HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
File Format Conversion This section describes the interpretation of the data format in a file so programs running on MPE XL systems can unpack records that were originally created on MPE V systems. INDEX data items in files that were created on MPE V systems are invalid and cannot be used on MPE XL systems. The easiest way to handle this problem is to write a conversion program and run it on the MPE V based system. The program should read in the 16-bit INDEX data items and write the data out as simple numeric data. The source code in the program you are migrating from COBOL II/V to COBOL II/XL must be changed so it reads in simple numeric data items instead of the INDEX data items. Some data files on MPE V systems may contain SYNCHRONIZED data items aligned on 16-bit boundaries. To convert these files for use on MPE XL systems, you should read the data in from each file and write it to a new file aligning the data items on 32-bit boundaries. This will allow you to run any programs using these data files without changing the program with respect to the description of SYNCHRONIZED data items in records. Refer to Chapter 5 for a sample program example that converts a data file with 16-bit synchronized data to a file with 32-bit synchronized data.