I know we cannot do a MATCH FILE in InfoAssist (Ref: These Posts)

But, is there any way in IA to get the same results: All records from two sources? NOTE: The sources have a different number of fields and the field names are difference?

I do get what I want using MATCH FILE.

I know "InfoAssist isn’t a development tool and not really meant for data manipulation.". Do I need to wait till 8205 for such functionality (if it'll be there)?

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

Can you do a conditional join in Info Assist ?

I think so... What would that condition be?
WHERE [field1] exists-or-is-missing OR [field2] exists-or-is-missing

It would be a OLD-OR-NEW in MATCH FILE.

A JOIN is based on the existence of what's in the HOST, right? So, we can get something from the target if it's missing in the target... But not if it's missing in the host, right?

Perhaps it may not work.

Documentations states:

JOIN [LEFT_OUTER|INNER] FILE hostfile AT hfld1 [WITH hfld2] [TAG tag1]
TO {UNIQUE|MULTIPLE}
FILE crfile AT crfld [TAG tag2] [AS joinname]
[WHERE expression1;
[WHERE expression2;
...]
END
where:

INNER
Specifies an inner join.
LEFT_OUTER
Specifies a left outer join.

If you do not specify the type of join in the JOIN command, the ALL parameter setting determines the type of join to perform.

I think that's the DEFAULT in the IA JOIN GUI. But, it didn't do the trick. Nor did the inner or outer.

I may create a FOCUS file for them to use, outside of IA, and have them use it. I'll need to schedule it in RC.

The only other think I can think of is to use FOCUS level SQL and do a full outer join ??. Don't know if IA supports this.

I doubt InfoAssist 8.2.05 will give you MATCH FILE either. What percent of your InfoAssist users need this functionality?

Doug

I think you have the right idea to schedule a job to create the focus file they need. How often does it need to be refreshed?

Thanks Guys...

1) I'll go with a RC Job to run a fex that I created in AS.

2) Percentage of users needing this?
    Righht now: One. But, I know there will be more. We're less than 5% into our BI Initiative, 95% to go

3) "I doubt InfoAssist 8.2.05 will give you MATCH FILE either."

Yes, you can obtain a Cartesian product of two data sets with a JOIN.

-* File Many2Many.fex
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT   COUNTRY 
        CAR
COMPUTE FLAG/A1='X';
ON TABLE HOLD FORMAT FOCUS INDEX FLAG
END
-RUN
-*
JOIN FLAG WITH SEQ_NO IN GGSALES TO ALL FLAG IN HOLD AS J1
-*
DEFINE FILE GGSALES
 FLAG/A1 WITH SEQ_NO = 'X';
END
-*
TABLE FILE GGSALES
"Example of Many-2-Many JOIN"
PRINT SEQ_NO 
      COUNTRY
	  CAR
WHERE SEQ_NO LE 2;
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
 INCLUDE=jellybean_combo.sty, $
 TYPE = TITLE, JUSTIFY=CENTER,$
 TYPE = DATA, COLUMN = SEQ_NO, JUSTIFY=CENTER,$
ENDSTYLE
END  

Good answer David,

I wasn't considering (Kinda forgot about) then Cartesian aspect. I need to check that out from a users perspective in InfoAssist.