Hi,
i try to learn Natural.
I know Cobol 17 years.
I have a question.
In COBOL i have COBOL-datafiles to save my informations (vendors, customers, sales, sale items, products, etc).
There is a natural ability to create data files natives NATURAL?
Or just data files in adabas or connections to databases?
Cláudio, from Brazil.
COBOL’s WORKING-STORAGE SECTION is replaced with a DEFINE DATA statement. Because Natural does not have a FILE SECTION, you code READ without an INTO clause and WRITE without a FROM clause. WORK files (as they are called in Natural) are read from and written to disk or tape. They are sequential files, processed essentially the same way as with COBOL
Refer to the following in the statements manual:
READ WORK FILE
WRITE WORK FILE
DEFINE WORK FILE
CLOSE WORK FILE
To access data base files, such as in Adabas, is a little more complicated - for a newbie, that is. The complexities are mostly in the set-up.
Hi Ralph,
So:
in Cobol there are data-files (native-Cobol-files) indexed, sequential, etc… —> In Natural only sequential, ok?
in Cobol there are access to DB → In Natural there are access to Adabas or DBs…, ok?
On OpenSystems Natural can only deal with “sequential” workfiles and database files.
What “indexed” files are you talking about in relation to an OpenSystems environment ?
That would typically be VSAM files on a mainframe, I suppose, and Natural can deal with
these (requires the Natural for VSAM addon, though), but there is no such thing on
OpenSystems “natively”.
Thanks.
I will try use sequential file in Natural.