Focal Point
[CLOSED] Way to view a Focus format file.

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November 19, 2010, 02:11 PM
Harsha.gsh
[CLOSED] Way to view a Focus format file.
Hi all,
I would like to browse through a file which is in FOCUS format.
My question is
1. Can we view a file which is in Focus format using its master file layout?
One thing we can do is rerun the Focus job by modifying the "HOLD AS" to "SAVE AS" in FOCEXEC and browse the saved file.

2. Please suggest if there exists other methods to view a focus format file?
It could be any thing like directly view FOCUS Format files using tools like star tool or Fileaid.
If there is special command/procedure that can be used to view the file.

Thanks in advance
G Sri Harsha.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,
November 19, 2010, 03:57 PM
GamP
The FOCUS format file is a proprietary IBI only format. I have no knowledge of any other product that can read/view the contents of such a file. As far as I know, only (Web)FOCUS can read these files.


GamP

- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
in Focus since 1988
November 21, 2010, 10:06 AM
Dr. Nick
Hi,

GamP is correct. Some details are as follows: page 1 stores a sort of table of contents with DB structure and pointers to data pages. Each page stores data for each instance with vertical and horizontal pointers to te next instance of that data and child data, respectively.

Indexes tables are b-tree structures and are stored on separate pages. A multi-level design promotes efficient retrieval of indexed records especially for unique values.

I wrote a course about 20 years ago while at IBI that maps all this info in detail. Please ask your IBI rep. for info on a possible updated version.

Hope this helps.

Nick


WebFOCUS 7.7.03 & 8.0.7
Windows
HTML, Excel, PDF, etc.
Also, using Maintain, etc.
November 22, 2010, 03:26 AM
Wep5622
If you just want to see its contents, you can issue a TABLE FILE command from the command console.

If you want to see a specific focus file somewhere else in the file-system, you can probably issue an APP MAP command, followed by a TABLE FILE once again, but I've never had the need to.

I suppose to really answer your question people would need to know what you're hoping to achieve by browsing through a focus file.


WebFOCUS 8.1.03, Windows 7-64/2008-64, IBM DB2/400, Oracle 11g & RDB, MS SQL-Server 2005, SAP, PostgreSQL 11, Output: HTML, PDF, Excel 2010
: Member of User Group Benelux :
November 23, 2010, 08:59 PM
Harsha.gsh
Hi all,
Thanks for the replies and suggestions.
I wanted to browse the focus files bcoz i though it will aid me in undeerstanding the focus procedures more easily.


Focus 7.62, ZOS/Mainframes, Excel
November 23, 2010, 11:53 PM
Francis Mariani
TABLE FILE file-name
PRINT *
END

should do the job, or using the Master, explore the segments and print each individually.

Wot's "bcoz"?


Francis


Give me code, or give me retirement. In FOCUS since 1991

Production: WF 7.7.05M, Dev Studio, BID, MRE, WebSphere, DB2 / Test: WF 8.1.05M, App Studio, BI Portal, Report Caster, jQuery, HighCharts, Apache Tomcat, MS SQL Server
November 24, 2010, 04:45 AM
<JG>
quote:
bcoz

What e-mail and texting has done to the English language.
Because people are lazy.
November 24, 2010, 09:06 AM
jgelona
In the dark times (before WebFOCUS), there were the SCAN and FSCAN commands.

SCAN Subcommand Summary

FSCAN Functions

You need to be careful with these because not only can you view the data, you can update the data as well.


In FOCUS since 1985. Prod WF 8.0.08 (z90/Suse Linux) DB (Oracle 11g), Self Serv, Report Caster, WebServer Intel/Linux.
November 24, 2010, 09:36 AM
<JG>
Actually It still exists

from a command line session

edastart -t
November 24, 2010, 10:36 AM
GamP
We never throw anything away, do we?


GamP

- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
in Focus since 1988