Focal Point
Appending multiple tables to HOLD files.

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April 01, 2004, 02:51 PM
IBForum
Appending multiple tables to HOLD files.
I'm using WebFOCUS 4.3.6 and would like to have multiple table requests save/append to the same HOLD file. Is this possible? I'm a newbie, so forgive me if this is an obvious capability.
April 01, 2004, 05:24 PM
susannah
sure, a great question and a cool technique. make sure your hold files have the same fieldnames. it helps (less agro) if they're identical in layout but not necessary for this technique. the fieldnames must be ident in format.
TABLE FILE CAR
..do stuff..
ON TABLE HOLD AS H1
END
TABLE FILE MYCAR
..do the same stuff..
ON TABLE HOLD AS H2
END
...continue for as many holds as you need.
...now...
TABLE FILE H1
..do some cool stuff using fieldnames common
..to all your Hn files
ON TABLE HOLD AS HFINAL
MORE
FILE H2
MORE
FILE H3
MORE
FILE H4
....as many as you need.
END
Your file called HFINAL will contain all your merged stuff;

Now, if the hold files are focus files (ON TABLE HOLD AS H1 FORMAT FOCUS) and they are identical structure, then
USE
H1 AS H1
H2 AS H1
H3 AS H1
H4 AS H1
...etc
END
TABLE FILE H1
..do stuff

got it??
April 01, 2004, 05:44 PM
IBForum
Thank you. I got it. I thought there might be another way using a FILEDEF for my HOLD file or something else where I wouldn't have to use the MORE command. So WebFOCUS will always overwrite a HOLD file? There is no directive to change this behavior to append?
April 01, 2004, 06:31 PM
susannah
Ah..i detect a mainframe brain behind this question...I bet you're thinking about that filedef append thing we used to do in cms or was it tso? I looked it up and hot dog, it works.
FILEDEF APPND DISK D:\IBI\APPS\APPND.FTM
FILEDEF HOLDMAST DIR D:\IBI\APPS\
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY IF COUNTRY IS 'FRANCE'
ON TABLE HOLD AS APPND FORMAT ALPHA
END
-RUN
FILEDEF APPND DISK D:\IBI\APPS\APPND.FTM (APPEND
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY IF COUNTRY IS 'ENGLAND'
ON TABLE SAVE AS APPND
END
TABLE FILE APPND
PRINT *
END

in answer to your pm, the (APPEND is required syntax. it says i'm going to append to the existing file. without it, you would overwrite the existing file. Here's the link to the ibi support site that explains it.
http://documentation.informationbuilders.com/masterinde.../wf_user/08app20.htm

this is a great question, and a technique i need to use, just hadn't been motivated to go research it. thanks for the push.