KSAM files are accessed from BASIC/V programs through calls to a set of input/output procedures. These procedures allow you to open, write records to, read records from, update and delete records, position, lock, unlock, and close KSAM files.
A KSAM file must already exist before it can be accessed from a BASIC/V program. The BASIC/V procedures for accessing KSAM files do not provide a means to create a KSAM file.
The BASIC/V procedures to access KSAM files perform input/output activities differently from the BASIC/V input/output commands. The KSAM procedures read and write records in their entirety. Once part of a record has been read or written by one of the KSAM file access procedures, the entire record has, in actuality, been read or written. A subsequent call will access another record.
Character substrings are expressions when used in the BASIC/V KSAM procedures. As such, no values can be returned to them. A copy of the substring is passed as the actual parameter.
