How to add a superdescriptor to the DDM - previous generate didn't include the field, but FDT shows

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1

Client asked that I add a field to an existing file - this field is available on the Prod DB, but not the development DB. Research shows that the field is a superdescriptor made up of the first 4 fields on the file. The FDT on the development shows that the superdescriptor is already defined but when the DDM was generated, the superdescriptor field was missing. The generate date is 00-02-02 (please no more comments about groundhog day :slight_smile: so it appears something wasn’t set up properly when the generate was performed.

Now, if a do a generate on the file in question in the development system, the editor renames all fields to AA-FIELD, AB-FIELD etc. Is there any way to add the missing subdescriptor field to the DDM without doing a generate? I do not want to loose the names already associated with each field in the existing DDM i.e. AA - USER-IDNTFR, AB - DBID etc.

2

First; just a note. You will not be adding a field to an existing file.

Superdescriptors, like subdescriptors, are not fields. They are basically just definitions.

To add a super to a ddm, use sysddm and add the appropriate concatenation of the first four fields. This does not change the database at all. There are no changes to any records that will result from adding the new super.

3

Thank you for your reply. My understanding is that the DDM is a logical view of the physical data.

What exactly does “add the appropriate concatenation of the first four fields” mean?

When I do a list of the production DDM, I see this:
T L DB Name F Leng S D Remark

  •   Generation started                                          

  •   at 00-02-02 08:55:15                                        

  •   by user SECADM
  • 1 AA USER-IDNTFR A 8 N D
    1 AB DBID A 4 N D
    1 BA TRGT-USER-APLCTN-CODE A 2 N D
    1 BB TRGT-USER-CLS A 3 N D
    …
    …
    1 S1 USER-TRGT A 17 N S
  •  -------- SOURCE FIELD(S) -------                                      

  •  USER-IDNTFR(1-8)                                                      

  •  DBID(1-4)                                                             

  •  TRGT-USER-APLCTN-CODE(1-2)                                            

  •  TRGT-USER-CLS(1-3)

When I do a list of the corresponding development DDM, I do not see the S1 entry.

If I generate a DDM for this file, the S1 entry is there showing that it has the 4 source fields listed above. But as I originally stated, the generate changes all of the current long names to generic names. To ensure the client is able to access the file using S1, do I simply do a " .i " in the T column of DDM editor and add:
1 S1 USER-TRGT A 17 N S

4

Yes.

5

Thank you!