I have a report where it takes several steps to get to a hold file. Then I have to create another several steps and then get to a second hold file. I need to append my hold1 and hold2 files together. Is the best way to do this is to use the more or to use the filedef? And where do I put this in the code?

malinda

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Malinda,

I tend to use MORE.

SET HOLDLIST=PRINTONLY
SET HOLDFORMAT=ALPHA
-RUN

TABLE FILE CAR
SUM
SALES/D8
COMPUTE GROUP1/A16 = COUNTRY;
BY COUNTRY NOPRINT
WHERE SALES GT 10000
ON TABLE HOLD AS H001
END
-RUN

DEFINE FILE GGORDER
SALES/D8 = QUANTITY * UNIT_PRICE;
END
-RUN

TABLE FILE GGORDER
SUM SALES
COMPUTE GROUP1/A16 = PRODUCT_DESCRIPTION;
BY PRODUCT_DESCRIPTION NOPRINT
WHERE QUANTITY LT 40
ON TABLE HOLD AS H002
END
-RUN

TABLE FILE H001
PRINT *
ON TABLE HOLD AS H100
MORE
FILE H002
END
-RUN

TABLE FILE H100
PRINT 
SALES
BY GROUP1
END
-RUN

MORE
FILE ...
must be the last two statements before the END statement.

The other option is to use FILEDEF ... (APPEND

TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY CAR MODEL SALES
WHERE COUNTRY EQ 'ENGLAND'
ON TABLE HOLD AS APPND FORMAT ALPHA
END
FILEDEF APPND DISK appnd.ftm (APPEND
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY CAR MODEL SALES
WHERE COUNTRY EQ 'FRANCE'
ON TABLE HOLD AS APPND FORMAT ALPHA
END
FILEDEF APPND DISK appnd.ftm
TABLE FILE APPND
PRINT *
END

It does rely on the second TABLE FILE's field matching the firsts.

OR two hold format focus and a USE command. Lots of different ways for this one.

Are you setting a Challenge ?

Or, if using HOLDFORMAT ALPHA, you can use an OS command to append or concatenate the two files.

TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY CAR MODEL SALES
WHERE COUNTRY EQ 'ENGLAND'
ON TABLE HOLD FORMAT ALPHA
END
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY CAR MODEL SALES
WHERE COUNTRY EQ 'FRANCE'
ON TABLE SAVE
END
-RUN
-UNIX cat save.ftm >> hold.ftm

Or if using HOLDFORMAT BINARY:

TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY CAR MODEL SALES
WHERE COUNTRY EQ 'ENGLAND'
ON TABLE SET HOLDFORMAT BINARY
ON TABLE HOLD
END
FILEDEF HOLD DISK hold.ftm ( LRECL 56 RECFM F APPEND
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY CAR MODEL SALES
WHERE COUNTRY EQ 'FRANCE'
ON TABLE SAVB AS HOLD
END
-RUN

There you go Malinda! Many options to choose from.

Personally, I prefer FILEDEF (APPEND as it allows me to create and append to my target file upon retrieving data from the database; other valid approaches usually require reading from your database and putting your data in a HOLD file (repeating those 2 steps as many times as data sources you need to concatenate) and later reading all your HOLD files in order to concatenate them. This may not be significant if you're dealing with "small" sets of data but if you see yourself creating "big" HOLD files (because your business rules report so require) then creating those HOLD files and querying them again so that they can be concatenated at the end may impact performance. In addition, when using FILEDEF (APPEND you are not limited to ALPHA format; BINARY works just as fine.

Every feature and functionality has its place (IBI would have never implemented them otherwise ). Just pick the one that better suits your needs.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: njsden,

I prefer the USE method.

If your data is already in FOCUS files, the USE is great, if nit, then it will depend on how much data you have to append.

I was able to get the MORE to work. Thanks for all the help!

malinda