Determining Micro Focus COBOL Indexed File Formats

Relativity must know the physical access name information (that is, the table connection) for the COBOL data file that contains the actual data. For Micro Focus COBOL, the format of the indexed file also must be ascertained.

The methods used depend on whether you are opening an existing or creating a new Micro Focus COBOL indexed file.

Opening Existing Micro Focus COBOL Indexed Files

When opening existing Micro Focus COBOL indexed files, the process used by Relativity to determine which indexed file format to request is as follows:

enclosed in square brackets and appended to the path name. The file format can either be a name [or number] representing the file format. Valid values are: BTRIEVE [5], C-ISAM [1], DEFAULT [0], IDX4 [4], IDX8 [8], and LEVELII COBOL. The numeric representation can be used to specify a file format that is not represented by these names.
If the file format is not present in the path name, uses the value specified in the Data File Format list on the page of the Options dialog box.
If the value for the file format specified in the Data File Format list on the page of the Options dialog box is < none >, the same file format as the data source's catalog is used.
For more information, see the Relativity Setup dialog box topic, in the Relativity DBMS Help file.

Tip: The ability to specify the file format using the Data File Format list is useful if the file format of the catalog is different from that of the data files. While the file format could be appended to the path name as described in the first item above, using the method described in the second point applies the same file format to all the path names in the data source.

Creating a New Micro Focus COBOL Indexed File

When Relativity receives a request to create new tables, a new Micro Focus COBOL indexed file is created to store the table's data. The file format of this Micro Focus COBOL indexed file is determined by the following sequence:

First, the Relativity DBMS checks the file format selected in the New File Format list on the Micro Focus page of the Relativity Admin dialog box (Admin > Relativity Admin).
For more information, see the Relativity Setup dialog box topic, in the Relativity DBMS Help file.
If that was set to < none >, Relativity determines the file format using the Data File Format list on the Tools > Options > Catalog page.
If that was set to < none >, the format of the new file will be the same file format as the catalog of the data source.