I am using the DBAFILE functionality on some Master Files to
1) implement some table-based security that is necessary for reporting from an Oracle relational data structure, and
2) is used to restrict some of the key fields from the joins so they are hidden from our users.

Right now I use SQL against the Oracle database (outside of WebFOCUS) to generate the text that is in the DBAFILE for each master file. The names of the DBAFILEs have a .mas extension, e.g. sec_dba1.mas

The list of users is on the database, changes frequently. I would like to dynamically generate the DBAFILE on a daily basis to include new users.

Is there a way to write a focexec that would create/replace a DBAFILE that has a .mas extension?

YES it can but it's not easy. you have to create each row and hold it format ALPHA. It sounds like the WebFOCUS DBA exit will be more helpful in your situation.

In it's simples form here is the method for writing a .mas, I'm sure it could be expanded easily for your needs....
This writes mycar.mas to myapp under approot, make sure it's destination is in the edasprof path....

FILEDEF MYCAR DISK &APPROOT..\MYAPP\MYCAR.MAS

-WRITE MYCAR
-WRITE MYCAR FILE=MYCAR,SUFFIX=FIX
-WRITE MYCAR SEGNAME=SEG1
-WRITE MYCAR FIELD=CAR, ALIAS=E01, USAGE=A10, ACTUAL=A10, $
-WRITE MYCAR FIELD=MODEL, ALIAS=E02, USAGE=A50, ACTUAL=A50, $
-RUN

-* now use it
FILEDEF MYCAR DISK &APPROOT..\MYAPP\MYCAR.TXT

TABLE FILE MYCAR
PRINT CAR
BY MODEL
END

Hope this gives you more ideas, post more detail if you need more specific help.

Just a thought, but if you're running under WINDOWS try a DOS COPY (append), to concatenate the base MAS and you dynamic DBA text.

In your app you would have you .mas and your .dbf, the merge will concat the 2 together and produce mynewcar.mas in same directory, you'll need to experiment with file names to ensure in my e.g. that mycar.* only has the 2 hits for .dba and .mas

DOS COPY &APPROOT..\MYAPP\MYCAR.* &APPROOT..\MYAPP\MYNEWCAR.MAS

Good Luck,
Paul.

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

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give them a try.

I was successful at creating my DBAFILE.mas description using a focexec. Now I just need to schedule it using Report Caster!

I modified the database steps so the focexec only needs to look at one table. Then did a FILEDEF and HOLD AS... FORMAT TAB.

FILEDEF DBAFILE1 DISK E:\ibi\apps\example\DBAFILE1.MAS
TABLE FILE DBAFILE_LINES_FOR_MAS
PRINT
FILE_LINE
BY SORT_VALUE NOPRINT
WHERE DBAFILE_NAME EQ 'DBAFILE1'
ON TABLE HOLD AS SEC_ADR FORMAT TAB
END
-RUN

So you'll know - lots of information about the lines is hard-coded on the Oracle database side and in a script there.

Thanks to all for the help.