HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Chapter 5 HP ALLBASE/4GL Files HP ALLBASE/4GL Files This section provides an overview of the various files used by HP ALLBASE/4GL. It also contains an outline description of the MPE/iX groups and accounts containing these files. HP ALLBASE/4GL uses the following types of files: * System files. * Application databases or data files. System Files The system files are the internal files that drive HP ALLBASE/4GL. They contain the definitions of your HP ALLBASE/4GL applications. The system files operate in conjunction with a set of HP ALLBASE/4GL program files. (The HP ALLBASE/4GL program files are stored in the PUB.SYS group.) The HP ALLBASE/4GL system files also contain the administ application and your system-wide definitions, application definitions, and user definitions. Application Databases Application databases are the data storage systems containing the data used in your applications (The administ application itself does not have any data files.) It's important for you to realize that HP ALLBASE/4GL uses four different data storage systems for storing application data, which gives developers the flexibility to use the type of storage best for their needs. It's important for you to know which data storage system your HP ALLBASE/4GL application uses because the procedure you use to create backup copies of your data depends on the data storage system you are using. The data storage systems used by HP ALLBASE/4GL are: * HP ALLBASE/SQL databases. * HP TurboIMAGE/iX databases. * KSAM data files. * Serial data files. Your HP ALLBASE/4GL support service will tell you which data storage system your applications use. Regardless of the type of data storage system, your application databases or data files are the most important files in your HP ALLBASE/4GL system. HP ALLBASE/SQL Databases. HP ALLBASE/SQL is Hewlett-Packard's relational database system. Application developers may use the HP ALLBASE/SQL (Hewlett-Packard Structured Query Language) to store, retrieve, and alter data for HP ALLBASE/4GL applications. Your HP ALLBASE/4GL applications can only use HP ALLBASE/SQL if it is installed on your MPE/iX system. HP ALLBASE/SQL is not supplied as part of HP ALLBASE/4GL. Refer to Appendix A for more details about using HP ALLBASE/SQL databases with HP ALLBASE/4GL. HP TurboIMAGE/iX Databases. HP ALLBASE/4GL allows developers to access HP TurboIMAGE/iX databases in applications. Applications may store, retrieve, and alter HP TurboIMAGE/iX data. Your HP ALLBASE/4GL applications can only use HP TurboIMAGE/iX if it is installed on your MPE/iX system. HP TurboIMAGE/iX is not supplied as part of HP ALLBASE/4GL. Refer to Appendix B for more about HP TurboIMAGE/iX databases used with HP ALLBASE/4GL applications. KSAM Data Files. The term KSAM means "keyed sequential access method." HP ALLBASE/4GL contains an inbuilt KSAM data manager that allows application developers to create KSAM data files. The HP ALLBASE/4GL run-time environment contains all the logic necessary to maintain and operate on KSAM files. The HP ALLBASE/4GL run-time environment does not contain the facilities to create new KSAM data files. The run-time environment does contain all the necessary logic to read data from existing files, add data to existing files, and delete data from existing files. When an HP ALLBASE/4GL application is loaded into the HP ALLBASE/4GL system, the KSAM data files for the application may need to be loaded into the system as well. These files can be empty, or can contain data. Once the data files have been loaded, the HP ALLBASE/4GL run-time environment maintains them. Serial Data Files. Serial data files are data files that do not use any form of keys or index. They simply contain a continuous sequence of data records. Application developers can use serial data files from HP ALLBASE/4GL applications. In most circumstances, serial data files are used as a means of importing data from other systems, or exporting data from HP ALLBASE/4GL to be used in other data processing systems. The HP ALLBASE/4GL run-time environment can create and delete serial data files as required by the application.