. This setting only works if Set Varsub is
on and Set VarsubDebug is on.

setvar outfile &

:"/GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
45678901"
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
SUPRTOOL/iX/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2007.
(Version 5.4 Internal) TUE, OCT 30, 2007, 2:58 PM Type H for he
>set varsub on
>set varsubdebug on
>in file1sd.suprtest
vd:in file1sd.suprtest
>output !outfile,link,temp
vd:output /GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123
vd:2345678901,link,temp

The output is formatted into 74 byte chunks and printed with a preceding “vd:” so
the “substituted” line is clear.

Warnings
SET WARNINGS OFF
(Initially: ON)

Suprtool normally prints warning messages out to $stdlist. You can turn off these
messages when you are running from batch by issuing a Set Warnings off command.
If you are simulating batch mode with the Set Interactive Off command, you must do
the Set Warnings off after the Set Interactive Off.
The default for this setting is On.

Xmltagchar
SET XMLTAGCHAR "." | "-" |"_"
(Initially: ".")
In XML the tags that surrounded the data can not have any special characters other
than hyphen, underscore and period ("-","_", "."). So STExport replaces any of the

332 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 invalid special characters with a "." by default. You can change the default character
To be something else with the following set command:
$Set xmltagchar "_"

STExport will only allow the hyphen, underscore and period to be set with this
command.

ZonedFix
SET ZONEDFIX OFF
(Initially: OFF)

Set ZonedFix has been added to fix a zoned field that when converted to byte, results
in "?", meaning that the source field has some characters that were not expected in a
Zoned field. If Set ZonedFix is On STExport zeroes out the field after an attempted
conversion of the field yields characters that cannot be converted.
The default for this setting is Off.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 333

Sign Command [SI]
Specify what should be done with the sign character for numeric-fields.
SIGN NONE | FLOATING | LEADING | TRAILING
(Default: Floating)
All numeric-type fields, except logical fields, have a sign. Integer and floating-point
fields can have either a space " " (for positive values) or a negative sign "-". Packed-
and display-type fields can have a space " " (neutral), a plus sign "+" (for positive
values), or a negative sign "-".
Specify Sign None to cause STExport to completely ignore the sign. If you specify
Sign None, no error or warning message appears if any numeric-types have a
negative value.

Leading vs. Floating

If you specify Columns Fixed, it is easy to see the difference between a leading
versus a floating sign. A leading sign always appears in the same column whereas a
floating sign always appears before the first digit of a number. For example,
Sign Leading Sign Floating
- 22415 -22415
- 207 -207
- 16600 -16600
- 21910 -21910
- 8411 -8411
- 42 -42
- 16713 -16713
- 7970 -7970

Trailing Sign
Specify Sign Trailing to cause the sign character to appear after each formatted
number. Remember that for many numeric-types the sign for positive numbers is a
space. STExport always leaves room for the sign, even if it is a space.

334 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Spaces Command [SP]
Specify whether trailing spaces are to appear in byte-type fields.
SPACES NONE | TRAILING
(Default: None)
If byte-type fields are surrounded with quotes (see the Quote command), the Spaces
command determines whether trailing spaces in byte-type fields appear within the
quotes. Use Spaces Trailing if you want to retain all of the spaces in a byte-type
field.
Software packages that store variable-length character data treat trailing spaces as
data. Use Spaces None to remove trailing spaces for data that is imported into these
applications.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 335

Use Command [U]
Specifies a file of commands to be executed as a group.
USE[Q] filename

Examples
A usefile makes your task easier by allowing common commands to be specified
once in an external file. For example, the following usefile contains all the
commands for creating the Invcust file:
$use invuse
input invoices {input file to format}
floating fixed 2 {formatting option}
output invdata {produces the file we want}
exit

STExport prints the lines in the usefile, including the comment lines. This allows you
to include instructions and reminders in the usefile. In the example above, there were
no commands for the user to enter.

Notes
Usefiles cannot be nested in STExport. The usefile may be any unnumbered text file
or a Qedit workfile, but no more than 256 characters per record are processed.
By default, STExport displays the commands in a usefile as they are executed.
STExport can execute commands quietly using the Useq command. For
compatibility with Qedit, Useq can be abbreviated to UQ.

336 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Verify Command [V]
Print the definition of the current task.
VERIFY
Verify prints the current Input and Output files and all export specifications; in other
words, it is a Verify All command.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 337

Xeq Command [X]
Perform the current task.
XEQ
Xeq checks that you have specified an Input file and an Output file. Then it performs
the task and creates the Output file. Finally, it closes the files, ready for you to
specify another task or Exit. If you also wish to leave STExport after completing the
task, use Exit instead of Xeq.

338 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

XML Command [XML]
Use XML to produce XML Documents for either Internet or Intranet applications.
XML
VERSION |2"string"|
DOCTYPE |2"string" &| filename|
FILE |2"string"|
RECORD |2"string"|

Example
STExport can generate "well-formed" XML output with just a few commands.
$input file1sd
$xml
$output myxml
$xeq

These four simple commands will generate the following file that packages such as
XMLSpy will consider to be "well-formed" XML. The result of such an STExport
task will look as follows:
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<file>
<record>
<CITY>Los Altos</CITY>
<CREDIT-RATING>100000</CREDIT-RATING>
<CUST-ACCOUNT>4003302</CUST-ACCOUNT>
<CUST-STATUS>20</CUST-STATUS>
<NAME-FIRST>Ralph</NAME-FIRST>
<NAME-LAST>Perkins</NAME-LAST>
<STATE-CODE>CA</STATE-CODE>
<STREET-ADDRESS>Room 655</STREET-ADDRESS>
<STREET-ADDRESS>Los Altos 040033022</STREET-ADDRESS>
<ZIP-CODE>93002</ZIP-CODE>
</record>
</file>

Notes
By default STExport will add the simplest version tag at thebeginning of the file,
then it inserts a <file> and matching </file> at the beginning and the end of the file.
Then STExport encloses each record from the input file in a <record> and </record>
tag. Finally, the Self-Describing tags are added around each field's data values and
edited appropriately.
Naturally users would want options to customize and specify the various options and
tags themselves, in order to generate a file that is acceptable to their tools.

Version
You can specify the "version" tag at the beginning of the XML file with the
following command:
xml version "?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?"

STExport will put the "<" and ">" around what is specified in the version string.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 339

 Doctype
A Document Type Declaration can be made at the beginning of the file via the
!DOCTYPE specification. This typically tells whatever tool that is parsing the xml
file where the DTD for the file resides.
In STExport you can specify simple one-line doctype specs with the following
command:
xml doctype '!DOCTYPE address-book SYSTEM "address-book.dtd"'

This will write the doctype specification at the top of the output file, directly after the
XML version specification.
More complicated and lengthy doctype specifications can be implemented by using
the filename option, whereby STExport will append the contents of a named file
directly after the version specification. The syntax can be simply:
xml doctype myfile.xml

File
You can customize the "file" tags with the following command commands:
xml file "orders"

STExport will put the "<" and ">" around what is specified in the File string.

Record
You can customize the "record" tags with the following command commands:
xml record "Details"

STExport will put the "<" and ">" around what is specified in the Record string.

Example
You can enter multiple XML commands per task to set the XML options you
require.
$in file1sd
$xml version "?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?"
$xml file "Orders" record "Details"
$out myfile

An example of the output generated by the above commands is as follows:

340 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 <?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>
<Orders>
<Details>
<CITY>Los Altos</CITY>
<CREDIT-RATING>100000</CREDIT-RATING>
<CUST-ACCOUNT>4003302</CUST-ACCOUNT>
<CUST-STATUS>20</CUST-STATUS>
<NAME-FIRST>Ralph</NAME-FIRST>
<NAME-LAST>Perkins</NAME-LAST>
<STATE-CODE>CA</STATE-CODE>
<STREET-ADDRESS>Room 655</STREET-ADDRESS>
<STREET-ADDRESS>Los Altos 040033022</STREET-ADDRESS>
<ZIP-CODE>93002</ZIP-CODE>
</Details>
</Orders>

Tags
In XML the tags that surrounded the data can not have any special characters other
than hyphen, underscore and period ("-","_", "."). So STExport replaces any of the
invalid special characters with a "." by default.
You can change the default character to be something else with the following set
command:
$Set xmltagchar "_"

STExport will only allow the hyphen, underscore and period to be set with this
command.

Quotes
All of STExport's XML command options (version, doctype, file and record) allow
for a string to be passed via surrounding quotes. The quotes may be either single or
double, but keep in mind that if the string is to contain double quotes, then you
should surround the entire string with single quotes.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE STExport Commands • 341

Zero Command [Z]
Specify whether leading zeros are to appear in numeric fields.
ZERO NONE | LEADING
(Default: None)
Use Zero None to force all numeric fields to have leading zeros removed. If a
numeric field has implied decimal places, STExport always formats the number with
at least one digit to the left of the decimal place, even if it is zero.
Use Zero Leading to force all numeric fields to be zero-filled. In this case, Sign
Leading and Sign Floating both cause the sign to appear in the same place (in front
of the leading zeros).

342 • STExport Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Example of STExport Output

Example
In this example we show you how to use Suprtool and STExport. We start with an
IMAGE/SQL dataset, identify the fields that are dates and the number of implied
decimal places in other fields. We then produce a self-describing file using the
dataset as input and show the default output from STExport.
We also show you how easy it is to migrate data from MPE files and databases to an
Oracle database.
The Form command displays the fields in a dataset or a self-describing file. For files,
this information is stored in the user labels of an MPE file and is not accessible with
other tools. Use the Form command to obtain the record layout of STExport input
files.

Sales File
We will be formatting data from an IMAGE/SQL sales dataset that has the following
form:
>form d-sales
Database: STORE.DEMO.ROBELLE

D-SALES Detail Set 5

Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1 (!M-CUSTOMER)
DELIV-DATE J2 9
PRODUCT-NO Z8 13 (M-PRODUCT)
PRODUCT-PRICE J2 21
PURCH-DATE J2 25
SALES-QTY J1 29
SALES-TAX J2 31
SALES-TOTAL J2 35
Capacity: 602 (14) Entries: 8 Highwater: 8 Bytes: 38

Dates and Decimal Places

We use Suprtool's Item command to identify which of the fields in the d-sales dataset
are dates and which fields have implied decimal places:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Example of STExport Output • 343

 >item deliv-date ,date ,yyyymmdd
>item purch-date ,date ,yyyymmdd
>item product-price ,decimal ,2
>item sales-tax ,decimal ,2
>item sales-total ,decimal ,2

Salefile
We now produce a file called "salefile" using Suprtool's Output,Link option. The
Link option produces a self-describing file, complete with the date and decimal-place
information:
>get d-sales
>output salefile,link
>xeq

>form salefile

File: salefile (SD Version B.00.00)

Entry: Offset
CUST-ACCOUNT Z8 1
DELIV-DATE I2 9 <<YYYYMMDD>>
PRODUCT-NO Z8 13
PRODUCT-PRICE I2 21 << .2 >>
PURCH-DATE I2 25 <<YYYYMMDD>>
SALES-QTY I1 29
SALES-TAX I2 31 << .2 >>
SALES-TOTAL I2 35 << .2 >>
Limit: 108 EOF: 8 Entry Length: 38 Blocking: 107

Notice how the Form command correctly identifies which fields are dates and which
fields have implied decimal places. STExport uses this information to format the file.

STExport Output
We then use STExport to read the self-describing Salefile to produce our sample
output on stdlist. To demonstrate how dates are handled, we insert a separator in
each date field:
:run stexport.pub.robelle
$input salefile {self-describing input file}
$date yyyymmdd "-" {dates with a dash separator}
$output * {output to stdlist}
$xeq
10020,1993-10-05,50511501,98.31,1993-10-01,0.02,27.53,224.15
10003,1993-10-15,50511501,98.31,1993-10-15,0.01,13.76,112.07
10003,1993-10-15,50512501,145.62,1993-10-15,0.01,20.39,166.00
10003,1993-10-15,50513001,192.20,1993-10-15,0.01,26.91,219.10
10016,1993-10-21,50521001,24.59,1993-10-21,0.03,10.33,84.11
10016,1993-10-21,50532001,139.85,1993-10-21,0.01,19.58,159.42

There are no byte-type fields in the input file, so all fields are converted from their
internal numeric representation to a string of digits. All date fields were converted
from their internal yyyymmdd format to the external yyyymmdd format with a dash
separator between day, month, and year. All fields with implied decimal places have
been converted with a decimal point.

Load Data Into Oracle

If you need to load the export file into an Oracle database, you can use Oracle's own
SQL*Loader. Files created with STExport can be processed immediately with
SQL*Loader. Suppose we want to load the data extracted in Salefile. We would use
STExport to format the information and store the results in Expsale.

344 • Example of STExport Output Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 :run stexport.pub.robelle
$input salefile {self-describing input file}
$date yyyymmdd "-" {dates with a dash separator}
$output expsales {output to a file}
$xeq

If the Oracle database resided on an HP 9000, we would need to transfer Expsale.

How you transfer the file is not important as long as it gets there in the same format,
including line separators. Also note that the file should have an extension.
SQL*Loader expects a .dat extension by default.
The Oracle table should have all the necessary columns. To create a table with the
fields in Salefile, you could use the following:
create table sales_details (
CUST_ACCOUNT dec(8),
DELIV_DATE date,
PRODUCT_NO dec(8),
PRODUCT_PRICE dec(8,2),
PURCH_DATE date,
SALES_QTY dec(6),
SALES_TAX dec(8,2),
SALES_TOTAL dec(8,2)
) tablespace USERS;

SQL*Loader requires what is known as a control file. It contains the load

specifications such as the data file, the destination table, the field delimiter, the text
field delimiters and the column specifications. In this case, the control file
(expsales.ctl) looks like this:
load data
-- Specify input datafile. dat extension is assumed. --
Infile expsales

-- Name of the table where the data is loaded. --

-- Append new rows to existing data, if any. --
Append Into Table sales_details

-- Fields are separated by commas --

Fields Terminated By ','

-- Character fields are enclosed in double-quotes --

Optionally Enclosed By '"'

-- Specify the column names as they appear --

-- in the data records. --
-- For a Date-type column, specify the input format --
-- Example: column Date "YYYYMMDD" --
(CUST_ACCOUNT,
DELIV_DATE date "YYYYMMDD",
PRODUCT_NO,
PRODUCT_PRICE,
PURCH_DATE date "YYYYMMDD",
SALES_QTY,
SALES_TAX,
SALES_TOTAL)

In its simplest form, SQL*Loader is invoked with the following command:

$ sqlload userid=username/password
control=expsales.ctl
log=expsales.log

The username and password are valid Oracle connect information. SQL*Loader
reads the load specifications from the file specified in the control keyword. It writes
operation information and statistics to the file specified in the log keyword. It also
creates a number of files to report data problems etc. SQL*Loader has many other

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Example of STExport Output • 345

 options to control the load task. Refer to the appropriate Oracle documentation for
details.

346 • Example of STExport Output Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Limits Within STExport

Maximums
To achieve maximum speed, STExport/V stores all the necessary information in the
HP e3000 stack. This limits the size of input and output records and restricts the
number of fields per file. Users should be aware of these limits before attempting to
use STExport with extremely complicated databases. STExport/iX stores information
in a simulated HP e3000 stack, so all the limits apply to both STExport/V and
STExport/iX.

Delimiter - Maximum Length - 3 Bytes

The delimiter must appear between every field in the output record. To help avoid
exceeding the maximum output record length, the maximum delimiter length is three
characters.

Input File - Maximum Record Size - 4096 Bytes

We recommend that you use Suprtool's Extract command to minimize the input
record size.

Input File - Maximum Block Size - 8192 Bytes

By default, Suprtool restricts the maximum block size to 4,096 bytes. You can use
the Set Blocksize command to increase this size up to 16,384 bytes (8192 words). If
you increase the maximum blocksize, it is likely that Suprtool will produce an output
file that STExport cannot read.

Input File - Maximum Fields - 255

If you must have more than 255 fields, use Suprtool's Define and Extract commands
to extract several fields as one contiguous series of bytes.

Output File - Maximum Record Size - 4096 Bytes

When formatting many fields, it is possible to produce large output records. Once
again, using the Extract command to minimize the size of the input records will
avoid large output records.
The total length of the Heading line in the output file is also restricted to 4096 bytes.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Limits Within STExport • 347

Welcome to Dbedit

Introduction
Welcome to version 5.4 of Dbedit for MPE, a module of Suprtool that permits
people to add, change, list, or delete individual records or "chains" of records from
an IMAGE/3000 database. Dbedit is useful for debugging applications, for quickly
prototyping systems, and for the data entry of simple applications.
The functions of Dbedit are similar to QUERY, but the commands and operations
are more consistent and logical. Because Dbedit is a part of Suprtool, you can hold
Suprtool as a suspended process from within other software (e.g., Qedit) with the
database open. This facilitates fast process switching when you need to examine a
test database.
You enter Dbedit via the Edit command of Suprtool. Once in Dbedit, you cannot use
the Suprtool commands (while in Suprtool you cannot use the Dbedit commands).
Certain commands are the same in both Dbedit and Suprtool (e.g., Use, Before, and
Set). The Before command works independently and each software module saves its
own last command.

Restrictions
1. Most Dbedit commands require you to have opened the database using
the Base command of Suprtool. Dbedit does not have a Base command.
2. Dbedit does not work with any files other than IMAGE/3000 datasets.
3. You cannot switch to another database while in Dbedit. Instead, you
must Exit, do a Base command in Suprtool, then Edit.
4. The maximum size of any individual data item is 80 bytes (i.e., 5X80 is
acceptable, but X100 is not).
5. Only datasets whose search fields are compatible with Dbedit can be
accessed (i.e., no K5 search fields).

Functions of Dbedit
There are five major functions in Dbedit:
Command Function

348 • Welcome to Dbedit Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 ADD Add new entries to a dataset.
CHANGE Change a master search value in all related datasets.
DELETE Delete entries from a dataset.
LIST List the value of entries in a dataset.
MODIFY Modify specific fields of an entry from a dataset.

Performance of Dbedit
Suprtool was designed to be as fast as possible, while Dbedit was designed to have
as many features as possible. Dbedit does no special optimizations. It uses the
standard IMAGE intrinsics to do all of the accesses to the database. Dbedit does not
use the fast sequential access method of Suprtool, but Dbedit usually works only
with a few records within your database at one time.

Field Lists
Dbedit arranges the list of fields in a dataset different from QUERY or Suprtool. The
QUERY ADD command prompts for the each field in the dataset in the order they
were declared in the IMAGE schema. In Dbedit, the order of field lists is changed
using the following algorithm:
1. The search field for a master dataset or the primary search field for a
detail dataset appears first.
2. Any other detail search fields appear second.
3. Any sort fields appear third.
4. All other non-search and non-sort fields that are compatible with
Dbedit appear last.
5. Where a non-compatible field would appear in a list, Dbedit replaces it
with a compatible field from the end of the list.
Example:
The following example shows the difference between QUERY and Dbedit. We add
an entry to the d-inventory dataset of the Store database. In this dataset, supplier-
name is the primary search field and product-no is another nonprimary search field.
QUERY/3000
>add d-inventory
BIN-NO =>>1201
LAST-SHIP-DATE =>>
OH-HAND-QTY =>>
PRODUCT-NO =>>2001001
SUPPLIER-NAME =>>STD Ribbons
UNIT-COST =>>

DBEDIT/SUPRTOOL

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Dbedit • 349

 #add d-inventory
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons
PRODUCT-NO >2001001
BIN-NO >1201
LAST-SHIP-DATE >
ON-HAND-QTY >
UNIT-COST >

Database Locking
Dbedit uses the following locking strategy. The Add command locks one dataset
(using DBLOCK, mode-3) after all of the field values have been entered. The
Modify and Delete commands do the following:
1. After all of the field values have been entered, the dataset is locked.
2. The records are re-read using DBGET, mode-4 for details or DBGET,
mode-7 for masters.
3. The re-read record is compared with the original record. If they are not
the same, no update or delete is done.
4. The record is updated or deleted. When a search field or a sort field is
changed with the Modify command, the record is deleted and added
again.
5. The dataset is unlocked.
The Change command locks the entire database while all key values are being
changed. In all cases, the DBLOCK is done unconditionally. This means that Dbedit
always waits for other locks to be released (possibly holding up your terminal).

Decimal Points
If you use Suprtool's Item command to specify implied decimal places for an item,
Dbedit scales all input values according to the number of implied decimal places.
When listing records, fields with implied decimal places are formatted with a
decimal point. For example,
>item unit-cost,decimal,2 {two implied decimal pts.}
>edit
#add d-inventory:unit-cost
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons
PRODUCT-NO >2001001
UNIT-COST >10.50

SUPPLIER-NO = 5051
PRODUCT-NO = 50513001
UNIT-COST = 10.50

Type ? to get a description of When Dbedit prompts for field values, you can type a question mark to obtain a
the field. description of the field. If the field has implied decimal places, the field description
will include the number of decimal places (e.g., << .2 >> for two implied decimal
points).

Critical-Item Update
Starting with MPE/iX 4.0, IMAGE was enhanced to have a new feature: critical-item
update. This feature allows programs to change critical fields in detail datasets

350 • Welcome to Dbedit Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 (search fields and sort fields) by using DBUPDATE. Prior to critical-item update,
programs had to use DBDELETE and DBPUT to change critical fields.
By default, IMAGE databases have critical-item update disabled. It is enabled using
the HP DBUTIL program. Enabling critical-item update allows Dbedit's Change
command and Modify;Updatekey to execute much faster. There are two choices in
DBUTIL for enabling critical-item update:
1. Set CIUPDATE = On.
2. Set CIUPDATE = Allow.
The first option turns on critical-item update for all programs. The second option
allows user programs (like Dbedit) to enable critical-item update as needed. The
second option is the safest, since some programs depend on IMAGE giving an error
when they attempt to change a critical field.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Dbedit • 351

Dbedit Commands

General Notes
When you run Dbedit, it prompts for commands on Stdlist with a "#" character and
reads command lines from Stdin. Dbedit commands have a command name followed
by one or more parameters separated by semicolons, colons, and commas.
Semicolons are NOT used to combine several commands on the same line as in
Suprtool.
This chapter describes the Dbedit commands in detail. The commands are presented
in alphabetical order. Each command name is followed by the minimal abbreviation
for the command, in brackets. For example: [F] for File and [FO] for Form.

Abbreviating
You may shorten command names to any substring that uniquely defines the
command. For example, Add can be shortened to AD or A, since there are no other
commands that start with "A". Form, however, can be abbreviated only to FO, since
there is a File command, abbreviated F, in Dbedit.
>base store.pub,5
>edit
#l m-customer;all {list}
#e {exit}

Uppercase or Lowercase
You may enter letters in either uppercase or lowercase, because Dbedit upshifts
everything in the command line. These two commands are identical:
#LIST M-CUSTOMER
#list m-customer

Continuation
The maximum physical command line is 256 characters. You may enter commands
on multiple input lines by putting an "&" continuation character at the end of the
line. The maximum total command length is 256 characters. Multiple commands
cannot be placed on one input line. The separating semicolon, colon, or comma in
commands is REQUIRED, not optional.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 353

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base store.pub,5 {open the database in Suprtool}
>edit {enter Dbedit}
#list m-customer {use all of the defaults}
#list m-customer;all {list all records in m-customer}
#exit {return to Suprtool}

Control-Y
If you press Control-Y during an operation, Dbedit responds by printing a blank line
and stopping the current operation.

Comments on Command Lines

Comments may appear at the end of any command line, when they are surrounded by
braces. Many of the examples in this manual show comments at the end of each
command line. You can enter a comment as the only item in a Dbedit command line.
You can also enter comments after field values.
# { List all related records for a specific supplier. }
#list m-supplier;related {Must include Related keyword}

SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons {supplier to search for}

If you want to include a brace as part of an x-type field, you must precede the brace
with the Dbedit escape character "[". For example, to search for the supplier "{STD
Ribbons}", you would use:
#list m-supplier {include braces in the name}
SUPPLIER-NAME >[{STD Ribbons}

MPE Commands
Dbedit interprets any command line beginning with a colon (:) as an MPE command.
Only the commands that MPE allows in "break" are allowed in Dbedit. This feature
can be used to establish :File commands for the SUPRLIST file, to show the time,
and to include :COMMENT lines. For example:
#:comment Modify M-CUSTOMER records
#modify m-customer
#exit

MPE/iX Commands
Dbedit/iX will execute any MPE command (e.g., Run), UDCs, and command files.
Caution: programs that suspend, instead of terminating are not killed by the
HPCICOMMAND intrinsic.

Calculator
Any command line beginning with an equal sign (=) is treated as a calculator
expression. You may use this feature to compute data entry values without the need
of an electronic calculator.

354 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 =2745*1.33
Result= 3650.85

Example Database
The examples in this manual use the revised STORE database described in the
IMAGE/3000 Handbook.

Prompting for Search Criteria

In the Change, Delete, List and Modify commands, Dbedit first prompts you for
search criteria and then processes the records you have selected. Search criteria
are any or all of the search and sort fields of the file. Dbedit asks for the value of the
primary search field first, unless you override the prompt ordering with the KEY
option. For detail datasets, it then asks for match values for the other search fields
and sort fields. You may press the Return key to any of these prompts to indicate that
you don't care what values these fields have.
When Dbedit finishes processing the records you select, it recycles and prompts you
for the next set of search criteria. You may press the Return key at this point to exit
from the command and return to the # prompt.

Command Parameters
The major commands (File, List, Add, Delete, Modify, and Change) have a similar
parameter structure, consisting of the command name, then an optional file part and
an optional option part. A space separates the file part from the command name, and
a semicolon separates the option part from the file part. The general format of these
commands is
#command [file] [;options]

File Parameter
The file parameter consists of an IMAGE/3000 dataset name followed by an optional
list of field names. If the file part is missing, Dbedit uses the previous file. The
general format of the file parameter is
#command [file] [:fieldname,...]
Even when you use field names, Dbedit will add the search fields to the field list. In
the Add command, Dbedit assumes default values for noncritical fields that are
missing, but will prompt for the search fields and sort fields (they are required).
#add d-inventory:bin-no {assume defaults for all but BIN-NO}
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons
PRODUCT-NO >105391
BIN-NO >10

In this case you will not be prompted for LAST-SHIP-DATE, ON-HAND-QTY, or

UNIT-COST.
In the Modify command, you can specify a set of fields to modify. Dbedit will not
prompt you for new values for any other fields. For example:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 355

 #mod d-inventory:unit-cost {only modify UNIT-COST}
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons {prompt for search value}
PRODUCT-NO >105391 {prompt for another one}

Enter new values (or <return> to leave as is):

SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons {prints the search value}
PRODUCT-NO >105391 {prints the other one}
UNIT-COST >500 {prints existing value}
{prompts for new value}

In this case you will not be prompted for BIN-NO, ON-HAND-QTY, or LAST-
SHIP-DATE.
When working on a single dataset, it is only necessary to specify the dataset name in
the first command. For example:
#list d-inventory
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons

#list {use the previous file parameter}

SUPPLIER-NAME >//

Option Parameter
The file parameter and the options must be separated by a semicolon.
#command [file] [;option...]
The available options are:
numeric-value, All, Key, Limit, Related, UNder, UPdatekey
These options qualify the operation of the File, List, Modify, Change, Delete, and
Add commands. Some options only apply to one command. Options can be
combined and can be abbreviated. When more than one option is specified, each
option must be separated by a semicolon.
#list d-inventory;key=product-no;under
PRODUCT-NO >

Numeric-Value Option
Commands normally cycle, prompting for new search values or new entries, until
you press Return or Control-Y. However, if you specify a numeric-value after the
semicolon, the command only prompts you numeric-value number of times. For
example, if you only want to do one List function, you would enter:
#list d-inventory;1 {only prompt for SUPPLIER-NAME once}

All Option
The All option works only with the List, Modify, or Delete commands. When All is
specified, every record in the specified file is processed sequentially. You can stop
the scan by pressing Control-Y.

Key Option
The Key option overrides the primary search field. Dbedit prompts for the primary
search field first. Often, this is not the value that you know. You can use the Key
option to force Dbedit to prompt you for another search field. For example:

356 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 #list d-inventory {use defaults}
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons
PRODUCT-NO >

#list d-inventory;key=product-no {use PRODUCT-NO}

PRODUCT-NO >105391
SUPPLIER-NAME >

Limit Option
The Limit option controls the number of entries allowed per key value. This option is
only useful for the Add command. Dbedit limits the number of entries for the first
field in the field list to the Limit value specified. For example,
#add d-inventory;limit=2 {two records per supplier}
#add d-inventory;limit=2;key=product-no
{two records per product}

Related Option
The Related option is for finding or deleting related records. It applies only to Delete
and List. If you use Related when Listing an entry in a master dataset, Dbedit prints
the specified master entry and then prints all detail entries with the same search value
in all datasets that are linked to the master dataset by an explicit path. If you use List
Related with a detail dataset, Dbedit prints the specified detail entry, followed by the
master entry for each search field in the detail.
You can only Delete Related from a master dataset. Dbedit shows the master entry.
After confirming the deletion, Dbedit deletes all entries with the same search value
in all related datasets. Control-Y can be used to interrupt the deletion process.
Dbedit can only use explicitly defined IMAGE paths to navigate between datasets.
User-defined paths are not supported in Dbedit. When listing related records, Dbedit
shows all fields in each dataset including those that Dbedit normally doesn't support
(e.g., X100). The following example shows how related records are listed, starting
with a master dataset and then its related detail datasets.
#list m-supplier;related {all related records}
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons

The M-SUPPLIER record is listed here.

D-INVENTORY records with a SUPPLIER-NAME of

STD Ribbons are listed here.

Under Option
When Dbedit prompts for a value for a field, it prints a series of underlines. These
underlines indicate the maximum field width.
These underlines can be useful, but they may not work on all terminals. You can
disable underlining by using Set Underline Off. Once underlining is turned off, you
may wish to enable it again, but only for one command. The Under option overrides
the Set Underline, but only for the current command.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 357

 Updatekey Option
The Updatekey option allows the Modify command to change the value of search
and sort fields (i.e., critical fields). Normally, Modify does not allow any changes to
the search or sort fields. Without the Updatekey option, Modify does a DBUPDATE
of the modified record. If CIUPDATE is Disallowed when you specify Updatekey
and change a critical field, Modify will DBDELETE the existing record, then
DBPUT a new record with the changed values. If CIUPDATE is On or Allowed in
the database, Modify can use DBUPDATE to change the critical fields. This is much
faster than using DBDELETE and DBPUT.

Subcommands
You may enter a subcommand any time Dbedit prompts for the value of a field. The
available subcommands are:
Subcommand Purpose
// stops the current command immediately.
\\ same as // (you may also use the Control-Y key).
? describes the current field, including any implied decimal points.
< goes back one field to the previous field in the list.
<3 goes back three fields.
<< returns to the first field in the list.
> goes forward one field to the next field in the list.
>3 goes forward three fields.
>> skips the rest of the fields in the list. This is especially useful when
Dbedit is prompting you for multiple search and sort fields and you
only want to enter the first.
' uses blanks for the field (useful in batch).
* uses the last value for this field.
[ forces what follows the [ to be a value and not a subcommand (e.g.,
[*BOB tells Dbedit to use *BOB as the actual value instead of
interpreting the * to mean "last value").
@F search for the field F (e.g., @bin-no). The field can include a
subscript (e.g., @street-address(2)).
= calculator.

358 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Examples
#list m-supplier {we'll stop immediately}
SUPPLIER-NAME >//

#list m-supplier {we will start again}

SUPPLIER-NAME >Standard Type

PRODUCT-NO >< {re-enter supplier-name}

SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons

PRODUCT-NO >>> {skips the rest}

#list m-supplier

SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons

PRODUCT-NO >[>575 {">575" is the part-no}

#modify d-inventory

SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons

PRODUCT-NO >105391
BIN-NO >@unit-cost {skip to unit-cost}
UNIT-COST >

#modify m-customer

CUST-ACCOUNT >4003302
CITY >@street-address(2) {go to subfield}
STREET-ADDRESS(2) >

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 359

Add Command [A]
Adds new entries to a dataset.
ADD [file] [;options]
Options: numeric-value|Key|Limit|UNder
If no field list is entered as part of the file, Dbedit will prompt for all of the fields in
the file. You may use the ">n" or ">>" subcommands to navigate quickly through the
field list, but you must enter values for all search and sort fields.
The database password must give you write access to the entire dataset. The Add
command will stop after LIMIT= number of entries have been added for any one key
value. Dbedit checks each search field value as it is entered. For master datasets the
search field value must not exist. For detail datasets the search field value must exist.
To add records from a disc file, see the Put command of Suprtool.

360 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Before Command [B]
Repeat any combination of the previous 1000 command lines, with or without
editing.
BEFORE [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo previous line)
(BQ=redo without change)
The Before command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them.
If you don't need to change them, use BQ or Do.
The Before command uses Qedit-style Control characters for modifying the
commands. The default mode is to replace characters. To delete use Control-D, and
to insert use Control-B. If you prefer HP-style modify (D, R, I, and U), use the Redo
command instead of Before.

Examples
#listf @.soruce {'source' is not spelled right}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
#Before {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {the edited command is shown}
{you press <return> }

#listredo -10/
#before 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
#bef 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
#b listf {redo last Listf command}
#b @temp {redo last containing "temp"}
#before -2 {redo command before previous}
#before -5/-2 {redo by relative lines}

Modify Operators
If you wish to change any characters within the line, the modify operators are the
regular Control Codes used in Qedit:
• Any printing characters replace the ones above.
• Control-D plus spaces deletes columns above.
• Control-B puts you into "insert before" mode.
• Control-A starts appending characters at the end of line.
• Control-A, Control-D, plus spaces, deletes from the end.
• Control-T ends Insert Mode, allowing movement to a new column.
• Control-G recovers the original line.
• Control-O specifies "overwrite" mode (needed for spaces).

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 361

Change Command [C]
Changes all uses of a specific search field value in all detail datasets related to a
master. This command only applies to master datasets.
CHANGE [file] [;options]
Options: numeric-value|Key|Limit|UNder
This command changes the search field value in all related detail datasets. Dbedit
can only change values in detail datasets where there is an explicit IMAGE path. It is
up to the user to change any user-defined paths.
Once this command has started making changes to the database, it cannot be stopped.
Entering Control-Y during the change will have no effect. Dbedit locks the entire
database while all changes are taking place. The database password must give you
write access to all related datasets that must be changed.
If CIUPDATE is On or Allowed in the database, the Change command executes
much faster.

Example
#change m-supplier
Change Key Value for File: M-SUPPLIER

Enter Existing Key Value to Find:

SUPPLIER-NAME >Standard Ribbons
Enter New Key Value to Replace with:
SUPPLIER-NAME >STD Ribbons

SUPPLIER-NAME = Standard Ribbons

CITY = San Leandro STATE-CODE = CA
STREET-ADDRESS = 100 Main St.
(2)
ZIP-CODE = 94345

OK to change this entry [no]: y

Begin changes (be patient) .. .. end changes!!

362 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Delete Command [D]
Removes entries from a dataset.
DELETE [file] [;options]
Options: numeric-value|All|Key|Limit|Related|UNder
If you are deleting entries from a master dataset, all entries from related detail
datasets must be removed first. Before any record will actually be deleted, Delete
prints the record and asks you whether it is okay to delete it; the default answer is
NO.
The field list of the file specifies which fields to list before prompting for verification
of the deletion. The ALL option allows you to review all entries in a detail dataset
and remove some or all of them. The database password must give you write access
to the entire dataset. ALL does not work on master datasets; use the Suprtool >Delete
command instead.
You can delete records related to a master dataset, but not the other way around.
Dbedit does not print the detail records that are deleted. Use the List command with
the RELATED option before doing the deletion.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 363

Do Command [DO]
The Do command will repeat (without changes) any of the previous 1000 commands.
DO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: repeat the previous command)
Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 of them
are retained. Use the :Listredo command to display the previous commands. You can
repeat a single command (do 5), a range of commands (do 5/10) or the most
recent command whose name matches a string (do list). If you want to modify
the commands before executing them, use Redo or Before.

Examples
#listredo
#do {do previous command again}
#do 39 {do command line 39 again}
#do 5/8 {do command lines 5 to 8 again}
#do list {do most recent List command}
#do show {do last starting with "show"}
#do showjob job {do last "showjob job" command}
#do @job {do last containing "job"}
#do -2 {do command before previous}
#do -7/-5 {do by relative line number}
#do 5/ {do command lines 5 to "last"}

Notes
The Do command cannot be abbreviated.

364 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Exit Command [E]
Leaves Dbedit and returns control to Suprtool.
EXIT

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 365

File Command [F]
Establishes the current file, field list, and search field.
FILE [file] [;options]
Options: numeric-value|All|Key|Limit|Related|UNder|UPdatekey
If Set Reset is Off, you can use the File command to specify the KEY= for the
specified file. For example:
#set reset off
#file d-inventory;key=product-no

will cause all subsequent commands to prompt for the PRODUCT-NO before the
SUPPLIER-NAME. Specifying a new file or options parameter in the Add, Change,
Delete, List, or Modify commands overrides and replaces the current file and option
values.

366 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Form Command [FO]
The Form command displays a description of the items and datasets in a database. It
is similar in format to the FORM command of QUERY.
FORM [ SETS | ITEMS | PATHS
dataset | data-item | filename ]
(Default: fields in current dataset)
If you request information about a specific detail dataset, Suprtool will print the path
information in DBSCHEMA format. The path shows the related master dataset and
the sort item-name. The capacity is also shown in DBSCHEMA format. The
blocking factor appears after the capacity in parentheses. If dynamic dataset
expansion (a feature of MPE/iX 5.0) has been enabled, the initial capacity and the
increment are shown next. On MPE/iX 5.0 or later, the highwater mark is shown.
The record length in bytes appears last.
When showing the form of a dataset, Dbedit shows the byte offset of each field after
the subcount, type, and sublength. The first field always appears at offset one. If you
have specified a date format or the number of implied decimal points with the Item
command, these attributes will appear as part of the form listing.
The QUERY ALL option is not supported.

Example
>base store,5
>item last-ship-date,date ,yymmdd
>item unit-cost ,decimal,2
>edit {enter Dbedit}
#form d-inventory
D-INVENTORY Detail
Entry:
BIN-NO J1 1
LAST-SHIP-DATE J2 3 <<YYMMDD>>
ON-HAND-QTY J2 7
PRODUCT-NO Z8 11 (M-PRODUCT)
SUPPLIER-NAME X16 19 (!M-SUPPLIER)
UNIT-COST P8 35 << .2 >>
Capacity: 112 Entries: 3 Entry Length: 19 Blocking: 14

Formout File
The Form command writes all output to the file Formout. This file defaults to
$stdlist. You can redirect this file to a line printer or a disc drive. If you redirect the
Formout file to a disc file, Suprtool assumes a temporary file by default.
>:file formout;dev=lp
>form sets {writes to line printer}
>:file formout;dev=disc
>form d-inventory {writes to temporary file}

Form Keywords
The Form command shows Items, Paths, and Sets before searching for a dataset or
file with these names. Use a string (e.g., "sets") to display the form of a dataset or
file that matches one of the Form keywords.
>form "paths"

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 367

Help Command [H]
Show what commands and options are available in Dbedit.
HELP [ command | keyword [ ,option ] ]
(Default: browse through the entire help file)

Command Help
If you specify any parameters, Help first assumes that you want help on a specific
Dbedit command. If you know the structure of the help file, you can specify one of
the keywords under the command name.
#help list {Help on the List command}
#help list,notes {notes section of the List command}

Keyword Help
If no help is found in the Commands section of the help file, we assume you
specified one of the outer-level keywords. To see this list of keywords, type help
with no parameters. You'll see a short introduction to Dbedit before the list. Specify
any of the keywords, or a subkeyword, on the Help command.
#help intro {introduction section}

Quick Help - HQ
HQ asks Dbedit to look under the keyword QUICK in the help file. QUICK contains
the text from the Dbedit Quick Reference Guide, offering the experienced user a
quick review of the syntax of any command.
#hq add {quick description of Add}
#hq commands {quick list of command names}

Notes
If no parameters are specified, Help allows you to browse through the "help" file.
The Help command uses the QHELP subsystem to enable you to move through the
file Dbedit.Help.Robelle, which contains most of the User Manual. For "help in
help", type "?" when you see the QHELP prompt character ("?"). The help file is
organized into levels. To go back to the previous level, press Return instead of a key
name. If you press F8, you will exit the QHELP subsystem and return to Dbedit.

368 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

List Command [L]
Displays entries from a dataset.
LIST [file] [;options]
Options: numeric-value|All|Key|Limit|Related|UNder
The field list of the file parameter specifies which fields of the entry to print (default
of course is all of them). Search field values are not listed, unless they are included
in the field list. The ALL option lists all records in the specified file. The RELATED
option prints related records from other datasets as well as the records you select.
The listing is printed to $stdlist, unless you use Set LP On to specify Suprlist as the
output file.
The Suprtool >List command also displays selected records, with the option of
dumping totally in Octal/Char format. Use >List when you suspect that a dataset
contains bad data, or to select from a large dataset (>List is faster than #List).
#list m-customer
List in File: M-CUSTOMER

CUST-ACCOUNT >4003302

CITY = Los Altos CREDIT-RATING = 100000

CUST-ACCOUNT = 4003302 CUST-STATUS = 20
NAME-FIRST = Ralph NAME-LAST = Perkins
STATE-CODE = CA
STREET-ADDRESS = Room 655
(2) Century Plaza Building
ZIP-CODE = 93002

#list m-supplier;related {all related records}

List in File: M-SUPPLIER

SUPPLIER-NAME >Standard Ribbons

CITY = San Leandro STATE-CODE = CA

STREET-ADDRESS = 100 Main St.
(2)
SUPPLIER-NAME = Standard Ribbons
ZIP-CODE = 94345

Related Records from the File : D-INVENTORY

Key to path: SUPPLIER-NAME
BIN-NO = 1201 LAST-SHIP-DATE = 840501
ON-HAND-QTY = 296 PRODUCT-NO = 105391
SUPPLIER-NAME = Standard Ribbons
UNIT-COST = 500

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 369

Listredo Command [LISTREDO]
The Listredo command will display any of the previous 1000 commands.
LISTREDO [ start [ / stop ] ] [;ABS] [;OUT=file]
[ string ] [;REL]
[ ALL | @ ] [;UNN]
(Default: display previous 20 commands)
(BJ and ,, are short for LISTREDO)
Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are
retained. You can display a single command, a range of commands, all 1000, or all
the commands whose name matches the string. You can print the commands with
ABSolute line numbers (the default), RELative line numbers (-5/-4), or
UNNumbered. You can write the commands to your terminal or OUT to a temporary
file. If you want to redo any of these commands, see Do, Redo, and Before.

Examples
#listredo 5
#listredo 5/10
#listredo help {print all Help commands}
#listredo -10 {print last ten commands}
#listredo ALL {print entire redo stack}
#listredo purge {print all Purge commands}
#listredo purge xx {print all "purge xx" commands}
#listredo @purge {print all with "purge" anywhere}
#listredo @;rel {print ALL, relative numbers}
#listredo 1/10;out=*lp {dump commands to printer}
#listredo @;unn;out=save {write commands to a file}

Notes
The Listredo command cannot be abbreviated, but BJ is accepted as a short form.

370 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Modify Command [M]
Changes the values of any or all fields in a dataset entry.
MODIFY [file] [;options]
Options: numeric-value|All|Key|Limit|UNder|UPdatekey
The field list of the file parameter specifies which fields to modify. When the
UPDATEKEY option is specified, search and sort field values may be changed.
The existing value of each field is printed before a new value is accepted. Entering a
carriage return preserves the old value. If a new value is entered, it replaces the old
value. The ALL option allows you to review and modify all of the entries in a dataset
in serial order.
If CIUPDATE is On or Allowed in the database, the UPDATEKEY option executes
much faster.
#modify m-customer:credit-rating
Modify in File: M-CUSTOMER

CUST-ACCOUNT >4003302

Enter new values (or <return> to leave as is):

CUST-ACCOUNT =4003302
CREDIT-RATING =1000.00
2500.00
CUST-ACCOUNT = 4003302 CREDIT-RATING = 2500.00

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 371

Q Command [Q]
Prints a message on $stdlist.
Q [ string ]
(Default: print a blank line)
The string of up to 80 characters is printed on $stdlist. The string should not be
enclosed in quotes unless you want the message printed in quotes.
You can use Q to include instructions in usefiles. Use :COMMENT in usefiles for a
nonprinting comment line.

372 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Redo Command [REDO]
Enables you to modify and repeat any of the previous 1000 command lines.
REDO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo the previous command)
The Redo command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them. If
you don't need to change them, use the Do command. Commands are numbered
sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are retained. Use the :Listredo
command to display the previous commands. You can redo a single command, a
range of commands, or the most recent command whose name matches a string. The
Redo command cannot be abbreviated.
The Redo command uses MPE-style editing logic (D, I, R, U and >). The default
mode is to replace characters. To delete, type DDDD under the characters to be
removed. To insert, type I under the insertion spot, then the new characters. To undo
your changes, type U. To append to the end of the line, use >xxx. To delete from the
end of the line, use >DD. To replace at the end of the line, use >Rxxx. And to erase
the rest of the line, use D>. If you prefer Qedit-style editing (Control-D, etc.), use the
Before command instead of the Redo command.

Examples
#listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled correctly}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
#redo {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {edited command is shown}
{you press <return> }

#listredo all
#redo 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
#redo {redo previous command}
#redo -2 {redo command before previous}
#redo 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
#redo -10/ {redo -10 through last}
#redo purge {redo last Purge command}
#redo @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 373

Set Command [S]
Changes certain operating options within Dbedit. Except for LP, these options are
saved when you return to Suprtool and restored if you enter Dbedit again.
SET [LP ON|OFF ]
[PROMPT character ]
[QUIET ON|OFF ]
[RESET ON|OFF ]
[UNDERLINE ON|OFF ]
[VERIFY ON|OFF ]

LP
SET LP ON|OFF
(Initially: OFF)
All output from the List command is normally sent to $stdlist. When you turn Set LP
to On, Dbedit opens the file Suprlist which defaults to the line printer. Turning Set
LP Off closes the SUPRLIST file and releases it to the spooler. Dbedit automatically
closes the Suprlist file when you return to Suprtool.

Prompt
SET PROMPT char
(Initially: #)
Prompt tells Dbedit to use a different character for prompting. Any special character
can be used as the prompt character. For example:
>edit
#set prompt %
%list m-customer

Quiet
SET QUIET ON|OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Turning this option On causes Dbedit to reduce the number of helpful messages that
are printed and to shorten other messages.

Reset
SET RESET ON|OFF
(Initially: ON)
When you use the File, List, Modify, Change, or Delete commands you may override
the default order that Dbedit uses to prompt for search fields (using the KEY=
option). With Reset On, Dbedit always resets the KEY= option to the default. With
Reset Off, Dbedit will continue to use the new order of search fields.

374 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Underline
SET UNDERLINE ON|OFF
(Initially: ON)
When Dbedit prompts for field values, it prints a series of underlines to show the
field width. Underline Off disables this feature. Users with slow printing terminals
will find Dbedit faster with Underline Off. The Under option may be used to
temporarily enable underlining for a single command.

Verify
SET VERIFY ON|OFF
(Initially: ON)
When you are adding new records to a dataset, Dbedit lists the contents of new
records after you have entered all of the field values. Turning Verify Off causes
Dbedit to stop listing new records after they are added.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 375

Use Command [U]
Specifies a file of commands to be executed as a group.
USE[Q] filename

Examples
A usefile makes your task easier by allowing common commands to be specified
once in an external file. Usefiles can also be set up for data entry functions such as
adding a new customer into the database (e.g., add one master entry, add one billto
entry, add multiple shipto entries, and then list the master entry plus RELATED
details). For example, here is a usefile that uses the File command to define a dataset:
file d-inventory;key=product-no;5 {key and limit}
q You may use the List, Modify, or Delete
q commands to modify inventory records. You
q are restricted to at most five inventory
q records per product number.

Use the file inside Dbedit:

>base store
>edit {enter Dbedit}
#useq dinvent.use {specify commands from the usefile}
You may use the List, Modify, or Delete
commands to modify inventory records. You
are restricted to at most five inventory
records per product number.
# {Dbedit prompts for commands}

Quiet Execution
By default, Dbedit displays the commands in the usefile as they are executed. Dbedit
can execute commands quietly using the Useq command:
#useq store.use {no commands are listed}

Notes
Usefiles cannot be nested in Dbedit. The usefile may be an EDITOR /KEEP
file,UNN or a Qedit workfile, but no more than 256 characters per record will be
processed. For compatibility with Qedit, Useq can be abbreviated to UQ.

376 • Dbedit Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Verify Command [V]
Displays the current status of Dbedit conditions.
VERIFY [ ALL | @ ]
[ BASE ]
[ DSET ]
[ SET ]
[ CIUPDATE ]
(Default: BASE, DSET, CIUPDATE, changed SET values)
Only one item can be verified at a time. The format of the Verify output is organized
into columns. Verify with no parameters prints the database, the current dataset, and
whether critical-item update is enabled or disabled. It also prints those Set options
which are not currently at their default setting.

Examples
#verify dset {current dataset}
#verify all {print the status of everything}

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Dbedit Commands • 377

Welcome to Suprlink

Welcome to Suprlink
Welcome to Suprlink for MPE Version 5.4. Suprlink is a program that works with
Suprtool to add "multidataset" capability to Suprtool. Rather than take the regular
path to multiple datasets -- random retrieval via IMAGE keys -- with its well-known
performance problems, we have chosen to follow a different path: fast serial extracts
plus a very efficient merge.
Summary of the Suprlink commands:
Before Input Redo Xeq
Do Join Reset =expression
Exit Link Set :MPE Command
Form LISTREDO Use
Help Output Verify

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

Installing Suprlink
Suprlink is installed as part of the Suprtool installation process. See the "Installing
Suprtool" chapter of the Suprtool User Manual for more details of how to install
both Suprtool and Suprlink.

Built-In File Names

Suprlink requires an external file for the Help command. Suprlink dynamically
changes this file name, but you can use a :File command to override Suprlink's
choice.

Default File Names

If you are running Suprlink on MPE V/E or MPE/iX, Suprlink finds the name of the
Suprlink program file name (e.g., Suprlink.Pub.Robelle). Suprlink uses this name to
determine the name of the other built-in file names. If Suprlink cannot call the
procinfo intrinsic (e.g., this intrinsic doesn't exist on MPE V/R), it assumes you are
running Suprlink.Pub.Robelle.

378 • Welcome to Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Account Name
The account name for all built-in files is the same as the one where Suprlink is
running (e.g., if you :run Suprlink.Pub.Dev, the help file for Suprlink is
Suprlink.Help.Dev).

Group Name
Suprlink examines the group name where Suprlink is running to determine the group
name for the built-in file names. If the group name is PUB, Suprlink assumes help
files are in the HELP group. The same assumption is made for any group name
where the first three letters are not PUB. When Suprlink is run from a group that
starts with Pub (e.g., Pub), Suprlink assumes the help files have the same suffix (e.g.,
Helpnew).

Examples
Here are a few examples of the names that Suprlink would use for the Suprlink help
file:
Suprlink Program File Name Suprlink Help File Name
Suprlink.Pub.Robelle Suprlink.Help.Robelle
Suprlink.Pub.Account Suprlink.Help.Account
Suprlink.PubRob.Account Suprlink.HelpRob.Account
Suprlink.Robelle.Dist Suprlink.Help.Dist

Changing Built-In File Names

You can use a :File command to tell Suprlink where the help file is located. Your
:File command must use the file name that Suprlink dynamically assigned to the help
file. For example, if Suprlink is called Suprlink.Robelle.Dist, you would use this
:File command:
:file suprlink.help.dist=linkhelp.robelle.dist

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Suprlink • 379

Accessing Suprlink

How To Run Suprlink

To access Suprlink, type the following command:
:run suprlink.pub.robelle
SUPRLINK/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1988-2001
(Version 5.4)
+

After a short pause, Suprlink will take over your terminal and print out some
identifying information. You will notice that your command prompt has changed to
"+", telling you that you have made it into Suprlink. Suprlink expects you to type
command lines, ending each one with Return.

How to Xeq a Suprlink Task

Normally, you enter a series of commands. These commands specify the Input file,
the Output file, and the Link file name(s). Finally, you enter an Xeq or an Exit
command. This begins the actual Suprlink linkage task.
If you entered the Exit command, Suprlink will finish the current task, then return
you to the Operating system.
+EXIT
End of program
:BYE

If you entered the Xeq command, Suprlink will finish the current task, then prompt
you for another task. This continues until you enter the Exit command. If you wish to
terminate Suprlink immediately (perhaps you are confused), enter Exit Abort. This
will terminate the Suprlink program immediately, without attempting any task.

Son Process
If you RUN Suprlink within Qedit or Select, you can retain the Suprlink process and
re-activate quickly later.

380 • Accessing Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 :run qedit.pub.robelle
/:r suprlink.pub.robelle
+...
+exit
SUPRLINK.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y
/...
/:activate
SUPRLINK.PUB.ROBELLE
+...
+exit
Program Held. Use :ACTIVATE/:RUN;HOLD to re-run.
/...

Suprtool Link Command

You can access Suprlink from within the Suprtool program, using Suprtool's Link
command. Suprtool will then run Suprlink for you. All of Suprlink's commands are
available to you in Suprtool. When passing Suprlink commands through Suprtool,
you must preface each Suprlink command with Link. For example,
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base customer
>get m-customer
>sort custnum
>output invoices,link
>xeq
>link input invoices by custnum
>link link customer {send "link customer" to Suprlink}
>link output invcust
>link exit {exit from Suprlink (not Suprtool)}

Refer to the Link command in the "Suprtool Commands" chapter of the Suprtool
user manual for more information.
You can also use the Suprtool2 interface and the Link command to "call" Suprlink.
See the Suprcall User Manual for a complete example of how to use the interface to
pass commands to Suprlink.

Preventing MPE Commands

If you want to prevent Suprlink from executing any MPE commands (e.g., :Purge),
you Run Suprlink with Parm=8192. This feature is automatically invoked by
Suprtool's Link command, when Set Limit MPE Off has been specified inside
Suprtool.
:run suprlink.pub.robelle;parm=8192

Exit with Verify

Some users find that they Exit from Suprlink inadvertently. For Suprlink to get user
approval on Exit, Run Suprlink with Parm=64.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Accessing Suprlink • 381

 :run suprlink.pub.robelle;parm=64
>e
Okay to exit [no]:
>

Preventing Suprlink from Suspending

If you run Suprlink from within HPDesk (and some other programs), Suprlink will
suspend on Exit but HPDesk will not notice. The next time you run Suprlink you will
get a new copy of Suprlink. Eventually you will have many suspended copies of
Suprlink hanging from HPDesk, consuming system resources. Running Suprlink
with Parm=32 forces Suprlink to terminate on Exit rather than suspend.
:run suprlink.pub.robelle;parm=32

Job Control Word

Suprlink sets the system job control word JCW to a fatal state when Suprlink fails in
a batch job. Suprlink sets only the high-order bit of the JCW job control word. That
is, it adds 32,768 to the existing JCW value. HP subsystems use the other bits of the
JCW job control word, so Suprlink does nothing to them.

Using Suprlink in Batch

Suprlink operates in "session" mode or "batch" mode. In batch usage, any "error"
message will cause Suprlink to quit, setting the Job Control Word to flush the
remainder of the JOB. Warning messages do not cause an abort.
In batch mode, Suprlink does not prompt for missing information as it does in
session mode. Instead, it attempts to choose the alternative that has the least chance
of destroying valid data. For example, if the Output file is a duplicate file name in
batch mode, Suprlink saves the new Output file with a "made up" name
(OUTPUTnn, where nn is from 00 to 20), prints a warning message, and aborts.

Summary of Parm= Values

Parm Purpose
32 don't suspend, terminate completely
64 check with user before Exiting
8192 don't allow MPE commands

Values may be combined by adding them together. For example, Parm = 96 means
"check with me before exiting, then when I do actually exit, terminate Suprlink
completely instead of suspending".

SuprlinkOutCount JCW
When Suprlink closes the output file, it sets a JCW named SuprlinkOutCount with
the number of output records. This is the same number reported in the total line (i.e.,
OUT=). You can use this JCW to control job stream execution by checking if the

382 • Accessing Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 SprlinkOutCount JCW is non-zero. If there are more than 65,535 output records,
Suprlink sets SuprlinkOutCount to 65,535.
You can use the :Showjcw command to see the value of a JCW. For values greater
than 16K, Showjcw displays either the word WARN, FATAL or SYSTEM followed
by some digits. These words correspond to the following values:
#WARN# 16384
#FATAL# 32768
#SYSTEM# 49152

Add the value of the word to the number that appears with it for the true value of
SuprlinkOutCount. For example,
:showjcw Suprlinkoutcount
SUPRLINKOUTCOUNT = WARN8616
16384 + 8616 = 25000

The MPE/iX :Showvar command can also be used to see the value of a JCW.
Showvar displays the full, correct number (e.g., 25,000) up to the maximum of
65,535.
Suprlink also sets two other JCWs: SuprlinkOutCount1 and SuprlinkOutCount2.
These communicate the full OUT= value to the Suprlink2 interface.

SuprlinkFullCount Variable
On MPE/iX, when Suprlink closes the output file, it also sets a variable
namedSuprlinkFullCount with the number of output records. This is the same
number reported in the total line (i.e., OUT=). The advantage of the variable is that
if more than 65,535 records are written to the output file, the value of the
SuprlinkFullCount variable is not truncated.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Accessing Suprlink • 383

Introduction to Suprlink

How Report Programs Work

The best way to understand Suprlink is to examine the process of writing a report.
Your report program will be written in COBOL, RPG, PowerHouse, or some other
language. Imagine that instead of hunting all over the database with DBFIND and
DBGET to collect your data, you just read a sorted disc file with a big record
containing all the data on a given entity. For example, a sales report might read a
disc file whose records consist of sales transactions plus customer information. 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. Suprlink fits into this model of report programs.
Working from the database to the final flat file, how do we use Suprtool and
Suprlink to produce the desired result? Obviously, Suprtool can extract the desired
fields from the desired records of the sales detail dataset and put them in a disc file.
And Suprtool can extract the desired fields from the customer master dataset and
write them to a second disc file. What does Suprlink do?
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.
The tests that we have performed indicate that this brute force method, which uses
serial extracts, sorts, and a merge, is often significantly faster than the "official"
IMAGE method of chasing down chains and hash synonyms.

Input Files
The primary Input file, which if doing a link operation is the file that should have the
many or "detail" records. If any of the Link files contain duplicate records, Suprlink
will select one of them to link to the primary record(s). The Suprlink Output file will
have no more records than the Input file.
The Input file and Link files are created with the Output xxx,Link option in Suprtool.
These files must be sorted by the same key field in ascending order.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to Suprlink • 385

Link Files
You can have up to seven Link files that are combined with the Input file. Suprlink
merges the Input file and Link files by comparing the key fields of both files (you
can optionally specify a secondary-key). The default is for Suprlink to exclude any
Input records that do not have a matching record in all Link files. Specifying the
Optional keyword on the Link command will force Suprlink to fill the Output record
with default values (spaces and zeros) when it doesn't find a match in a specific Link
file. If you want to link the sales transaction to both the customer master and the
salesman master, it's probably faster to use traditional methods (e.g., DBFIND and
DBGET).

Output Files
The Output file will be a self-describing file, containing data extracted from the
Input file and the Link files. Suprlink combines the Input and Link records together
in a fixed way, dropping the duplicated key fields and appending the remaining
fields of each file in the order specified. You control which fields occur by using the
Extract command in Suprtool, but you have no control over their order. Use the
Form command to print out the final record format so that you can prepare COBOL
COPYLIB or PowerHouse QSCHEMA definitions.

Sort Keys
The Input file and Link files must be sorted by the same key field. Their names do
not have to be identical, but they must be the same type and have the same length.
Suprlink does not support real- or long-type keys.

Selection Logic
Selection logic can be tricky, since it is distributed over independent Suprtool extract
tasks, the Suprlink merge phase, and the final report program.
Suprtool Selection. You can use the If command to select which records you want
from each dataset. You do have the option to select key values from one dataset, then
load them into a Table and use $lookup to select related entries in another dataset. It
makes sense to use If on every dataset, since you have another selection possibility
when the files are linked. For example, you might select all customers in California
and all invoices with an amount greater than $2000.
Suprlink Selection. The Input file limits the scope of the Output file. You cannot
have more Output records than you do Input records, but you can have fewer. When
you do a Link to another file, you have an implied selection criterion. That is, if
Suprlink cannot find a record in the Link file with matching key value(s), the Input
record is dropped from the Output file. If you have seven Link files, the Input record
must match all seven or be dropped. This is the default selection logic. You can
override this for any specific Link file by specifying the OPTIONAL keyword on the
Link command. Only do this is you don't care whether that data exists or not, since
Suprlink will supply default values for those Link fields.

386 • Introduction to Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

A Link Example
You want to produce a report of all invoices over $2,000.00 for customers in
California. The customer information is in the m-customer dataset, and the invoice
information is in the d-invoice dataset. Here are the steps to produce this report:
1. Select and sort the California customers into the file customer.
2. Select and sort invoices over $2,000 into the file invoice.
3. Because there will often be more than one invoice per customer,
specify the invoice file as input to Suprlink.
4. Link in the customer file.
5. Produce your report from the combined records in the output file.
>base sales {sales database}
>get m-customer {select all customers...}
>if state = "CA" {...in California}
>sort custnum {sort and link key}
>output customer,link {Link output option}
>xeq

We now have a self-describing file with all the customers from California sorted by
the customer number. Next we select all invoices over $2,000.00 and sort them into
customer number sequence:
>get d-invoice {select all invoices...}
>if amount>200000 {...over $2,000.00}
>sort custnum {sort and link key again}
>output invoices,link {remember the link option}
>exit

If we specify the cust file as input, the Output file will only contain one invoice per
customer. Because we want to produce a report of all the selected invoices, we
specify it as the input file:
+input invoices {driving input file, custnum is the key}
+link customer {combined with customers}
+output invcust {produces the file we want}
+exit

Each record of the invcust file will have both the invoice information and the
customer information for each invoice of the Input file (i.e., one record per invoice).
What happens if there is no customer record for a specific invoice? In this case, the
invoice record does not appear in the Output file. To force Suprlink to include these
records, use the optional keyword on the Link command:
+input invoices {sorted by custnum}
+link customer optional {don't exclude invoices if...}
+output invcust {the customer information...}
+exit {...is missing}

A Join Example
Suprlink can join files together that have multiple key records in each file, what has
been come to be know as a many-to-many link. Suprlink has traditionally been able
to link an Input file with many records with the same key to a Link file that has a
single record with the same key value.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to Suprlink • 387

 The Join command, will link two files with many key records in both the input file
and the "Linking" file. The syntax of the Join command is exactly the same as the
Link command so a sample task would look as follows:
+input ordhist
+join orders
+output custord
+xeq

The above task will link multiple records of the file ordhist, to the multiple records
of the file in orders. This assumes that the files are sorted by a common key. In SQL
terms this is known as an Inner Join. An Outer Join, one where the keys do not
necessarily have a match can be achieved by adding the optional keyword to the Join
command:
+input ordhist
+join orders optional
+output joined
+xeq

In SQL parlance, once again you can achieve both a Left Outer Join and Right Outer
Join by reversing the order of the files, between the input and the join commands.
To give you an example of how the Join operation would work consider the
following data. First we have an inventory file with multiple records for the same
product-no. This data is stored in the file dinv:
50512001 {Rest of data}
50512001 {Rest of data}
50512003 {Rest of data}

The next file will have sales records, once again with multiple key values, this data is
stored in the file dsales:
50512001 {Rest of data}
50512001 {Rest of data}

If you did the following task assuming both files are sorted by the product-no:
+in dinv
+join dsales
+out invsales
+xeq

The resulting file would have four records, with the multiple matching dinv and
dsales records. The record layout would have the dinv information first followed by
the dsales information. If you add the optional keyword on the join command the
resulting file would have 5 records. The matching 4 records from dinv and dsales as
well as the dinv record that did not match with the numeric fields set to zero and the
byte fields set to spaces.
Only one Join operation is allowed per task.
By default, Suprlink will join files base on the primary sorted key in the self-
describing file. You can specify a secondary key for the files to be joined on in a
similar manner to how the Link command did:

388 • Introduction to Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 +in orders
+join dsales by order-no product-no
+out ordsales
+xeq

Performance Considerations
Select only the records you need, unless the time to load a table of desired key
values, plus the time needed to do $lookup for each record, is longer than the time to
extract and sort the entire dataset. Use the Sorted and Hold options of the Table
command when loading a table. Because of the time needed to search a large table, it
is often faster to extract all of the records and let Suprlink skip over the ones it
doesn't need.
This method does a lot of sorts. Sorting time can vary depending on system load and
available memory, but it increases dramatically for large records and large datasets.
You should try to use Suprtool's Extract command to reduce the record size, and
consider using Suprtool's If command to reduce the number of records.
Suprlink needs enough disc space to invert a significant subset of your database, then
link it into an Output file. Although all of the Suprlink files can be job temporary,
you still need enough disc space for the original database, the final Output file, the
primary Input file, and each of the Link files. One of the tradeoffs with this method
is more disc space for faster elapsed time.

Another Example
From the sales records, retrieve all of the sales for October, 2000 and append the
customer name, salesman code, and year-to-date sales total to the sales record (these
fields are located in the customer records).

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to Suprlink • 389

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base mybase
>get sales-detail {or use Chain command}
>extract customernum,saledate,saleamt,...
>item saledate,date,phdate
>if saledate >= $date(95/10/01) and &
> saledate <= $date(95/10/31)
>sort customernum
>sort saledate
>output sales,link,temp {creates temporary SD file}
>xeq

>get customer-master {get entire dataset}

>extract customernum,name
>extract salesman,ytdsales
>sort customernum
>output custs,link,temp
>exit

:run suprlink.pub.robelle
+input sales {link sales...}
+link custs {...to custs...}
+output repts temp {...producing REPTS!}
+xeq {...run the task}
+form repts {fields in repts}
+exit

:purge sales,temp {these two files...}

:purge custs,temp {...no longer needed}

:file infile = repts,oldtemp

:file outfile;dev=lp
:run myprog

:purge repts,temp

Illegal Digits
Whenever Suprlink is processing files with packed- or zoned-decimal keys, errors
can occur because of invalid digits in the keys. Suprlink reports the input and link
record numbers with illegal digits and processing stops. You can use Suprtool to
examine input and link records, by using record selection with Suprtool's input
command. A packed-decimal number consists of nibbles (there are two nibbles in
each byte). The last nibble is the sign of the number. The remaining nibbles must
each contain a number in the range 0-9. A zoned-decimal number must have a valid
digit in each byte and end in "0"-"9", "A"-"R", "{", or "}".

Selecting Non-Matches
Consider a common problem easily solved with Quiz from Cognos: finding all
records in a file which have no corresponding records in a related file. For example,
to find all records in an invoice lines file with no corresponding invoice master
record, the following Quiz code could be written.

390 • Introduction to Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 >access lines link to header optional
>select if not record header exists
>report invoiceno of lines
>go

This small amount of code, however, can take a long time to execute, depending on
the size of the Lines and Header files. A Quiz program will usually take longer as
new links are added, causing the size of the record complex to grow.
Suprlink can provide the same information, possibly in a fraction of the time. The
technique as applied to the same problem requires four steps:
1. Sort the Lines file by Invoiceno.
2. Add a new constant field, Linkflag, to the Header file and fill it with
"Y". Sort by Invoiceno.
3. Link the two files with Suprlink using the Optional parameter.
4. Select the record complexes where linkflag does not contain a "Y".
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base invdb
>get lines
>sort invoiceno
>output file1,temp,link
>xeq

>get header
>define linkflag,1,1
>extract invoiceno,linkflag="Y"
>sort invoiceno
>output file2,temp,link
>xeq

>link input file1

>link link file2 optional
>link output file3,temp
>link xeq

>input file3
>if linkflag <> "Y"
>extract invoiceno
>list standard
>exit

Any invoice line with a corresponding record in the invoice Header file will have a
"Y" in the linkflag field. Records failing the match will contain the default space.
This technique can easily be adapted for use as a command file, to minimize the
amount of code added to a job stream. See the "MPE/iX Programming" section of
the Suprtool User Manual for ideas about command files.

Linking MPE and KSAM Files

Suprlink's input or link files can come from datasets, MPE files or KSAM files.
Before linking either an MPE or KSAM file, you must convert the file into a self-
describing file. Because MPE and KSAM files have no implied structure, you must
use Suprtool's Define and Extract commands to define the structure of the file.
Suprlink's only requirement is that the file contain a sort field and some optional data
fields. The sort field does not have to be the first field in the record. The following
example demonstrates how to convert an MPE file into a self-describing file:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to Suprlink • 391

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input mpecust {regular MPE file}
>def first-fields,1,10 {fields before the sort field}
>def sort-field,11,6 {sort field for this file}
>def last-fields,17,20 {fields after the sort field}
>extract first-fields {remember to extract all of the}
>extract sort-field { fields in the correct order}
>extract last-fields
>sort sort-field {must also remember the sort}
>output sdfile,link {use the Link option}
>xeq

This example would sort the entire MPE file. To select a subset, you would define
more fields and use the If command. Treat KSAM files exactly the same way.
Suprtool does not read KSAM files in sorted order, so you must remember to specify
the sort explicitly when converting the KSAM file to a self-describing file.
Suprlink cannot create nor write to KSAM files. You can use Suprtool to load a
KSAM file with the output from Suprlink.

CI Variable Substitution
Suprlink is able to substitute any CI variables from any command line source,
whether thru interactive, use file or batch input.
In order to use this feature, first issue the following Set command:
set varsub on

Variable Substitution is not on by default for backward compatibility.

Batch
Since the Streams facility (under default setups) will replace any "!" found in the first
column of a job stream. Anytime you want to specify an entire line thru Variable
Substitution you will need to leave a space before the variable is specified.
!setvar input "i dfile by message-no"
!run suprlink.pub.robelle
+set varsub on
+ !input

Notes
For MPE commands some variables will be resolved twice when passed off to MPE,
which will give different values for a variable.
Setting variables at the CI level:
MPEXL:setvar x 10
MPEXL:setvar y "!!x"
MPEXL:showvar [xy]
X = 10
Y = !x

Setting variables within Suprlink

392 • Introduction to Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 +set varsub on
+setvar a 10
+setvar b "!!a"
+showvar [ab]
A = 10
B = 10

Because Suprlink does one level of variable substitution prior to the command being
passed off to MPE, setting variables in Suprlink that involves other variables will
give different results from MPE. We recommend that you set the variables prior to
running Suprlink, or that you temporarily turn off variable substitution with the Set
Varsub Off command.
+set varsub off
+setvar a 10
+setvar b "!!a"
+showvar [ab]
A = 10
B = !a
+set varsub on

Suprlink with Quiz/QTP

Quiz and QTP are part of PowerHouse, a popular fourth generation language sold by
Cognos. You can use Suprtool and Suprlink to improve the performance of
PowerHouse applications. For a complete discussion of how to use Suprtool and
Quiz together, refer to the "Suprtool with Quiz/QTP" section of the Suprtool User
Manual.
Suprlink can write to PowerHouse subfiles that have been created with Quiz or QTP.
Subfiles are "self documenting" files that contain a complete description of the file's
record structure. This information is stored in user labels in the file, and is known as
a "mini-dictionary." When you access the subfile in Quiz, its description is read from
the mini-dictionary. You must ensure that the PowerHouse subfile description
exactly matches the record layout of Suprlink's output file. Remember that Suprlink
will drop the common "key" fields from the link files.

Step 1: Create the Subfile with QTP

Before running Suprlink, you create an empty subfile with QTP:
:purge invcust
:qtp
>access d-invoice link custnum to &
> custnum of m-customer
>subfile invcust keep size numrecs include &
> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum, &
> name, address
>set input limit 0
>go

The subfile must contain all of the fields that Suprlink will produce in the output file,
with the same attributes (data-type and length) and in the same order. Use the
Include option of QTP's Subfile command to define each of the fields in the correct
order.
The numrecs parameter must be replaced with the number of records that will be
created by the Suprlink run. The default numrecs is 1023 when the input limit is set
to 0.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to Suprlink • 393

 Step 2: Output Erase in Suprlink
Once you have created the PowerHouse subfile, use the Erase option of Suprlink's
Output command to load the file. This will overwrite any data in the subfile, but it
will not touch the PowerHouse mini-dictionary in the user labels:
+input invoices {created by Suprtool}
+link customer {sorted by custnum}
+output invcust erase {created by QTP}
+exit

Step 3: Report with Quiz

The INVCUST file contains the sorted records for the Quiz report. Quiz knows the
structure of this file because of the initial QTP commands that we used to create the
file. Now use Quiz to generate the report:
quiz
>access *invcust
>report ...
>go

Notes on Subfiles
One of the advantages that Suprlink has over the link function in PowerHouse is that
Suprlink does not require the "key" field in the link files to be a database key.
Because Suprlink uses a serial-merge approach, its files only need to have a common
field with the same data-type and length. If you do use Suprlink to link files that do
not share a common database key, you need some extra steps to create the
PowerHouse subfile.
Since Suprlink cannot currently write to NM Ksam files you cannot directly write to
PowerHouse indexed subfiles. You can use Suprtool to load file to the Indexed
KSAM file.

Defining Fields in QTP

In our example above, "custnum" can be used to link the d-invoice and m-customer
datasets in QTP because custnum is an IMAGE key in the m-customer dataset. If
custnum was not an IMAGE key, you could try declaring the record structure for the
subfile with the QTP Define command:
:purge invcust
:qtp
>access d-invoice
>define name character size 20 = " "
>define address character size 20 = " "
>subfile invcust keep size numrecs include &
> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum, &
> name, address
>set input limit 0
>go

You must be careful to ensure that the data definitions of the Defined fields are
correct. Note that you cannot assign default display specifications (such as Heading
or Picture specifications) for Defined fields in QTP.

Linking Subfiles by Record Number

Another approach, which guarantees that the subfile will contain the correct data
definitions and default display characteristics, is to create temporary subfiles with
QTP for each dataset, then link them together by record number:

394 • Introduction to Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 :purge invcust
:qtp
>access d-invoice
>subfile invtemp size 1 include &
> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum
>set input limit 0
>go

>access m-customer
>subfile custtemp size 1 include &
> name, address
>set input limit 0
>go

>access *invtemp link to record 0 of *custtemp

>subfile invcust keep size numrecs include &
> custnum, invdate, amount, invnum, &
> name, address
>set input limit 0
>go

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Introduction to Suprlink • 395

Suprlink Commands

General Notes
When you run Suprlink, it prompts for commands on $stdlist with a "+" character
and reads command lines from $stdinx. Suprlink commands contain a command
name followed by one or more parameters, and are patterned after the same
commands in Suprtool.
In this chapter, we describe the Suprlink commands in alphabetic order. Following
each command name in brackets is the minimal abbreviation for the command. For
example: [I] for Input and [L] for Link.

Abbreviating
You may shorten the command name to the first letter of the command name.
+v {verify}
+x {xeq}

Uppercase or Lowercase
You may enter the letters in either uppercase or lowercase, because Suprlink upshifts
everything in the command line except literal strings within quotes ("abc"). These
two commands are identical:
+EXIT
+exit

Continuation
The maximum physical command line is 256 characters. You may enter commands
on multiple input lines by putting an "&" continuation character at the end of the
line. The maximum total command length is 256 characters. The most common
reason for continuing commands is to specify a lengthy Link command with
secondary keys.

396 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 +input students
+link majors by ssn cmaj from &
ssn curmajor
+output outfile
+exit

Comments on Command Lines

Comments may appear at the end of any command line, when they are surrounded by
braces. Many of the examples in this manual show comments at the end of each
command line. You can enter a comment as the only item in a Suprlink command
line. When continuing command lines, the comment can appear before or after the
continuation character.
+ {link customer records to invoices. }
+input invoices {sorted by custnum}
+link customer {combined with customers}
+output invcust {produces the file we want}
+exit

STREAMX
STREAMX is a product from VESOFT that permits you to build flexible job
streams. STREAMX contains a complete programming language with loops,
prompts, and parameter substitution. A problem arises when trying to enter
comments into a Suprtool batch job that will be submitted with STREAMX. Suprtool
uses the {...} pair to delimit comments. STREAMX uses these same characters for
expressions.
You cannot change Suprtool's comment character, but you can change the {...}
characters in STREAMX. The following example changes the STREAMX
expression characters from {...} to ~...~:
!job example,user.acct
::setbraces ~~
!run suprlink.pub.robelle
+input invoices {driving input file, custnum is the key}
+link customer {combined with customers}
+output invcust {produces the file we want}
+exit
!tell ~hpjobname~,~hpuser~.~hpaccount~;Example done.
!eoj

MPE Commands
Suprlink also accepts MPE commands, with or without a colon.
+:comment
+comment

For commands that are the same in both Suprlink and MPE, Suprlink only executes
the MPE command if you type the colon. For example:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 397

 +help {you get Suprlink help}
+:help {you get MPE help}

MPE/iX Commands
Suprlink/iX will execute any MPE command (e.g., Run), UDCs, and command files.
Caution: programs that suspend, instead of terminating, are not killed by the
HPCICOMMAND intrinsic.

File Names
Suprlink's Input, Link and Output commands accept a file name in either MPE or
POSIX format. File names starting with "/", "./", or "../" are treated as POSIX file
names. All other file names are assumed to be MPE file names. MPE file names are
upshifted and POSIX file names are not. POSIX file names are limited to a
maximum of 240 characters. Here are some examples of POSIX file names:
:hello david,mgr.dev,david
:CHDIR SUBDIR
:run suprlink.pub.robelle
+input ./file
+verify input
/DEV/DAVID/SUBDIR/file

Calculator
Any command line beginning with an equal sign (=) is treated as a calculator
expression. This feature can be used to compute blocking factors and do other
calculations without the need of an electronic calculator.
You can obtain a short description of the calculator by entering the following:
=? {? gives help}
{prints a summary of = functions}

For a detailed description of the calculator and its options, see the Suprtool manual.

Control-Y
You can interrupt a Suprlink task with the Control-Y key (hold down Control while
striking Y). Suprlink responds by telling you how far it has gotten (IN=, OUT=,
etc.), and asking if you wish to stop. Hit the Return key to continue or type YES to
stop the task.

398 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Before Command [B]
Repeat any combination of the previous 1000 command lines, with or without
editing.
BEFORE [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo previous line)
(BQ=redo without change)
The Before command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them.
If you don't need to change them, use BQ or Do.
The Before command uses Qedit-style Control characters for modifying the
commands. The default mode is to replace characters. To delete use Control-D, and
to insert use Control-B. If you prefer HP-style modify (D, R, I, and U), use the Redo
command instead of Before.

Examples
+listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
+Before {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {the edited command is shown}
{you press Return}

+listredo -10/
+before 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
+bef 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
+b listf {redo last listf command}
+b listf temp {redo "listf temp" command}
+b @temp {redo last containing "temp"}
+before -2 {redo command before previous}
+before -5/-2 {redo by relative lines}

Modify Operators
If you wish to change any characters within the line, the modify operators are the
regular Control Codes used in Qedit:
• Any printing characters replace the ones above.
• Control-D plus spaces deletes columns above.
• Control-B puts you into "insert before" mode.
• Control-A starts appending characters at the end of line.
• Control-A, Control-D, plus spaces, deletes from the end.
• Control-T ends Insert Mode, allowing movement to a new column.
• Control-G recovers the original line.
• Control-O specifies "overwrite" mode (needed for spaces).

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 399

 Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command for details.

400 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Do Command [DO]
The Do command will repeat (without changes) any of the previous 1000 commands.
DO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: repeat the previous command)
Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 of them
are retained. Use the :Listredo command to display the previous commands. You can
repeat a single command (do 5), a range of commands (do 5/10) or the most
recent command whose name matches a string (do list). If you want to modify
the commands before executing them, use Redo or Before.

Examples
+listredo
+do {do previous command again}
+do 39 {do command line 39 again}
+do 5/8 {do command lines 5 to 8 again}
+do link {do most recent Link command}
+do show {do last starting with "show"}
+do showjob job {do last "showjob job" command}
+do @job {do last containing "job"}
+do -2 {do command before previous}
+do -7/-5 {do by relative line number}
+do 5/ {do command lines 5 to last}

Notes
The Do command cannot be abbreviated.

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command for details.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 401

Exit Command [E]
Exit Suprlink in one of three ways. By default, perform the current linkage task, if
any, then leave Suprlink. Users are often frustrated when they exit Suprlink after
specifying part of a task and Suprlink starts processing the task. Use the Abort or
Suspend options to exit Suprlink conveniently without executing the current task.
EXIT [ ABORT | SUSPEND | XEQ ]
(Default: XEQ)
Typing Exit with no parameters means Exit Xeq. Suprlink recognizes special
command names which specify both the Exit command and an exit option (e.g., ES
means Exit Suspend).

Exit Abort [EA]

Cancels the current operation and terminates Suprlink. The Exit command without
parameters always attempts to perform the task currently specified, while Exit Abort
cancels the task and terminates immediately. Should Suprlink be executed as a son
process, Exit will only suspend Suprlink, while Exit Abort will actually terminate the
process.

Examples
+:comment. You began to specify a linkage, stopped for
+:comment. coffee, and decided to cancel the task
+:comment. upon your return.
+input invoices
... coffee break ...
+exit abort {cancel linkage and terminate}

Exit Suspend [ES]

When running Suprlink as a son process (e.g., from Qedit), it would be nice to
suspend Suprlink without executing the current task. Exit Suspend does this. After
returning to Suprlink, all specifications for the current task are still in effect.

Examples
:run qedit.pub.robelle
/:run suprlink.pub.robelle
+input invoices
+link customer {start specifying options}
+exit suspend {return to Qedit without an Xeq}
SUPRLINK.PUB.ROBELLE is still alive. Okay to HOLD ? Y
/...
/:activate suprlink
SUPRLINK.PUB.ROBELLE
+output invcust {continue specifications}
+xeq {execute the current task}

Exit Xeq [EX]

To perform the current linkage task, you can either use Xeq (which leaves you inside
Suprlink, ready to define another task) or Exit Xeq (which leaves Suprlink when
done with the task).

402 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 After the Suprlink task completes, Suprlink either terminates, or suspends and
awakens a father process (i.e., :RUN from within Qedit). Exit Xeq is the default
option (i.e., specifying exit starts execution of the current task).

Examples
:run suprlink.pub.robelle
+exit {no input was specified}
End Of Program
:run suprlink.pub.robelle
+input invoices
+link customer
+output invcust
+exit {link and stop}

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 403

Form Command [F]
Display the fields in a self-describing file.
FORM [filename]
If no file name is specified, the fields in the input file are displayed. The display
shows the field type and field length in IMAGE notation. An I1-field is a single
integer. Packed-fields show the number of nibbles (subtract one to obtain the number
of digits). Byte and zoned-decimal fields show the byte length.
When showing the form of a self-describing file, Suprlink shows the byte offset of
each field after the subcount, type, and sublength. The first field always appears at
offset one.
There are two types of self-describing files. One type is produced with Suprtool's
Query output option. You produce the other type with the Link output option. The
Form command shows the internal self-describing version number, enabling you to
tell the difference.

A.00.00 - Query Output Option

Compound fields have a question mark for the type, and the length is the number of
bytes in the field. Sort information about the file is missing. Here is an example form
listing:
+form custfile
File: CUSTFILE.EXAMPLE.ROBELLE (SD Version A.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CHARACTER X5 1 {length is five bytes}
ZONED Z5 6 {room for five digits}
INTEGER I1 11 {single integer}
DOUBLE I2 13 {double integer}
PACKED P6 17 {room for five digits}
QUAD I4 20 {eight-byte integer}
REPEATINT ?6 28 {compound field}
LOGICAL K1 34 {single logical}
DBLLOG K2 36 {double logical}
Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 44 Blocking: 64

B.00.00 - Link Output Option

These self-describing files contain information about how the file is sorted.
Compound fields are handled correctly, so the Form command shows compound
fields just as you would see them in IMAGE. The Item command in Suprtool
identifies the date format of an item. The Link output option saves the date format
and any decimals as part of the field description:

404 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 +form datafile
File: DATAFILE.EXAMPLE.ROBELLE (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CHARACTER X5 1 <<Sort #1 >>
REPEATINT 3I1 6 {compound field}
DATE J2 12 <<YYYYMMDD>>
DOLLAR P6 16 << .2 >>
Limit: 10000 EOF: 15 Entry Length: 16 Blocking: 64

Formout File
The Form command writes all output to the file Formout. This file defaults to
$stdlist. You can redirect this file to a line printer or a disc drive. If you redirect the
Formout file to a disc file, Suprlink assumes a temporary file by default.
+:file formout;dev=lp
+form custfile {writes to line printer}
+:file formout;dev=disc
+form invfile {writes to temporary file}

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 405

Help Command [H]
Show what commands and options are available in Suprlink.
HELP [ command | keyword [ ,option ] ]
(Default: browse through the entire help file)

Command Help
If you specify any parameters, Help first assumes that you want help on a specific
Suprlink command. If you know the structure of the help file, you can specify one of
the keywords under the command name.
+help link {help on the Link command}
+help link,notes {notes section of the Link command}

Keyword Help
If we cannot find any help in the "Commands" section of the help file, we assume
that you specified one of the outer-level keywords in the help file. To see this list of
keywords, type help with no parameters. You will see a short introduction to
Suprlink and then a list of keywords. You can specify any of these keywords on the
Help command. You can also specify a subkeyword.
+help before,example {example section of Before command}

Quick Help - HQ
HQ asks Suprlink to look under the keyword QUICK in the help file. QUICK
contains the text from the Suprlink Quick Reference Guide, offering the experienced
user a quick review of the syntax of any command.
+hq input {quick description of Input}
+hq commands {quick list of command names}

Notes
If no parameters are specified, Help allows you to browse through the help file,
Suprlink.Help.Robelle. The Help command uses the Qhelp subsystem from the
QLIB. For "help in help", type "?" when you see the Qhelp prompt character ("?").
The help file is organized into levels. To go back to the previous level, press Return.
Press F8 to exit the Qhelp subsystem and return to Suprlink.

406 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Input Command [I]
Specifies the primary input source and the name of the key field by which it is
sorted.
INPUT filename [ BY key-field ]
There can be only one Input file per linkage task, but up to seven Link files. The
Input file should be created by Suprtool using the Output-Link option and must be
sorted by key-field. The key field can be any type, except for Real or Long. The
primary Input file may have more than one record per key value, and each record
may appear in the Output file.
It is best to have Suprtool Extract only the fields you will actually need, since if any
of the Suprtool extracts result in enormous Output files, the time to do the sort may
be prohibitive.
The BY-clause is only necessary when the Input file has been created using the
Suprtool Output-Query option instead of the Output-Link option. Output-Link adds
the sort field information to the self-describing file, so that you do not have to
specify it in a BY clause.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 407

Join Command [J]
Join the Input file to another Join file, this links files with multiple key values in both
the input file and the Join file.
JOIN filename [BY join-keys [FROM input-keys]]
[OPTIONAL | REQUIRED]
(Default: REQUIRED)

File Name
The Join file should be created by Suprtool with the Output,Link option; it should
only contain the fields that you actually need in the final report, plus any sort fields .
If you do a :LISTF of the file, it should show "SD" as the CODE; this means it is
self-describing. It contains a description of its own record structure in some special
user labels; this allows you to refer to the same field names as in the original
database and Suprlink can compute where they occur in the record. For example:
+input sales {Sales is sorted by custno}
+join custfile {key is custno}
+output custsale {Join two files...}
+exit {...into custsale}

Join Keys
Suprlink allows files to be linked by up to two keys, a primary and a secondary key
field.
By default, Suprlink assumes that the key field to the Join file is the same key field
specified for the Input file. If the Join key field is different from the Input key field,
use the BY-clause to specify the correct key field:
+input customer {key-name is custnum}
+join sales by custno {new name for the same field}

You would also use the BY-clause if the Link file was created using the Suprtool
Output,Query option instead of Output,Link.

Secondary Keys
Suprlink has an option that allows you to select which join record you want by
matching a second key field in the master.
JOIN filename BY primary-key secondary-key
This option forces Suprlink to compare both the primary-key and the secondary-key
when comparing an input record to a join record. For example,
+input ordhist {key-name is cust}
+join orders by cust prod {Orders contains prod}

This example says that the file Orders is sorted by both cust and prod fields. The join
will occur on those records that match both keys.

Secondary Input Key

It is possible that the second key field has a different name in the input file and the
Join file. The FROM-clause lets you handle this case:

408 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 +input students {key-name is ssn}
+join orders by ord prod from orders products

Note that you must specify the Input file key field as part of the FROM-clause. This
example is identical to the previous secondary key example, but in this case the
current major field is called "products" in the ordhist file and "prod" in the orders
file.

Optional Join
If there are no join records for a given key value of the input file, that input record is
dropped from the output file (this is the default option, REQUIRED).
To make the join optional, specify the OPTIONAL keyword. When you use
OPTIONAL, and Suprlink does not find a matching join record in the file, Suprlink
fills in the linked fields with default values. The default for byte-type fields is spaces,
for zoned-type the default is ASCII zeros "0", and for all other types the default is
binary zeros. For example,
+input custfile {key-name is custno}
+join addrfile optional {don't drop customers...}
+output custaddr {...if there is no address}
+exit

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 409

Link Command [L]
Link the Input file to another Link file, maximum of seven input files.
LINK filename [BY link-keys [FROM input-keys]]
[OPTIONAL | REQUIRED]
(Default: REQUIRED)

File Name
The Link file should be created by Suprtool with the Output,Link option; it should
only contain the fields that you actually need in the final report, plus any sort fields.
If you do a :LISTF of the file, it should show "SD" as the CODE; this means it is
self-describing. It contains a description of its own record structure in some special
user labels; this allows you to refer to the same field names as in the original
database and Suprlink can compute where they occur in the record. For example:
+input sales {Sales is sorted by custno}
+link custfile {key is custno}
+link addrfile
+output custsale {link three files...}
+exit {...into custsale}

Link Keys
Suprlink allows files to be linked by up to two keys, a primary and a secondary key
field.
By default, Suprlink assumes that the key field to the Link file is the same key field
specified for the Input file. If the Link key field is different from the Input key field,
use the BY-clause to specify the correct key field:
+input customer {key-name is custnum}
+link sales by custno {new name for the same field}

You would also use the BY-clause if the Link file was created using the Suprtool
Output,Query option instead of Output,Link.

Secondary Keys
Suppose that you are linking a master to a detail and the detail can have several
entries for each master. Suprlink has an option that allows you to select which link
record you want by matching a second key field in the master.
LINK filename BY primary-key secondary-key
This option forces Suprlink to compare both the primary-key and the secondary-key
when comparing an input record to a link record. For example,
+input students {key-name is ssn}
+link majors by ssn cmaj {Students contains cmaj}

This example says that the file Majors is sorted by ssn and may contain more than
one record per student. To select the desired record for each student, Suprlink
matches the students' cmaj against the cmaj in the link record.

410 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Secondary Input Key
It is possible that the second key field has a different name in the input file and the
Link file. The FROM-clause lets you handle this case:
+input students {key-name is ssn}
+link majors by ssn cmaj from ssn curmajor

Note that you must specify the Input file key field as part of the FROM-clause. This
example is identical to the previous secondary key example, but in this case the
current major field is called "curmajor" in the students file and "cmaj" in the majors
file.

Optional Linkage
If there is more than one link record with the same key value, Suprlink will select the
first one it finds. You can sort by another value such as date-time to force a certain
record to be first. Please note that this is unlike Quiz, which does a hierarchical
expansion to include every record accessed. If there are no link records for a given
key value of the input file, that input record is dropped from the output file (this is
the default option, REQUIRED).
To make the linkage optional, specify the OPTIONAL keyword. When you use
OPTIONAL, and Suprlink does not find a matching link record in the file, Suprlink
fills in the linked fields with default values. The default for byte-type fields is spaces,
for zoned-type the default is ASCII zeros "0", and for all other types the default is
binary zeros. For example,
+input custfile {key-name is custno}
+link addrfile optional {don't drop customers...}
+output custaddr {...if there is no address}
+exit

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 411

Listredo Command [LISTREDO]
The Listredo command will display any of the previous 1000 commands.
LISTREDO [ start [ / stop ] ] [;ABS] [;OUT=file]
[ string ] [;REL]
[ ALL | @ ] [;UNN]
(Default: display previous 20 commands)
(BJ and ,, are short for LISTREDO)
Commands are numbered sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are
retained. You can display a single command, a range of commands, all 1000, or all
the commands whose name matches the string. You can print the commands with
ABSolute line numbers (the default), RELative line numbers (-5/-4), or
UNNumbered. You can write the commands to your terminal or OUT to a temporary
file. If you want to redo any of these commands, see Do, Redo, and Before.

Examples
+listredo 5
+listredo 5/10
+listredo help {print all Help commands}
+listredo -10 {print last ten commands}
+listredo ALL {print entire redo stack}
+listredo purge {print all Purge commands}
+listredo purge xx {print all "purge xx" commands}
+listredo @purge {print all with "purge" anywhere}
+listredo @;rel {print ALL, relative numbers}
+listredo 1/10;out=*lp {dump commands to printer}
+listredo @;unn;out=save {write commands to a file}

Notes
The Listredo command cannot be abbreviated, but BJ is accepted as a short form.

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command for details.

412 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Output Command [O]
Specify the name of the output file and whether it is temporary.
OUTPUT filename [TEMP] [ERASE] [DATA] [LINK]
By default, the name of the Output-file is Output. The output file is a permanent,
self-describing file, containing data extracted from the input file and the Link files. A
few application tools may not read self-describing files. In this case, use the Data
option to make the output file a standard MPE file with a filecode of zero and no user
labels.
There are two different types of self-describing files. The first type is created with
Suprtool's Output Query option. A superior form of self-describing file is produced
with Suprtool's Output Link option. Suprlink creates the output self-describing file in
the same format as the input file. We recommend that you use the same type of self-
describing file for all input and link files.

Output Record Format

The record structure is determined by Suprlink, but is relatively easy to anticipate.
Suprlink starts with all of the fields of the input file, in order. For each Link file, it
appends the fields of the Link-file to the Output record, in order. Suprlink drops the
key fields from the Link records, since they always contain duplicated data.
If a field name (other than one of the two explicit keys) is duplicated in several
datasets, it will end up duplicated in the final output file. An example would be a
Timestamp field that occurs in every dataset. Workaround: use the Extract command
from Suprtool to take out only the fields you want, or to rename duplicate fields.
You can verify the format of the Output-file using the Form command. It shows the
field names, length, and structure, in order. From this display, you can generate an
appropriate COPYLIB or QSCHEMA definition.

Quiz Subfiles
The Erase option is provided for Quiz users who create an empty subfile using QTP
or Quiz before running Suprtool and Suprlink. See the Suprlink with Quiz/QTP
section for details.
Since Suprlink cannot currently write to NM Ksam files you cannot directly write to
PowerHouse indexed subfiles. You can use Suprtool to load file to the Indexed
KSAM file.

Size of the Output File

The output file is built with the same capacity as the input file. You can reduce the
size of the output file using a :File command.
+:file allsales; disc=10000
+output allsales

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 413

Redo Command [REDO]
Enables you to modify and repeat any of the previous 1000 command lines.
REDO [ start [ / stop ] ]
[ string ]
[ ALL | @ ]
(Default: redo the previous command)
The Redo command allows you to modify the commands before it executes them. If
you don't need to change them, use the Do command. Commands are numbered
sequentially from 1 as entered and the last 1000 are retained. Use the :Listredo
command to display the previous commands. You can redo a single command, a
range of commands, or the most recent command whose name matches a string.
The Redo command uses MPE-style editing logic (D, I, R, U and >). The default
mode is to replace characters. To delete, type DDDD under the characters to be
removed. To insert, type I under the insertion spot, then the new characters. To undo
your changes, type U. To append to the end of the line, use >xxx. To delete from the
end of the line, use >DD. To replace at the end of the line, use >Rxxx. And to erase
the rest of the line, use D>. If you prefer Qedit-style editing (Control-D, etc.), use the
Before command instead of the Redo command.

Examples
+listf @.soruce {"source" is not spelled right}
NON-EXISTENT GROUP. (CIERR 908)
+redo {redo most recent command}
listf @.soruce {last command is printed}
our {you enter changes to it}
listf @.source {edited command is shown}
{you press Return}

+listredo all
+redo 5 {redo 5th command in stack}
+redo {redo previous command}
+redo -2 {redo command before previous}
+redo 8/10 {redo 8th through 10th}
+redo -10/ {redo -10 through last}
+redo purge {redo last Purge command}
+redo purge temp {redo last "purge temp"}
+redo @temp {redo last containing "temp"}

Notes
The Redo command cannot be abbreviated. To save more commands, use a :File
command on the file LINKREDO before you run Suprlink:
:file linkredo;disc=5000
:run suprlink.pub.robelle

Persistent Redo
Redo commands can be saved in a permanent file and can therefore be used from
another session. You can use the Set redo command to specify a filename to save
your redo commands. Please see the Set Redo command for details.

414 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Reset Command [R]
Cancel the current linkage task.
RESET
Reset closes the current Input-file and any Link files, then resets the output file name
to Output. This is actually a Reset All command; you cannot reset particular
commands as you can do in Suprtool. If you try to reset an individual command,
Suprlink prints a warning.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 415

Set Command [S]
Enables or disables certain operating options within Suprlink. These options are not
reset by Xeq or Reset commands.
SET [MAPPED ON|OFF]
[REDO filename]
[STATISTICS ON|OFF]
[VARSUB ON|OFF]
[VARSUBDEBUG ON|OFF]

Mapped
SET MAPPED ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
MAPPED forces Suprlink/iX to read the input and link files using mapped file
access. Specifying this option is an error in Suprlink/V. If the input and link files are
not in memory, the wall time performance is worse with Set Mapped On, but CPU
time performance is better. You must Set Mapped On before specifying the input
file.

Redo
SET REDO filename
(Initially: unnamed temporary file)
Commands entered at the Suprlink prompt are saved in something called the redo
stack. You can recall commands from the redo stack by using other commands such
as Before, Do and Redo. By default, the redo stack is stored in a temporary file and
discarded as soon as you exit. This temporary stack is not preserved across Suprlink
invocations.
The new Set Redo command assigns a permanent file as the redo stack, allowing the
stack to become available for future Suprlink invocations. For example, to assign the
Myredo file as a persistent redo stack, enter
+set redo myredo

If the file does not exist, Suprlink creates it. Otherwise, Suprlink uses the existing
file. All subsequent commands are written to the persistent redo stack. The setting is
valid for the duration of the Suprlink session. As soon as you exit Suprlink, the
setting is discarded. Next time you run Suprlink, you will get the temporary stack.
If the file name is not qualified, the redo stack is created in the logon group and
account. This may be desirable if you want to have separate stacks. If you want to
always use the same persistent stacks, you should qualify the name.
The Verify command shows which stack is currently in use. If it shows
<temporary>, it means Suprlink is using the default stack. Anything else is the name
of the file used on the Set Redo command.

416 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Concurrency
When Suprlink uses the default temporary stack, it is only accessible to that
particular instance of Suprlink. You can run as many Suprlink instances as you need
and each one gets its own redo stack. With temporary stacks, you will never get into
concurrency problems.
If you start using a persistent redo stack, however, you might start running into
concurrency problems. A persistent redo stack can only be used by one Qedit
instance at a time. If you try to use a persistent redo stack that is already in use, you
will get the following message:
+set redo myredo
EXCLUSIVE VIOLATION: FILE BEING ACCESSED (FSERR 90)
Unable to open file for REDO stack

In this situation, Suprlink continues to use the redo stack active at the time and lets
you continue working as normal.
Qedit can also have permanent redo stacks. To prevent products from writing to each
other's stack, it is advisable to have separate stacks for each product by giving them
different file names.
For example, if you use
set redo myredo

you will have a redo stack called Myredo for your Suprlink commands. If you exit
Suprlink, then run Qedit and supply the same Set Redo command, your Qedit
commands will be written to the same file that was used for your Suprlink
commands.

Statistics
SET STATISTICS ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
STATISTICS causes Suprlink to print statistics at the end of each task.

Varsub
SET VARSUB ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Setting Variable Substitution causes Suprlink to resolve any CI variables in a
command before processing.

VarsubDebug
SET VARSUBDEBUG ON | OFF
(Initially: OFF)
Suprtool, now has a setting called Set VarsubDebug on which will print out the line
after the variable substitution has occurred. This setting only works if Set Varsub is
on and Set VarsubDebug is on.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 417

 setvar outfile &
:"/GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
45678901"
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
SUPRTOOL/iX/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc. 1981-2007.
(Version 5.4 Internal) TUE, OCT 30, 2007, 2:58 PM Type H for he
>set varsub on
>set varsubdebug on
>in file1sd.suprtest
vd:in file1sd.suprtest
>output !outfile,link,temp
vd:output /GREEN/SUPRTEST/filename90123456789012345678901234567890123
vd:2345678901,link,temp

The output is formatted into 74 byte chunks and printed with a preceding “vd:” so
the “substituted” line is clear.

418 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Use Command [U]
Specifies a file of commands to be executed as a group.
USE[Q] filename

Examples
A usefile makes your task easier by allowing common commands to be specified
once in an external file. For example, the following usefile contains all the
commands for creating the invcust file:
+use usecust
input invoices {sorted by custnum}
link customer {combined with customers}
output invcust {produces the file we want}
exit

Suprlink prints the lines in the usefile, including the comment lines. This allows you
to include instructions and reminders in the usefile. In the example above, there were
no commands for the user to enter.

Notes
Usefiles cannot be nested in Suprlink. The usefile may be any unnumbered text file
or a Qedit workfile, but no more than 256 characters per record will be processed.
By default, Suprlink displays the commands in a usefile as they are executed.
Suprlink can execute commands quietly using the Useq command. For compatibility
with Qedit, Useq can be abbreviated to UQ.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 419

Verify Command [V]
Print the definition of the current linkage task.
VERIFY
Verify prints the current Input, Link, and Output files; in other words, it is a Verify
All command.

420 • Suprlink Commands Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Xeq Command [X]
Perform the current linkage task.
XEQ
Xeq checks that you have specified an input file and at least one Link file. Then it
performs the linkage and creates the output file. Finally, it closes the files and resets,
ready for you to specify another linkage task or Exit. If you also wish to leave
Suprlink after completing the linkage task, use Exit instead of Xeq.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprlink Commands • 421

Example Suprlink Output

Example
The Form command displays the fields in a self-describing file. This information is
stored in the user labels of an MPE file and is not accessible with other tools. Use the
Form command to obtain the record layout of Suprlink output files.
The following example shows the Form command listing for an input file, a Link
file, and the resulting output file. We start with an input file of invoices.
+form invoices
File: INVOICES.TEST.DATA (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CUSTNUM X8 1 <<Sort #1 >>
DELIVERED I2 9
PRODUCTNUM Z8 13
PRICE I2 21
PURCHASED I2 25
QTY I1 29
TAX I2 31
TOTAL I2 35
Limit: 100 EOF: 100 Entry Length: 38 Blocking: 107

Suprtool produced both the invoice and the customer file by using the Get, Extract,
and Sort commands. The invoice file was produced with Suprtool's Output Link
option. If you had used Suprtool's Output Query option, the Form command would
not have printed any information about the key fields. The next listing is the
customer file.
+form cust
File: CUST.TEST.DATA (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CITY X12 1
RATING I2 13
CUSTNUM X8 17 <<Sort #1 >>
STATUS X2 25
FIRSTNAME X10 27
LASTNAME X16 37
STATE X2 53
ADDRESS 2X25 55
ZIPCODE X6 105
Limit: 50 EOF: 50 Entry Length: 110 Blocking: 37

The street address is a compound-field. If you had used Suprtool's Output Query
option, the field would have appeared with a question mark for the data-type. In that
case, you cannot use the field as a key-field in Suprlink, but the actual data in the
field will be processed and linked correctly. Your final report should be able to read

422 • Example Suprlink Output Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 this data just as if it came from the database. We use Suprlink to combine the invoice
and cust files into one Output-file:
:run suprlink.pub.robelle
+i invoices by custnum
+l cust
+o invcust
+e

The final Form command shows the record layout of the Output-file. You would use
this file as input to your report program.
+form invcust
File: INVCUST.TEST.DATA (SD Version B.00.00)
Entry: Offset
CUSTNUM X8 1 <<Sort #1 >>
DELIVERED I2 9
PRODUCTNUM Z8 13
PRICE I2 21
PURCHASED I2 25
QTY I1 29
TAX I2 31
TOTAL I2 35
CITY X12 39
RATING I2 51
STATUS X2 55
FIRSTNAME X10 57
LASTNAME X16 67
STATE X2 83
ADDRESS 2X25 85
ZIPCODE X6 135
Limit: 100 EOF: 100 Entry Length: 140 Blocking: 29

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Example Suprlink Output • 423

Limits Within Suprlink

Maximums
The various limitations of Suprlink are described here. In general you need to reduce
the number or sizes of fields if you encounter any of these limits.

Input File - Maximum Record Size - 2048 Words

This is also the maximum size of an IMAGE entry. We recommend that you use
Suprtool's Extract command to minimize the input record size.

Input File - Maximum Block Size - 4096 Words

By default, Suprtool restricts the maximum block size to 2,048 words. You can use
the Set Blocksize command to increase this size up to 8192 words. If you increase
the maximum block size, it is likely that Suprtool will produce an output file that
Suprlink cannot read.

Input File - Maximum Fields - 255

Suprlink restricts the number of fields per file to be 255. If you must have more
fields, use Suprtool's Define and Extract commands to extract several fields as one
contiguous series of bytes.

Link File - Maximum Record Size - 2048 Words

As with the input file, you should use Suprtool's Extract command to minimize the
link record size.

Link File - Maximum Block Size - 2048 Words

See the description of the maximum input block size.

Link File - Maximum Fields - 255

See the description of the maximum number of input fields.

Link File - Maximum Number - Seven

Suprlink will link one input file with up to seven Link files.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Limits Within Suprlink • 425

 Output File - Maximum Record Size - 4096 Words
When linking many files together, it is easy to produce large output records. Once
again, using the Extract command to minimize the size of the input and link records
will avoid large output records.

Output File - Maximum Fields - 1023

Internal Suprlink tables that keep track of the output fields are restricted to 1023
entries.

426 • Limits Within Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Welcome to Speed Demon

Welcome to Speed Demon

Welcome to version 5.4 of Speed Demon. For improved performance, call Speed
Demon in your programs instead of DBGET mode-2 to read serially through a large
dataset.
There are a few restrictions to using Speed Demon:
1. The database must not be open in mode-3 or mode-7.
2. You must have read access to all of the fields in the dataset.
3. The field list cannot be the "same" list (i.e., no *-list).
4. The database must be local (i.e., not on a remote machine).
5. Entries cannot be updated or deleted.
6. On MPE V (or compatibility mode on MPE/iX), the calling program
must not use DB-14 and DB-32 of the data stack.

MPE V
On MPE V, you install Speed Demon in the System SL (see Installing Speed Demon
for instructions). Speed Demon/V should be about five times faster than DBGET
mode-2.

MPE/iX
On MPE/iX, you run your native mode programs with an XL file:
DemonXL.Pub.Robelle. Speed Demon/iX can be slightly slower than DBGET
mode-2 or it can run as much as eight times faster. We are not certain why there is
such a range of performance values. We would be happy to see performance results
from users.

Conditions of Use
Speed Demon is included as part of Suprtool. Any licensed Suprtool users can use
Speed Demon in their own application software. Speed Demon cannot be included in

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Speed Demon • 427

 software being distributed to any sites that are not licensed to use Suprtool.
Application software developers who would be interested in integrating Speed
Demon into their products should contact Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.

Speed Demon vs. Suprtool

Suprtool is a program while Speed Demon is a set of callable routines. Application
programs can invoke Suprtool to extract, select, and sort records from an IMAGE
dataset, producing a disc file as output. Application programs can call Speed Demon
to serially return the individual records of the same IMAGE dataset, one record at a
time.
While Speed Demon lacks Suprtool's ability to extract fields or select and sort
records, it has the advantage that it delivers the records directly into your program.
Speed Demon/V is about 50% slower than Suprtool, but there is no need to read an
output file, as with Suprtool. Speed Demon/iX runs at the same speed as Suprtool.
With Speed Demon, your application program is responsible for selecting records
and sorting them (e.g., using the SORT verb in COBOL).
Application programs should invoke Suprtool when they expect to select a small
percentage of the records (i.e., when the overhead of reading the OUTPUT file will
be minimized). Application programs should call Speed Demon when they expect to
select a large percentage of the records.

Fourth-Generation Languages (4GLs)

Speed Demon will be more difficult to use from 4GLs than from a regular
programming language (e.g., COBOL or Pascal). Remember: each call to Speed
Demon returns a single record and you must build a loop to read and test them. Some
4GLs do a LOADPROC for every call to the Speed Demon intrinsics (e.g., Reactor
from Speedware). Because LOADPROC is so slow, this eliminates any benefit from
Speed Demon. We would like to hear from any users who have success using Speed
Demon from a 4GL.

Caveats for Privileged Mode Users

Speed Demon/V uses split-stack mode. This should not concern any normal user, but
there are two consequences for privileged mode users:
1. You cannot call Speed Demon/V from split-stack mode.
2. Do not enable a privileged mode Control-Y trap handler while calling
Speed Demon/V.

SPDEPREFETCH JCW
Speed Demon can read data directly from disc into memory using Multi-Rec
NOBUF reads. However, Speed Demon is often slowed down on MPE/iX while
waiting for the file system to satisfy its read requests. Using prefetch on MPE/iX,
Speed Demon is able to increase its throughput by instructing MPE/iX's memory
manager to read the data from disc to memory ahead of time. This way, when Speed
Demon needs the data it is already in memory and Speed Demon doesn't have to
wait.

428 • Welcome to Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 The SPDEPREFETCH JCW tells the memory manager how far ahead of Speed
Demon it should fetch data. Setting this number too low won't give the memory
manager sufficient time to get the data into memory before Speed Demon needs it.
Setting the number too high may mean that on a busy system the data will be
overwritten by something else before Speed Demon gets a chance to use it.
When reading an input dataset, Speed Demon/iX prefetches twice the buffer length
of data from disc to memory. This default value of 2 works well, even on small
machines. If Speed Demon is running stand-alone on a fast CPU with a lot of
memory, you may wish to increase the prefetch amount. The maximum value for
SPDEPREFETCH is 5 (i.e., five times the buffer length). If you don't want Speed
Demon to prefetch, you can specify SPDEPREFETCH 0. This may be required when
Speed Demon is operating with third-party software tools that intercept all file
system calls (e.g., Netbase from Quest Software).
The SPDEPREFETCH JCW is checked by Speed Demon/V, but its value has no
effect.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Speed Demon • 429

Installing Speed Demon

Compatibility and Native Mode Versions

There are two versions of Speed Demon. The Speed Demon/V version is for MPE/V
systems and for compatibility-mode programs on MPE/iX. Speed Demon/V runs in
compatibility mode and must be installed in the system SL. The Speed Demon/iX
version is for native-mode programs on MPE/iX. Speed Demon/iX runs in native
mode and is accessed via an XL file.
Depending on what operating system you are on (MPE/V or MPE/iX) and what kind
of programs will be calling Speed Demon (compatibility mode, native mode or
both), you may end up installing either, both, or neither version. Read all the
instructions carefully.
Before using either version of Speed Demon, you must build or upgrade the Robelle
account and restore all files as described in the Installing Suprtool chapter of the
Suprtool User Manual.

System SL Installation
This procedure is required for MPE/V systems, and for compatibility mode programs
on MPE/iX.
The Speed Demon/V routines are distributed in the file DemonUSL.Pub.Robelle.
The job stream Demon.SuprJob.Robelle installs the Speed Demon/V intrinsics in the
System SL. This is the only method for installing Speed Demon/V. You also use this
job stream to update Speed Demon/V when you receive a new version, or to re-
install the interface after a MIT update from HP. You will need a small tape for a
new cold load tape to contain the Speed Demon/V segments.
Warning: You must have created the Robelle account and restored all files as
described in the installation chapter of the Suprtool User Manual. To install
Speed Demon/V into the System SL, follow these steps:
1. Ensure that no one will use Speed Demon/V until the installation is
complete. No one can be running a program which uses Speed
Demon/V. Stop all jobs and send an operator warning.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Installing Speed Demon • 431

 :showjob
:warn @;please stop for 20 minutes
:abortjob #snnn

2. Stream the installation job. If MPE prompts for passwords, supply

them.
:stream demon.suprjob.robelle

3. Speed Demon/V uses the SEGMENTER to add the segments into

SL.Pub.Sys. It then requests a tape ("COLDLOAD") to create a new
cold load tape containing MPE plus the Speed Demon/V intrinsics.
Mount a tape with a write ring and :REPLY. Save this tape and use it
for any future cold loads.
4. If you're installing to an MPE/iX machine, the job does not create a
cold load tape. You must create a system load tape manually.
5. If everything goes well, Speed Demon/V prints a final message on the
console.
6. Please save the job listing for future reference.
Speed Demon/V is now installed and you should be able to use it in your application
programs.

User XL Installation
This procedure is for native mode programs on MPE/iX, and is optional.
You normally access Speed Demon/iX by specifying XL="DemonXL.Pub.Robelle"
when running your program. Therefore, there may be no need to perform any
installation steps for Speed Demon/iX.
The advantage of leaving Speed Demon/iX in the Robelle account and always
pointing to the XL when you run your programs, is that when you receive an upgrade
of the Robelle account files, Speed Demon/iX is automatically upgraded with no
effort on your part. The disadvantage is that you must remember to always put the
XL= statement on all Run commands for your programs that use Speed Demon/iX. If
you don't want to change your Run commands, you can copy Speed Demon/iX into
your own XL that is already being searched.
Installing Speed Demon/iX in your own XL requires that both the account and the
group where the XL resides have privileged mode capability. Calling programs do
not have to have privileged mode capability. The XL can reside anywhere on your
system, it does not have to be in the same account or the same group as your XL file.
Here are the commands to install Speed Demon/iX in your own XL:
:hello user.acct
:linkedit
>xl xl {we assume the XL already exists}
>copyxl from=demonxl.pub.robelle; replace
>exit

The Replace option is not in all versions of Linkedit. If your version does not allow
Replace, and you already have Speed Demon in your XL file, you will need to
manually purge the existing modules before copying the new one.
Demonxl can successfully be installed into the System XL file, but this is not
recommended by HP. Demonxl can be combined into an XL file with other Robelle
XL files, except Qcompxl (a part of Qedit).

432 • Installing Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Alternatively you can specify the XL for a program to use with the Altprog and Link
commands in Linkedit. To add an XL to a program that you are building with the
Link command, you can specify the following from within Linkedit:
:linkedit
HP Link Editor/iX (HP30315A.06.14) Copyright Hewlett-Packard Co
LinkEd> link from=main; to=myprog; xl=demonxl.pub.robelle

To alter an existing program to use the Demonxl, you can use the Altprog command
from within Linkedit:
LinkEd>altprog myprog; xl=demonxl.pub.robelle

Please see the Linkedit manual for details about the Link and Altprog commands in
Linkedit.

Group or Pub SL Installation

This procedure is for MPE/V systems and for compatibility mode programs on
MPE/iX. It is not the recommended or supported procedure. See the Speed Demon/V
instructions in the previous section.
We only support Speed Demon/V when it is installed in the System SL. These are
the reasons for this policy:
1. Speed Demon/V requires privileged mode. When Speed Demon/V is
installed in the System SL, it can obtain privileged mode for itself
while guaranteeing that privileged mode is not available to the calling
program. If Speed Demon/V is installed in a Pub or Group SL, the
calling program is installed in a group and account with privileged
mode.
2. Some third-party software intercepts all IMAGE and file system calls
(e.g., DBOPEN and FOPEN). Writing intercept calls is straightforward
from a Pub or Group SL, but very difficult inside the System SL.
Emulating all IMAGE and file system calls correctly is hard, and can
introduce problems for Speed Demon/V. By installing Speed Demon/V
in the System SL, we ensure that Speed Demon/V is calling the real
IMAGE and file system intrinsics.

Netbase
Netbase is a product from Quest software that intercepts IMAGE and File System
calls. Netbase allows any database or file to be automatically directed to a remote
machine. Netbase does not support System SL installation. For this reason, the only
way to make Speed Demon/V and Netbase work together is to install Speed
Demon/V in a Pub SL along with the Netbase software.

Pub SL
Installing Speed Demon/V in a Pub SL requires that both the account and the Pub
group have privileged mode capability. The calling program must be installed in the
same account (it does not have to be in the Pub group) and it must be run with
Lib=P. Here are the commands to modify an existing account called Dev.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Installing Speed Demon • 433

 :hello manager.sys
:altacct dev;cap=...,pm
:hello mgr.dev,pub
:altgroup pub;cap=...,pm
:segmenter
-buildusl $newpass,400,8
-auxusl demonusl.pub.robelle
-copy segment,suprrobelle0
-copy segment,suprrobelle1
-buildsl sl,400,8
-addsl suprrobelle0
-addsl suprrobelle1
-exit

The previous example shows the capability list as "cap=...,pm". You must fill in the
"..." by obtaining the existing capabilities for the Dev account and the Pub group. On
MPE/iX, you can use the :listacct and :listgroup commands. On other versions of
MPE, you will need to :run Listdir5.Pub.Sys.

Group SL
The steps for installing Speed Demon/V in a group SL are the same as for the Pub
SL, except that you use the actual group name instead of the Pub group. Your user
programs must be installed in the same group as the SL and they must be run with
Lib=G.

434 • Installing Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Accessing Speed Demon

Accessing Speed Demon

Speed Demon is a set of routines, or intrinsics, that you call from your program. The
Speed Demon/V intrinsics are installed in the system SL. The Speed Demon/iX
intrinsics are installed in an XL. You access Speed Demon by calling these intrinsics,
just as you would the IMAGE intrinsics. There are three primary intrinsics:
SPDEDBINIT. Initializes the Speed Demon environment and decides what dataset
to read.
SPDEDBSCAN. Replaces calls to DBGET mode-2 and returns the same condition
word values (e.g., 0 for okay, 11 for end-of-file).
SPDEDBSHUT. Cleans up the Speed Demon environment. Before you can call
SPDEDBINIT for another dataset, you must call SPDEDBSHUT.

Original Program Using DBGET

Suppose that your program scans the d-sales dataset to produce a report of all d-sales
records with a sales-total greater than $10,000.00. Currently, your COBOL program
looks like this:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Accessing Speed Demon • 435

 05-report-control section.
move false-value to end-of-d-sales-flag.

perform 10-read-and-report
thru 10-read-and-report-exit
until end-of-d-sales.

05-report-control-exit. exit.

10-read-and-report section.

perform 10-10-get-d-sales.

if not end-of-d-sales then

if dsa-sales-total > 10000 then
perform 20-report-d-sales
thru 20-report-d-sales-exit.

go to 10-read-and-report-exit.

10-10-get-d-sales.
call "DBGET" using db-base
db-set-d-sales
db-mode2
db-status-area
db-all-list
db-buffer-d-sales
db-dummy-arg.
if db-end-of-file then
move true-value to end-of-d-sales-flag
else
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 99-image-fatal-error.

10-read-and-report-exit. exit.

Modified Program Using Speed Demon

You would modify the original code to use Speed Demon to serially read through the
d-sales dataset. The original report-control section had no initializing paragraph
because we assumed that the d-sales dataset was rewound to the beginning. The
modified code must call SPDEDBINIT before reading the dataset. When we have
finished reading the dataset, we finish off with a call to SPDEDBSHUT.

436 • Accessing Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 05-report-control section.
perform 05-05-init-d-sales.

move false-value to end-of-d-sales-flag.

perform 10-read-and-report
thru 10-read-and-report-exit
until end-of-d-sales.

perform 05-20-close-d-sales.

go to 05-report-control-exit.

05-05-init-d-sales.
call "SPDEDBINIT" using db-base
db-set-d-sales
db-mode1
db-status-area
spde-db-control
db-dummy-arg.
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 98-spde-error.

05-20-close-d-sales.
call "SPDEDBSHUT" using db-base
db-set-d-sales
db-mode1
db-status-area
db-dummy-arg.
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 98-spde-fatal-error.

05-report-control-exit. exit.

The read-and-report section has one change. Calls to DBGET are replaced with calls
to SPDEDBSCAN. If SPDEDBSCAN fails, we perform a different error section.
Note that the parameter list for SPDEDBSCAN is not the same as for DBGET. Our
original program used the @-list, so we don't need to make any changes to the
buffer-d-sales declaration.
10-read-and-report section.
perform 10-10-read-d-sales
if not end-of-d-sales then
if dsa-sales-total > 10000 then
perform 20-report-d-sales
thru 20-report-d-sales-exit.

go to 10-read-and-report-exit.

10-10-read-d-sales.
call "SPDEDBSCAN" using db-base
db-status-area
db-buffer-d-sales
db-dummy-arg.
if db-end-of-file then
move true-value to end-of-d-sales-flag
else
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 98-spde-error.

10-read-and-report-exit. exit.

If the original program used partial field lists, we would call SPDEDBINIT with
mode-2 and pass the field list as the last parameter. For example,

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Accessing Speed Demon • 437

 move "CUST-ACCOUNT,PRODUCT-NO,PRODUCT-PRICE,PURCH-DATE;"
to db-list-d-sales.
call "SPDEDBINIT" using db-base
db-set-d-sales
db-mode2
db-status-area
spde-db-control
db-list-d-sales.
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 98-spde-error.

How to Use Speed Demon

To replace the DBGET mode-2 calls with calls to SPDEDBSCAN we did the
following:
1. Called SPDEDBINIT to initialize the d-sales dataset.
2. Replaced calls to DBGET with calls to SPDEDBSCAN and modified
the parameters passed to SPDEDBSCAN.
3. Performed a different error section for Speed Demon errors.
4. Called SPDEDBSHUT to close the dataset.

SPDEDBINIT and the Control Record

SPDEDBINIT requires a special control record. For COBOL, we suggest that this
control record be placed in the COPYLIB and copied into programs that use Speed
Demon. A common error in using Speed Demon is typing the control record
incorrectly. Use the file Cobol2.Qlibsrc.Robelle instead. You can copy the control
record directly into your COBOL program with the following Qedit commands (use
/JOIN with EDIT/3000):
/add 50.1=cobol2.qlibsrc.robelle 1/20

The definition of the control record, with the proper initializing values is:
01 spde-db-control.
05 spde-version pic s9(4) comp value 0.
05 spde-buffer-size pic s9(9) comp value zeros.
05 spde-future pic x(20) value spaces.

Error Handling
Programs that call IMAGE intrinsics usually have an error section for fatal IMAGE
errors. These sections typically call DBEXPLAIN and abort the program. When a
fatal Speed Demon error occurs, SPDEEXPLAIN should be called instead of
DBEXPLAIN.

438 • Accessing Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 98-spde-fatal-error section.
call "SPDEEXPLAIN" using db-status-area.

call "QUIT" using \db-status-area\.

98-spde-fatal-error-exit. exit.

MPE/iX
To access Speed Demon/iX from a native mode program, you must modify the :Run
command for your program to include an XL file. The following example shows
how you would compile, link, and run a native mode COBOL program that calls
Speed Demon/iX:
:cob74xl testsrc.demon
:link
:run $oldpass;xl='demonxl.pub.robelle'

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Accessing Speed Demon • 439

Speed Demon Intrinsics

The Intrinsics
In this chapter we describe the Speed Demon intrinsics in alphabetic order. The
parameters to each intrinsic are word arrays (just like IMAGE). You must include
every parameter or pass a dummy variable as a place holder. The condition code is
not returned by any Speed Demon intrinsic.

The Status Array

The status array is the same communications area that you use with the IMAGE
intrinsics. If an error occurs, you should call the SPDEEXPLAIN intrinsic. The
Speed Demon intrinsic does not return exactly the same status array as DBGET.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Speed Demon Intrinsics • 441

SPDEEXPLAIN Intrinsic
Prints a three-line message on $stdlist which describes the results of a Speed Demon
intrinsic call based on information in the status array.
SPDEEXPLAIN status

Status
The twenty-byte array used to call any Speed Demon intrinsic which
SPDEEXPLAIN will describe. The database and dataset parameters must not change
between the call to the Speed Demon intrinsic and the call to SPDEEXPLAIN.
The Speed Demon intrinsics can return many of the standard IMAGE error numbers,
but Speed Demon has many of its own. SPDEEXPLAIN will print the correct error
message in either case. Because the dataset parameter is not passed to the Speed
Demon intrinsic, SPDEEXPLAIN may not be able to print the name of the dataset in
the second line of the message.

442 • Speed Demon Intrinsics Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

SPDEDBINIT Intrinsic
Initialize Speed Demon, specify what dataset to read, and what field list to use.
SPDEDBINIT Database, Dataset, Mode, Status, Control, List

Database
Database name as returned from DBOPEN (first two characters must be non-blank).

Dataset
Dataset name or dataset number to read. You must have full-read access to this
dataset.

Mode
SPDEDBINIT can be called in any of four modes:
Mode Function
0 Return the version number of SPDEDBINIT. All the other parameters
are ignored and Speed Demon is not initialized.
1 Initialize Speed Demon to sequentially access the dataset of the
specified database.
2 Same as mode-1, but allows partial field lists.
3 Same as mode-2, but Speed Demon will read to the physical end of the
dataset. Use this mode if your program expects changes to the dataset at
the same time Speed Demon is reading it.

Status
If SPDEDBINIT succeeds with mode-0, the following values are returned in the
status array.
Word Usage
1 Zero.
2 Major version number.
3 Minor version number.
4 Pre-release version number.
5-10 Zeros.

If SPDEDBINIT succeeds with mode-1, mode-2, or mode-3, the following values

are returned in the status array.
Word Usage
1 Zero.
2 Entry length of the dataset.
3-4 Buffer size used to read the dataset.
4-5 Number of records that Speed Demon will read. For mode-3, this is
always the capacity of the dataset. For mode-1 and mode-2, this is the
number of entries for master datasets and the highwater mark for detail
datasets.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Speed Demon Intrinsics • 443

 7-10 Zeros.

Control
Special control record that must be declared and initialized as follows:
01 s7pde-db-control.
05 spde-version pic s9(4) comp value 0.
05 spde-buffer-size pic s9(9) comp value zeros.
05 spde-future pic x(20) value spaces.

Normally you won't be changing this control buffer. You might want to change the
spde-buffer-size. This sets the size of the file system reads and the size of the Speed
Demon extra data segment. The default size is 14,336 words, but you may wish to
reduce it.

List
For mode-0 or mode-1 this is a dummy parameter. For mode-2 or mode-3, this is the
field list that corresponds to the buffer that will be returned by SPDEDBSCAN.

Highwater Mark
When you specify a detail dataset, Suprtool and Speed Demon read records until the
highwater mark. If there is a big difference between the number of entries in the
dataset and the highwater mark, Suprtool and Speed Demon could take much longer
to read the dataset (this is true for all programs, not just Suprtool and Speed Demon).
Because mode-1 and mode-2 calls to SPDEDBINIT return the highwater mark for
detail datasets in the status area (this is the record limit), you can write your own
programs to automate checking for excessive highwater marks.

Notes
You must call DBOPEN before calling SPDEDBINIT. This is just like IMAGE --
you cannot call DBGET unless you have first called DBOPEN.
When you call SPDEDBINIT, Speed Demon determines how many records to read.
For master datasets, mode-1 and mode-2 of SPDEDBINIT uses DBINFO to obtain
the number of entries in the dataset. For detail datasets, mode-1 and mode-2 of
SPDEDBINIT uses the highwater mark for the dataset. SPDEDBSCAN stops
reading the dataset when it has read that number of entries. If the dataset is changing
dynamically, new records might be missed. Use mode-3 to force Speed Demon to
read to the physical end of the dataset. This mode makes Speed Demon more
reliable, but slower when the dataset is mostly empty.

444 • Speed Demon Intrinsics Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

SPDEDBSCAN Intrinsic
Read the next entry in the dataset.
SPDEDBSCAN Database, Status, Buffer, Dummy

Database
Database name as passed to DBOPEN.

Status
If SPDEDBSCAN succeeds, the following values are returned in the status array.
The forward and backward pointers are not returned.
Word Usage
1 Zero.
2 Entry length of the record returned in buffer.
3-4 Record number of the record read.
5-10 Zeros.

Buffer
Array where the values of the record read are placed. This buffer must correspond to
the field list specified in SPDEDBINIT.

Dummy
This is a dummy parameter and it may contain anything.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Speed Demon Intrinsics • 445

SPDEDBSHUT Intrinsic
Close the Speed Demon environment. This must be done if another dataset will be
read, or to restart at the beginning of the same set. SPDEDBSHUT will optionally
print statistics about the read operation.
SPDEDBSHUT Database, Dataset, Mode, Status, Dummy

Database
Database name as passed to DBOPEN.

Dataset
Dataset name or dataset number to shut. This must be the same dataset name or
dataset number passed to SPDEDBINIT.

Mode
SPDEDBSHUT can be called in any of three modes:
Mode Function
0 Return the version number of SPDEDBSHUT. All the other parameters
are ignored and Speed Demon is not closed.
1 Close the Speed Demon environment.
2 Close the Speed Demon environment and print a summary of the read
operation on $stdlist.

Status
If SPDEDBSHUT succeeds with mode-0, the following values are returned in the
status array.
Word Usage
1 Zero.
2 Major version number.
3 Minor version number.
4 Pre-release version number.
5-10 Zeros.

If SPDEDBSHUT succeeds with mode-1 or mode-2, zeros are returned in the status
array.

Dummy
This is a dummy parameter. It may contain anything.

446 • Speed Demon Intrinsics Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

The Demon Program

The Demon-stration Program

Speed Demon includes a program for demonstration and verification. This program
is called Demon.Pub.Robelle. The Demon program requests a field list to process,
and accepts all valid IMAGE field lists (except for *-list "same list"). You can use
this feature to compare the speed of DBGET to Speed Demon. There are several
ways of accessing this program.

Reading with Speed Demon (Parm=0)

If you run the Demon program with no parm-value and no entry-point, you are
prompted for a database and a password. To terminate the program, hit Return at the
database prompt. Demon attempts to open the database with mode-5. If this
succeeds, you are prompted for a dataset name. After prompting for the dataset
name, Demon prompts for a field list. Demon uses SPDEDBINIT to verify that the
dataset name and field list are valid and to initialize Speed Demon. Speed Demon
accepts all valid IMAGE field lists, including partial lists, except for the same list
"*". Demon then prints the entry length and buffer values returned from
SPDEDBINIT.
Next you will be prompted for an output file name. You may specify any valid MPE
file name, or Return for no output. The Demon program uses buffered I/O to write to
the output file. Do not compare the cpu or wall time of the Demon program with
Suprtool, because Suprtool will always be faster. After the Demon program has read
the dataset, the SPDEDBSHUT statistics are printed on $stdlist.

Reading with DBGET (Parm=1)

If you run the Demon program with Parm=1, you will be prompted for a database,
password, dataset, field list, and output file. The difference from Parm=0 is that the
Demon program uses DBGET mode-2 to read the dataset instead of using Speed
Demon. Use Parm=1 to compare the speed of DBGET versus that of Speed Demon.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE The Demon Program • 447

Reading All IMAGE Blocks (Parm=3)
Running the Demon program with Parm=3 is the same as Parm=0, but
SPDEDBINIT is called with mode-3. This forces Speed Demon to read to the
physical end of the dataset. Use this feature to compare the speed of SPDEDBINIT
mode-2 versus mode-3.

Verifying Version Numbers

The Demon program includes a special entry point for verifying the Speed Demon
version numbers. There are two Speed Demon version numbers: one for
SPDEDBINIT and one for SPDEDBSHUT. The Demon program prints two sets of
these version numbers: one set for the Demon program routines and one set for the
System SL. The Demon program will notify you if Speed Demon has not been
installed in the System SL. For example:
:run demon.pub.robelle,version
Speed Demon/Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.
(Version 5.4)

Demon program Internal Version Numbers:

SPDEDBINIT (Version 5.4)
SPDEDBSHUT (Version 5.4)

Speed Demon System SL Version Numbers:

SPDEDBINIT (Version 5.4)
SPDEDBSHUT (Version 5.4)

Demon/iX does not print the System SL version numbers. If you are on MPE/iX and
have installed Speed Demon/V into the System SL, you can get the version numbers
by running the compatibility mode version of Demon:
:run demonCM.pub.robelle,version

448 • The Demon Program Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Examples of Calling Speed
Demon

Copying the Examples

This chapter contains working examples of COBOL and Pascal source code that call
Speed Demon. You can copy the examples from the manual, but typing them from
scratch would be tedious and error-prone. The best way to copy the examples is to
take them from the on-line Speed Demon documentation file. The file is stored in
Robelle Qedit format. If you have Qedit, just Text a copy of Demon.Doc.Robelle and
extract the portions that you are interested in.
If you don't have Qedit, use the Qcopy program to copy the documentation file to a
new file in non-Qedit format, then use your favorite text editor to edit this file.
:run qcopy.qlib.robelle
>from=demon.doc.robelle;to=mydemon.source;new
>exit

COBOL Example
The following is an example COBOL program that shows how to call Speed Demon.
This program prompts for a database, database password, dataset, and field list to
process. Because upshifting is so messy in COBOL, you must enter the dataset name
and field list in uppercase. If you want to use the @-field-list, just specify @ when
asked by the sample program.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Speed Demon • 449

 $control nolist
$control source,errors=10
identification division.
program-id. testread.
date-written. May 11, 1990.
security. Copyright Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.
remarks.

***********************************************************
* *
* testread - test spde intrinsics. *
* *
* version: 1.0 *
* purpose: *
* *
* General-purpose program to test Speed Demon. *
* *
* Demonstrates that you must call DBOPEN before you call *
* the Speed Demon procedures. *
* *
***********************************************************

environment division.
configuration section.
source-computer. hp-3000 series 37.
object-computer. hp-3000 series 37.
special-names.
top is new-page.

input-output section.
file-control.
select line-printer assign to "LINEPRT".

data division.
file section.
fd line-printer
data record is line-record.
01 line-record pic x(132).

$page "CONSTANTS"
working-storage section.
01 true-value pic x value "T".
01 false-value pic x value "F".

$page "VARIABLES"
01 line-count pic s9(4) comp.
01 page-no pic s9(4) comp.

01 input-line pic x(80).

88 answer-spaces value spaces.

01 end-of-db-set-flag pic x.
88 end-of-db-set value "T".

01 in-record-count pic s9(9) comp.

01 display-number pic -zzz,zz9.

$page "image area"

01 image-area.
05 db-all-list pic x(2) value "@ ".
05 db-same-list pic x(2) value "* ".
05 db-null-list pic s9(4) comp value 0.
05 db-dummy-arg pic s9(4).
05 db-password pic x(8).
05 db-mode0 pic s9(4) comp value 0.
05 db-mode1 pic s9(4) comp value 1.
05 db-mode2 pic s9(4) comp value 2.
05 db-get-serial redefines db-mode2 pic s9(4) comp.
05 db-mode3 pic s9(4) comp value 3.
05 db-rewind-set redefines db-mode3 pic s9(4) comp.

450 • Examples of Calling Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 05 db-get-backwards redefines db-mode3 pic s9(4) comp.
05 db-mode4 pic s9(4) comp value 4.
05 db-get-direct redefines db-mode4 pic s9(4) comp.
05 db-mode5 pic s9(4) comp value 5.
05 db-get-chained redefines db-mode5 pic s9(4) comp.
05 db-mode6 pic s9(4) comp value 6.
05 db-get-previous redefines db-mode6 pic s9(4) comp.
05 db-mode7 pic s9(4) comp value 7.
05 db-get-keyed redefines db-mode7 pic s9(4) comp.
05 db-status-area.
10 db-cond-word pic s9(4) comp.
88 db-stat-ok value zeros.
88 db-end-of-chain value 15.
88 db-begin-of-chain value 14.
88 db-no-entry value 17.
88 db-end-file value 11.
88 db-begin-file value 10.
10 db-stat2 pic s9(4) comp.
10 db-stat3-4 pic s9(9) comp.
10 db-chain-length pic s9(9) comp.
88 db-empty-chain value zeros.
10 db-stat7-8 pic s9(9) comp.
10 db-stat9-10 pic s9(9) comp.

$page "db- variables"

01 db-base.
05 filler pic x(2) value spaces.
05 db-name pic x(26).

01 db-set pic x(16).

01 db-list pic x(80).

01 db-set-200 pic s9(4) comp value 200.

01 spde-control.
05 spde-version pic s9(4) comp value 0.
05 spde-buffer-size pic s9(9) comp value zeros.
05 filler pic x(20) value spaces.

01 db-buffer pic x(4096).

$page "[00] MAINLINE"

procedure division.
00-main section.

perform 05-get-parameters
thru 05-get-parameters-exit.

if not answer-spaces then

perform 10-init-testread
thru 10-init-testread-exit
move false-value to end-of-db-set-flag
move zeros to in-record-count
perform 20-read-set
thru 20-read-set-exit
until end-of-db-set
move in-record-count to display-number
display "In=", display-number.

perform 90-close-files
thru 90-close-files-exit.

00-main-exit. goback.
$page "[05] get-parameters"
*
* Prompt for the database, password, dataset and field list.
*
05-get-parameters section.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Speed Demon • 451

 perform 05-10-get-database.

if not answer-spaces then

perform 05-20-get-password
if not answer-spaces then
perform 05-30-get-dataset
if not answer-spaces then
perform 05-40-get-field-list.

go to 05-get-parameters-exit.

05-10-get-database.
move spaces to input-line.
display "Enter Database Name".
accept input-line.
move input-line to db-name.

05-20-get-password.
move spaces to input-line.
display "Enter Database Password".
accept input-line.
move input-line to db-password.

05-30-get-dataset.
move spaces to input-line.
display "Enter Dataset Name (must be uppercase)".
accept input-line.
move input-line to db-set.

05-40-get-field-list.
move spaces to input-line.
display "Enter @ or Field-List (must be uppercase)".
accept input-line.
move input-line to db-list.

05-get-parameters-exit. exit.
$page "[10] init-testread"
*
* Open the database and initialize Speed Demon.
*

10-init-testread section.

perform 10-10-open-base.

perform 10-20-init-spde.

perform 10-30-display-suprinit.

go to 10-init-testread-exit.

10-10-open-base.
call "DBOPEN" using db-base
db-password
db-mode5
db-status-area.
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 99-fatal-error.

10-20-init-spde.
call "SPDEDBINIT" using db-base
db-set
db-mode2
db-status-area
spde-control
db-list.
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 98-supr-error.

10-30-display-suprinit.
move db-stat2 to display-number.

452 • Examples of Calling Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 display "Entry Length: ", display-number.
move db-stat3-4 to display-number.
display "Buffer Size: ", display-number.

10-init-testread-exit. exit.
$page "[20] read-set"
*
* Read all the records in the dataset.
*

20-read-set section.

perform 20-10-get-next.

if not end-of-db-set then

add 1 to in-record-count
perform 20-20-display-next.

go to 20-read-set-exit.

20-10-get-next.
call "SPDEDBSCAN" using db-base
db-status-area
db-buffer
db-dummy-arg.
if db-end-file then
move true-value to end-of-db-set-flag
else
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 98-supr-error.

20-20-display-next.
* move db-stat3-4 to display-number.
* display "Record# ", display-number.

20-read-set-exit. exit.
$page "[90] close-files"
*
* Cleanup by closing the dataset and the database.
*

90-close-files section.

perform 90-10-close-dataset.

perform 90-20-close-base.

go to 90-close-files-exit.

90-10-close-dataset.
call "SPDEDBSHUT" using db-base
db-set
db-mode2
db-status-area
db-dummy-arg.
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 98-supr-error.

90-20-close-base.
call "DBCLOSE" using db-base
db-dummy-arg
db-mode1
db-status-area.
if not db-stat-ok then
perform 99-fatal-error.

90-close-files-exit. exit.
$page "[98] supr-error"

98-supr-error section.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Speed Demon • 453

 call "SPDEEXPLAIN" using db-status-area.

stop run.

98-supr-error-exit. goback.
$page "[99] fatal-error"

99-fatal-error section.

call "DBEXPLAIN" using db-status-area.

stop run.

99-fatal-error-exit. goback.

Pascal Example
Calling Speed Demon from Pascal is more difficult than from other languages due to
Pascal's tighter type-checking on procedure parameters. The following is a complete
example program written in Pascal/V that reads the process dataset of the
menu.qlib database. This example program compiles and runs in native mode
under MPE/iX, but you must make the two changes indicated. Because the buffer
length parameter is not 32-bit aligned, Pascal/iX produces a warning when compiling
the spde_db_control type. Note that the $check_actual_parm$ setting is left at 2 for
the entire program. This is required to prevent parameter type mismatches between
Speed Demon and Pascal.

454 • Examples of Calling Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 $list off$
{ $HP3000_16$ <-- Require this compiler option for MPE/iX}
program driver(input,output);
type
longint = integer;
shortint = -32768 .. +32767;{Remove this line on MPE/iX}

type_db_base =
record
db_id : packed array[1..2] of char;
db_name : packed array[1..14] of char;
end;

type_db_set =
record
name : packed array[1..16] of char;
end;

type_db_status_area = array[1..10] of shortint;

type_db_mode = array[1..1] of shortint;

type_db_buffer = array[1..46] of shortint;

type_spde_db_control =
record
spde_version : shortint;
spde_buffer_size : integer;
spde_future : packed array[1..20] of char;
end;

type_db_dummy_arg = array[1..2] of shortint;

var
spde_db_control : type_spde_db_control;

db_status_area : type_db_status_area;

db_dummy_arg : type_db_dummy_arg;

db_mode1 : type_db_mode;
db_mode2 : type_db_mode;

db_base : type_db_base;

procedure dbopen; intrinsic;

procedure dbexplain; intrinsic;

function proctime : longint; intrinsic;

function timer : longint; intrinsic;

$check_formal_parm 2$
$check_actual_parm 2$
procedure spdedbinit(var db_base : type_db_base;
var db_set : type_db_set;
var db_mode : type_db_mode;
var db_stat : type_db_status_area;
var control : type_spde_db_control;
var dummy : type_db_dummy_arg
); external spl;
procedure spdedbscan(var db_base : type_db_base;
var db_status : type_db_status_area;
var db_buffer : type_db_buffer;
var dummy : type_db_dummy_arg
); external spl;
procedure spdedbshut(var db_base : type_db_base;
var db_set : type_db_set;
var db_mode : type_db_mode;
var db_stat : type_db_status_area;
var dummy : type_db_dummy_arg
); external spl;

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Speed Demon • 455

 procedure spdeexplain(var status : type_db_status_area
); external spl;
$check_formal_parm 3$

function open_base : boolean;

var
db_password : packed array[1..8] of char;
mode1 : shortint;
begin
open_base := false;
db_base.db_id := ' ';
db_base.db_name := 'menu.qlib; ';
db_password := ';; ';
mode1 := 1;
dbopen(db_base
,db_password
,mode1
,db_status_area
);
if db_status_area[1] <> 0 then
dbexplain(db_status_area)
else
open_base := true;
end (*open_base*);

function init_spde : boolean;

var
db_set : type_db_set;
begin
init_spde := false;
with spde_db_control do
begin
spde_version := 0;
spde_buffer_size:= 0;
spde_future := ' ';
end;
db_set.name := 'PROCESS; ';
spdedbinit(db_base
,db_set
,db_mode1
,db_status_area
,spde_db_control
,db_dummy_arg
);
if db_status_area[1] <> 0 then
spdeexplain(db_status_area)
else
init_spde := true;
end (*init_spde*);

function read_set : boolean;

var
db_buffer : type_db_buffer;
begin
read_set := false;
spdedbscan(db_base
,db_status_area
,db_buffer
,db_dummy_arg
);
if db_status_area[1] = 0 then
read_set := true
else
if db_status_area[1] <> 11 then
spdeexplain(db_status_area);
end (*read_set*);

procedure test_spde;
var
start_cpu : longint;
start_wall: longint;

456 • Examples of Calling Speed Demon Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 in_count : longint;
begin
start_cpu := proctime;
start_wall:= timer;
in_count := 0;
while read_set do
in_count := in_count + 1;
start_cpu := proctime - start_cpu;
start_wall:= timer - start_wall;
writeln('In=',in_count:1);
write('Cpu-time=',start_cpu:1,' ');
write('Wall-time=',start_wall:1);
writeln;
end (*test_spde*);

procedure complete_driver;
var
db_set : type_db_set;
begin
db_set.name := 'PROCESS; ';
spdedbshut(db_base
,db_set
,db_mode2
,db_status_area
,db_dummy_arg
);
if db_status_area[1] <> 0 then
spdeexplain(db_status_area);
end (*complete_driver*);

begin (*driver*)

db_mode1[1] := 1;
db_mode2[1] := 2;
if open_base then
if init_spde then
begin
test_spde;
complete_driver;
end;
end.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Speed Demon • 457

Speed Demon Error Messages

Error Messages and Numbers

Speed Demon returns errors similar to IMAGE. Each error is associated with an
error number. The following are the error numbers, descriptions, and causes that can
be returned by any Speed Demon intrinsic.

-538: SPDEPREFETCH JCW VALUE n IS LESS THAN ZERO

OR GREATER THAN 5
The SPDEPREFETCH JCW determines if Speed Demon should prefetch data into
memory and if so, how far ahead it should read. A value of zero tells Speed Demon
not to prefetch data. Values greater than five are not allowed. Check the value of the
SPDEPREFETCH JCW and set it to an appropriate number.

-537: FINDJCW FAILED WITH ERROR# n

A call to the FINDJCW intrinsic failed. The value of n is the error number returned
from FINDJCW. This error should never occur. If it does, please report it to Robelle
Solutions Technology Inc.

-536: ROBELLE PREFETCH FAILURE ERROR# n

The internal Robelle prefetch module has returned an error. The value of n is the
prefetch error number. This message is followed by a prefetch error message. You
should report this error to Robelle.

-535: SPEED DEMON HAS EXPIRED

Your version of Speed Demon has expired. If you have received a nonexpiring
version of Speed Demon/V, be sure to install it in the System SL. For Speed
Demon/iX, make sure that you have restored DemonXL.Pub.Robelle. If you are
using Speed Demon/iX from your own XL file, be sure to reinstall Speed Demon/iX
after restoring the nonexpiring version.

-534: SPDEDBINIT NOT CALLED

Before calling SPDEDBSCAN or SPDEDBSHUT, you must call SPDEDBINIT
successfully. Make sure that SPDEDBINIT was actually called and that the
condition word returned from SPDEDBINIT was zero.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Speed Demon Error Messages • 459

 In Speed Demon/V, this error can also be caused by corrupting the stack. The Speed
Demon intrinsics use two words of the DL-area (DB-32 and DB-14) to store global
information. Setting the first word (DB-32) to zero, possibly because of a bug, will
cause this error.

-533: FLIMIT OF ACTUAL MPE FILE IS INVALID

SPDEDBINIT verifies that the physical MPE file that corresponds to the dataset
matches the information returned by DBINFO. SPDEDBINIT computes the number
of records in the MPE file as follows:
#records = (capacity - 1) / blockfactor + 1
where capacity and blockfactor are reported by the FORM command of Suprtool or
QUERY. This number must match the EOF of the MPE file (you can check this with
:listf,2).
This error is usually caused by restoring a earlier version of the dataset from a
backup tape.

-532: INVALID BLOCK SIZE FOR DATASET: xx

The MPE file corresponding to the dataset has a block length that is less than the one
reported from DBINFO. This can only happen if the MPE file is corrupted.

-531: INVALID BLOCKING FACTOR FOR DATASET: xx

The MPE file corresponding to the dataset has a blocking factor other than one. This
can only happen if the MPE file is corrupted.

-530: INVALID FILECODE FOR DATASET: xx

This error should never occur. If it does, please report it to Robelle Solutions
Technology Inc.

-529: SPEED DEMON NOT ALLOWED ON REMOTE

DATABASES
Speed Demon only works with databases on the local machine. Check for a :File
command specifying the database on a remote machine.

-528: SPEED DEMON REQUIRES FULL-READ ACCESS TO

THE DATASET
The password used in DBOPEN must grant read access to the entire dataset passed
to SPDEDBINIT. The creator password always grants full-read access to every
dataset.

-527: THE DATASET CHANGED SINCE CALLING

SPDEDBINIT
The dataset name or dataset number passed to SPDEDBINIT must be the same one
passed to SPDEDBSHUT.

-526: INVALID EXTRA DATA SEGMENT IDENTIFIER

This error should never occur. If it does, please report it to Robelle Solutions
Technology Inc.

460 • Speed Demon Error Messages Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 -525: DATASET IS ALREADY ACTIVE
You can only use Speed Demon to read one dataset at a time. Two calls were made
to SPDEDBINIT. Make sure that SPDEDBSHUT is called before calling
SPDEDBINIT again.

-524: INVALID DATA SEGMENT INDEX

This error can only happen in Speed Demon/V. The DL-area of the stack has been
corrupted. Make sure that DB-32 and DB-14 are not used by the calling program.

-523: UNABLE TO OBTAIN EXTRA DATA SEGMENT

Speed Demon needs an extra data segment the length of the buffer size plus a few
hundred bytes (the default buffer size is 28,672 bytes). SPDEDBINIT was unable to
allocate this extra data segment. Either the system is out of resources (e.g., DST table
is full) or the maximum extra data segment size is configured too small.

-522: INVALID FUTURE PARAMETER

The future part of the control record does not contain twenty blanks. Make sure that
the control record was declared correctly, and that the correct name was passed to
SPDEDBINIT. Verify that the control record is the fifth parameter of SPDEDBINIT,
and be sure that either a dummy argument or a field list was passed as the last
parameter to SPDEDBINIT.

-521: INVALID BUFFER LENGTH: xxxx

The buffer length of the control record did not contain a valid value. The minimum
buffer size is 4096 and the maximum is 14,336, unless zero was specified. Make sure
that the control record was declared correctly, the correct name was passed to
SPDEDBINIT, verify that the control record is the fourth parameter of
SPDEDBINIT, and be sure that a dummy argument was passed as the last parameter
to SPDEDBINIT.

-520: INVALID VERSION NUMBER: x

The version number of the control record did not contain a zero. Make sure that the
control record was declared correctly, the correct name was passed to SPDEDBINIT,
verify that the control record is the fifth parameter of SPDEDBINIT, and be sure that
a dummy argument was passed as the last parameter to SPDEDBINIT.

Assertion Errors
It is possible for Speed Demon to abort because of an internal inconsistency. These
are called assertion errors and they should be reported to Robelle Solutions
Technology Inc. There is one assertion error that can be caused by problems in the
application software.
Each Speed Demon/V intrinsic checks for ten words of room in the status area. If
there is not enough room, Speed Demon/V is aborted with assertion error number
one. If this happens, you should check that the declaration of the status area is
correct. This problem could also be caused by a large portion of the application stack
being wiped out.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Speed Demon Error Messages • 461

Welcome to Calling Suprtool

Calling Suprtool
Suprtool, including its Suprlink and Dbedit components, is a utility program, like
FCOPY or QUERY. You run it, either interactively or in a batch job, and feed it
commands to define a task to be done. How would a user application program invoke
Suprtool to perform a desired task? One way would be to use the COMMAND
intrinsic to launch a batch job that ran Suprtool. Unfortunately, the user program
would have little control over when the batch job started or finished.
To solve this problem, Robelle provides an interface routine that will run Suprtool
for a user program, and pass commands from the program to Suprtool (the same
commands you would type into Suprtool). This routine (procedure, subroutine,
intrinsic) allows user programs to "call" Suprtool. A typical use of this interface
would be for a COBOL program to ask Suprtool to extract a selected subset from a
large IMAGE dataset and write it to a disc file, which the COBOL program would
then read and format into a report.

Suprtool2 Routine
The interface routine is called Suprtool2 (not Suprtool). User programs written in
COBOL, COBOL/iX, FORTRAN, FORTRAN/iX, Pascal, Pascal/iX,
SPEEDWARE, SPL, or TRANSACT can call Suprtool2 and ask Suprtool to do any
of the normal Suprtool tasks such as copy, extract, or sort. The routine creates
Suprtool as a son process.
The user program instructs Suprtool by calling the Suprtool2 routine repeatedly with
Suprtool command lines. When the first Suprtool command is sent, the interface
builds temporary files which will be used for input and output to Suprtool. When the
user program sends an Exit command in a separate call to the interface, the interface
creates Suprtool as a son process. Finally, the interface prints the $stdlist message
file, if so directed by the user program.

Importance of the Exit Command

The interface will not invoke Suprtool until your program passes Exit to it as a
command line. The Exit command must be alone and left-justified in the
command line. You may use Xeq to separate multiple tasks, but none of the
tasks will be executed until you pass Exit to the interface. If you forget the final

462 • Welcome to Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Exit or put it in the same command line with another command such as Xeq,
your Suprtool tasks will be ignored.

Control Record
The user program must pass a special control record to the interface on each call. For
COBOL, we suggest that this control record be placed in the COPYLIB and copied
into programs that require the Suprtool interface. The most common error in using
the Suprtool2 interface is typing the control record incorrectly. Use the file
Cobol.Qlibsrc.Robelle instead. You can copy the control record directly into your
COBOL program with the following Qedit command (use /JOIN with EDIT/3000):
/add 50.1=cobol.qlibsrc.robelle

The definition of the control record, with the proper initializing values, is as follows:
01 supr-control.
05 supr-version pic s9(4) comp value 4.
05 supr-status pic s9(4) comp.
88 supr-ok value zeros.
88 supr-bad-msgfiles value 1.
88 supr-aborted value 2.
88 supr-create-error value 3.
88 supr-bad-total-type value 4.
05 supr-command-line pic x(256) value spaces.
05 supr-flags.
10 supr-priority pic x(2) value spaces.
88 supr-priority-cs value "CS".
88 supr-priority-ds value "DS".
88 supr-priority-es value "ES".
10 supr-maxdata pic s9(9) comp value 0.
10 supr-print-state pic x(2) value "ER".
88 supr-print-on-error value "ER".
88 supr-print-always value "AL".
88 supr-print-never value "NE".
10 supr-total-type pic x(2) value "CO".
88 supr-total-cobol value "CO".
88 supr-total-ascii value "AS".
10 supr-other-flags pic x(18) value spaces.
05 supr-totals pic s9(17) sign is trailing
separate character occurs 15 times.
05 supr-out-count pic s9(9) comp.
05 supr-workspace pic x(20) value spaces.

Status
The supr-status field returns a 0 if the command line was sent to Suprtool without
incident or one of the error numbers shown as 88 levels.

Command Line
The supr-command-line can contain any Suprtool command. Use the same format
that you use in typing commands into Suprtool. You don't need to enter commands
as a single string of 256 characters in a single call to the interface. You may use ";"
to send several commands in one string, or you may use the "&" mechanism to
continue commands.
The final call must have Exit as the command, alone and left-justified in the
command line. The final Exit command can be in uppercase or lowercase, but cannot
be abbreviated. MPE commands can be passed into the interface and Suprtool will
execute them.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Calling Suprtool • 463

 Priority
The supr-priority flag should contain one of "CS", "DS", or "ES". The default is
"DS".

Maxdata
The supr-maxdata contains the Maxdata in words for Suprtool. The default is 32,000,
but you can ask for a smaller stack using this parameter (e.g., 20,000). There is no
problem with reducing Maxdata when you plan to Sort. However, if you plan to do
copies without sorts, you should send Suprtool a Buffer 4096 command if you
reduce Maxdata. Otherwise, you are likely to get a Stack Overflow abort within
Suprtool or the error message "Unable to allocate buffer in DL area". If you want the
default, this field should contain a 0.

Print State
If the supr-print-state contains "AL", the output from Suprtool will always be printed
on $stdlist. If the state is "NE", the output will never be printed. If the state is "ER"
or blank, the output will be printed only if Suprtool aborts due to an error.

Total Type
The supr-total-type determines the format of the supr-totals array. If you call
Suprtool2 from COBOL, you should use "CO". The COBOL format is display (with
leading zeros) and a trailing sign. If the type is "AS", each total is returned left-
justified in the total field with a leading sign.

Totals
If you specify the Total command as part of an extract task, Suprtool2 returns the
totals in the supr-totals array. Totals are returned in exactly the same order in which
they were specified. If you are calling Suprtool2 from COBOL, never specify the
decimal-precision portion of the Total command. If your total includes an implied
decimal point, you will have to modify the supr-totals declaration to include an
implied decimal point (e.g., pic s9(15)v99 ...).
If you specify "AS" as the supr-total-type, each total is formatted as an 18-byte
string. In this case, you should specify the correct decimal-precision in the Total
command. The exponent portion of real totals is truncated by the Suprtool2 interface.

Out Count
After a successful call to the Suprtool2 interface, the supr-out-count is set to the
number of Suprtool output records. The supr-out-count is only returned after the
Suprtool2 call with the Exit command. Suprtool also puts this count in the
SuprtoolOutCount JCW, up to the maximum JCW value permitted, 65,535.

Workspace
The supr-workspace part of the record MUST contain spaces before the first call to
the Suprtool2 procedure.

Compiling and Linking on MPE V

You require PH capability in order to use the Suprtool2 interface. The classic object
code for the interface resides in ST2USL.Pub.Robelle. If your program aborts with a

464 • Welcome to Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 "Stack Overflow" you should increase the size of Maxdata. Users who call the
interface from FORTRAN programs will have to increase the Maxdata size. COBOL
programmers should wait until they get a "Stack Overflow".
The interface is installed in SL files. The following commands demonstrate how to
compile and prepare your program to use the Suprtool interface. This example
assumes that the Suprtool2 routine has been installed in the System SL:
:cobol example.source
:prep $oldpass,example.pub;cap=ph
:save example.pub
:run example.pub

Using Lib=
The installation chapter of the manual tells how to install the interface so that it is
available to every program. You can also install the interface routine in a SL file and
run your program with Lib=. Here is an example of how to add the Suprtool segment
from ST2USL.Pub to your existing SL file.
:run fcopy.pub.sys
>from=st2usl.pub.robelle;to=st2usl.pub;new
>exit
:segmenter
-buildsl sl.pub,400,4 {fails if you already have an SL}
-sl sl.pub
-usl st2usl.pub
-addsl suprtool
-exit

:cobol tool2cob.source
:prep $oldpass,tool2cob.program;cap=ph
:save tool2cob.program

:run tool2cob.program;lib=p

The MPE :prep command prints a warning message when you specify cap=ph. You
may ignore this message or specify cap=ia,ba,ph on your :prep command. If your
program requires other capabilities, they should also be specified (e.g., cap=ph,ds).
Warning: The Suprtool2 interface will change over time. The interface should never
be installed directly into a program file. It should only be installed into SL files.

Compiling and Linking on MPE/iX

You require PH capability in order to use the Suprtool2 interface. The interface is
installed in XL files. The following commands demonstrate how to compile and link
your program to use the native mode Suprtool interface.
:cob85xl example.source
:link from=$oldpass;to=example.pub;cap=ph
:run example.pub;xl='st2xl.pub.robelle'

User XL Files
You can use MPE/iX's Linkedit command to add the Suprtool2 interface to your own
XL file. For example,

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Calling Suprtool • 465

 :linkedit
-xl xl.pub
-copyxl from=st2xl.pub.robelle;replace
-exit
:run example.pub;xl='xl.pub'

The Replace option is not in all versions of Linkedit. If your version does not allow
Replace, and you already have Suprtool2 in your XL file, you will need to manually
purge the existing module before copying the new one:
:linkedit
-xl xl.pub
-purgexl module=suprtool.asm

Suprtool2 can successfully be installed into the System XL file, but this is not
recommended by HP. Suprtool2 can be combined into an XL file with other Robelle
XL files, except Qcompxl (a part of Qedit).

Suprtool Run Parameters

By default, the Suprtool2 interface runs Suprtool as Suprtool.Pub.Robelle with
Lib=S. We have provided JCWs that allow Suprtool to be moved or run with a
different library.

Moving Suprtool
To change the location of the Suprtool program file, you must specify a JCW and use
a :File command for the program file:
:setjcw suprtool2filecommand = 2
:file suprtool = suprtool.pub.dev
:run example.pub;lib=p

We suggest you add the Setjcw and :File commands to a logon UDC. This way,
every invocation of the Suprtool2 interface will use the copy of Suprtool in the Pub
group of the Dev account.
Previous versions of the Suprtool2 interface accepted a value of 1 for the
suprtool2filecommand JCW. In this case, you must specify a file command for
Suprtool.Pub.Robelle. We don't recommend you do this, since this only works on
MPE/iX and not on MPE V.

Lib=
The Suprtool2 interface looks at the Suprtool2lib JCW for which library to use. The
values of this JCW correspond to the description of the library portion of the flag
variable of the create intrinsic. These values are:
JCW Value uses lib
0 Lib=S
1 Lib=P
2 Lib=G
3 <invalid>

If the Suprtool2lib JCW does not exist, the Suprtool2 interface runs Suprtool with
Lib=S. To have the Suprtool2 interface always invoke Suprtool with Lib=P, you
would use this command:

466 • Welcome to Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 :setjcw suprtool2lib = 1

Slist234 File
Some previous versions of the Suprtool2 interface created a temporary file called
Slist234, which contained the $stdlist from the Suprtool run. A few programs were
written to read this file. By default, the Suprtool2 interface no longer creates this file.
If your program needs it, use the following JCW to force the interface to create and
save the Suprtool listing in the temporary Slist234 file:
:setjcw saveslist234 = 1

Lockwords on Suprtool
To tell the Suprtool2 interface that the Suprtool program has a lockword you can use
the suprtoolfilecommand facility.
file suprtool=suprtool/secret.pub.robelle
setjcw suprtool2filecommand = 2
run prog;lib=p

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Welcome to Calling Suprtool • 467

Examples of Calling Suprtool

Copying the Examples

This chapter contains working examples of source code that calls Suprtool2. You can
copy the examples from the manual, but typing them from scratch would be tedious
and error-prone. The best way to copy the examples is to take them from the on-line
Suprtool2 documentation file. The file is stored in Robelle Qedit format. If you have
Qedit, just Text a copy of Suprcall.Doc.Robelle and extract the portions that you are
interested in.
If you don't have Qedit, use the Qcopy program to copy the documentation file to a
new file in non-Qedit format, then use your favorite text editor to edit this file.
:run qcopy.qlib.robelle
>from=suprcall.doc.robelle;to=mysupr2.source;new
>exit

COBOL Example
Below is a sample COBOL program named TOOL2COB. It calls the Suprtool2
interface procedure. The purpose of TOOL2COB is to print selected item master
entries from an inventory database, sorted by item number. The program uses
Suprtool to create a disc file named SELITEM, filled with the selected item numbers
and their descriptions. Then it reads the disc file and prints a report on the line
printer.
The database used in this example is called INVORY, and the dataset is called
INVREC. Here is a QUERY FORM listing of the dataset:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 469

 :run query.pub.sys
>base=invory.data
PASSWORD = >>
MODE = >>1
>form invrec

SET NAME:
INVREC,DETAIL

ITEMS:
ITEM, X8 <<SEARCH ITEM>>
DESCRIPT, X50
WEIGHT, J2
STD-PKG, X12
SELLPRCE, J2
SPUOM, X2
SPLEVEL, 3J2
SPMULTIR, 3J1
CPMULTIR, J1
INDIC, X2
VENDORPR, X6
SUPPNUM, X2
PRCEDATE, X6

CAPACITY: 44200 ENTRIES: 35659

The listing for the COBOL program is:

470 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 $control source,uslinit,errors=15,list
$control debug,bounds
identification division.
program-id. tool2cob.
author. Robert M. Green.
date-written. 19 apr83.
date-compiled.
installation. Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.
security. Copyright 1983-2001, Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.
remarks.

************************************************************
* *
* TOOL2COB *
* *
* FUNCTIONAL OVERVIEW: uses Suprtool to extract and print*
* *
* INPUT: Invrec set of INVORY database. *
* All items with spec prefix (4 char), sorted. *
* *
* OUTPUT: print report on LINE-PRINTER *
* *
* TERMINATED BY: eof or error *
* *
* PREP WITH: cap = ph *
* *
* REV ,INIT,DATE , REASON: *
* 00, rmg, 19 Apr83, started first implementation. *
* 01, djg, 25 Jan84, modified the control record to *
* include the version number. *
* 02, djg, 09 Nov87, modified to include totals in the *
* control record. *
* 03, djg, 10 Aug90, modified for version 4 control rec. *
* *
************************************************************

$page "environment division"

environment division.
configuration section.
source-computer. hp-3000.
object-computer. hp-3000.
special-names.
top is new-page.

input-output section.
file-control.
select line-printer assign to "LINEPRT,UR,A,LP".
select selitem assign to "SELITEM".

data division.
file section.
fd selitem
data record is item-record.
01 item-record.
05 item-number.
10 item-prefix pic x(4).
10 item-suffix pic x(4).
05 item-description pic x(50).
fd line-printer
data record is line-record.
01 line-record pic x(132).

$page "constants"
working-storage section.
01 true-value pic x value "T".
01 false-value pic x value "F".
01 revision-no pic 99 value 03.

$page "logical variables"

01 end-of-items-flag pic x.
88 end-of-items value "T".

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 471

 $page "variables"
01 if-command.
05 filler pic x(10) value
"IF ITEM='".
05 sel-prefix pic x(4).
05 filler pic x(2) value "' ".

$page "input area"

01 accept-buffer.
05 input-buf pic x(80).
88 answer-spaces value spaces.

$page "report layouts"

01 report-record.
05 filler pic x(5) value spaces.
05 report-prefix pic x(4).
05 filler pic x value "-".
05 report-suffix pic x(4).
05 filler pic x(3) value spaces.
05 report-description pic x(50).

$page "Suprtool Control Parameter"

* suprtool control area

01 supr-control.
05 supr-version pic s9(4) comp value 4.
05 supr-status pic s9(4) comp.
88 supr-ok value zeros.
88 supr-bad-msgfiles value 1.
88 supr-aborted value 2.
88 supr-create-error value 3.
88 supr-bad-total-type value 4.
05 supr-command-line pic x(256) value spaces.
05 supr-flags.
10 supr-priority pic x(2) value spaces.
88 supr-priority-cs value "CS".
88 supr-priority-ds value "DS".
88 supr-priority-es value "ES".
10 supr-maxdata pic s9(9) comp value 0.
10 supr-print-state pic x(2) value "ER".
88 supr-print-on-error value "ER".
88 supr-print-always value "AL".
88 supr-print-never value "NE".
10 supr-total-type pic x(2) value "CO".
88 supr-total-cobol value "CO".
88 supr-total-ascii value "AS".
10 supr-other-flags pic x(18) value spaces.
05 supr-totals pic s9(17) sign is trailing
separate character occurs 15 times.
05 supr-out-count pic s9(9) comp.
05 supr-workspace pic x(20) value spaces.

$page "procedure division"

************************************************************
* *
* P R O C E D U R E D I V I S I O N *
* *
************************************************************

procedure division.
00-main section.

* Ask for selection criteria.

display "TOOL2COB ", revision-no.

display " ".

display "Enter 4-character item prefix to select:".

472 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 move spaces to input-buf.
accept input-buf.
if answer-spaces then go to 00-main-exit.

move input-buf to sel-prefix.

* Use suprtool to build the extract file.

move "AL" to supr-print-state.

move "base invory.data,5,dev" to supr-command-line.

perform 01-call-suprtool.
move "get invrec" to supr-command-line.
perform 01-call-suprtool.
move if-command to supr-command-line.
perform 01-call-suprtool.
move ":purge selitem" to supr-command-line.
perform 01-call-suprtool.
move "output selitem" to supr-command-line.
perform 01-call-suprtool.
move "extract item,descript" to supr-command-line.
perform 01-call-suprtool.
move "sort item" to supr-command-line.
perform 01-call-suprtool.
move "exit" to supr-command-line.
perform 01-call-suprtool.

* At this point, the file "SELITEM" contains the sorted

* data. This file must be read and printed on the line-
* printer.

open output line-printer.

open input selitem.
move false-value to end-of-items-flag.

perform 02-print-item
until end-of-items.

close selitem.
close line-printer.

00-main-exit. goback.

01-call-suprtool.
call "SUPRTOOL2" using supr-control.
if not supr-ok then
display "Error: Unable to sort the invrec dataset"
display " "
display "Suprtool interface error number: ",
supr-status.

02-print-item.

read selitem at end

move true-value to end-of-items-flag.

if not end-of-items then

move item-prefix to report-prefix
move item-suffix to report-suffix
move item-description to report-description
move report-record to line-record
write line-record after advancing 1 lines.

FORTRAN Example
FORTRAN programmers may use the Suprtool2 interface to invoke Suprtool from
within a FORTRAN program. The control area may be in COMMON or it may be

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 473

 local to one routine. If the control area is declared local to one routine, then all calls
to Suprtool2 must be from within the same routine. The following example declares
the control area in a common block. One routine initializes the Suprtool2 control
area. The second routine is repeatedly passed command lines which copy the first
100 lines of catalog.pub.sys to the temporary file "tempfile". This example program
is compatible with FORTRAN 66, FORTRAN 77/V, and FORTRAN 77/iX.

FORTRAN 66
FORTRAN 66 users may need to increase the size of Maxdata for your program in
order to use the interface. The $HP3000_16 ALIGNMENT$ option is not needed by
FORTRAN 66 and if it is not deleted a warning is produced by the compiler.
FORTRAN 66 produces a warning on the line call setjcw, but this warning
may be safely ignored.

FORTRAN 77/V and FORTRAN 77/iX

The example program is valid for FORTRAN 77/V and FORTRAN 77/iX, but you
must use the $HP3000_16 ALIGNMENT$ compiler option with FORTRAN 77/iX.
The $HP3000_16 ALIGNMENT$ compiler option is required for FORTRAN 77/iX,
but the option is not needed for FORTRAN 77/V. If the option is not deleted a
warning is produced by the FORTRAN 77/V compiler. In FORTRAN 77, the
suprcommand variable may be declared as character*256 eliminating the
need for the suprfiller.

474 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 $HP3000_16 ALIGNMENT$
program test
character*254 command
call initsuprcontrol
command = "input catalog.pub.sys"
call invokesuprtool(command)
command = "numrecs 100"
call invokesuprtool(command)
command = "output tempfile,temp"
call invokesuprtool(command)
command = "exit"
call invokesuprtool(command)
20 stop
end
C This subroutine initializes the control record for SUPRTOOL.
C It should be called once at the beginning of the program.
C
subroutine initsuprcontrol
common /suprtool/ suprcontrol
integer*2 suprcontrol(291)
C
integer*2 suprversion
integer*2 suprstatus
character*254 suprcommand
character*2 suprfiller
character*2 suprpriority
integer*4 suprmaxdata
character*2 suprprintstate
character*18 suprotherflags
character*2 suprtotaltype
character*18 suprtotals(15)
integer*4 suproutcount
character*20 suprworkspace
C
equivalence(suprversion ,suprcontrol(1))
equivalence(suprstatus ,suprcontrol(2))
equivalence(suprcommand ,suprcontrol(3))
equivalence(suprfiller ,suprcontrol(130))
equivalence(suprpriority ,suprcontrol(131))
equivalence(suprmaxdata ,suprcontrol(132))
equivalence(suprprintstate,suprcontrol(134))
equivalence(suprtotaltype ,suprcontrol(135))
equivalence(suprotherflags,suprcontrol(136))
equivalence(suprtotals ,suprcontrol(145))
equivalence(suproutcount ,suprcontrol(280))
equivalence(suprworkspace ,suprcontrol(282))
C
suprversion = 4
suprstatus = 0
suprcommand = " "
suprfiller = " "
suprpriority = " "
suprmaxdata = 0
suprprintstate= "ER"
suprtotaltype = "AS"
suprworkspace = " "
C
return
end
C Call the "invokesuprtool" subroutine for each command line
C that must be passed to SUPRTOOL.
C
subroutine invokesuprtool(command)
character*254 command
common /suprtool/ suprcontrol
integer*2 suprcontrol(291)
C
integer*2 suprversion
integer*2 suprstatus
character*254 suprcommand
character*2 suprfiller

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 475

 character*2 suprpriority
integer*4 suprmaxdata
character*2 suprprintstate
character*18 suprotherflags
character*2 suprtotaltype
character*18 suprtotals(15)
integer*4 suproutcount
character*20 suprworkspace
C
equivalence(suprversion ,suprcontrol(1))
equivalence(suprstatus ,suprcontrol(2))
equivalence(suprcommand ,suprcontrol(3))
equivalence(suprfiller ,suprcontrol(130))
equivalence(suprpriority ,suprcontrol(131))
equivalence(suprmaxdata ,suprcontrol(132))
equivalence(suprprintstate,suprcontrol(134))
equivalence(suprtotaltype ,suprcontrol(135))
equivalence(suprotherflags,suprcontrol(136))
equivalence(suprtotals ,suprcontrol(145))
equivalence(suproutcount ,suprcontrol(280))
equivalence(suprworkspace ,suprcontrol(282))
C
system intrinsic setjcw
C
if(suprstatus.ne.0) goto 900
suprcommand = command
call suprtool2(suprcontrol)
if (suprstatus.eq.0) goto 900
C display "SUPRTOOL interface failed with command:"
C display command
call setjcw(-1)
900 return
end

TRANSACT Example
To call the Suprtool2 interface from a TRANSACT program, you must first define
the Suprtool2 control record. We suggest that the control record be included from the
file Transact.Qlibsrc.Robelle. The TRANSACT definition of the control record, with
the proper initializing values, is as follows:

476 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 define(item)
supr-control x(582),init = " ":
supr-version i(4,0,2) = supr-control(1):
supr-status i(4,0,2) = supr-control(3):
supr-command x(256) = supr-control(5):
supr-pri x(2) = supr-control(261):
supr-maxdata i(9,0,4) = supr-control(263):
supr-print x(2) = supr-control(267):
supr-tot-type x(2) = supr-control(269):
supr-other x(18) = supr-control(271):
supr-totals 15 x(18) = supr-control(289):
supr-total 9(17) = supr-totals(1):
supr-tot-sign x(1) = supr-totals(18):
supr-out-count i(9,0,4) = supr-control(559):
supr-workspace x(20) = supr-control(563);

list supr-control;

<< set up initial values >>

let (supr-version) = 4; << don't change >>

let (supr-status) = 0; << check after each call >>
move (supr-command) = " ";
move (supr-pri) = " "; << "CS","DS","ES" >>
<< "DS" is default >>
let (supr-maxdata) = 0;
move (supr-print) = "ER";<< print on error only >>
<< "NE" - never, >>
<< "AL" - always >>
move (supr-tot-type) = "CO";<< total type >>
<< "CO" - cobol, >>
<< "AS" - ascii >>
move (supr-other) = " ";
move (supr-out-count)= 0;
move (supr-workspace)= " ";

Below is a sample program that uses the TRANSACT include file to call the
Suprtool2 interface. The program uses Suprtool to find two totals and the output
count of selected records from the sales-hist dataset of the SH database. Be careful
not to create commands greater than 256 characters in length.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 477

 SYSTEM SUPREX;
SET(OPTION) NOHEAD;
DEFINE(ITEM)
TOTAL1 I (9,0,4), EDIT = "ZZZZZZZZ^":
TOTAL2 I (9,0,4), EDIT = "ZZZZZZZZ^":
CUSTNO X (6), INIT = "000000";

LIST TOTAL1,
TOTAL2,
CUSTNO;

!INCLUDE(TRANSACT.QLIBSRC.ROBELLE)

DATA(SET) CUSTNO;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "BASE SH,5,READ";

PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "GET SALES-HIST";

PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "DEF CUST-NO,HIST-KEY[1],6";

PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "IF CUST-NO = '" +

(CUSTNO) + "'";
PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "TOTAL CU-PER1-QTY";

PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "TOTAL CU-PER2-QTY";

PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "OUTPUT $NULL";

PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

MOVE (SUPR-COMMAND) = "EXIT";

PERFORM CALL-SUPRTOOL2;

IF (SUPR-TOT-SIGN(1)) = "-" THEN

LET (TOTAL1) = (SUPR-TOTAL(1)) * -1
ELSE
LET (TOTAL1) = (SUPR-TOTAL(1));

IF (SUPR-TOT-SIGN(2)) = "-" THEN

LET (TOTAL2) = (SUPR-TOTAL(2)) * -1
ELSE
LET (TOTAL2) = (SUPR-TOTAL(2));

DISPLAY
"There are ": SUPR-OUT-COUNT, EDIT="ZZZZZZZZ^":
"records for customer ": CUSTNO:
"Period 1 Qty this year", COL=5, LINE: TOTAL1:
"Last year ": TOTAL2;

EXIT;

CALL-SUPRTOOL2:

PROC SUPRTOOL2((SUPR-CONTROL));
IF (SUPR-STATUS) <> 0 THEN
DISPLAY "SUPRTOOL2 INTERFACE ERROR ", LINE = 2:
SUPR-STATUS, JOIN = 1:
"ON COMMAND:",LINE:
SUPR-COMMAND;
RETURN;

END SUPREX;

478 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

SPL Example
This SPL program invokes Suprtool through the interface routine:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 479

 $control errors=5,main=tool2spl
begin
<<
Copyright 1982-2001 Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.

name: tool2spl
purpose: test the suprtool interface.
prep: cap = ph
run: run with parm=2 for print stdlist always.
run with parm=3 to print stdlist never.
>>
define current'version = "(Version 0.6)"#;
$page "Global variables of the tool2spl program"

<< suprtool2 interface layout >>

equate
wl'supr'control = 290
,wl'supr'command'line = 128
,wl'supr'totals = 9
,bl'supr'totals = wl'supr'totals * 2
,max'supr'totals = 15
;

integer array supr'control(0:wl'supr'control);

integer array supr'version(*) = supr'control(000);
integer array supr'status(*) = supr'control(001);
integer array supr'command'line(*) = supr'control(002);
byte array b'command'line(*) = supr'command'line;
integer array supr'flags(*) = supr'control(130);
byte array supr'priority(*) = supr'flags(0);
double array supr'maxdata(*) = supr'flags(1);
byte array supr'print'state(*) = supr'flags(3);
byte array supr'total'type(*) = supr'flags(4);
integer array supr'totals(*) = supr'control(144);
double array supr'out'count(*) = supr'control(279);
integer array supr'workspace(*) = supr'control(281);

equate supr'ok = 0
,bad'msgfiles = 1
,suprtool'aborted = 2
,create'error = 3
;

<< standard global variables for Robelle SPL programs >>

integer
copy'of'parm << copy of "ACTUAL'PARM" >>
,actual'parm=q-4 << run ;parm=nn (use in mainline) >>
,input'length << used only with input defines >>
;
logical
batch << run in batch mode >>
;
equate
rtn = 13 << carriage return in ascii >>
,bell = 7 << ring the bell in ascii >>
,bl'inbuf = 86
,bl'outbuf = 132
,wl'outbuf = bl'outbuf/2
,wl'inbuf = bl'inbuf/2
;
define
end'if = end# ,end'else = end# ,end'while= end#
,end'case = end# ,end'do = end# ,end'proc = end#
,end'subr = end#
,p = begin move outbuf := #
,output=,2;output'(*);end#,err=,2;err'(*);end#
,ask=,2;ask'(*);end#, warn =,2;warn'(*);end#
,trim = while input'length>0 and
inbuf'(input'length-1)=" " do

480 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 input'length:=input'length-1#
,echo = if batch then
begin trim; print(inbuf,-input'length,0); end#
,input = begin input'length := readx(inbuf,-bl'inbuf);
if > then quit(10); echo;
inbuf'(input'length):= rtn;
end#
;

integer array inbuf (0:wl'inbuf);

byte array inbuf'(*)=inbuf;

integer array outbuf (0:wl'outbuf);

byte array outbuf'(*) = outbuf;

intrinsic
ascii, aritrap, binary, calendar, clock, dascii,
dateline, dbinary, debug, genmessage, print, quit, readx,
terminate, who, xaritrap, xcontrap, xlibtrap, xsystrap,
setjcw;

<< external definition of suprtool2 routine >>

procedure suprtool2(supr'definition);
array supr'definition;
option external, check 3;

$page "Standard Robelle Utility Procedures"

procedure output'( address ) ;

value address; integer address; << in outbuf >>
begin integer output'length;
<< check length for overflow of buf >>
output'length := (address-@outbuf)*2;
if output'length > bl'outbuf then begin
print(outbuf,-bl'outbuf,0);
quit(111);
end'if;
print(outbuf,-output'length,0);
end'proc; <<output'>>

procedure ask' (address);

value address; integer address;
begin integer output'length;
<< check length for overflow of buf >>
output'length := (address-@outbuf)*2;
if output'length > bl'outbuf then begin
print(outbuf,-bl'outbuf,0);
quit(111);
end'if;
print(outbuf,-output'length,%320);
end'proc; <<ask'>>

procedure err'(address);
value address; integer address; << in outbuf >>
begin integer output'length;
integer array errbuf(0:10);
move errbuf:=([8/bell ,8/10]<<lf>>,"ERROR: ");
print(errbuf,5,%320);
<< check length for overflow of buf >>
output'length := (address-@outbuf)*2;
if output'length > bl'outbuf then begin
print(outbuf,-bl'outbuf,0);
quit(111);
end'if;
print(outbuf,-output'length,0);
print(errbuf,0,0);
end'proc; <<err'>>

procedure blank(buf,count);
value count;
integer count;

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 481

 integer array buf;
begin
if count > 0 then begin
buf:=" ";
if (count:=count-1)>0 then
move buf(1):=buf,(count);
end'if;
end'proc; <<blank>>

procedure b'blank(buf,count);
value count;
integer count;
byte array buf;
begin
if count > 0 then begin
buf:=" ";
if (count:=count-1)>0 then
move buf(1):=buf,(count);
end'if;
end'proc; <<b'blank>>

$page "level 1: print'totals"

<< Print the Suprtool2 totals.
>>

procedure print'totals;
begin
byte array
blank'total(0:bl'supr'totals)
;
byte pointer
supr'totals'
;
integer
total'index
,total'offset
;
logical
first'time
;

b'blank(blank'total,bl'supr'totals);
first'time := true;
total'index := 0;

while total'index < max'supr'totals do

begin
total'offset := total'index * wl'supr'totals;
@supr'totals':= @supr'totals(total'offset) & lsl(1);
if supr'totals' <> blank'total,(bl'supr'totals) then
begin
if first'time then
begin
p "Totals:" output;
first'time := false;
end'if;
print(supr'totals(total'offset),wl'supr'totals,0);
end'if;
total'index := total'index + 1;
end'while;

end'proc; <<print'totals>>
$page "call'suprtool2"
<<
pass a command line to suprtool
>>

procedure call'suprtool2;
begin
integer length;

482 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 subroutine print'int(val);
value val; integer val;
begin
val := ascii(val,10,outbuf');
print(outbuf,-val,0);
end'subr; <<print'int>>

subroutine print'command;
begin
length := 256;
do length:=length-1 until
length<0 or b'command'line(length)<>" ";
length:=length+1;
print(supr'command'line,-length,0);
end'subr; <<print'command>>

suprtool2 (supr'control);
if supr'status <> supr'ok then begin
p "Suprtool2 interface call has failed!" err;
print'command;
p "Error number = " ask;
print'int(supr'status);
setjcw(-1);
end'if;
blank(supr'command'line,wl'supr'command'line);

end'proc; <<call'suprtool2>>
$page "init'tool2spl"
<<
check logon mode, parm values, etc.
see if we can send one command to suprtool.
>>

logical procedure init'tool2spl;

begin
integer temp;

init'tool2spl := false;

who(temp);
batch := temp.(12:2) = 2;

p "TOOL2SPL/Copyright Robelle 1982-2001"output;

p current'version output;
print(outbuf,0,0); <<blank line>>

blank(supr'control,wl'supr'control);
supr'version := 4;
supr'maxdata := 0d;
move supr'print'state := "ER";
move supr'total'type := "AS";
if copy'of'parm=2 then
move supr'print'state := "AL"
else
if copy'of'parm=3 then
move supr'print'state := "NE";
p "Please hit RETURN for EXIT at end. Thanks" output;
move supr'command'line :=
":COMMENT Test of Suprtool Interface";
call'suprtool2;
if supr'status=0 then begin
init'tool2spl := true;
print(outbuf,0,0);
end'if;

end'proc; <<init'tool2spl>>
$page "mainline"

copy'of'parm := actual'parm;

if init'tool2spl then begin

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 483

 << main loop of program >>
do begin
p ">" ask;
input;
if input'length<>0 then begin
move b'command'line:=inbuf',(input'length);
call'suprtool2;
end'if;
end'do
until input'length=0 or supr'status<>0;
move supr'command'line := "EXIT";
call'suprtool2;
if supr'status = 0 then
print'totals;
end'if;

end. <<tool2spl>>

C Example
Below is a C program to invoke Suprtool through the interface routine.

484 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 #include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
/*
DO NOT use int's in this structure, since they are the wrong size,
and are aligned on 4-byte boundaries, which will confuse Suprtool2.
*/
struct supr_control
{
short version;
short status;
char command[256];
char priority[2];
short maxdata1;
short maxdata2;
char print_state[2];
char total_type[2];
char other_flags[18];
short totals[15][9];
short out_count1;
short out_count2;
char workspace[20];
} SuprControl;

void suprtool2( struct supr_control *);

init_st2()
{
int i;
SuprControl.version = 4;
SuprControl.status = 0;
SuprControl.priority[0] = 'C';
SuprControl.priority[1] = 'S';
SuprControl.maxdata1 = 0;
SuprControl.maxdata2 = 0;
SuprControl.print_state[0] ='A';
SuprControl.print_state[1] ='L';
SuprControl.total_type[0] = 'A';
SuprControl.total_type[1] = 'S';
strcpy( SuprControl.workspace, " ");
for (i=0;i<256;i++)
SuprControl.command[i]=' ';
}

call_suprtool2()

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 485

 {
suprtool2( &SuprControl );
if (SuprControl.status!=0)
{
puts("Suprtool2 interface call has failed!");
printf("Error number = %d\n", SuprControl.status );
}
}
assign_cmd( char *cmd )
{
int i;
for (i=0;i<256;i++)
SuprControl.command[i]=' ';
i=0;
while (*cmd)
SuprControl.command[i++]=*cmd++;
}
main()
{
char cmd[256];
init_st2();
assign_cmd( "verify all");
call_suprtool2();
assign_cmd( "exit");
call_suprtool2();
}

Pascal Example
Below is a Pascal program to invoke Suprtool through the interface routine. The
example as given is for use with Pascal/iX. Note that the $HP3000_16$ compiler
option is set. This is required because Suprtool2's control record uses 16-bit
alignment instead of Pascal/iX's default 32-bit alignment.
For Pascal/V, change the $set nm$ line to $set 'nm=false'$

486 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 { Example of Calling Suprtool2 from Pascal }
{ Set 'nm=false' for MPE V }
$set 'nm=true'$
$list off$
$if 'nm'$
$HP3000_16$
$endif$

program test(input,output);

const
MaxSuprCmdLen = 256;

type

$if 'not nm'$

shortint = -32768 .. 32767; (* 16-bit integer *)
$endif$

SuprCmdStr = string[MaxSuprCmdLen];
SuprTotalStr = packed array[1..18] of char;

SuprControlRec = record
version : shortint;
status : shortint;
command : packed array[1..MaxSuprCmdLen] of char;
priority : packed array[1..2] of char;
maxdata : integer;
print_state: packed array[1..2] of char;
total_type : packed array[1..2] of char;
other_flags: packed array[1..18] of char;
totals : array[1..15] of SuprTotalStr;
out_count : integer;
workspace : packed array [1..20] of char;
end;

var
SuprControl : SuprControlRec;

procedure suprtool2( var control: SuprControlRec );

external spl;

procedure InitST2;
var
i: integer;
begin
SuprControl.version := 4;
SuprControl.status := 0;
SuprControl.priority[1] := 'C';
SuprControl.priority[2] := 'S';
SuprControl.maxdata := 0;
SuprControl.print_state[1] := 'A';
SuprControl.print_state[2] := 'L';
SuprControl.total_type[1] := 'A';
SuprControl.total_type[2] := 'S';
for i:=1 to 20 do
SuprControl.workspace[i] := ' ';
for i:=1 to MaxSuprCmdLen do
SuprControl.command[i] := ' ';
end;

procedure CallSuprtool2;
begin
suprtool2( SuprControl );
if (SuprControl.status<>0) then
begin
writeln('Suprtool2 interface call has failed!');
writeln('Error number = ', SuprControl.status:1 );
end;
end;

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 487

 procedure ST2Cmd( cmd: SuprCmdStr );
var i: integer;
begin
for i:=1 to MaxSuprCmdLen do
SuprControl.command[i]:=' ';
for i:=1 to strlen( cmd ) do
SuprControl.command[i]:=cmd[i];
CallSuprtool2;
end;

begin
InitST2;
ST2Cmd( 'in infile;out $null');
ST2Cmd( 'exit');
writeln( SuprControl.out_count );
end.

SPEEDWARE Example
You can call the Suprtool2 interface from a SPEEDWARE V.6 or V.7 program. Use
the Supr-Control area to pass commands to Suprtool2.
There are 3 ways to get Speedware to find the Suprtool2 routine.
1. Using Designer. In the Operating Options (OPEO) screen add the XL
to Local 4GL Parms. : XL="ST2XL.PUB.ROBELLE". This is the
recommended approach for SPEEDWARE V.6.
2. Using Linkedit. Copy the routines into
SPWXL.SPWxxxxx.SPEEDWRE. This is the XL that Speedware
provides for this purpose. This could become a problem as
SUPRTOOL2 changes over the years and the new version is not
updated into SPWXL.
3. Using RUN. Add the XL to the run command. n.b. If you do this you
will also need to include Speedware's database interface XL called
DBMSXL.
:RUN SPW4GL.SPWxxxxx.SPEEDWRE
;XL="DBMSXL.SPWxxxxx.SPEEDWRE,ST2XL.PUB.ROBELLE"

This is the recommended approach for SPEEDWARE V.7 and higher.

Below is a sample SPEEDWARE process that calls the Suprtool2 interface. The
program uses Suprtool to read a dataset, then writes the dataset to a file.

488 • Examples of Calling Suprtool Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 GLOBAL:
SET TITLE("Calling Suprtool Test");
EXIT;

MENU:
SET WINDOW(ROW=4,COL=4,HEIGHT=15,WIDTH=40);
BRANCH "Copy D-SALES to file" DO REPORT-SUPRTOOL2;
EXIT;

REPORT-SUPRTOOL2:LISTING;
SET TITLE("Calling Suprtool2");
SET WINDOW;
DCL
SUPR-CONTROL FORMAT (TYPE = CHAR, BYTES =582),
SUPR-VERSION FORMAT (TYPE = INT , BYTES = 2, LEN= 4)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[1:2]),
SUPR-STATUS FORMAT (TYPE = INT , BYTES = 2, LEN= 4)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[3:4]),
SUPR-COMMAND-LINE FORMAT (TYPE = CHAR, BYTES = 256)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[5:260]),
SUPR-PRIORITY FORMAT (TYPE = CHAR, BYTES = 2)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[261:262]),
SUPR-MAXDATA FORMAT (TYPE = INT , BYTES = 4, LEN= 9)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[263:266]),
SUPR-PRINT-STATE FORMAT (TYPE = CHAR, BYTES = 2)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[267:268]),
SUPR-TOTAL-TYPE FORMAT (TYPE = CHAR, BYTES = 2)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[269:270]),
SUPR-FUTURE-FLAGS FORMAT (TYPE = CHAR, BYTES = 18)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[271:288]),
SUPR-TOTALS (15) FORMAT (TYPE = ZONE, BYTES = 18,)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[289:558]),
SUPR-OUT-COUNT FORMAT (TYPE = INT , BYTES = 4, LEN= 9)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[559:562]),
SUPR-WORKSPACE FORMAT (TYPE = CHAR, BYTES = 20)
REDEFINES (SUPR-CONTROL[563:582]);

(* initial values *)

CALCUL 4 = SUPR-VERSION,
0 = SUPR-STATUS,
'DS' = SUPR-PRIORITY,
'ER' = SUPR-PRINT-STATE,
'AS' = SUPR-TOTAL-TYPE,
' ' = SUPR-WORKSPACE;

CALCUL 'base store,1,READER' = SUPR-COMMAND-LINE;

CALL SUPRTOOL2 USING SUPR-CONTROL MODIFY;

IF SUPR-STATUS <> 0 THEN

PRINT 'Error Suprtool', SUPR-STATUS, SUPR-COMMAND-LINE;
ELSE
BEGIN
CALCUL 'get d-sales;out dsfile' = SUPR-COMMAND-LINE;

CALL SUPRTOOL2 USING SUPR-CONTROL MODIFY;

END;

IF SUPR-STATUS <> 0 THEN

PRINT 'Error Suprtool', SUPR-STATUS, SUPR-COMMAND-LINE;
ELSE
BEGIN
CALCUL 'exit ' = SUPR-COMMAND-LINE;

CALL SUPRTOOL2 USING SUPR-CONTROL MODIFY;

END;
EXIT;

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Examples of Calling Suprtool • 489

Calling Suprlink

The Suprtool2 Interface

User programs may "call" Suprlink via the Suprtool2 interface using the Suprtool
Link command. A typical use of this interface would be for a COBOL program to
ask Suprtool to extract selected subsets from two or more large IMAGE datasets and
to use Suprlink to link the two files. The COBOL program would then read and
format the Suprlink output file into a report.

Restrictions
When calling the Suprtool2 interface, you signal the end of commands and the start
of processing by passing the Exit command. If you specify the Link command with
no parameters, the interface switches to Suprlink. When you have passed all the
Suprlink commands, do not end the Suprlink task by passing Exit. This will end the
Suprlink task, but it will also result in a Suprtool error. There are two solutions to
this problem:
1. Specify a substring of Exit (for example, E).
2. Specify all Suprlink commands with Suprtool's Link command (e.g.,
Link Exit).

COBOL Example
Below is a sample COBOL program named LINK2COB, which calls the Suprtool2
interface procedure. Its purpose is to print the notes for a selected product with the
associated company name sorted by serial number. The program uses the Suprtool2
interface to do the following:
1. Select and sort records from the notes dataset.
2. Extract specific fields and sort the entire Customer dataset.
3. Use Suprlink to link the Notes and Customer files into the Notecust
file.
The program then reads the Notecust file and prints a report on the line printer.
The database used in this example is called Cust, and the datasets are called Notes
and Customer. Here is a Suprtool Form listing of the datasets:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Calling Suprlink • 491

 :run suprtool.pub.robelle
>ba cust.history
>form notes
NOTES Detail
Entry:
SERIAL-NO U4 (!CUSTOMER(SORT-ITEM))
PRODUCT-CODE U2
TEXT-LINE X80
SORT-ITEM K2
Capacity: 75010 Entries: 40459 Entry Length: 45

>form customer
CUSTOMER Master
Entry:
SERIAL-NO U4 <<Search-Field>>
COMPANY-NAME X60
ALTERNATE-NAME X60
CONTACT-NAME X40
CONTACT-TITLE X40
PHONE-NO X20
CONTACT-NOTE X40
ADDRESS 4X40
COUNTRY X12
CUSTOMER-NOTE X40
RELATED-NAME X60
SORTING-SEQ U16
OMNIDEX-SI J2
TIMESTAMP-INIT U16
Capacity: 1499 Entries: 1250 Entry Length: 286

The listing for the COBOL program is:

492 • Calling Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 $control source,errors=15,nolist
$control debug,bounds
identification division.
program-id. Link2cob.
date-written. 15 Sep88.
date-compiled.
installation. Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.
security. Copyright 1988-2001 Robelle Solutions Technology Inc.
remarks.

***********************************************************
* *
* link2cob *
* *
* functional overview: Uses Suprtool to extract *
* and print. *
* input: Notes dataset of the cust database. *
* All notes with a specified product *
* code and the related customer name *
* from the customer dataset. *
* *
* output: print report on line-printer *
* *
* terminated by: eof or error *
* *
* prep with: cap = ph;maxdata=15000 *
* *
* rev#,init,date , reason: *
* 01 , djg,15 Sep88, started first implementation. *
* 02 , djg,10 Aug90, version 4 of the control record. *
* *
***********************************************************

$page "environment division"

environment division.
configuration section.
source-computer. hp-3000.
object-computer. hp-3000.
special-names.
top is new-page.

input-output section.
file-control.
select line-printer assign to "LINEPRT,,,LP".
select notecust-file assign to "NOTECUST".

data division.
file section.
fd notecust-file
data record is item-record.
01 notecust-record.
05 notecust-serial-no pic x(4).
05 notecust-product-code pic x(2).
05 notecust-text-line pic x(80).
05 notecust-company-name pic x(60).

fd line-printer
data record is line-record.
01 line-record pic x(132).

$page "constants"
working-storage section.
01 true-value pic x value "T".
01 false-value pic x value "F".
01 revision-no pic 99 value 2.

$page "logical variables"

01 end-of-notecust-flag pic x.
88 end-of-notecust value "T".

$page "variables"

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Calling Suprlink • 493

 01 if-command.
05 filler pic x(17) value
"IF PRODUCT-CODE='".
05 if-product-code pic x(2).
05 filler pic x(2) value "'".

$page "input area"

01 accept-buffer.
05 input-buf pic x(80).
88 answer-spaces value spaces.

$page "report layouts"

01 report-header.
05 filler pic x(9) value "Serial : ".
05 head-serial-no pic x(4).
05 filler pic x(2) value spaces.
05 head-company-name pic x(60).

01 report-detail.
05 rept-text-line pic x(80).

$page "suprtool control parameter"

$include cobol.qlibsrc.robelle

$page "procedure division"

***********************************************************
* *
* p r o c e d u r e d i v i s i o n *
* *
***********************************************************

procedure division.
00-main section.

* ask for selection criteria.

display "LINK2COB ", revision-no.

display " ".

display "Enter 2-character product code:".

move spaces to input-buf.

accept input-buf.
if answer-spaces then go to 00-main-exit.

move input-buf to if-product-code.

perform 10-create-notecust-file
thru 10-create-notecust-file-exit.

* Now, the file "notecust" contains the sorted data.

* This file must be read and printed on the line printer.

perform 20-produce-report
thru 20-produce-report-exit.

00-main-exit. goback.

$page "[10] create-notecust-file"

10-create-notecust-file section.

move "base cust.history,5" to supr-command-line.

perform 10-90-call-suprtool.

perform 10-10-create-notefile.

perform 10-20-create-custfile.

494 • Calling Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 perform 10-30-link-notefile-custfile.

move "exit" to supr-command-line.

perform 10-90-call-suprtool.

go to 10-create-notecust-file-exit.

10-10-create-notefile.
move "get notes" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move if-command to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "extract serial-no" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "extract product-code" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "extract text-line" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move ":purge notefile" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "output notefile,link" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "sort serial-no" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "sort sort-item,desc" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "xeq" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.

10-20-create-custfile.
move "get customer" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move ":purge custfile" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "output custfile,link" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "sort serial-no" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "extract serial-no" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "extract company-name" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "xeq" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.

10-30-link-notefile-custfile.
move "link" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "input notefile by serial-no"
to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "link custfile" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move ":purge notecust" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "output notecust" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.
move "e" to supr-command-line.
perform 10-90-call-suprtool.

10-90-call-suprtool.
call "SUPRTOOL2" using supr-control.
if not supr-ok then
display "Error: Unable to call Suprtool2"
display " "
display "Suprtool interface error number: ",
supr-status.

10-create-notecust-file-exit. exit.

$page "[20] produce-report"

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Calling Suprlink • 495

 *
* Read the notecust file which contains the detail records
* from the NOTES dataset and the company-name from the
* CUSTOMER dataset. We produce a break on each new customer
* serial number; otherwise, we just print the text of the
* note lines.
*

20-produce-report section.

open input notecust-file.

open output line-printer.

move spaces to head-serial-no.

move false-value to end-of-notecust-flag.

perform 20-10-read-notecust
until end-of-notecust.

go to 20-produce-report-exit.

20-10-read-notecust.
read notecust-file at end
move true-value to end-of-notecust-flag.
if not end-of-notecust then
perform 20-20-process-record.

20-20-process-record.
if notecust-serial-no <> head-serial-no then
perform 20-30-print-header.
move notecust-text-line to rept-text-line.
write line-record from report-detail.

20-30-print-header.
move spaces to line-record.
write line-record.
move notecust-serial-no to head-serial-no.
move notecust-company-name to head-company-name.
write line-record from report-header.

20-produce-report-exit. exit.

496 • Calling Suprlink Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

Installing the Suprtool2 Interface

Compatibility Mode Installation

You do not need to do any installation steps in order to use the native mode version
of Suprtool2. These instructions describe how to install the Suprtool2 interface into
the System SL on Classic versions of MPE, and on MPE/iX for access by
compatibility mode programs.
The job stream Suprcall.Suprjob.Robelle installs the Suprtool2 interface so that it can
be used by any program on the system. Use it either to update the interface when you
receive a new version of Suprtool or to re-install the interface after a MIT update
from HP. You will need a small tape for a new COLDLOAD tape to contain the
Suprtool interface segment. You can also install the Suprtool2 interface in a pub or
group SL (see "Compiling and Linking on MPE V" on page 464).

Installing into the System SL

1. Make sure that the Robelle account has been created and all files have
been restored.
2. Ensure that no one will use the interface until the installation is
complete. No one can be running a program which uses the interface.
Stop all jobs and send an operator warning.
:showjob
:warn @;please stop for 20 minutes
:abortjob #snnn

3. STREAM the installation job. Supply any passwords requested by the

STREAM command.
:stream suprcall.suprjob.robelle

4. SUPR2JOB uses the SEGMENTER to add the Suprtool Interface

Library into SL.Pub.Sys. It then requests a tape ("COLDLOAD") to
create a new cold load tape containing MPE plus the Suprtool interface
library. Mount a tape with a write ring and :REPLY. Save this tape and
use it for any future cold loads.
5. If everything goes well, SUPR2JOB prints a final message on the
console.
6. Please save the job listing for future reference.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Installing the Suprtool2 Interface • 497

 Suprtool2 is now installed and you should be able to use it in your application
programs.

Suprtool2 Error Messages

Error Numbers
Suprtool2 returns error numbers in the status parameter of the workspace. For most
errors, a message is also displayed on $stdlist. The following summarizes the form of
Suprtool2 error messages and the error numbers returned.

Messages On $Stdlist
Most Suprtool2 errors result in a message being displayed on $stdlist. All Suprtool2
error messages start with "ST2 -" making them easier to identify. For example,
Error: ST2 - Caller lacks PH capability

1 - Unable to Access Files

Suprtool2 uses two temporary files called SInnn and SLnnn. The nnn corresponds to
the process identification number of the calling process. If Suprtool2 is unable to
open, read, write, or close these files, a file system message is displayed on $stdlist
and error #1 is returned.

2 - Suprtool Aborted
If the Suprtool task has any errors, Suprtool is terminated with the fatal JCW set. In
this case, Suprtool2 returns error #2 to indicate that the requested task failed. If the
print-state in the workspace was set to "ER" (error) or "AL" (always), the output
from Suprtool will be displayed on $stdlist. If the print-state is "NE" (never), nothing
is displayed on $stdlist.

3 - Unable to Create Suprtool Process

The Suprtool2 routine creates the Suprtool program as a son process. If this fails for
any reason, error #3 is returned. The most common reason for this is forgetting to
:PREP or :LINK your program with CAP=PH. If the Suprtool2filecommand JCW is
set to 2, check that the :File command for Suprtool correctly specifies the name of
the Suprtool program file.

498 • Suprtool2 Error Messages Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 4 - Invalid Total Type
The Suprtool2 control record has a field to indicate what kind of totals the interface
should return. The valid values for this field are "CO" for COBOL totals and "AS"
for Ascii totals. The total type must be in uppercase. This error is returned when the
control record has been passed a value other than "CO" or "AS" for the total type.

5 - Unable to Create Suprtool Process

Suprtool2 calls the PROCINFO intrinsic to obtain the process identification number
of the current process. If this routine fails for any reason, the error number returned
from PROCINFO is printed on $stdlist and Suprtool2 returns error #5.

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Suprtool2 Error Messages • 499

Glossary of Terms

Commonly-used Terms

Batch
Suprtool operates in session mode or batch mode. In batch, any error message
causes Suprtool to quit. Warning messages do not cause an abort. If an error occurs,
Suprtool sets the Job Control Word to flush the remainder of the job.
In batch mode, Suprtool does not prompt for missing information as it does in
session mode. Instead, it attempts to choose the alternative that has the least chance
of destroying valid data. For example, if the output file is a duplicate file name in
batch mode, Suprtool saves the new output file with a "made up" name (Outputnn,
where nn is from 00 to 20), prints a warning message, and aborts. Another example
is that of missing database passwords. In session mode, Suprtool prompts for the
password; in batch mode, it uses the CREATOR password instead.

Pseudo-Batch Tasks
During a canned on-line task, such as passing usefiles to Suprtool, you can "fool"
Suprtool into responding YES to operational questions. For example, if one of the
canned tasks requires Suprtool to output myfile,erase, then Suprtool asks
the question
ERASE all records from this OUTPUT file [no]?
You can avoid typing "yes" in response to this question by invoking Suprtool with:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle; &
stdin=$null; info="use filename"; parm=4

Blocksize
The block size of a file is the record length multiplied by the blocking factor. MPE
permits block sizes up to 32,000 words, but Suprtool restricts the total block size.
When copying an MPE file, the maximum block size of either the input or output file
is 14,336 words. If Suprtool detects an input or output file with a block size larger
than 14,336 words, it prints one of the following error message:
The input blocksize is greater than 14336 words
The output blocksize is greater than 14336 words

500 • Glossary of Terms Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Calculator
Suprtool, Suprlink and Stexport and Dbedit treat any line that begins with an equal
sign ("=") as an expression to be evaluated. To add two numbers together:
>=125+512
Result= 637.0
An expression consists of numbers and operators. The operators can be addition (+),
subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), or exponentiation (**). The value of
the expression is printed immediately.
Any number can be followed by a percent sign (%). The calculator assumes that you
want to qualify the number as a percentage. For example,
>=125*5%
Result= 6.25
A complete description of the Suprtool calculator is given after the description of the
Xeq command.

Chains
A chain is a group of related records in an IMAGE dataset linked by a key value.
The Chain command is used to force Suprtool to use IMAGE search-paths when
reading the input source. The Chain command can also be used with master datasets,
even though master datasets only have one record per key value.

Control Character
You create a control character by holding down the Control key while you strike
another key. "Y" plus Control generates Control-Y. These are normally nonprinting
characters, but they may do things to your terminal. For example, Control-G rings
the bell.
Suprtool uses control characters for a number of purposes:
In the Before command, control characters specify the edit functions: Control-D for
delete, Control-B for before, etc.
Control-Y stops execution of the current Suprtool task. Suprtool prints a status report
and asks if you would like to stop the operation.
Control-H causes the cursor to backspace one position in the current line.
Control-X cancels the current input line.
Control-S pauses a listing that is printing too fast for you to read.
Control-Q resumes a listing that you have paused with Control-S.

Database
A database in Suprtool is an IMAGE/3000 database or an SQL database. A database
is specified in the Base or Open command. Several commands (e.g., Get, Chain, or
Select) do not work until a database has been specified. Some commands only work
with IMAGE/3000 databases and other commands only work with SQL databases.
An IMAGE database consists of datasets (files) which in turn consist of fields. An
SQL database consists of tables or views, and each table or view consists of

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Glossary of Terms • 501

 columns. In Suprtool, a column name can be used anywhere that a field-name is
used. The advantage of using a database is that information about the database is
automatically available to Suprtool.
The Form command shows the database structure.

Dataset
A dataset is a file within an IMAGE database. The Form command provides path
information in DBSCHEMA format, including entry length and blocking factor on
the dataset description. Use Get dataset to access the data within a specific IMAGE
dataset.
Datasets have an implied structure that you specify when you create the database.
Use the Form command to obtain a list of fields in the current dataset. Fields are
used by other Suprtool commands and they are described below.

Errors
Errors are messages printed by Suprtool indicating a fatal problem in the task which
prevents it from completing. In batch mode, errors cause the job to terminate. Error
messages are further described in Appendix A.

Field
A field is a portion of a record. When you access an IMAGE dataset, this makes
Suprtool aware of the IMAGE fields in the dataset. When you access an SQL
database with the Select command, Suprtool is aware of each column name (fields
and columns are synonymous in Suprtool). The Define command allows you to
define new fields or redefine existing fields to have new sizes or data-types. Use
Define to get at bytes of interest within existing fields and to give them an
appropriate name. Then you can refer to the defined field in other commands (e.g.,
Extract, If, etc.). The following commands all contain a field:
>if balance>10000
>sort account
>extract a,b

Filename
A filename is any valid filename and is used in Suprtool commands to identify the
input source, specify the output destination, or to specify an external file to be
accessed in the Table or Use command. File names may be enclosed in quotes. The
following commands all contain file names:
>input xyz
>output *out
>use supruse
>input "xyz"

MPE/iX File Names

Suprtool accepts MPE/iX variables in file names. This allows users to create flexible
file names using MPE/iX expressions. This features works in Suprtool/V or

502 • Glossary of Terms Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Suprtool/iX, but only when running on MPE/iX. Underscores are not permitted in
variables that are to be substituted for file names. Any Suprtool command that
accepts a file name supports variables in the file name. The following example
creates an MPE/iX variable called 'today' with today's date in yymmdd format.
Suprtool writes the output to a file that starts with the letter P and ends with today's
date:
:setvar today hpyear * 10000 + hpmonth * 100 + hpdate
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input mpefile
>output P!today
>exit

MPE Command
If Suprtool does not recognize a command as one of its own, it treats the command
as an MPE command. Examples of MPE commands are LISTF to get a list of your
files; TELL to send messages to other users; SHOWTIME to get the date and time;
SHOWJOB to get a list of other users on the computer, and STREAM to start a job.
>showjob
In Suprtool/V only MPE commands allowed in "break" mode are allowed. This
means that commands such as RUN cannot be executed from within Suprtool/V.
Suprtool/V will not execute any User Defined Commands or command files.
Suprtool/iX can execute any MPE/iX command, UDC or command file.

POSIX File names

Suprtool accepts POSIX file names in any command that accepts MPE file names.
File names starting with "/", "./", or "../" are treated as POSIX file names. All other
file names are assumed to be MPE file names. MPE file names are upshifted and
POSIX file names are not. POSIX file names are limited to a maximum of 239
characters. Here are some examples of POSIX file names:
:hello david,mgr.dev,david
:NEWDIR SUBDIR
:CHDIR SUBDIR
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>input ./file
>verify input
/DEV/DAVID/SUBDIR/file

Strings
Suprtool expects all strings to be surrounded by a pair of single or double quotes (' or
"). When Suprtool knows the length of a field, it pads strings with trailing spaces.
For example,
>define long,1,125 {125 character field}
>extract long="abcef" {Suprtool adds 120 spaces}

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Glossary of Terms • 503

 >if long="abcde" {Suprtool checks for trailing
spaces}
Suprtool accepts the null string. Suprtool pads it with spaces, so this is an easy way
to see if a field is blank:
>if name = "" {if name is blank}
One problem with any tool that accepts strings is how to include a quote mark inside
the string. Suprtool offers two solutions:
1. Use the opposite quote mark (e.g., "don't").
2. Whenever two quote marks appear in a string, they are treated as a single quote
(e.g., 'don''t').

Subscript
A subscript is used to specify one-of-many fields in a repeated item. Within IMAGE
it is possible to specify repeated fields. For example:
costs, 5J2;
The item COSTS consists of five double integers. You select one element of a
compound field by specifying a subscript in parentheses (the first element is 1, not
0). For example, if you wanted to select the input records where the second cost was
greater than 10000, you would use:
>if costs(2) > 10000
The (2) portion of the command is the subscript. The default subscript is the first
sub-item for Total, Define, Sort, and If, but the entire compound item for Extract.
Table does not allow subscripts -- it always uses (1). The If command has another
syntax, using up to three subscripts, allowing you to refer to subfields without Define
(see the If command for details).

Tables
Tables are created with the Table command and they are used for testing in the If and
Chain commands. Tables are used by the $lookup function of the If command. Use
tables when you wish to check a data field for many different test values. You may
also use tables to specify the records to search for with the Chain command.
Table can also mean a table from an SQL database.

Third-Party Indexing
In MPE/iX 4.0, Hewlett-Packard added support for third-party indexing (TPI) to
TurboIMAGE/XL. TPI is a seamless interface to the indexing products of Dynamic
Information Systems Corporation (DISC) and Bradmark Technologies Inc. Their
products, Omnidex and Superdex, respectively offer generic and keyword search
capabilities, through the standard interface in TurboIMAGE/XL.
TPI is only available to users on MPE/iX 4.0 or later. The database must be indexed
using either Omnidex or Superdex, and must be enabled for indexing using
DBUTIL.
If a database has TPI enabled, Suprtool can take advantage of the generic search
capability in the Chain command. The Form command shows the third-party indexes
that correspond to IMAGE fields and any byte-type indexes that do not correspond to

504 • Glossary of Terms Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 an IMAGE field. MPE automatically maintains the indexes as Suprtool adds, deletes,
and modifies records.

Warnings
Warnings are messages produced by Suprtool to let you know about nonfatal
conditions that might affect your task. Some common warning messages and their
meanings are described in Appendix A.

Yes or No
When Suprtool asks a question that requires a YES or NO answer, "Y", "OUI", "JA",
and "SI" are accepted as "YES", and any other answer is considered "NO".

Special Characters

Special Characters
Certain non-alpha and non-numeric characters like > and : have special meaning
within Suprtool. See the descriptions that follow. As well, the term "special"
designates a class of characters in the If command.

* Means $Stdinx / $Stdlist or :File Command

* in the Input command means to read input from $stdinx (MPE only). * in the
Output command means to write the output to $stdlist. * at the front of a file name
points back to an MPE :File command.
>input * {MPE only}
>output *
>:file t;dev=tape {MPE only}
>input *t

= Means "Equals" or Calculate

= in the If command means "EQUALS":
>if customer = "40832"
= in commands means calculate something:
=10+25
Result= 35.0
= in the Input command means that the input file has exactly the same format and
fields as the specified IMAGE dataset:
>input acctfile=actrans
= in the Output command means to write the sorted input file back into itself.
>input myfile; key 1,10
>output=input {MPE only}

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Glossary of Terms • 505

 < Means "Less Than"
< in the If command means is one field "less than" another field or constant value:
>if balance < 10000
By combining < and =, you get "less than or equals":
>if balance <= 10000

> Means "Greater Than" or "Enter Command"

> is used for two purposes in Suprtool:
As the Suprtool prompt character (e.g., >Input actrec)
To mean greater than in an If command (e.g., if balance>10000). Combining > and
=, gives >= for "greater than or equal to".

<> Means "Not Equals"

In the If command, use the two characters <> to mean "not equals":
>if status <> "01"

== Means "Matches Pattern"

In the If command, use the two characters == when you want to check a field for a
pattern of characters. For example, to select records where the customer name
contains the word "THOMPSON" somewhere, use:
>if name == "@THOMPSON@"

>< Means "Mismatches Pattern"

In the If command, use the two characters >< when you want to select records that
fail to match a pattern of characters:
>if address >< "@CANADA@"

@ Means "Match Anything" in a Pattern

The At-Sign character (@) is used in patterns to indicate that Suprtool should accept
anything in that position. For example:
>if name == "@ROBERT@"
The @ matches <null> ("ROBERT" is a valid match); it matches one character
("ROBERTA" is a valid match); it matches multiple characters ("ROBERT M.
GREEN" and "The ROBERT E. LEE" are valid matches).

# Means Number (in Patterns) or Prompt Character

for the Edit Command
# is used in patterns to match a single numeric character:
>if type=="REC##" {look for "REC" followed by 2 digits}
# is used by the Edit command on MPE to prompt for commands:

506 • Glossary of Terms Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 >edit {MPE only}
#list d-inventory
# is used in the Get and Input commands to read every n-th record

? Means Alphanumeric (in Patterns) or Prompt for

Database Password
? is used in patterns to match a single alphabetic or numeric character:
>if type=="BASE??"{look for "BASE" plus 2 alphanumerics}
? is used in the Base and Put commands to force Suprtool to prompt for the database
password in either session mode or batch mode:
>base store,5,? {prompt for database password}
Password > {password not echoed}

& Means Escape (in Patterns) or Continue

Command Line
& is used in patterns to match one of the special pattern characters. For example, the
#-character matches a single numeric character. If you need to look for the #-
character itself, you would specify &# in the pattern:
>if type=="REC&#" {look for "REC" followed by "#"}
& is used to continue a command line. You may enter commands on multiple input
lines by putting an "&" continuation character at the end of the line:
>if status="20" and & {continue the If command}
state="AZ","CA","OR" {select several states}

: Means O/S Commands or Bit Selection

Colon (:) at the start of a command line indicates an operating system command:
>:listf
>:ls
Colon (:) is used in the If command for bit selections:
>define bitfield,1,2,logical
>if bitfield.(4:2)=3

! Means O/S Commands

! at the start of a command line indicates an operating system command. This only
works on Suprtool/UX.
>!du
>!ls

; Means Multiple Commands

Semicolon (;) is used to string several Suprtool commands together on a single line:

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Glossary of Terms • 507

 >input a;output b;xeq {complete "task" is in one line}

, Means a List
Comma (,) in Suprtool commands is used to separate parameters:
>base actrec.data,3 {open the database exclusively}
>key 1,4,double {specify a double-integer key}
>if acct=764523,456732,98765
Commas are optional in some Suprtool commands (e.g., Output), but are required in
others (e.g., Extract).
, is the abbreviation for the Redo command.
,. is the abbreviation for the Do command.
,, is the abbreviation for the Listredo command.

" or ' Means String

Quotes (" or ') are the string delimiters in Suprtool (IF NAME="BOB"). Strings that
start with " must end with ".
>if name='BOB' {' is the string delimiter here}

( Means Start Parameter

Left parenthesis "(" is used to specify a subscript (see subscript below) or to select a
specific range of input record numbers. Left parenthesis always comes with a right
parenthesis.
>input actrec.data(10/20) {choose records 10 through 20}
>total budget(2) {total second repeated field}

) Means End Parameter

Right parenthesis ")" is used to complete a subscript or a selected range of record
numbers. Right parenthesis always comes with left parenthesis.

% Means Percentage
In the Numrecs command, use % to indicate the number of output records as a
percentage of the input file size.
>numrecs 10%

/ Means Range of Records

Slash (/) in the Input and Get commands means a range of record numbers.
>input cat.dog.mouse(1000/2000)

\ Means Range of Fields

Backslash (\) in the Extract command means a range of fields.

508 • Glossary of Terms Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 >extract account \ rating

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Glossary of Terms • 509

Index

,   )  
, means a list ........................................................................ 490 ) means end parameter ........................................................ 490

:   {  
: for O/S commands............................................................. 489 { start command line comment ........................... 283, 336, 379

!   }  
! for HP-UX commands ...................................................... 489 } end command line comment ............................ 283, 336, 379
! for O/S commands ............................................................ 489

@  
?  
@ matches anything ............................................................ 488
? (prompt for database password) ....................... 112, 220, 489
? means alphanumeric (pattern) .......................................... 489
*  
'   * means $stdinx / $stdlist / file command ........................... 487
*tape, needs =reply.............................................................. 193
' means string ....................................................................... 490

/  
"  
/ means range of records ..................................... 167, 192, 490
" means string ...................................................................... 490
"closed" tables ..................................................................... 254
\  
(   \ means range of fields ........................................................ 142

( means start parameter ....................................................... 490

&  
& continuation character ..................................... 335, 378, 489
& means escape (pattern) .................................................... 489

510 • Index Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 $lower .......................................................................... 148, 181
#   $ltrim ........................................................................... 148, 181
$null file ...................................................................... 219, 220
# as the Dbedit prompt character................................. 335, 488 $null, SQL ........................................................................... 174
# changing the prompt character ......................................... 356 $number function ........................................................ 231, 234
# matches number................................................................ 488 $read function...................................................................... 188
# means every n-th record ................................... 167, 192, 489 $rtrim ........................................................................... 148, 181
$signed function .................................................................. 152
$stddate ....................................................................... 141, 183
%   $stdinx file ............................................................. 48, 191, 487
$stdlist file ..................................................... 48, 207, 214, 487
% means percentage ............................................................ 490 $Subtotal function ............................................................... 146
$today function............................................................ 140, 183
$today, how it works ............................................................. 95
$Total function .................................................................... 146
^   $trim ............................................................................ 148, 181
$truncate function........................................................ 145, 178
^ means character constant .......................................... 140, 175 $upper .......................................................................... 148, 181

<   4  
< means less than ................................................................ 488 4096, record size ................................................................... 75
<> means not equal to ......................................................... 488 4GLs .............................................................................. 79, 410

=   A  
= means calculator....................................................... 336, 487 A4-size paper ...................................................................... 205
= means equal to.................................................................. 487 aammdd date format ...................................................... 96, 196
= set name parameter .......................................... 160, 191, 487 abbreviating commands .............................. 107, 283, 335, 378
== means matches pattern ................................................... 488 Abort option on Exit............................................ 135, 296, 384
=Input option of Output ...................................................... 214 absolute field definition....................................................... 121
absolute value function ............................................... 145, 178
accessing Speed Demon ...................................................... 417
>   accuracy in numeric expressions ......................................... 177
Add command ............................................................. 111, 342
> changing the prompt character ......................................... 246 Add command, locking ....................................................... 332
> is the prompt character ..................................................... 488 Add Dates ............................................................................ 142
> means greater than ........................................................... 488 adding records to a dataset .................................................. 220
>< means doesn't match pattern .......................................... 488 All option, Dbedit................................................................ 338
Allbase applications .............................................................. 54
Allbase database .................................................................. 212
Allbase date and time ............................................................ 55
$   Allbase, restrictions ............................................................... 55
alphanumeric string test ...................................................... 179
$abs function ............................................................... 145, 178 alternate values ............................................................ 173, 254
$atoe, Extract function ........................................................ 160 alternatives to the If command ............................................ 171
$Clean function ................................................................... 120 Analyzing Performance Data .............................................. 103
$Counter function ................................................................ 146 AND operator ...................................................................... 172
$date function .............................................................. 140, 182 appending to a file ....................................................... 210, 248
$date, how it works ............................................................... 95 appending, Hpmodify .......................................................... 224
$days.................................................................................... 184 application systems ............................................................... 89
$days function ..................................................................... 141 APS, date format ................................................................. 196
$etoa, Extract function ........................................................ 160 arithmetic expressions ................................................. 144, 177
$file, Total command .......................................................... 259 arithmetic trap ..................................................................... 271
$FindClean function ............................................................ 180 Arithmetic, Set option ......................................................... 230
$invalid .......................................................................... 97, 183 ascending order ........................................................... 200, 252
$lookup data, If command ............................................. 32, 173 ASCII option ................................................................. 43, 217
$lookup function ................................................................. 173 ASK MANMAN date selection .......................................... 196
$lookup, performance.......................................................... 174 ASK option.......................................................................... 216

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Index • 511

assertion errors .................................................................... 443 Clean command ........................................................... 120, 312
asterisk ............................................................................... see * Clean command, shift left ................................................... 120
at sign (@) in patterns ......................................................... 488 Clean command, STExport ................................................. 288
attached printer .................................................................... 208 CleanChar ............................................................................ 231
CleanChar, Set..................................................................... 312
Cleaning data ....................................................................... 150
B   CM to NM KSAM, conversion ............................................. 62
COBOL define of P28 ......................................................... 132
COBOL example for Speed Demon ................................... 431
backslash ............................................................................. 490
COBOL invocation of Suprlink .......................................... 473
Base command ...................................................... 74, 112, 262
COBOL invocation of Suprtool .......................................... 451
Base command, default mode ............................................. 243
code overflow error ............................................................. 189
base name parameter ................................................... 112, 220
Cognos, date fields .............................................................. 196
Baseclose, Set option........................................................... 230
colon .................................................... 109, 284, 336, 379, 489
batch .............................................................. 50, 277, 364, 482
colon for MPE commands ................................................... 485
batch job to detect holidays ................................................. 187
column headings, List command........................................... 44
batch passwords............................................................. 50, 112
Column Headings,Html command ...................................... 305
Batch vs Interactive ............................................................. 270
Columns command.............................................................. 289
Before command ......................................... 115, 286, 343, 381
combining commands on same line .................................... 107
Binary to Ascii, formatted ................................................... 157
comma ......................................................................... 335, 490
bit extracts ........................................................................... 176
command files ............................................. 109, 284, 336, 380
Blank fill,extract command ................................................. 139
command line .............................................................. 335, 378
block size ............................................................................. 482
commands ........................................................... 280, 330, 335
Blocksize, Set option ........................................................... 230
commands, formatting......................................................... 280
BOT and BACKSPACE error ............................................. 238
commands, multiple ............................................................ 107
braces ................................................... 108, 283, 284, 336, 379
comments ............................................................ 283, 336, 379
Bradmark ............................................................................... 89
Comparing against Key and Data ................................. 32, 173
B-tree support ...................................................................... 165
comparing strings as numbers ............................................... 29
B-trees ................................................................................... 59
compatibility mode................................................................ 74
Buffer, Set option ................................................................ 230
compiling..................................................................... 446, 447
built-in file names........................................................ 273, 360
compound items .......................................................... 138, 252
BY-part of the Join command ............................................. 390
condition code ..................................................................... 423
BY-part of the Link command ............................................ 392
configuring Dbedit ................................................................ 50
byte fields, comparing ......................................................... 179
configuring Suprtool ............................................................. 50
bytelen parameter ........................................................ 121, 200
Connect, Oracle Open ......................................................... 243
byteposition parameter ................................................ 121, 200
constants ...................................................................... 138, 174
constants in arithmetic expressions ............................. 145, 147
constants in the output file .................................................. 138
C   continuing commands ................................................. 335, 378
control break........................................................................ 260
C invocation of Suprtool ..................................................... 466 control characters ................................................................ 483
calculator ..................................... 109, 267, 285, 336, 380, 483 control record for SPDEDBINIT ........................................ 420
Calendar intrinsic, date format ............................................ 196 control record for Suprtool2 ................................................ 445
calling STExport ................................................................. 137 Control-Y .............................................. 58, 109, 285, 336, 380
calling Suprlink ........................................................... 202, 473 Control-Y problems in Suprtool.......................................... 110
calling Suprtool ............................................................... 19, 74 conventions ........................................................................... 19
Century and Date Cutoff ..................................................... 186 convert data for HP-UX ........................................................ 66
Chain command................................................................... 117 Convert Dates to four digits .................................................. 94
Chain vs. Get speed ............................................................. 103 convert from binary to ASCII ............................................... 40
Chain, Btrees ....................................................................... 118 converting an SD file .................................................... 70, 373
chained access ..................................................................... 117 Converting dates.................................................................... 97
chains ................................................................................... 483 copying to another database ................................................ 220
Change command ................................................................ 344 count duplicate records ....................................................... 130
Change command, locking .................................................. 332 count parameter ........................................................... 167, 192
changing built-in file names ........................................ 273, 360 count qualifying records ...................................................... 219
character constants ...................................................... 140, 175 Count, output restrictions .................................................... 132
Chronos ......................................................................... 93, 197 Counts ................................................................................... 40
CI variables ............................................. 75, 78, 250, 314, 399 creating Suprtool ................................................................... 49
circular files ........................................................................... 64 critical fields, changing ....................................................... 340
CIUPDATE, see critical-item update .................................. 332 critical-item update.............................. 332, 340, 344, 353, 359
classic real numbers ............................................................ 298
Clean.................................................................................... 231

512 • Index Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 decimal places, Chain command ......................................... 117
D   decimal places, constant values........................................... 198
decimal places, Dbedit ........................................................ 332
data conversion .................................................................... 152 decimal places, defining ...................................................... 194
Data Memory protection trap ................................................ 91 decimal places, Extract command ....................................... 139
Data option .......................................................... 215, 308, 395 decimal places, If command ................................................ 176
data overflow error .............................................................. 188 Decimal Places, Item command ............................................ 68
database editing ................................................................... 134 decimal places, List command ............................................ 203
database maintenance ............................................................ 58 decimal places, Table command ......................................... 255
database parameter .............................................................. 483 default field filling in Suprlink .................................... 391, 393
database, open mode ................................................... 243, 409 default input file ............................................................ 49, 193
database, opening ................................................................ 112 default output file .................................................................. 49
database, output ................................................................... 220 default processing................................................................ 136
database, password .............................................. 112, 220, 409 Defer, Set option ................................................................. 234
database, remote ............................................................ 74, 113 deferred output in IMAGE .................................. 126, 221, 234
dataset parameter ................................................................. 484 Define command ......................................................... 121, 262
dataset, end-of-file ............................................................... 235 Define commmand, introduction .......................................... 26
dataset, highwater mark....................................................... 235 definition parameter ............................................................ 121
dataset, input................................................................ 117, 167 delete all records warning ................................................... 127
dataset, locking ...................................................................... 57 Delete command.......................................... 110, 126, 241, 345
dataset, output...................................................................... 220 Delete command, locking.................................................... 332
dataset, remote Jumbos ......................................................... 60 Delete command, performance ................................... 104, 126
datasets greater than 4Gb ...................................................... 59 deleting duplicate records ............................................. 36, 131
data-types .................................................................... 122, 279 deleting entries .................................................................... 126
Date command..................................................................... 290 deleting entries, recovery .............................................. 58, 126
Date command, invalid dates .............................................. 291 deleting non-unique duplicate records .................................. 37
Date command, separator character .................................... 290 deleting records ..................................................................... 33
date constants ...................................................................... 182 deleting records safely........................................................... 58
date format in List ....................................................... 206, 240 delimited output files..................................................... 78, 218
date format, Date command ................................................ 290 Delimiter command ............................................................. 293
Date Formats, Item Command .............................................. 68 Delimiter, maximum length ................................................ 329
date function of Extract ....................................................... 140 Demon program .................................................................. 429
date function of If ................................................................ 182 Demon.Pub.Robelle ............................................................ 429
date limits ............................................................ 142, 186, 195 Demon.SuprJob.Robelle ..................................................... 413
Date option .......................................................................... 237 DemonUSL.Pub.Robelle ..................................................... 413
date selection ................................................................. 29, 182 DemonXL.Pub.Robelle ....................................................... 421
date selection by month ......................................................... 30 Desc parameter ............................................................ 200, 252
date selection with ASK MANMAN .................................. 196 descending order ......................................................... 200, 252
date selection, specific day .................................................... 29 DISC .......................................................................... 89, 90, 91
date selection, today .............................................................. 29 disc space ............................................................................ 248
Date, Set List ....................................................................... 240 disc space, reduced ........................................................ 71, 210
Date, Set option ........................................................... 232, 233 display constants ................................................................. 139
Dates and Decimal places ................................................... 279 display fields, maintaining the sign ..................................... 152
dates in the output file ......................................................... 140 Display option ..................................................................... 217
dates, defining ..................................................................... 194 distributed systems ........................................................ 74, 113
dates, relative ....................................................................... 182 division by zero ........................................................... 145, 177
dates, select by year ............................................................... 30 Do command ............................................... 128, 294, 346, 383
Date-types, Suprtool and Powerhouse .................................. 83 documentation ....................................................................... 19
days function ............................................................... 141, 184 double quotes ...................................................................... 309
DB-14 .......................................................................... 442, 443 double-sided printing .......................................................... 205
DB-32 .......................................................................... 442, 443 downshifting strings ............................................................ 148
DBCONTROL intrinsic ...................................... 126, 221, 234 Dumponerror, Set option ............................................. 110, 234
Dbedit .................................................................................... 18 Duplicate and non-SD files ................................................. 131
Dbedit performance ............................................................. 104 Duplicate command ............................................................ 129
Dbedit, decimal points......................................................... 332 duplicate field names........................................................... 395
Dbedit, default configuration ................................................ 50 duplicate key, KSAM error ................................................. 110
DBGET, using ..................................................................... 168 duplicate keys, order of sort .................................................. 70
DBUTIL ................................................ 89, 126, 221, 234, 486 duplicate output file name ..................................................... 50
ddd dates .............................................................................. 197 Duplicate records .................................................. 34, 129, 221
ddd, date format................................................................... 197 duplicate records, only .......................................................... 35
Decimal command............................................................... 292 duplicates, removing ........................................................... 129
decimal places ............................................................... 39, 197 duplicates, saving ................................................................ 129

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Index • 513

duplicating files ..................................................................... 49
dynamic dataset expansion .................................................. 163
F  
dynamic date selection ........................................................ 186
fast sorting ............................................................................. 71
Fastread, Set option ............................................................. 235
FCOPY program ................................................................... 64
E   Fflush tool ........................................................................... 105
field list................................................................................ 331
EBCDIC conversions .......................................................... 160 field parameter ............................................ 121, 138, 259, 484
EBCDIC tapes ....................................................................... 72 field type.............................................................................. 200
Ecometry installation............................................................. 23 Fieldname, Heading command............................................ 301
Edit command ..................................................................... 134 file access .............................................................................. 63
Edit strings .......................................................................... 155 File command ...................................................................... 348
editing databases ................................................................. 134 file equations, output command .......................................... 308
EditStoperror, Set option ..................................................... 235 file name parameter ..................................................... 191, 213
EDSdate ............................................................................... 196 file name, duplicated in batch ............................................... 50
Else clause of the IF command ........................................... 171 file names, built-in ...................................................... 273, 360
else file ................................................................................ 219 file parameter, Dbedit.......................................................... 337
Else option ........................................................................... 215 file record length ................................................................. 219
end-of-file, IMAGE ............................................................. 235 file system error................................................................... 270
endrecord parameter .................................................... 167, 192 Filecode, Set option ............................................................. 235
Eofread, Set option .............................................................. 235 filename parameter .............................................................. 484
equal to sign ........................................................ 191, 483, 487 files, same name .......................................................... 192, 213
Erase option of Output ................................................ 376, 395 filling unmatched join fields ............................................... 391
erasing files ................................................................. 213, 214 filling unmatched link fields ............................................... 393
error block size .................................................................... 482 finding data based on a dataset.............................................. 31
error messages in Suprtool .......................................... 270, 484 finding data based on a file ................................................... 31
error messages, Speed Demon ............................................ 441 finding invalid dates ............................................................ 183
error messages, Suprtool2 ................................................... 480 Firstrec, Set option ........................................................ 92, 236
error recovery, Suprtool ...................................................... 110 fixed columns ...................................................................... 309
error, code overflow ............................................................ 189 fixed-length, output file ....................................................... 289
error, data overflow ............................................................. 188 flattening an SD file .............................................................. 70
error, FLIMIT different ....................................................... 168 FLIMIT different error ........................................................ 168
error, record changed............................................................. 58 FLIMIT greater warning ..................................................... 168
escape character................................................................... 175 Floating command ............................................................... 298
Escape command, STExport ............................................... 295 floating sign ......................................................................... 316
Euro currency symbol ......................................................... 140 floating-point numbers ........................................................ 298
example of Suprlink ............................................................ 369 Form command ........................................... 162, 299, 349, 386
example replacement of DBGET ........................................ 417 Form command, default ...................................................... 165
Exit command ..................................... 135, 266, 296, 320, 347 Form command, keywords .......................................... 166, 349
Exit command, importance of ............................................. 444 formatting commands.......................................................... 280
Exit command, Suprlink .............................................. 384, 403 Formout file ................................................. 165, 300, 349, 387
exit with verify ...................................................... 48, 276, 363 FORTRAN invocation of Suprtool ..................................... 455
exiting from batch jobs ........................................................ 135 four-digit years ...................................................................... 93
Export command ......................................................... 137, 276 fourth-generation languages ................................................ 410
Export, using from Suprtool ................................................ 276 FROM-part of Join command ............................................. 390
Expressions.......................................................................... 171 FROM-part of Link command ............................................ 393
Extract command........................................................... 42, 138 FSERR 45............................................................................ 114
Extract command performance ........................................... 104
Extract command, decimal places ....................................... 139
Extract from a Table ............................................................ 151
Extract from Table ...................................................... 255, 257
G  
Extract functions and Sort ................................................... 253
Extract functions Duplicate ................................................. 132 generic search ...................................................................... 486
extracting a range ................................................................ 142 Get command ...................................................................... 167
extracting bits ...................................................................... 160 Get command failure ........................................................... 114
extracting dates .................................................................... 140 Get command, how many records ....................................... 168
extracting records ................................................................ 171 Get vs. Chain speed ............................................................. 103
greater than (>) .................................................................... 488
group SL .............................................................................. 416

514 • Index Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

 Installation instructions, tape ................................................ 23
H   Installation instructions, web ................................................ 23
Installing ................................................................................ 23
hanging session, magtape input........................................... 193 installing interface into MPE .............................................. 479
Heading command............................................................... 301 installing on MPE/iX........................................................... 414
heading, HTML option ........................................................ 304 installing Speed Demon ...................................................... 413
heading, maximum length ................................................... 329 installing STExport ............................................................. 273
Help command ............................................ 170, 273, 303, 350 installing Suprlink ............................................................... 360
Help command, Suprlink............................................. 360, 388 Interactive, Set..................................................................... 238
Highlights 5.2 ........................................................................ 22 interface routine .................................................................. 479
Highlights 5.3 ........................................................................ 22 interface to Suprtool .............................................................. 19
Highlights 5.4 ........................................................................ 21 interrupt ....................................................................... 285, 380
Highlights5.1.02 .................................................................... 22 intrinsics .............................................................................. 423
highwater mark ............................................................ 168, 426 introduction to Dbedit ......................................................... 330
highwater mark, reading to.................................................. 235 introduction to Speed Demon.............................................. 409
holding tables for re-use ...................................................... 255 introduction to STExport..................................................... 279
holiday detection in batch jobs ............................................ 187 introduction to Suprlink ...................................................... 367
how many records to read ................................................... 168 invalid dates .......................................................... 97, 183, 291
how to run............................................................................ 417 Invalid dates, $stddate ......................................................... 141
how to run, Suprtool .............................................................. 24 Invalid Dates, Extract command ......................................... 141
HowMessy Loadfile .............................................................. 70 invalid stack marker abort ................................................... 110
HowMessy program ............................................................ 168 ISO-8859-1 characters, HTML output ................................ 305
HPCalendar, date ................................................................. 197 Item command ..................................................... 194, 237, 262
HPCalendar,date format ...................................................... 196 Itemlock, Set ....................................................................... 237
HPDesk program ................................................... 48, 276, 364
Hpmodify editing, examples ............................................... 224
HTML command ................................................................. 304
HTML files, maximum size ................................................ 304
J  
JCW, SuprtoolOutCount ....................................................... 50
Job Control Word .................................................. 49, 277, 364
I   Join ........................................................................................ 18
Join command ..................................................................... 390
IEEE numbers ..................................................................... 298 Join Example ....................................................................... 369
If $lookup ............................................................................ 173 join key fields ...................................................................... 390
If command ......................................................................... 171 J-type fields, SD files ............................................................ 70
If command performance .................................................... 104 Julian dates .......................................................................... 197
If command too long, use $read .......................................... 188 Julian day number ............................................................... 141
If command too long, use Table .......................................... 254 JulianDay data format ......................................................... 196
If command, combining with Chain .................................... 118 Jumbo dataset error ............................................................. 113
If command, decimal places ................................................ 176 Jumbo datasets ...................................................................... 59
If command, prompting for values ...................................... 189
if then else ........................................................................... 219
Ifcheck, Set option............................................................... 237
Ignore, Set option ........................................................ 110, 237
K  
illegal digits (packed or zoned) ........................................... 372
IMAGE applications ............................................................. 55 Key command ..................................................................... 200
Image, B-Trees ...................................................................... 59 key fields, input file..................................................... 306, 389
IMAGE, Ciupdate option .................................................... 332 key fields, join file............................................................... 390
IMAGE, end-of-file ............................................................. 235 key fields, link file............................................................... 392
Info= on every activation ...................................................... 47 Key option ........................................................................... 215
Info= usage .................................................................... 46, 262 Key option, Dbedit .............................................................. 338
Initextents, Set option .......................................................... 237 KLONDIKE ........................................................................ 105
initializing a field ................................................................ 138 KSAM , re-organization ........................................................ 61
input choices .......................................................................... 53 KSAM files ........................................................... 60, 191, 213
Input command .................................................... 191, 306, 389 KSAM files with lockwords.................................................. 65
input file .............................................................................. 279 KSAM files, linking ............................................................ 373
input file, maximum block size ................................... 329, 407 KSAM, locking ..................................................................... 60
input file, maximum fields .......................................... 329, 407 KSAM, order of sort ............................................................. 70
input file, maximum record length .............................. 329, 407 KSAM, recovering deleted records ..................................... 246
input files ............................................................................. 367 KSAM, reuse ......................................................................... 63
input key fields ............................................................ 306, 389 KSAM, self-describing ......................................................... 69
installation ................................................................... 413, 479 KSAM/V files ....................................................................... 61

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Index • 515

KSAM/XL, loading faster ..................................................... 62 listing without field names .................................................. 204
KSAM/XL, MPE/iX 4.0 and later......................................... 62 listing, producing simple reports ......................................... 206
listing, suppressing blank lines ........................................... 204
Listredo command ....................................... 209, 307, 352, 394
L   literals in the output file ...................................................... 138
loadfile, HowMessy produces ............................................... 70
loading a dataset .................................................................... 39
labelled tapes ................................................................. 72, 238
Lock, Set option ............................................................ 57, 241
landscape output .................................................................. 240
locking, each transaction ....................................................... 57
Large Datasets ....................................................................... 59
locking, IMAGE .................................................... 57, 241, 332
Large File Datasets ................................................................ 60
locking, KSAM input ............................................................ 60
LaserJet........................................................................ 204, 240
locking, KSAM output .......................................................... 60
leading sign ......................................................................... 316
lockwords ............................................................................ 449
less than (<) ......................................................................... 488
lockwords on files ................................................................. 65
LFDS ..................................................................................... 60
long expressions .................................................................. 188
Limit option, Dbedit ............................................................ 339
Lotus 1-2-3 .......................................................................... 218
limits within STExport ........................................................ 329
low values............................................................................ 175
limits within Suprlink .......................................................... 407
lower-case ................................................................... 148, 181
Limits, Set ........................................................................... 238
LP device ............................................................................. 208
line printer ........................................................................... 214
LP, Set option ...................................................................... 356
Link ....................................................................................... 18
Link command..................................................... 202, 363, 392
Link file, maximum block size ............................................ 407
Link file, maximum fields ................................................... 407 M  
Link file, maximum number of ........................................... 407
Link file, maximum record length....................................... 407 MACS, date format ............................................................. 196
link files in Suprtool .............................................................. 70 mailing labels ........................................................................ 45
link key fields ...................................................................... 392 maintenance of databases ...................................................... 58
Link option .......................................................................... 216 MakeAbsent, Set option ...................................................... 242
Link vs. Query ....................................................................... 67 mapped file access in STExport .......................................... 312
Linkedit ............................................................................... 447 mapped file access in Suprlink ............................................ 398
linking files .......................................................................... 368 Mapped, Set option ..................................................... 312, 398
linking programs ......................................................... 446, 447 master dataset expansion ............................................... 59, 163
list clears screen .................................................................. 204 match pattern ....................................................................... 488
List command .............................................................. 203, 351 maximum block size in Suprtool......................................... 482
list device............................................................................. 207 maximum delimiter length .................................................. 329
list to Suprlist ...................................................................... 207 maximum heading length .................................................... 329
List, Char option .................................................................. 203 maximum input block size .......................................... 329, 407
List, Column Headings ........................................................ 207 maximum input record length ..................................... 329, 407
List, Date default ................................................................. 240 maximum link block size .................................................... 407
List, Date option .................................................................. 206 maximum link fields ........................................................... 407
List, Decimal option ............................................................ 203 maximum link files ............................................................. 407
List, Duplex option .............................................................. 205 maximum link record length ............................................... 407
List, Heading option ............................................................ 207 maximum output fields ....................................................... 408
List, Hex option ................................................................... 203 maximum output record length ................................... 329, 408
List, Labels option ............................................................... 204 maximum size, HTML files ................................................ 304
List, Leftjustnum option ...................................................... 204 MDX ............................................................................. 59, 163
List, Noname option ............................................................ 204 means range of fields .......................................................... 490
List, Norec option ................................................................ 203 measuring performance ....................................................... 104
List, Noskip option .............................................................. 204 message files ......................................................................... 64
List, Octal option ................................................................. 203 missing comma, error .................................................. 145, 147
List, Oneperline option ........................................................ 204 MIT update .......................................................................... 413
List, Record option .............................................................. 208 mixed case comparisons ...................................................... 181
List, Rightjustnum option .................................................... 204 mode parameter ........................................................... 112, 220
List, Standard option ........................................................... 206 mode-0 returns version number .................................. 425, 428
List, Time default ................................................................ 241 mode-2 prints statistics ........................................................ 428
List, Time option ................................................................. 206 mode-3 concurrent database access .................................... 425
List, Title option .................................................................. 205 Modify command ................................................................ 353
listing ..................................................................................... 42 Modify command, locking .................................................. 332
listing formats ...................................................................... 203 modulo operator .......................................................... 144, 177
listing labels......................................................................... 204 moving STExport around .................................................... 273
listing one per line ............................................................... 204 moving Suprlink around ...................................................... 360
listing with subheadings ...................................................... 207 moving Suprtool around ...................................................... 448

516 • Index Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

MPE commands .................................. 109, 284, 336, 379, 485
MPE commands, disabling access ...................... 238, 276, 363
O  
MPE files ............................................................................... 63
MPE files with lockwords ..................................................... 65 offset parameter ................................................................... 121
MPE files, linking ............................................................... 373 Omnidex .......................................... 89, 90, 127, 221, 231, 486
MPE V performance............................................................ 102 OmniQuest ............................................................................ 91
MPE XL .................................................................see MPE/iX Open command ................................................................... 212
MPE, restricting .................................................. 238, 276, 363 option parameter, Dbedit ..................................................... 338
MPE/iX and Speed Demon ......................................... 414, 421 optional command name ..................................................... 201
MPE/iX commands ............................. 109, 284, 336, 380, 485 optional Join option ............................................................. 391
MPE/iX file names .............................................................. 484 optional Link option ............................................................ 393
MPE/iX variables .................................................................. 75 OR operator ......................................................................... 172
MPE/iX, performance ................................................... 74, 102 Oracle date format ............................................................... 197
MPE/iX, prefetch ........................................................ 244, 410 Oracle dates ................................................................. 193, 290
multidataset access ................................................................ 18 out of disc space ............................................................ 71, 210
multiple commands per line ................................ 107, 335, 489 output choices........................................................................ 53
multiple output files ............................................................ 219 Output command ................................................. 213, 308, 395
multiple search values ......................................................... 254 Output file format ........................................................ 215, 289
output file name duplicated ........................................... 50, 482
Output file size .................................................................... 214
output file, maximum fields ................................................ 408
N   output file, maximum record length ............................ 329, 408
output file, Suprlink ............................................................ 368
native language support ................................................. 71, 242 output filecode ..................................................................... 235
native mode, performance ..................................................... 74 output format ....................................................................... 325
negative value ...................................................................... 152 output limits with Count and Total ..................................... 132
Netbase ........................................................................ 231, 415 output record format ............................................................ 404
network services ............................................................ 74, 113 Output, Append option ........................................................ 213
NLS option, Set command .................................................. 242 Output, ASCII option .................................................... 43, 217
no quotes ............................................................................. 309 Output, ASK option ............................................................ 216
NOBUF/MR access ............................................................... 63 Output, Data option ............................................. 215, 308, 395
non-collating dates .............................................................. 186 Output, Display option ........................................................ 217
nonprinting characters ......................................................... 175 Output, Else option.............................................................. 215
non-SD Files and duplicate ................................................. 131 Output, Erase option............................................................ 213
not equal to (<>) .................................................................. 488 Output, Key option .............................................................. 215
NOT operator ...................................................................... 172 Output, Link option ............................................................. 216
NS/3000 ......................................................................... 74, 113 Output, Num option ............................................................ 215
Nuggets................................................................................ 105 Output, Num,Data option .................................................... 216
null values ........................................................................... 175 Output, Num,Key option ..................................................... 216
Num option .......................................................................... 215 Output, Num,Query option ................................................. 216
Num,Data option ................................................................. 216 output, number of records ............................................... 50, 51
Num,Key option .................................................................. 216 Output, PRN option ............................................................. 218
Num,Query option ............................................................... 216 Output, Query option .......................................................... 216
number function .................................................................. 154 Output, Temp option ........................................................... 213
number sign (#) in patterns.................................................. 488 overflow .............................................................................. 132
Numbug ............................................................................... 243 overpunches, not used ......................................................... 174
Numbug, Set option ............................................................ 243 overview of Dbedit .............................................................. 330
numeric bytes, Suprtool....................................................... 176 overwriting files .................................................................. 214
numeric constants ................................................................ 174
numeric conversion, If command ........................................ 177
numeric expressions ............................................................ 144
numeric justification ............................................................ 204
P  
numeric string test ............................................................... 179
Numeric to Byte conversion ................................................ 155 packed constants.................................................................. 139
numeric truncation............................................................... 178 packed fields, maintaining the sign ..................................... 152
Numeric-value option, Dbedit ............................................. 338 packed-decimal fields.......................................................... 123
Numrecs command .............................................................. 210 packed-decimal, illegal digits.............................................. 372
numrecs parameter .......................................................... 71, 72 page headings in List ........................................................... 205
parameters, Dbedit commands ............................................ 337
parentheses .................................................................. 172, 490
Parm= values for STExport ................................................. 277
Parm= values for Suprlink .................................................. 364
Parm= values for Suprtool .................................................... 51

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Index • 517

Parm=0 in Speed Demon .................................................... 429 Put command ....................................................... 110, 220, 241
Parm=1 in Speed Demon .................................................... 429 Put command, performance ........................................ 104, 221
Parm=16 in Suprtool ............................................................. 49
Parm=3 in Speed Demon .................................................... 430
Parm=32 in STExport ......................................................... 276 Q  
Parm=32 in Suprlink ........................................................... 364
Parm=32 in Suprtool ............................................................. 48
Q command ................................................................. 222, 354
Parm=4 in Suprtool ............................................................... 46
Qedit program ............................... 79, 115, 275, 286, 297, 343
Parm=64 in STExport ......................................................... 276
Qedit program and Suprlink ................................ 362, 381, 385
Parm=64 in Suprlink ........................................................... 363
Qedit program as parent process ................................... 47, 136
Parm=64 in Suprtool ............................................................. 48
Qhelp ........................................................... 170, 303, 350, 388
Parm=8 in Suprtool ............................................................... 47
QSCHEMA definitions ......................................................... 85
Parm=8192 in STExport ..................................................... 276
QShow ................................................................................... 86
Parm=8192 in Suprlink ....................................................... 363
QTP vs. Quiz ......................................................................... 81
Pascal example for Speed Demon ....................................... 436
QTP, PowerHouse ............................................................... 375
Pascal invocation of Suprtool.............................................. 468
QUERY "numbers" format ................................................. 216
password in batch .......................................................... 50, 112
Query All option not supported........................................... 349
password parameter ..................................................... 112, 220
Query option........................................................................ 216
password upshifted .............................................................. 112
QUERY program .................................................................. 92
paths, IMAGE detail datasets .............................................. 117
Query vs Link ........................................................................ 67
pattern matching .................................................. 180, 244, 488
question mark, database password .............................. 112, 220
pausing for user ................................................................... 264
question, delete all records .................................................. 127
PC files .......................................................................... 78, 218
Quick help ................................................... 170, 303, 350, 388
PCL option, Set List .................................................... 204, 240
Quick: generating Suprtool commands ................................. 88
percent sign ................................................................. 483, 490
Quiet, Set option.................................................................. 356
Performance Eloquence....................................................... 235
Quiz report writer .......................................... 79, 375, 393, 395
performance issues .............................................................. 102
quote characters ................................................................... 174
performance of Dbedit ........................................................ 331
Quote command .................................................................. 309
performance of Speed Demon ............................................. 104
quotes, double ..................................................................... 309
performance of STExport .................................................... 280
quotes, none......................................................................... 309
performance of Suprtool...................................................... 104
quotes, single ....................................................................... 309
Performance, Suprlink ......................................................... 371
performance, when sorting .................................................. 103
permanent and temporary files ............................................ 213
permanent and tempory files ............................................... 192 R  
Permanent redo .................................................... 246, 312, 398
Persistent redo ..................................................... 246, 312, 398 random sampling ......................................................... 167, 192
personal computers ................................................................ 78 range of fields ...................................................................... 142
PHdate option, Item command ............................................ 196 range, extracting .................................................................. 142
positive value....................................................................... 152 read only mode .................................................................... 238
POSIX file names ................................................................ 485 reading datasets ..................................................................... 55
PowerHouse .......................................................................... 79 record changed error ............................................................. 58
PowerHouse applications ...................................................... 79 record format, output ............................................................. 42
PowerHouse dates ............................................................... 196 Record Mode, List option ................................................... 208
PowerHouse define of P28 .................................................. 132 record number selection .............................................. 167, 192
PowerHouse subfiles ............................................. 80, 375, 395 record number, IMAGE ...................................................... 167
Prefetch........................................................................ 242, 410 record number, KSAM ........................................................ 192
preformatted, HTML option ................................................ 304 record number, MPE ........................................................... 192
prep, segmenter ................................................................... 446 record number, Output ........................................................ 215
Printer Command Language................................................ 240 record number, XSORT ...................................................... 236
printer, attached to terminal ................................................ 208 records, not qualifying ........................................................ 219
printing reports .............................................................. 43, 207 records, number of qualifying ............................................. 219
privileged file violation ............................................... 114, 169 Recover, Set option ............................................................. 246
Privmode, Set option ........................................................... 245 redo command ....................................... 27, 223, 310, 355, 396
PRN option .................................................................... 78, 218 Redo, number of commands ............................... 223, 310, 396
processing selections ............................................................. 53 Redo, Set ............................................................. 246, 312, 398
progress messages ............................................................... 245 reduced output ..................................................................... 240
prompt character .................................................................. 488 Reflection .............................................................................. 79
Prompt, Set option ....................................................... 246, 356 Related option, Dbedit ........................................................ 339
prompting using Quiz ............................................................ 88 relative dates........................................................................ 182
pseudo-batch tasks............................................................... 482 relative dates, notes ............................................................. 185
pub SL ................................................................................. 415 relative field definitions ...................................................... 121

518 • Index Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

remote database ........................................................... 112, 169 Set command, Dbedit .......................................................... 356
remote systems .............................................................. 74, 113 Set command, STExport ..................................................... 312
remote systems FOPENs ..................................................... 114 Set command, Suprlink ....................................................... 398
removing bad characters...................................................... 288 Set command, Suprtool ....................................................... 228
removing spaces .......................................................... 148, 181 Set CurrencySymbol ........................................................... 231
repeated fields ..................................................................... 175 Set Date ............................................................................... 233
repeated fields, Extract command ....................................... 139 Set Date Cutoff ...................................................... 94, 186, 232
repeating commands .............................................................. 27 Set Date Forcecentury ................................................... 94, 233
reports .................................................................................... 43 Set DecimalSymbol ............................................................. 234
Reset command ................................................... 226, 311, 397 Set Defer...................................................... 104, 126, 221, 234
Reset, Set option .................................................................. 356 Set Dumponerror ......................................................... 110, 234
Resolving Variables .............................................. 78, 314, 399 Set EditStoperror ................................................................. 235
restrictions in Dbedit ........................................................... 330 Set Eofread .......................................................................... 235
restrictions in Speed Demon ............................................... 409 Set Fastread ......................................................................... 235
RIO files ................................................................................ 64 Set Filecode ......................................................................... 235
Roman-8 characters, HTML output .................................... 305 Set Firstrec .................................................................... 92, 236
Roman-8 vs. ASCII ............................................................. 205 Set Hints .............................................................................. 236
RPG, programming language ................................................ 92 Set Ifcheck ........................................................................... 237
run parameters ..................................................................... 448 Set Ignore .................................................... 110, 221, 237, 271
running STExport ................................................................ 275 Set Itemabbreviatedate ........................................................ 237
running Suprlink .................................................................. 362 Set Labelledtaperewind ....................................................... 238
running Suprtool .................................................................... 46 Set Limits ............................................................................ 238
running totals ......................................................................... 41 Set List PCL ................................................................ 204, 240
Set Lock ........................................................................ 57, 241
Set LP, Dbedit ..................................................................... 356
S   Set Mapped.................................................................. 312, 398
set name parameter ...................................... 117, 167, 191, 220
Set NLS ............................................................................... 242
scientific format................................................................... 298
Set Openmode ..................................................................... 243
SD files .......................................... 25, see self-describing files
Set Oracle ............................................................................ 243
SD Files, restrictions ............................................................. 68
Set Prefetch ......................................................................... 244
SD KSAM files ..................................................................... 69
Set Privmode ....................................................................... 245
SDUnix .................................................................................. 66
Set Progress ......................................................................... 245
search criteria ...................................................................... 337
Set Prompt, Dbedit .............................................................. 356
Select by list of values ........................................................... 30
Set Prompt, Suprtool ........................................................... 246
Select command .................................................................. 227
Set Quiet, Dbedit ................................................................. 356
Select command, Allbase rows ........................................... 230
Set Recover ......................................................................... 246
Select command, Oracle rows ............................................. 243
Set Reset, Dbedit ................................................................. 356
Select menu processor ........................................... 47, 275, 362
Set Sortfast .......................................................................... 247
Select performance .............................................................. 227
Set Squeeze ......................................................................... 248
Select, Long commands ...................................................... 227
Set Statistics, STExport ....................................................... 313
selecting multiple values ..................................................... 173
Set Statistics, Suprlink ........................................................ 399
selecting records .................................................................. 171
Set Statistics, Suprtool ........................................................ 248
selecting records, database .................................................... 27
Set Subsystem ..................................................................... 248
selection by date .................................................................. 182
Set Suspend ......................................................................... 249
selection criteria .................................................................... 28
Set ThousandSymbol .......................................................... 249
selection logic ...................................................................... 368
Set Underline, Dbedit .......................................................... 357
selection using arithmetic .................................................... 177
Set Userlabels ...................................................................... 249
self describing files, field name limit .................................... 67
Set VarSub .......................................................................... 250
self-describing file format ........................................... 325, 404
Set Varsub, STExport.................................................. 314, 399
self-describing files ......................... 66, 67, 131, 162, 216, 368
Set VarsubCompat .............................................................. 250
self-describing KSAM files ................................................... 69
Set VarSubDebug .................................................. 78, 314, 399
semicolon ............................................................................ 335
Set Verify, Dbedit ............................................................... 357
semicolon means multiple commands................................. 489
Set Warnings ....................................................................... 250
separator, dates .................................................................... 290
Set Warnings, STExport...................................................... 314
serial vs. chained read ................................................... 56, 117
Set Xltrim ............................................................................ 251
session ................................................................................... 79
Set XMLtagchar, STExport ................................................ 314
session mode ....................................................................... 482
Set ZonedFix, STExport...................................................... 315
Set Allbase........................................................................... 230
SICOGNOS ......................................................................... 164
Set Arithmetic ..................................................................... 230
SICOGNOS, Superdex .......................................................... 89
Set Baseclose ....................................................................... 230
Sign command ..................................................................... 316
Set Blocksize ....................................................................... 230
signed function .................................................................... 152
Set Buffer ............................................................................ 230

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Index • 519

simple tasks, file .................................................................... 25 STExport task ...................................................................... 275
single quotes ........................................................................ 309 Stexport.Pub.Robelle........................................................... 137
SL, group ............................................................................. 416 STExportFullCount ............................................................. 278
SL, pub ................................................................................ 415 STExportOutCount ............................................................. 277
SL, system ................................................................... 413, 415 STREAMX .......................................................... 108, 284, 379
slash character ..................................................................... 490 string constants ............................................................ 174, 490
Slist234 file ......................................................................... 449 string constants, Extract command ..................................... 139
Software Research Northwest ..................................... 105, 197 string conversion ................................................................. 147
son process .................................................... 49, 135, 296, 384 string expressions ................................................................ 178
sort break totals ................................................................... 260 string of digits ....................................................................... 29
Sort command ..................................................................... 252 string replacement, Hpmodify ............................................. 224
sort information not retained ............................................... 131 string truncation .................................................................. 148
sort keys............................................................................... 368 string, as a delimiter ............................................................ 293
sort speed ....................................................................... 71, 103 string, heading command .................................................... 301
sort, count .............................................................................. 41 strings .................................................................................. 485
sort, descending ..................................................................... 33 sub totaling ............................................................................ 41
sort, multiple keys ................................................................. 33 subcommands, Dbedit ......................................................... 340
sort, subtotal .......................................................................... 41 subfiles, PowerHouse .................................................... 80, 375
Sortfast, Set option .............................................................. 247 subscript parameter ............................................. 138, 259, 486
sorting datasets .............................................................. 56, 252 subscript parameter, character ............................................. 175
sorting files .............................................................. 39, 70, 200 subscript parameter, Define ................................................ 121
sorting records,database ........................................................ 33 subscript parameter, numeric .............................................. 175
sorting, 4096 record size ....................................................... 75 substrings............................................................................. 175
Sortscr file ............................................................................. 71 subsystem access ................................................................. 248
Spaces command ................................................................. 317 Subsystem, Set option ......................................................... 248
spaces, removing ......................................................... 148, 181 subtotals......................................................................... 40, 130
SPDEDBINIT control record .............................................. 420 Subtract Days ...................................................................... 142
SPDEDBINIT intrinsic ....................................................... 425 sum of field values .............................................................. 259
SPDEDBINIT version number............................................ 430 summary of STExport ......................................................... 279
SPDEDBSCAN intrinsic ..................................................... 427 summary of Suprlink ........................................................... 367
SPDEDBSHUT intrinsic ..................................................... 428 Super Cartridge ................................................................... 205
SPDEDBSHUT version number ......................................... 430 Superdex ........................................................................ 89, 486
SPDEEXPLAIN intrinsic .................................................... 424 Supr2job job stream ............................................................ 479
SPDEPREFETCH JCW ...................................................... 410 Suprcall ................................................................................. 19
special characters................................................................. 487 Suprcall.Suprjob.Robelle .................................................... 479
special string test ................................................................. 179 Suprhint.Help.Robelle ......................................................... 236
specifying input ................................... 117, 167, 191, 306, 389 Suprlink ................................................................. 18, 202, 216
Speed Demon ........................................................................ 18 Suprlink performance .......................................................... 104
Speed Demon error messages ............................................. 441 Suprlink, using from Suprtool ............................................. 363
Speed Demon performance ................................................. 104 Suprlink.Pub.Robelle .......................................................... 202
Speed Demon vs. Suprtool .................................................. 410 SuprlinkFullCount ............................................................... 365
speed of IMAGE extracts .............................................. 56, 409 SuprlinkOutCount ............................................................... 364
speed under MPE/iX ........................................................... 409 Suprlist file ............................................................ 44, 207, 356
SPEEDWARE invocation of Suprtool ................................ 470 Suprmgr file .......................................................................... 50
SPL invocation of Suprtool ................................................. 461 Suprtool in Suprlink ............................................ 368, 390, 392
splitting strings .................................................................... 148 Suprtool package ................................................................... 17
splitting strings, unprintables .............................................. 149 Suprtool performance .......................................................... 104
spool file errors.................................................................... 270 Suprtool vs. Speed Demon .................................................. 410
SQL database, Allbase rows................................................ 230 Suprtool, program file name ............................................... 448
SQL database, Oracle rows ................................................. 243 Suprtool2 ............................................................................... 19
SQL database, Select command .......................................... 227 Suprtool2 error messages .................................................... 480
SQL database, specifying .................................................... 212 Suprtool2 installation .................................................. 447, 479
SQL database, structure....................................................... 164 Suprtool2 routine ......................................................... 137, 202
Squeeze, Set option ............................................................. 248 Suprtool2 routine, MPE/iX ................................................... 74
SRN, Chronos date ........................................................ 93, 197 Suprtool2filecommand ........................................................ 448
St2xl.Pub.Robelle .................................................................. 74 SuprtoolFullCount variable ................................................... 51
startrecord parameter ................................................... 167, 192 SuprtoolOutCount JCW ................................................ 50, 446
Statistics, Set option ............................................ 248, 313, 399 Suspend option on Exit ....................................... 135, 296, 384
status area .................................................................... 423, 443 Suspend, Set option ............................................................. 249
stddate function ........................................................... 141, 183 suspending STExport .......................................................... 276
STExport ............................................................... 18, 137, 218 suspending Suprlink ............................................................ 364
STExport summary ............................................................. 273 suspending Suprtool .............................................................. 48

520 • Index Suprtool 5.7 for MPE

system parameter ................................................................. 113 Underline, Set option .......................................................... 357
system SL .................................................... 413, 414, 415, 479 Undo edit, Hpmodify .......................................................... 224
system XL file ............................................................. 414, 448 unsigned value ..................................................................... 152
Update command ........................................................ 241, 261
Update command, performance .......................................... 104
T   Update from a Table............................................................ 255
Updatekey option, Dbedit ................................................... 340
Updating records ................................................................... 34
table and $lookup ............................................................ 30, 31
upper-case ................................................................... 148, 181
Table command ................................................................... 254
upshifting strings ................................................................. 148
Table command, decimal places ......................................... 255
Use command ........................................ 47, 262, 318, 358, 401
Table Data option ................................................................ 255
Use command with If $read ................................................ 189
Table, $lookup examples..................................................... 256
User Defined Commands .................... 109, 284, 336, 380, 485
Table, Data example ............................................................ 257
user labels ........................................................................ 65, 73
table, HTML option............................................................. 304
user labels in SD files ............................................................ 70
tables.................................................................................... 486
user program calls Suprlink ................................................ 473
tables in Chain command .................................................... 117
User Prompting ..................................................................... 77
tables, holding between Xeqs .............................................. 255
user specified heading ......................................................... 301
tables, maximum size .......................................... 238, 257, 258
Userlabels, Set option.......................................................... 249
tape files ........................................................ 72, 191, 192, 214
Userpause command ........................................................... 264
tape files of large size .......................................................... 210
Using Speed Demon ............................................................ 420
tapes, EBCDIC format .......................................................... 72
tapes, labelled ........................................................................ 72
tapes, multivolume ................................................................ 72
target field ........................................................................... 144 V  
task, locking .......................................................................... 57
task, Suprtool ................................................................... 24, 53 value tests ............................................................................ 172
temporary files............................................................... 65, 213 variable length strings ................................................. 147, 178
third-party indexing ............... 89, 127, 162, 164, 221, 271, 486 variable substitution ........................................ 75, 77, 281, 374
Third-party indexing, chain ................................................. 119 Variable Substitution, Set option ........................................ 250
ThousandSymbol, Set option .............................................. 249 variable, SuprtoolFullCount .................................................. 51
time format in List ....................................................... 206, 241 variable-length, output file .................................................. 289
Time, Set List ...................................................................... 241 variables in file names ......................................................... 484
title, HTML option .............................................................. 304 Varsub, Set option ....................................................... 314, 399
titles, List command .............................................................. 44 VarsubCompat, Set option .................................................. 250
today function of Extract ..................................................... 140 Verify command.................................. 253, 265, 319, 359, 402
today function of If .............................................................. 183 Verify, Set option ................................................................ 357
Total command .................................................................... 259 Version entry point .............................................................. 430
Total Examples .................................................................... 259 version numbers .................................................................. 430
Total, output restrictions ..................................................... 132 VESOFT .............................................................. 108, 284, 379
totaling ................................................................................... 41 VESOFT, God program ...................................................... 114
totaling duplicate records .................................................... 130
totals to a file ............................................................... 259, 260
totals to a program ............................................................... 132 W  
TPI ......................................... 89, 164, see third-party indexing
TPI-keys ................................................................................ 89
warning messages........................................................ 271, 487
trailing sign .......................................................................... 316
warning, delete all records .................................................. 127
TRANSACT .......................................................................... 91
warning, FLIMIT greater .................................................... 168
TRANSACT invocation of Suprtool ................................... 458
warning, using DBGET ....................................................... 168
trimming spaces........................................................... 148, 181
Warnings ............................................................................. 250
truncate function .......................................................... 145, 178
when to use Suprtool ............................................................. 56
truncation, numeric.............................................................. 178
wide listings ........................................................................ 207
truncation, strings ................................................................ 148
wider columns ....................................................................... 44
TurboIMAGE ........................................................................ 57
two-digit years ................................................................. 94, 95
type parameter ..................................................... 121, 122, 200
X  

U   Xeq command, STExport ............................................ 297, 320

Xeq command, Suprlink.............................................. 384, 403
Xeq command, Suprtool.............................................. 136, 266
UDCs .......................................... see User Defined Commands
Xeq option on Exit .............................................. 136, 297, 384
Under option, Dbedit ........................................................... 339
XL file ......................................................................... 414, 421

Suprtool 5.7 for MPE Index • 521

Xltrim .................................................................................. 251 yes response in pseudo-batch .............................................. 482
XML, STExport .................................................................. 321 yyymmdd date format ......................................................... 196
XSORT .......................................................................... 92, 236

Z  
Y  
Zero command .................................................................... 324
Year 2000 ............................................................................ 233 zoned constants ................................................................... 139
Year 2000 testing ................................................................ 101 zoned-decimal, illegal digits ............................................... 372
yes answer to questions ............................................... 270, 487 Z-type TPI-keys .................................................................... 89

522 • Index Suprtool 5.7 for MPE